The Edmonton International Film Festival is now at the midway point but there are still many interesting selections to take in before it's all over. Saturday will feature the closing night screening of A Bag of Hammers, previously reviewed in last weekend's edition of the Gazette.
Festival programmer Guy Lavallee is hopeful that people will keep their minds open to movies that they might not have seen or heard of before. To him, this film is the reason why film festivals are so important.
"It's a perfect balance of hilarious comedy and intense drama and a crowd-pleaser in every sense of the word. A Bag of Hammers is one of the year's greatest discoveries. I just know local audiences are going to fall in love with this movie as much as all of us at EIFF have."
Here are three other reviews to complement the Gazette's continuing coverage.
Absentia
This is a slow burning fire, an intense horror thriller that you probably shouldn't watch just before bedtime. It'll surprise you and in more ways than one.
Absentia is a super low budget movie built on the premise that you don't need deformed monsters and grandiose special effects to work, and to work well.
After seven years of looking for Dan, her missing husband, Tricia gets to the task of moving forward and moving out when she declares him legally dead. Her sister Callie comes to help out as Tricia packs up the apartment, but strange things start happening.
Visions of the dead man and other unusual events at a nearby pedestrian tunnel lead the two women to believe that something else – something inexplicable – is going on. And then Dan turns up again.
You have to be ready to jump at any given moment of this 90-minute masterpiece. This is a brilliant example of atmosphere and mood to create a story darker and more sinister than anything I've seen in a while. Mike Flanagan's directorial prowess is so effective that he purposely leads the audience in one direction right before something happens from the exact opposite with superbly orchestrated scenes where the scares come in.
Naturally, you can't achieve greatness without a cast of actors worth its salt. Katie Parker and Courtney Bell should be the next scream queens except they're much more realistic than actresses who just exercise the upper ranges of their vocal chords. These two have range and realistic expressions of undeniable horror. Rounding out the cast is personal favourite, Doug Jones, albeit in a tragically muted role that is cut way too short for my liking.
Otherwise, the monotonal electric organ soundtrack is creepy and annoying, but still adds to the overall feel of the piece.
Don't get too comfortable. Bring your pillow and a friend. You'll never know what's going to come out of the darkness in Absentia. There's a great reason why it took the Best Feature prize at this year's Phoenix International Horror and Sci-Fi Film Fest.
Absentia runs tomorrow at 11:59 p.m. at the Metro Cinema in the Garneau Theatre.
— Scott Hayes
The Lie
I am no longer impressed with what the Sundance Film Festival calls an 'official selection.' This movie proves that good camera work and production values can so easily win over every other obvious fault in a movie. The Lie is a one-trick pony, a dull and flat experience that is so pointless and slow that it becomes an exercise in pain endurance, like struggling to stay awake through the dullest speech ever.
Lonnie is dissatisfied with his job as his wife is finding new work at a large pharmaceutical company. Facing a life crisis, Lonnie lies to his boss in order to get some time to himself but that lie leads to others, and eventually to one that he immediately wishes he could take back.
Okay, I get it. The Lie is about how people need to be honest with themselves and each other, even when their lives are falling apart. This is not a rare or abstract theme in any screenplay, except that it usually lands in a bad sitcom or soap opera, the kind where you could check in every 15 minutes and not miss anything.
The characters are two-dimensional and the story is so stupid, it's insulting. So what if the cinematography is beautiful? This is a prolonged train wreck that you can't turn away from because something interesting has to happen some time. Nothing ever does though and that's the big lie here. It's all just one icky situation compounded upon another icky situation while our protagonist, the liar himself, slowly learns his mediocre life lesson. His life doesn't fall apart even though his lie should have had more dire implications.
The Lie plays tonight at 7 p.m. at the Metro Cinema in the Garneau Theatre. Writer/director/star Joshua Leonard will be in attendance.
— Scott Hayes
Thespians
If you want to see a strong film with some powerful scenes, check out director Warren Skeels' Glee-style documentary Thespians.
This captivating documentary follows four high school acting troupes preparing for the Florida State Thespian Festival, a competition held annually in Tampa.
It's a huge cultural/artistic event attracting more than 7,000 people and only the cream of the crop showcase their plays. A venerable festival, it is a young actor's touchstone to Broadway.
The camera follows the students from initial twitchy pre-rehearsal auditions to the nerve-racking final presentation in front of tough, but fair adjudicators.
The ensembles tackle their roles with a professional's spontaneity, adventure and camaraderie.
Interspersed throughout the action scenes are well-rounded, in-depth interviews with actors, dedicated teachers nurturing their students through tough situations, theatre critics and festival organizers.
At the encouragement of directors and choreographers to take risks, the actors slowly build their scenes. But as with any good plot, there are unexpected surprises and sharp twists and turns.
In the end, the journey the actor takes is more important than the accolades received.
A mountain of material was filmed and special kudos go to the tight, intelligent editing that moves smoothly from scene to scene, all the while creating a degree of suspense.
Thespians screens on Thursday at 5 p.m. at Empire City Centre.
— Anna Borowiecki
