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Day 40. Photo courtesy of TIFF. |
This razor-sharp satire is one of the funniest shorts playing in Short Cuts Canada at the Toronto International Film Festival this year and it sets the perfect opening number for the scathingly funny programme that is Short Cuts Canada 5. Short Cuts Canada 5 ensures that TIFF-goers will be in stiches, hurting from laughter and maybe even just a little bit mortified. (But it the good way.) It’s hard to beat a bestial gang-bang with the first Lady of the Ark, but SCC 5 is so outrageous and funny that it probably features the only credit for a “cum mixer” at the festival.
Yes, SCC 5 even throws a cum shot at TIFF-goers when the
deadpan hilarious Last Night (Arlen Konopaki, 6 min.) splooges in Frances Ha-y black-and-white. Two roommates
form the male antithesis of Frances and Sophie when a gross-out scenario of a
nocturnal emission (of sorts) creates the most awkward conversation roommates
could ever have. The bawdy scenario plays itself out in dryly funny
back-and-forth banter between the two leads, who deserves serious props for
making it through the whole script with a straight face. This one isn’t for the
kids!
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Last Night. Photo courtesy of TIFF. |
Not quite as funny, though, is the wry Running Season (Grayson
Moore, 20 min.), which uses awkward situational humour to so-so effect. Three
sharp performances make the difficult business of doing trade with friends
humorous enough, though, so Running
Season brings a quieter hand at comedy to the funny business of the programme.
This programme brings twisted, edgy humour to the Shorts
Corner at TIFF, and the hard laughs of the opening half brings the programme to
an unexpected turn when it sobers up partway through. Intruders (Santiago
Menghini, 10 min.), one of SCC 5’s dramatic shorts, takes the programme for a
serious turn. Intruders strings
together adaptations of a few comics into a trio of vignettes about three
characters haunted by a presence that lingers in the suburbs in the aftermath
of a strange event. It’s stylish and intriguing, but too unfocused to bring
enough of a payoff to the image that arises in the final frame.
SCC 5’s other two dramas, Still (Slater
Jewell-Kemker, 16 min.) and The Encounter / Le recontre (Frieda
Luk, 9 min.) find power in the simplicity of their tales and execution. Still brings a trippy yet realistic doppelgänger
tale to the Festival as Sadie (Frost’s
Emily Piggford) wanders in the snowy woods and confronts her fears when she
both escapes and searches for her abusive boyfriend (Giacomo Gianniotti).
Director Slater Jewell-Kemker lets the sparseness of Still chill the viewers as Sadie’s trudge through the snow is tense
and philosophical, and she lets the great cinematography by Daniel Grant (a
name of many SCC credits for good reason) play on the viewer’s ability to frame
fantasy and reality.
The Encounter, on
the other hand, is an unnerving and uncomfortable drama that sees a man stalk a
woman he assaulted and obsess over the many women whom he encounters along the
way. The Encounter, like Running Season, succeeds mostly thanks
to the strength of its performances, but the unexpected ending is sure to
linger in the minds of many as the film leaves an open and unsettling ending
for a programme that begins with such ribald spirit. SCC 5 is all about the
comedies, though, so the trio of funny shorts that begin the programme make it
a winner.
Short Cuts Canada 5 screens:
-Wednesday, Sept. 10 at 9:30 pm at TIFF Bell Lightbox 2
-Thursday, Sept. 11 at 9:15 am at TIFF Bell Lightbox 4
Please visit www.tiff.net
for more information on this year’s Festival.