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| Lunch Date |
Of all the programmes I attended at last year’s edition of
the CFC Worldwide Short Film Festival, the most enjoyable had to be “Date Night.” Screening within Toronto’s CN Tower, “Date Night” makes festivalgoing
an event. A night out includes an hour and a half of short films, plus a ride
up the tower for dessert at Horizon’s restaurant as well as access to the Look
Out and Glass Floor of the Tower. I had the pineapple turnover for dessert last year (recommended),
but the trio of crème brûlées looked the most decadent. For a non-Torontonian
who had never actually been to the CN Tower, “Date Night” offered a pretty
sweet deal. Running at $25 a ticket, the event is a real bargain if one
considers that the same ticket for a ride up the CN Tower regularly costs $23.99 sans
movie and dessert! Whether you’re on a date, going stag, or simply being a
bargain hunter, “Date Night” is sure to be a highlight of WSFF 2012.
Before dessert, though, things begin with a Lunch
Date (UK, 11 min.). Writer/director Sasha Collington stars in this
hilariously awkward story of a break-up with a silver lining. Annabel (Collington)
waits patiently in a restaurant for her lover to arrive. Instead, Annabel is
greeted by her beau’s fourteen year old brother (Alexis de Vivenot) who informs
her that she is being dumped. Annabel becomes quite dejected that her beau
doesn’t have the decency to break up with her in person; however, when Annabel
grabs her bottle of wine and exits the restaurant, Lunch Date takes a nice bubbly turn and hints that romance is in
the air. Genuinely sweet and candidly funny, Lunch Date impresses thanks to Collington’s work on all three
credits.
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| Café Regular, Cairo |
The next course on “Date Night” is the cute chance encounter
Rhinos
(Ireland, 17 min.). Rhinos is a nice Before Sunrise-y tale that proves that
true love needs no translation. After Rhinos
comes one of the star attractions of “Date Night”: To Die By Your Side (France,
6 min.), the stylish animated film that is co-directed by Spike Jonze (Being John Malkovich). The film is a
peculiar little love story that shows what goes bump in the night in Paris’s
famous bookstore Shakespeare & Company. To
Die By Your Side is a ingeniously literary exploration of love. It is so
imaginative that it could only come from the brain of Mr. Jonze (and Simon
Cahn, to give credit where credit is due). The eclectic stop-motion of To Die By Your Side contrasts nicely
with the natural realism of the next short, Café Regular, Cairo
(Egypt/India, 11 min.). As with some of the aforementioned shorts, communication
is the key to the relationship in Café
Regular, for the film depicts a young Muslim couple that meets for coffee
and has a frank discussion. The couple is in the second year of their
relationship and the female, Mai (Mai Abozeed), proposes that they consummate
their romance. What ensues is a forthright debate of customs and cultural
mores. Bolstered by wholly natural performances and dialogue, Café Regular, Cairo offers a
true-to-life love story. The film also seems quite timely given the recent
revolution in Egypt and in the Arab world.
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| After the Credits |
Unlike Café Regular,
Cairo, however, We Refuse to be Cold (Canada, 8 min.) introduces a healthy dose
of cliché to “Date Night”. Alternatively, viewers are sure to be aroused
by the dramedy I Could’ve Been a Hooker (J’aurais pu être une pute) (France,
24 min.). Hooker is the story of a
scatterbrained girl and a straight-shooting guy who meet by chance: she swoons
in a department store and he jumps in to save her. She is truly thankful for
the man’s help, so she follows him around Paris in order to communicate her
gratitude. What follows, though, involves pasta and plans for castration. An
idiosyncratic character study, I Could’ve
Been a Hooker is one of those love stories that could only happen in the
movies. The last short of “Date Night” lampoons the love stories that precede
it. After
the Credits (Australia, 15 min.) is a delightful, if not gleefully
cynical, look at the ripple effect of the Hollywood ending. It sounds all
dashing and romantic when a man abandons the altar and hightails it to the
airport in order to prevent his true love from boarding a plane; however, the reality
of post-9/11 airport security ensures that the honeymoon is over before it even
begins. After the Credits is an
absolutely hilarious anti-romantic comedy with dead-pan performances and clever
writing. This meta date night disaster provides the perfect end to “Date
Night.” On to dessert!
“Date Night” screens
at the CN Tower on Saturday, June 9 at 8:15 p.m.
There is also a
regularly priced screening of the films of “Date Night” at the Bloor Hot Docs
Cinema on Friday, June 8 at 7:00 p.m.
Please visit www.shorterisbetter.com for tickets,
program/film info, and show times.
And check the label
WSFF for more reviews of festival programs.
