It was an odd sight to see a quarter to a third of the audience walk out of the Ryerson Theatre throughout the opening night screening of Film Socialisme at the Toronto International Film Festival. Many spectators struggled to make sense of the film that was purposefully obfuscated. This version of the film did not include subtitles; the premiere at Cannes included Navajo subtitles. Whether it is difficult to understand because of the language barrier or difficult to understand because of the subject matter is irrelevant to Jean-Luc Godard. The film must be difficult to understand because it seeks to …
Masculin, Féminin
Paul is a young man living in Paris who has recently finished his military service and is now looking for places to work, a place to live, and a place to belong. Madeleine is a photo editor with a French fashion magazine looking for a place to belong. When they meet in a café, they fall in love. However, despite their emotional relationship, they never connect intellectually and remain distant. According to one of the flashcards in the film, Jean-Luc Godard could have called his film Masculin, féminin “For the children of Marx and Coca-Cola.” Paul struggles to find a …
I’m Not There
Six actors, portraying six diverse phases of Bob Dylan’s life. Under aliases, a half-dozen stories intertwine smoothly, roughly, and sometimes indescribably. Certainly, the creativity of the protagonist(s) and the director remain the film’s defining quality. Themes such as conformity, change, and challenges also abound, as illustrated by forums like a Macarthyism-style hearing, a 1960s documentary, and a fictional epilogue for Billy the Kid, if he survived Sherriff Garrett’s bullets. Spectators draw their own unique conclusions, branches of the same tree. Everything is nothing without the people who define it. Je est un autre. Jane Jacobs argues that every city, neighbourhood, …
West Viriginia Will Regret that Game for the Rest of their Lives
West Virginia’s football team lost a gift-wrapped part in the B.C.S. National Championship Game thanks to a loss to Pittsburgh. The No. 2 ranked team was so heavily favoured that the combined score of both teams didn’t equal the spread. The Fiesta Bowl is a big deal but is nothing compared to a championship. What could Mountaineers have done to win the game? Could an extra practiced have been held, an additional weight training session scheduled, or more coaches’ meetings extended? Andre Agassi lost the 1989 French Open final to Andrés Gómez and was haunted by the loss until his …