TIFF 2010 - Wednesday - You Are Here
This time, though I'm better rested, I'm talking about one film over the others because the others were disappointing. Which is not to say that You Are Here isn't good. It is that, as well as ambitious, artful, and on a non-trivial subject. It is also done well on the technical side, with good sound, sure framing, movement, acting, pacing, colour, and design. Writer/director Daniel Cockburn takes several philosophical perspectives on the self, identity, growth, choice, discovery, and the search for meaning, and makes them, in a way, concrete. Visually in each frame, almost everything is something that you could imagine seeing in reality. In sequence, that isn't necessarily the case. Certain objects are symbolic, or concrete in a way that is not literally accurate, but conveys the sense, e.g.: the instruction set in Searle's Chinese Room thought experiment, the flicker of the crowd named Alan. It's influenced by Douglas R. Hofstadter's Gödel, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid, both in content and structure. While none of the subjects are particularly rare to explore in film, it's done in a way that is unusually engaging, accessible, appealing, touching, and gently humorous, for one without what would normally be considered a plot. I liked it.
There was a sweet moment after the screening between cast and Don McKellar, whose wife, the late Tracy Wright had a major role in the film. I'm happy that he was able to come.
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There was a sweet moment after the screening between cast and Don McKellar, whose wife, the late Tracy Wright had a major role in the film. I'm happy that he was able to come.
This entry was originally posted on Dreamwidth at http://seabream.dreamwidth.org/23952.html, where the entry has
comments. You can comment at either site.