TIFF 2008: Tony Log

Tony Manero (Pablo Larraín)

Life was cheap in Chile during Pinochet's reign. Cheaper than a colour TV set, than a dancefloor, than the price of a movie ticket. When you take into account just how grim the time period was (something brought across skillfully in Tony Manero) this story of an aging nobody, Raúl, obsessed with John Travolta's character in Saturday Night Fever stops sounding like a Rob Schneider film. The strengths of this film aren't in its looks; it's low-fi to the point of almost being distractingly blurry and dark—the strength is using the raw performances to show the effects of a corrupted society on individuals: a detached amorality, in Raúl's case. We guarantee you this will be the only film this year in which you watch a man do a poo on another man's Tony Manero costume—and you won't find it funny in the least. 3.5/5

Tony Manero plays today at the Scotiabank 3 at 12:30 p.m..

Eden Log (Franck Vestiel)

A current thing critics like to say about films they considered unnecessarily action-orientated, flashy, or even just plain dumb is that "it's like watching a video game." In some cases that's true, in others they're only proclaiming their ignorance of how deep video games can be. On the surface, for example, Eden Log probably wouldn't ring the video game bell in many critics' heads—it's perfectly comfortable being really boring for long periods of time—but structurally it's incredibly similar to games like Bioshock (or even, surprisingly, the upcoming Dead Space). Our "hero," Tolbiac, works his way from the base of a huge complex (where he starts with no equipment) to the top, traversing literal levels, gaining in power and viewing "cut scenes" (no joke—the majority of the plot is brought across in vignettes our hero watches). This isn't a riveting narrative to watch rather than play, even with the remarkable visuals. It's a real slog to make it to the pretentiously cryptic ending—and the trip isn't rewarding. 2/5

Eden Log plays today at the Varsity 3 at 3:45 p.m..