news
Film Friday: Colossal Shorts
Recently, Torontoist has probably been playing too many videogames. Not that that’s a problem, per se, but when you’ve become such an adrenaline junkie that you’re absent-mindedly tapping a non-existent “A” button to get past this bothersomely long “cut-scene” you’ve been watching only to remember that you’re actually watching The Omen, you have to admit that you’ve probably got a problem, and should probably cool off with some of Pedro Costa’s longest films, showing at Cinematheque Ontario this week.
Colossal Youth is 155 minutes long (and showing on Friday, Monday, and the following Saturday) and In Vanda’s Room, showing only this Saturday at 6:30 p.m. is a tight 178 minutes. According to Eye‘s Jason Anderson, Colossal Youth has a “languorous, largely plot-free nature,” so that would be a good way to learn some patience, we think.
Actually, who are we kidding? We should give in to our demands to be constantly entertained with the Worldwide Short Film Festival, starting this Tuesday. With something new every 10 minutes or so, how could you get bored? Our pick of the fest is absolutely Trilogy of Trilogies, largely because it features Jamie Travis’ superb Patterns series, but that’s not actually on till next Friday. And Sci-Fi: Out There, featuring the eagerly anticipated (well, by us) Wookie at Work isn’t on ’til next Saturday! Still, check out the schedule and see if there’s something that takes your fancy, Celebrity Shorts on Wednesday, maybe? With luck, we’ll have some reviews for you next week.
There are festivals continuing this weekend, though—The European Union Film Festival, the aluCine Toronto [email protected] Media Festival, the Toronto Italian Film Festival, North by Northeast, and the Silver Screen Film Festival. Phew!
The hefty general release schedule continues unabated too. For the kids you’ve got Surf’s Up, which sounds like the stupidest idea of all time (“surfing penguin mock-doc”) but is actually so sweet and has such great surfing scenes we recommend it, certainly over guff like Shrek The Third, and for people with a childish capacity for cruelty, you’ve got Hostel: Part II. No press screening of that, so we have to hypothesize that it’s like the original and features lots of gross torture but doesn’t actually say anything to make it worthwhile. We could be wrong, however!
Horror/fantasy fans will almost certainly be better served by Day Watch, the sequel to 2004’s Russian blockbuster Night Watch. The Metro’s Norman Wilner says, “The sequel is much more assured than its predecessor, and much funnier, even as it moves into far darker places.”
Even if it isn’t good, it’ll be worth seeing for the subtitles alone (Night Watch deserved awards for their use.)
Also out this week: Johnny Kalangis’ Love is Work, Luc Besson’s return to direction with Angel-A, Steven Soderbergh phones it in with Ocean’s Thirteen rather than making more films as good as The Limey, Edith Piaf’s life is recounted in La Vie En Rose, and Guy Maddin’s brilliant Brand Upon the Brain is showing at the Cumberland all week (with a soundtrack, surely, but it’ll still be worth it.)