The following short reviews of films opening on Tuesday, Sept. 14 at the 2010 Toronto International Film Festival are by James Adams, James Bradshaw, Guy Dixon, Rick Groen, Liam Lacey, Gayle MacDonald, Dave McGinn, J. Kelly Nestruck, Johanna Schneller and Brad Wheeler. The star ratings are out of four.
Good Neighbours (Notre-Dame-de-Grâce)
Jacob Tierney (Canada)
3 STARS
As 1995 slouches into 1996, winter holds Montreal in an unrelenting grip. Adding to the chill are a series of unsolved rapes and murders occurring in the west-end neighbourhood of Notre-Dame-de-Grâce, all of which, it seems, have been perpetrated by the same man. That’s the set-up for Jacob Tierney’s third feature, using a self-penned screenplay adapted from Chrystine Brouillet’s novel Chère Voisine. The action revolves around three tenants of a run-down apartment: a cat-obsessed waitress (Emily Hampshire) working in a Chinese restaurant that never seems to have any customers, a wheelchair-bound widower (Scott Speedman) whose suite is filled with aquariums, and an emotionally needy, newly arrived elementary-school teacher (Jay Baruchel). Tierney, who scored big at TIFF last year with The Trotsky, garners great (and not a little creepy) turns from each of his leads to concoct a twisty tale that’s part-mystery, part-psychological thriller, part-comedy. His assured mise-en-scène echoes Polanski’s The Tenant and Boyle’s Shallow Grave. J.A.
Sept. 14, 9:30 p.m., Varsity 8; Sept. 18, 12:45 p.m., AMC 6
Heartbeats (Les amours imaginaires)
Xavier Dolan (Canada)
3 STARS
Xavier Dolan’s follow-up to his precocious Cannes sensation, I Killed My Mother, is a stylish tale of unrequited romance and beautiful cheekbones. Dolan plays the role of Francis, a sweet young gay man whose best friend is the bookish, acerbic Marie (Monia Chokri), who devotes herself to dressing like Audrey Hepburn. They both meet the Adonis-like Nicholas (Niels Schneider) at a party and share a crush on the young man. Nicholas, charismatic and gracious, keeps them both in a tizzy, though his own motivations remain obscure. Faux-documentary interviews with various young folk reveal other romantic miscues. Filled with slo-mo, fantasy scenes and lushly saturated images reminiscent of Pedro Almodovar and Wong Kar-wai, Heartbeats is a prettily wrapped if modest cadeau from a 22-year-old writer-director who continues to expand his palette as a filmmaker. L.L.
Sept. 14, 6:45 p.m., Varsity 8; Sept. 15, 3:15 p.m., AMC 5
The Promise: The Making of Darkness on the Edge of Town
Thom Zimny (USA)
3 STARS
Using unearthed footage from recording sessions and home rehearsals from 1976-78 as well as new interviews, the making of Bruce Springsteen’s raw-powered album Darkness on the Edge of Town is explored in depth. Starting with a lawsuit that delayed the sessions and continuing with Springsteen’s unwavering pursuit of the album’s lean, hardened sound, Darkness was epic in its making, if not in its result. Where 1975’s grander Born to Run celebrated escape and youthful abandon, Darkness had Springsteen dealing with the limitations of adulthood. With an unvarnished, illuminating film on the creative process of an iconic artist, Director Zimney matches his subject’s dogged focus. B.W.
Sept. 14, 9:30 p.m., Roy Thomson Hall (gala); Sept. 15, 2:30 p.m., Elgin Theatre; Sept. 18, 8:45 p.m., Scotiabank Theatre 1
Buried
Rodrigo Cortes (Spain/USA)
3 STARS
