Endorphine
(Canada, 84
min.)
Dir. André
Turpin, Writ. Valérie Beauregard-Champagne, André Turpin, Robert Morin. Jonah
Hill
Starring: Sophie Nélisse, Mylène MacKay, Lise Roy, Monia
Chokri
 |
| Sophie Nélisse in Endorphine. Photo by José Deshaies / Les Films Séville |
André Turpin is one of the best cinematographers in Canada.
Just look at Mommy, Incendies, Tom at the Farm and other recent efforts. He knows the art of
composition and builds dramatic depth and tension by setting up a shot and
using camera movement to exploit cinematic space to its full potential. He
doesn’t shoot his latest feature directorial effort Endorphine, but the film looks fantastic as it envisions a dark,
labyrinthine, and speculative world that exists in the grey area between Enemy, Inception, and Upstream Color.
The film features one woman at various stages of her life as
she navigates between a traumatic event and the places she explores in comatose
states of unconsciousness. Played by Sophie Nélisse and Mylène MacKay (both
TIFF Rising Stars this year) in her young to young adult years and then by Lise
Roy in her senior years, Simone navigates complex realities. Her world is a
time loop, as she wanders stairs that never begin or end and passes through
doors that only seem to go in one direction. What Endorphine brings in style and atmosphere, however, it lacks in
logic and coherence as it rapidly devolves as it progresses. A few lectures
make it sound smart, but it’s disappointingly hollow.
Endorphine is now available on home video.
Tallulah
(USA, 111 min.)
Written and directed by Sian Heder
Starring: Ellen Page, Allison Janney, Tammy Blanchard
 |
| Ellen Page in Tallulah. Netflix Canada |
Not even Ellen Page can save the insufferably convoluted Tallulah. This film explains why
‘Sundance’ now assumes a pejorative connotation as Page plays the title role
and every element of the character feels scripted and calculated beyond credibility.
Tallulah is, for lack of a better word, a little shit. She’s a self-absorbed
and self-pitying drifter who survives by stealing credit cards and dumpster
diving. She lives in a van that embodies her directionless and desire to escape
responsibility. The film never gives the audience a reason to care for Tallulah
or understand her self-righteous freeloading.
When Tallulah steals a baby from a drunken hot mess of a
mother (Tammy Blanchard), Tallulah
takes a love it or hate it leap as the film hinges on a) believing that anyone
would do something so stupid and b) sympathising with Tallulah by blaming the
mother. Far too many characters in the film (cops and social works) point the
finger at the mother to lend the story any authority. Blanchard’s terrific
performance pulls the film back on track, while Allison Janney’s knockout turn
as the mother of Tallulah’s ex-boyfriend and, ultimately, the victim of her
biggest con. Janney’s character, embittered, jaded, and cautiously eager to confront
the mistakes of her past, gives her one of her darkest, funniest, and most down
to earth performances in years. If anyone gives Tallulah gravity, it’s her.
Tallulah is now on Netflix.
Sausage Party
(USA, 89 min.)
Dir. Greg Tiernan, Conrad Vernon; Writ. Kyle Hunter, Ariel
Shaffir, Seth Rogen, Evan Goldberg
Starring: Seth Rogen, Kristen Wiig, Bill Hader, Michael
Cera, Selma Hayek, Nick Kroll
Seth Rogen and company unleash a five-aisle food fetish in
the irreverent animated comedy Sausage
Party. The zany romp is not for kids despite the cheery songs and warm buns
that appear in its opener numbers. No, kids shouldn’t be exposed to wieners
onscreen until they’re eighteen, and Sausage
Party has a lot of fun using raunchy humour in the most unappetizing way as
Frank the hot dog (Seth Rogen) plans to get all up in Brenda the bun (Kristen
Wiig) once a happy shopper picks them up and brings them the outside world. But
just as all the sweet things one enjoys in the grocery aisle turn out to be
horrible, so too does real life.
Sausage Party runs
with the idea that all the food bangs in the grocery store during the off
hours. The humour is consistently juvenile, but it’s also very clever in its
creation of farcical naughty humour with gags like Selma Hayek playing a
lesbian taco providing a highlight. The team of five (!) screenwriters aims for
just as many dick jokes as one expects them to with the wieners cracking gags
on size, girth, and how best to fill a bun. The villain of the film is also a
literal douche, which doesn’t get nearly as much mileage as the film thinks it
does. Sausage Party is often at its
funniest when it isn’t cracking dick jokes and instead uses the absurdity of living,
dancing, talking foodthings that carry all the politics and foibles of the
human world into foodie land. When Sausage
Party is funny, it’s very funny. When it’s not funny, it’s like a cold hot
dog, plain and unsatisfying. Oh, and there’s an orgy.
Sausage Party is now playing in theatres.
