culture
Now in Rep Cinemas: Troll Hunter, Tree of Life, Jesus Christ Superstar, Dream Warriors
Each week, Now in Rep Cinema compiles the best repertory and art house screenings, special presentations, lectures, and limited engagements.
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Troll Hunter The Royal Monday August 22 to Thursday August 25 |
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Tree of Life The Fox Tuesday August 23, 6:45 p.m. |
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Jesus Christ Superstar TIFF Bell Lightbox Friday August 26, 6:45 p.m. |
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A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors The Underground Friday August 26, 8 p.m. |
Troll Hunter
In the pantheon of troll movies, Troll Hunter makes Ernest Scared Stupid look like Troll 2. And in case you forgot, Ernest Scared Stupid is puh-retty good. And Troll 2, as everyone knows, friggin’ reeks. Anyways, the point is that this Norwegian import from André Øvredal is very, very good.
To say that Troll Hunter “premiered” at the Royal last Friday is technically true, but kind of disingenuous. The more discerning video rental joints around town have been moving region-free DVD copies for months. And Alliance has a disc coming out, like, this week. But seeing Troll Hunter on DVD (or Blu-Ray!) doesn’t really work unless your TV is the size of a standard movie theatre screen. Because while the seminal Blair Witch Project has been dropped again and again as a way of framing this troll-based fake found footage documentary, Troll Hunter has a sense of scale and immensity that rivals even the biggest Hollywood pictures.
The film is presented as a “rough cut” of footage stitched together from recovered hard drives. Told in chronological order, the story follows a team of college journalists (their arrogance and unprofessionalism, as well as their unsatisfied curiosity, seems a direct product of their youth) trailing a group of state-licensed hunters charged with thinning out the bear population. After hearing of a renegade hunter suspected of poaching, the wily documentarians lose interest in the bear patrol (who seem to be doing their job perfectly) and begin stalking the poacher, an oddball named Hans who drives around in a beat-up Land Rover. After tailing Hans into the woods one evening, the crew learns that it’s not bears, but trolls, that Hans is poaching. Not only this, he’s the lone operative of a government-funded secret organization called the TSS (Troll Security Service), answering to a wildlife administrator.
Even though the movie is funny and smart and genuinely thrilling (especially in the first night-vision troll encounter, which will leave you slack-jawed as anything), it’s not without problems. The film spins its wheels a bit in the middle, with cameras looking out of car windows as our gang treks from troll’s nest to troll’s nest (the U.S. cut is apparently 13 minutes longer than the original Norwegian cut, probably so it could pull double-duty as a tourism ad). And it’s got these weird, sacrosanct Christian undertones (because trolls feed on the blood of Christian men), in a way that can’t register as anything but conservative. Still, though. Horror movies are supposed to be conservative about the punishing of sexuality and difference and the restoration of some bygone norm that never really existed. And really, this is a big part of what makes horror movies so thrilling. You’re not just getting off on the violence and gore and sex, but on the ugly politics. So if you’re religious, or were raised religious and have since lapsed (like the characters in the film), all this existence-of-god subtext rankles at first, but then settles into being truly haunting.
Guilty politics and intermittent boredom aside though, Troll Hunter is a great deal of fun. And while it’s precisely the kind of film that you end up watching again and again on DVD, you should really make an effort to see it in theatres while you can.
Also Unspooling…
Tree of Life Terrence Malick’s Palme d’Or winner, Tree of Life (which recently netted the International Federation of Film Critics 2011 Grand Prix), had an impressive run at the TIFF Bell Lightbox. Despite being, by-and-large, a non-narrative tone poem (i.e. “art film”), its run just keeps getting extended. A lot of people leave describing it as a “screensaver,” because of the extended scenes of the universe being formed and supernovas and stuff like that. Anyways, calling it a “screensaver” isn’t really a criticism, and is a pretty handy way to consider yourself clever while not actually having to do any real thinking about the film. But now all you Beaches-dwellers—and anyone else who might have missed it—can settle into doing some real thinking about the film as it finishes its run at the Fox this week. And even if you don’t think too hard about, just don’t call it a “screensaver.” That’s just lazy, man.
Jesus Christ Superstar
Now, granted, as Messiah-based musicals go, Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Jesus Christ Superstar is no Jeepers Creepers Semi-star. But it’s still darn good. Told through the eyes of Judas, Jesus Christ Superstar reinvents the Nazarene as a swingin’ saviour, strutting through the Holy Land stirring up the miracle of song and dance. And as far as movie adaptations go, Norman Jewison’s 1973 version, with Ted Neeley as J.C. and Carl Anderson as Judas, is the gold, frankincense, and myrrh standard. So go see it! And get all excited and dance in the aisle to “What’s The Buzz?” The Lightbox could use a little disco-gospel revival action.
Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors
Everyone knows that the original Nightmare on Elm Street is the best one. But does everyone know that? Because isn’t the third one better? After all, instead of trying to redouble on the formula of the original, Dream Warriors took the budding franchise in whole new directions, introducing a group of kids locked up in an institution because of their troubled dreams, who can battle Freddy with magical powers while they sleep. They become…the Dream Warriors! (No, not those Dream Warriors.) And remember when Jennifer Rubin says, “In my dreams I’m beautiful…and bad!” and you found out what it was to be in love? Also: Robert Englund (Fred Krueger himself) will be at this screening! Which means it’s mostly sold out already. But you can still try and snag tickets at Suspect Video, Queen Video, Eyesore Cinema, and the Silver Snail. Do it! Or you’ll miss the Dokken soundtrack!