TIFF Day 7
Key of Life (dir. Kenji Uchida, orig. title Dorobô no method). I loved this comedy, obviously a great premise - a down-and-out loser makes a spontaneous decision to steal another man’s identity, but then discovers he is impersonating a hitman - and then the film’s structure keeps ladling out surprises. The two male leads are terrific. 9
A World Not Ours (dir. Mahdi Fleifel). Generally an interesting documentary about a refugee camp in southern Lebanon that is a ”temporary” home for Palestinian families displaced six decades ago. This is a personal story where the director uses footage he shot himself over the last five or six years, combined with a large amount of home video from his family, dating back to the 1980s and ’90s. (The director‘s family roots are in the refugee camp but he spent most of his life in the UAE and Denmark.) I found the structure kind of confusing, however; I suppose he did not want to make it strictly chronological because then the first half of the film would be the older (and thus lower-quality) video. But in switching back and forth among various time periods, I couldn’t discern any logic to the structure. Worth seeing, however. 6
Beyond the Hills (dir. Cristian Mungiu, orig. title Dupa dealuri). So you need some patience to watch this 2.5-hour movie, the plot moves slowly, it is mostly shown with long takes and often strange camera angles, and it’s not a masterpiece like 4 Months, 3 Weeks & 2 Days, but I still liked Beyond the Hills, found it very watchable and discussable. Unfortunately don’t have time to write more.7
A World Not Ours (dir. Mahdi Fleifel). Generally an interesting documentary about a refugee camp in southern Lebanon that is a ”temporary” home for Palestinian families displaced six decades ago. This is a personal story where the director uses footage he shot himself over the last five or six years, combined with a large amount of home video from his family, dating back to the 1980s and ’90s. (The director‘s family roots are in the refugee camp but he spent most of his life in the UAE and Denmark.) I found the structure kind of confusing, however; I suppose he did not want to make it strictly chronological because then the first half of the film would be the older (and thus lower-quality) video. But in switching back and forth among various time periods, I couldn’t discern any logic to the structure. Worth seeing, however. 6
Beyond the Hills (dir. Cristian Mungiu, orig. title Dupa dealuri). So you need some patience to watch this 2.5-hour movie, the plot moves slowly, it is mostly shown with long takes and often strange camera angles, and it’s not a masterpiece like 4 Months, 3 Weeks & 2 Days, but I still liked Beyond the Hills, found it very watchable and discussable. Unfortunately don’t have time to write more.7