Preludes

TIFF [2000]

With the unique "Preludes" programme, Handling commissioned ten of Canada's most distinctive filmmakers--including Atom Egoyan, Don McKellar, and Patricia Rozema--to create an original five-minute short on just about anything they pleased. The implication, of course, was that each short should somehow celebrate or at least "mention" the Festival, and some filmmakers took a more literal approach than others.

ROBERT L'S PICKS:

BEST:
"CAMERA" by Toronto's David Cronenberg.

David Cronenberg

Black humour and melancholy are hardly anomalies in Cronenberg's canon, but this bittersweet monologue manages to evoke lumps lodged squarely in the throat (as opposed to under the flesh), as Les Carlson (Barry Convex from "Videodrome") weaves a tale of regret and renewed hope on the day 'the kids brought home an old camera". In this case, the titular object is, incongruously, a fully loaded 35mm Panavision number, complete with dolly, Nagra double system sound, and the works. Avoiding the device as if it were alive, the bitter, the former actor likens photographing a moment to recording its moment of death, and recounts a dream ("I had caught a kind of disease from the movie, and it was making me grow old, bringing me closer and closer to death!"), as the youngsters discover the magic of the moviemaking process. In the end, the children convince him to step back in front of the lens, where everything idyllic and larger than life, but the old actor's eyes still register terror that the camera might again suck a few more years from him.

RUNNER UP:
"HEART OF THE WORLD" by Winnipeg's Guy Madden

Anna, "State Scientist", studies the Heart Of The World at the earth's core! When she discovers the planet is on the verge of a fatal heart attack, she must choose between Osi and Nikolei, two brothers after her own heart! Nikolei, it should be mentioned, is playing Christ in the Passion Play, and when the world erupts into panic and depravity over the news that the human race has one day left, Nikolei/Christ seeks to absolve the masses! Panic! Orgies! But can a new heart be found?!

Like Cronenberg's "Camera", Madden's emulsion-perfect homage to silent cinema stands on its own as a short film rather than a "thank you" letter for the TIFF. Accepting Handling's challenge, the first thing Madden thought of was "Soviet Agit Prop Cinema" (really, does he think of anything else?), and those of you familiar with Madden's "Tales Of The Gimli Hospital", "Archangel", and "Careful" will welcome another encounter with the director's inimitable style, best be described as over-caffeinated German Expressionism.

WORST:
"PRELUDE" by Toronto's Michael Snow.

Yes, Canada's foremost avant-garde multimedia pioneer bores again with yet another film about a pan across a room (1967's "Wavelength" was enough for me, thank you.). The gimmick here is that while six youngsters argue around a table and plot an evening of TIFF hopping, the sync audio track starts at the end of the scene and plays backward, so that picture and sound are only matched briefly in a fleeting middle passage. The end result is far from the innovation Snow seems to think it is, making this one squarely for "anti narrative/deconstructivism" purists only.

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