Carcasses
Denis Côté (Canada)
***
Former Montreal film critic turned auteur, Denis Côté's fourth film in as many years is more a cinematic provocation than a traditional narrative, but it's a distinctly original one, gorgeously shot in the bush southwest of Montreal, with an ear-grabbing mixture of punk rock and Mahler on the soundtrack. Part of the film is a straight-up documentary of a genuinely happy man, Jean-Paul Colmor, a 74-year-old eccentric who collects automobiles, studies Spanish on records and goes dancing every night. Then, abruptly, the film turns into a foreboding drama: Four young adults with Down syndrome arrive at his place, apparently on the run, one of them carrying a rifle. The French title literally can mean "wrecks" rather than corpses, and as for the other links between the two parts of the film, the meaning lies in the gaps. L.L.
Sept. 13, 6:15 p.m., Scotiabank 4; Sept. 17, 9 p.m. Varsity 4; Sept. 18, 3 p.m. Varsity 1
Chloe
Atom Egoyan (Canada)
***
Toronto has never looked more glamorous and sexy than it does here, "playing" itself (and not Manhattan or Cleveland or Chicago) in Egoyan's adaptation of the 2004 French hit Nathalie. With a script by Erin Cressida Wilson (Secretary, Fur), Egoyan torques the action far beyond the Gallic cool that Anne Fontaine brought to the original. Of course, it's a twisty meditation on desire, repression, sexuality, infidelity and commitment in a cold climate - but the look, pacing and tone owe more to Brian De Palma and Adrian Lyne than Bergman, say, or Antonioni. Julianne Moore is fine (and courageous) as the big-buck Yorkville gynecologist who, convinced that her husband (Liam Neeson), a charismatic, much-travelled university music professor, is fiddling about, hires a gorgeous escort (Amanda Seyfried, of Mamma Mia! fame) to test his loyalty. A sleek film of alluring - and dangerous - surfaces (check out all the glass and mirrors), Chloe should restore Egoyan's lustre at the box-office. J.A.
Sept. 13, 6:30 p.m., Roy Thomson; Sept. 15, 11 a.m., Elgin
Cooking with Stella
Dilip Mehta (India/Canada)
***
If you had to sell this film in a hurry, you'd probably say something like: "It's a contemporary, globalized version of Upstairs, Downstairs crossed with The Sting." Don McKellar and Lisa Ray play husband and wife newly arrived at the Canadian high commission in Delhi. She's a diplomat (gorgeous), he's a chef (handsome, gullible) as well as Mr. Mom to their baby girl (adorable). The superb Seema Biswas is the resourceful, religious Stella who not only runs the household (with a kind of coy cunning that gives the film its narrative kick) but instructs McKellar in the finer points of Indian cuisine. The direction by Dilip Mehta (brother of Deepa - they share writing credits here) in this his feature-film debut, is at once relaxed and purposeful and never less than assured. It's sensual cinema, too: Film food hasn't looked this tantalizing since 1996's Big Night. J.A.
Sept. 16, 6:30 p.m. Roy Thomson; Sept. 18, 11:15 a.m., Scotiabank 2
The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus
Terry Gilliam (Canada/Britain)
***
Veteran imaginarian Gilliam's third film with writer Charles McKeown is a fantasy cum morality tale revisiting the broad themes, frenetic high energy and visual treats of their previous collaborations (The Adventure of Baron Munchausen, Brazil). Set in modern London's bleak corners, the film follows grizzled Parnassus (Christopher Plummer), whose motley sideshow transports volunteers through a flimsy mirror into the surreal limits of their imaginations (Gilliam's first serious work with CGI). A centuries-old wager with Mr. Nick (Tom Waits) finds Parnassus facing the loss of his daughter (Lily Cole) on her 16th birthday, while the efforts of slick-talking amnesiac Tony (Heath Ledger) to modernize the act creates further complications. It's a testament to the creative will of Gilliam, who modified the script after the death of Ledger mid-production to include "behind the looking glass" performances from Johnny Depp, Jude Law and Colin Farrell, creating a tribute without compromising the story. J.P.
Sept. 18, 6:30 p.m., Roy Thomson; Sept. 19, 2:30 p.m., Elgin
J'ai tué ma mère
Xavier Dolan (Canada)
***
A precocious 20-year old tripling as writer, director and star, Dolan earned critical plaudits for his film at Cannes this spring, and it's easy to see why. Set in today's Quebec, this is essentially a love/hate story between a divorced mother and her gay son. Mainly hate at the outset, as the twosome suit up for their daily shouting matches - one a high-school kid suffering from an acute case of teenage angst, the other a suburban philistine hardened to her offspring's verbal tirades. Riveting at first, their fights threaten to dwindle into tedium, but Dolan rescues us in the third act when, without once stooping to sentimentality, he taps into the bedrock of affection beneath the volcanic anger, a love much harder to express but no less deeply felt. The result is a film rather like its young protagonist - erratic yet sensitive, screaming trouble and talent at high decibels. R.G.
