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| The Weatherman and the Shadowboxer. Photo courtesy of TIFF. |
Shorts Cuts Canada 3, however, isn’t quite as strong overall as its opening chapter is, but the play on the elusiveness of memory in The Weatherman and the Shadowboxer provides a current that unites more than just the two brothers. The theme that connects the films of SCC 3 together is the subtlety balance of personal and collective memory. Luk’Luk’I: Mother (Wayne Wapeemukwa, 19 min.), for example, contains a worthy story about a Vancouver mother/sex-worker who goes missing during the 2010 Winter Olympics. The subject is necessary, and the play on sound and image in the film’s final long take is provocative.
After Mother comes
Father
(Jordan Tannahill, 9 min.), which sees a young boy carry an unbearable
burden when his father is electrocuted while working in a warehouse. By deftly
cutting back and forth and reframing the fateful spark of the accident from a
different perspective, Father builds
a palpable sense of guilt. Father is
a sparse film, but it finds power in understated simplicity.
Alternatively, Indigo (Amanda Strong, 9 min.) finds
a thrilling adventure in the high-art world of handcrafted stop-motion
animation. This fantastical tale of an elderly woman with a young heart spins
an enchanting web with its rich and playful animation. The attention to detail
is impressive and Indigo is bound to
bring out the child in everyone with its inspired palette of indigo-toned
imagination.
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| Hole. Photo courtesy of TIFF |
SCC 3 then takes quite a turn with the provocative drama Hole (Martin
Edralin, 15 min.). Hole makes a
notable companion piece to Take Me,
which plays in Short Cuts Canada 2, as both films depict the intimacy between
disabled persons and their caregivers. This bold character study of a disabled
man yearning for closeness and connection features an impressive performance by
Ken Harrower, who wrestles with Billy’s
needs and desires. Hole is frank and
explicit, but also a candid portrait of the intimacies we take for granted. Sebastian Deery also gives a fine
supporting turn as the caregiver who helps Billy meet his emotional and sexual
needs.
SCC 3 closes with the offbeat Chamber Drama (Jeffrey
Zablotny, 11 min.), which puts a plucky intern named Megan to the test when the
supervisor of her auditory experiments fails to appreciate her commitment. Chamber Drama takes a cue from the world
of Divergent and The Hunger Games (not for their dystopian premises, but for their
wily heroines) as the plucky Megan undergoes some rigorous tests and strives to
set herself apart from the pack. Top marks go to Cassie Williams for her energetic performance and to
the intriguing design of Megan’s lab—it’s a weird sci-fi-y torture chamber—and
the uneasy tone that underlies Megan’s trials. Chamber Drama creates a peculiar atmosphere for an ordinary world
and finishes Short Cuts Canada 3 with another offbeat character study.
Short Cuts Canada screens:
-Sunday, Sept. 7 at 9:45 pm at Scotiabank 14
-Monday, Sept. 8 at 4:15 pm at Scotiabank 9
Please visit www.tiff.net
for more information on this year’s festival.
*Please note that Light,
which also screens in Short Cuts Canada 3, was not available for advance
review.
