Over the last 2 weeks my opinions have changed towards some of the films I’ve seen. Watching up to 4 films in one day can be exhausting, and sometimes through reflection films can seem better or worse in retrospect. In other words, if there are inconsistencies between my list and the reviews/ratings I gave, deal with it.

My Top 20 Films from the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival:

#20 – The Strange Colour of Your Body’s Tears

It’s amazing how much Cattet/Forzani’s style worked in Amer, and how much it didn’t work here. At the start I was thinking it might be the best film I saw at TIFF up to that point. At the end it felt like nails on a chalkboard.
The Strange Colour of Your Body’s Tears review

#19 – Moebius

This only gets ranked above Strange Colour purely by the fact that I could watch it without a problem.
Moebius review

#18 – The Green Inferno

Half of the movie is poorly acted and written drivel. The other half’s nastiness and excellent make-up by KnB make it more tolerable, but this belongs right alongside the other horror films only available on VOD.
The Green Inferno review

#17 – Like Father, Like Son

A complicated moral tale destroyed by its director making his characters spend 2 hours catching up to agree with his point of view (which is established immediately). A snooze.
Like Father, Like Son review

#16 – A Field in England

A cheap, nonsensical and mind-maddening period piece involving alchemists and hallucinogenic mushrooms. Some fun moments when things go berserk editing-wise, but that’s about the only entertainment value I got out of it.
A Field in England review

#15 – Night Moves

Kelly Reichardt is still terrific behind the camera, but she put all her eggs in the wrong basket this time. Nothing really works here on a fundamental level, leaving the visuals and cast to do their best.
Night Moves review

#14 – October November

Gotz Spielmann’s disappointing follow-up to Revanche tries to tell a dramatic story with no real drama in it. An admirable effort, but nothing more than that.
October November review

#13 – Canopy

An amazing debut on a technical level, but ultimately lacking. Still, Aaron Wilson will be a name to look out for if he makes another film.
Canopy review

#12 – R100

At times hilarious, but completely baffling overall. Hitoshi Matsumoto’s usual brand of off-kiler humour and self-aware jokes just don’t mix as well as his other films this time.
R100 review

#11 – The Sacrament

Ti West’s attempt to document a modern-day Jonestown hasn’t been aging well with me. It’s still well-done, and has some excellent warming up in the first two acts, but it isn’t making much of an impact in the way his previous films have with me. The subject matter seems a little bit in poor taste too if you know what it’s based on, but it’s still an effective horror film.
The Sacrament review

#10 – Under the Skin

I have my issues with it, but I can’t deny Under the Skin‘s power. It’s one of the more Kubrickian films I’ve seen in years, and I still can’t shake some images from it out of my head. I wish the shift in the second half was handled better, but in time I feel like I’ll grow to appreciate Under the Skin much more than I already do.
Under the Skin review

#9 – Gravity

It’s disappointing from Cuaron, but I can’t deny how much of a technical marvel this is. Expect this to win all the technical awards at the Oscars. There won’t even be a competition.
Gravity review

#8 – Manakamana

One of the most fascinating films I saw at the festival, and it further establishes Harvard’s Sensory Ethnography Lab as one of the best documentary producers today. It was a pleasant surprise when Cinema Guild picked this up for distribution, and I hope that people are willing to give it a chance.
Manakamana review

#7 – Blind Detective

Johnnie To loses his mind, and the results are just as entertaining as many of his other films. Even when he’s switching genres between films (or within the films themselves), To proves he’s one of the more consistent filmmakers working today.
Blind Detective review

#6 – Why Don’t You Play In Hell?

Sono is back on form with his absolutely insane love letter to 35mm filmmaking and projection. It’s gloriously bonkers, simultaneously all over the place and tightly controlled, and a fun time for the most part.
Why Don’t You Play In Hell? review

#5 – The Past

Asghar Farhadi makes yet another well-done drama, with a terrific cast playing people who can’t escape the tragedies from (say it with me) their pasts. Farhadi seems to be the only filmmaker doing stories like this today, and we’re all the better for it.
The Past review

#4 – Oculus

Mike Flanagan lives up to the potential he showed in Absentia. It’s a horror film that understands the power of story, with a terrifying villain and a terrific script that uses its single location brilliantly. Hopefully audiences will discover Oculus, as the horror genre needs more people like Flanagan.
Oculus review

#3 – Stranger By The Lake

Gorgeous, seductive and a total nail-biter by the end. Stranger is an amazingly well-constructed film that will resonate with anyone who watches it.
Stranger By The Lake review

#2 – Only Lovers Left Alive

A film where one can live vicariously through its characters, and Jarmusch nails the carefree tone he’s clearly going for. It’s a big, long kiss to great artists throughout history, and it’s a total blast to watch.
Only Lovers Left Alive review

#1 – Stray Dogs

Tsai Ming-Liang’s swan song pushes the limits of his style (and his actors!) further than ever before. It’s a film where the weight of time on its characters are fully understood, and a showcase of just how masterful Tsai is when it comes to form. If it truly is his last film, he’ll be going out with one of his best films to date.
Stray Dogs review

Having missed Blue is the Warmest Colour at TIFF this year, I went for another gay-themed film from Cannes: Alain Guiraudie’s Stranger By The Lake. Blue might have won the Palme D’Or, but Stranger actually took home the Queer Palme this year in France (given out to the best film about LGBTQ issues at Cannes every year). After seeing it, I can understand why the judges at Cannes were so taken by it. It’s a top-notch thriller, and it directly addresses certain issues with gay lifestyles that haven’t been explored as much in the past.

Stranger By The Lake

Franck (Pierre Deladonchamps) goes to visit a lake where men like to sunbathe in the nude. He starts chatting with Henri (Patrick d’Assumçao), an older man who sits alone and fully clothed. Their friendly conversation is interrupted when Franck lays his eyes on Michel (Christophe Paou), a good-looking man who ends up walking alone into the woods. The forest next to the lake is where men go to sleep with whoever they fancy at the beach, and Franck tails him only to see him having sex with another man.

Franck’s disappointment turns into fear when, the next day, he sees Michel drown the other man in the lake. It doesn’t take long for Michel (who obviously isn’t aware of what Franck witnessed) to take a liking to Franck, and soon the two are in a passionate relationship fueled by lust. Franck’s falling head over heels for Michel, but at the same time he’s not sure if he might end up becoming Michel’s next victim.

People may find Franck to be stupid for falling in love with a murderer, but Alain Guiraudie brilliantly finds a way to make his actions understandable. Early on Franck is seen asking one of his hookups at the beach if they can have unprotected sex, which they flat-out refuse. “I trust you” Franck says, making the other man ask if Franck usually trusts people so easily. Franck’s approaches to sex and Michel are one and the same, both fueled by similar desires and flirting with seriously dangerous consequences. It’s a brilliant move on Guiraudie’s part, and at times it makes for a scathing criticism of the cruising lifestyle (or, more generally, promiscuous sex).

If the parallels Guiraudie establishes don’t resonate with viewers, the tone he establishes definitely will. Stranger By The Lake is incredibly precise in its execution, utilizing only several locations (the parking lot, the woods surrounding the lake, the shore and the lake itself) and taking place over ten days. The location is gorgeous, with most of the film’s soundtrack devoted to the sounds of nature or wind blowing through the trees. There’s a quality to the location that makes so much of the story, even the more preposterous elements, feel natural in their execution. The pace may be a little too relaxed at times, and I’ll admit the ending left me feeling a little cheated, but Guiraudie is in total control for the entire film. It’s an expertly realized thriller, and deserving of its Queer Palme.

RATING: 7.7

Moebius

I’ll try to be brief for my last film: In a last-minute decision I decided to check out Moebius, Kim Ki-Duk’s latest look at everything terrible about humanity. I said in my last update that I had the craziest day at the festival in all my years of going, but this one film came very close to topping the insanity of what I saw the day before. Whether that’s a good or bad thing I can’t say because, by the end of Moebius, I really didn’t give a shit.

Shot without a single line of dialogue for no apparent reason other than for the sake of it, Moebius opens with a family in disarray. The father is cheating on his wife with a shopkeeper, and their teenage son is right in the middle of their fights. One night the wife takes things into her own hands by trying to slice off her husband’s penis while he’s sleeping. He wakes up just in time to stop her, so she merely glides over to her son’s room and chops his off instead. To make matters worse, she decides to chew and swallow her son’s severed member just to make sure he can’t get it re-attached.

That’s where Moebius starts, and it only goes downhill from there. Father and son team up to Google for anywhere that can transplant penises, while the son discovers that extreme pain is the only thing that can bring him to orgasm. This usually involves getting his father’s mistress to stab him and vigorously wiggle the knife around inside him until he ‘finishes.’

The shock factor will entice many (I’m sure my descriptions alone have peaked your interest slightly), but it’s not worth it. Moebius isn’t a bad film per se, I’ll admit that Kim brings out some visceral qualities and a few good laughs through his cheap handheld style, but I really saw no purpose for what was unfolding on screen. By the time I got through an elongated rape scene and scenes of people rubbing skin off their feet with rocks, I more or less shrugged my shoulders and gave up. I let Moebius do its thing, and I just sat there and watched it happen. I said I’d try to be brief, and while this is a little long it’s mostly been describing what goes on in Moebius. And in a way that’s all it’s really good for. It’s something twisted you can tell other people about, but looking for anything beyond its grotesque surface is a waste of time.

RATING: N/A

Next up:

A final festival wrap-up of the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival which includes my Top 20 films of the festival.