Two new films released this week, and reviewed below, continue the tradition of Toronto as the cinematic backdrop for all things disenfranchised.
Toronto the miserable
It’s not every week that two movies set in Toronto open in Toronto on the same day, but this is one such week. Even less common is the fact that in each film, Toronto is a drab, spiritually oppressive place where the primary distinguishing characteristic is a clogged system of looped expressways, the city ribboned by roads to nowhere. Geoff Pevere explores the rich tradition of Toronto as the perfect back drop to stories of despair, loneliness, misery, angst and loss. And all losers are welcome. Read his column here
Enemy: An airtight pleasure locked inside a paranoid's head
Directed by Denis Villeneuve and starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Enemy operates on a level of carefully calibrated unease, where the very elusiveness of motivation and logic is exploited for purposes of sustained cinematic disorientation. Read the review here.
The Husband: Portrait of an unlovable loser you’ll still want to root for
Bruce McDonald’s movie is a terse, brittle and sometimes wincingly unadorned study of hetero-masculinity in free fall, and it requires that you feel for Henry despite the fact that he couldn’t make a right decision if he had a full administrative staff on hand to help him through the day. Read the review here.