EIFF '19 Showcase - PORTRAIT, PARASITE, FIRST LOVE

Parasite (top), First Love (bottom left), Portrait of a Lady on Fire (bottom right)

I had the opportunity to attend this year's Edmonton International Film Festival in September, catching 3 features and a director Q+A. Here are my thoughts on these features - two of which I consider to be the best of the year!

PORTRAIT OF A LADY ON FIRE (2019) Review

Attended on October 4th, 2019 at the Edmonton International Film Festival.

Romance is a very subjective genre, and to feel it is for oneself is an even more individual experience. It’s very personal and cuts very deep. It’s quite a feat to feel it for yourself, but to be able to feel it for others is extravagance. Céline Sciamma proves to be an expert (if there is one) in romance and love, and she chooses to give us an entirely female lens. Her portrayal of a painter and a lady falling together over many shared glances whists through your heart and captivates you completely - looking away is not an option.

Every movement, every choice, every glance is deliberate and carries hypnotic emotion; it’s Sciamma’s idea of a slow-burn romance that builds on a realization of mutual discernment. The two leads (Merlant and Haenel) are magical in their portrayal of deep romance and realization of Sciamma’s words - which truly exhibits the definition of a love language. Every single time Marianne (Noemie Merlant) so much as looks at the subject of her complete and unyielded attention, Héloise (Adele Haenel), a wave of intense longing lingers until the next glance.

Sciamma uses the quietness to a very distinct advantage; she is able to linger on a shot, a point of view, or monologue just long enough for us to beg to experience the reaction of the other reciprocal character - and it never disappoints, even very often disregarding expectancy. Her ability to derive heartbreak in her focal choices, paired with the intimacy of painting another woman, drives the emotional tension to an abstract peak of the heartbreak of rememberence (not regretting). The characters’ dialogue packs a punch, and combines the realism of the situation’s intense frustration with the careful consideration of consequence over true desires, while all the same creating an entire romance barren of male-gaze.

Everything in this film is magic; it makes me question the very existence of other movies and their idea of design and framing. All single units are extravagant, but simple in their own regard, however when matched together - the constant flicker of fire that consistently illuminates Marianne and Héloise; the grand isolation of the interior against the vastness of the cliff landscape; the way each character and their possessions are placed in every shot - is masterful. It’s clear this film was thought about and conceived with passion, and that every single step - whether it be slow and gentle or a long full stride - was created with delicacy and care.

PORTRAIT OF A LADY ON FIRE is in theatres worldwide February 14th, 2020.

Score: ★★★★★

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FIRST LOVE (2019) Review

Attended on September 29th, 2019 at the Edmonton International Film Festival.

Director and screenwriter Michael Masarof delivers an emotionally simple tale of remorse and rehashment within a lost sibling relationship in his first feature film, FIRST LOVE. Two twins attempt navigate their individual and contrasting lives, while reconnecting with each other in a rather forceful way - edging each of them to recount why exactly they lost touch.

Masarof, paired with Director of Photography Daga Malinska, delivers the Los Angeles aesthetic - blended sunsets, crashing waves - and juxtaposes it beautifully with blatant and literal confinement to give the audience a brief sense into how trapped and singular each of the siblings feel. The two leads, played by Annie Heise and Aaron Costa Ganis, create a palpable tension from their first scene together and carry it through all 80 minutes. Their last scene together is gratifying; it recognizes the limits of the story and is well-acted by both Heise and Costa Ganis. Finally, Masarof is able to capture the complexity of a sibling relationship in a raw way. In one scene, Rebecca (Heise) and Matthew (Costa Ganis) are in an emotion-fuelled argument; the next they are sharing room service on the motel floor. It bleeds authenticity.

However, Masarof’s dialogue and subsequent development of secondary characters fell short. In a story where secondary characters stand only to progress the primary characters, it is difficult to draw the line at what is revealed about them. While there were many strong points, some of the dialogue relied on repetition and consequently underdeveloped ideas. For instance, many scenes between Matthew and his editor Richard (Arye Gross) focus on getting Rebecca’s signature, and while the editor has an interesting monologue, it seems quite abrupt given the direction of focus between the two up until then.

In a Q+A after the screening, Masarof recounts that the titular “First Love” is meant to subvert audience expectation from romantic to familial love. Masarof and his crew succeeded in showing the taxing relationship between family, and reiterated to those who may have forgotten, like our protagonists, that our siblings are often our first loves.

FIRST LOVE will be distributed in Los Angeles in January, 2020.

Score: ★★★✩✩

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PARASITE (2019) Review

Attended on September 29th, 2019 at the Edmonton International Film Festival.

Bong Joon-ho’s masterful and exhilarating PARASITE is quite possibly one of the most thrivingly unique feature I've seen in a very long time. It is apparent that Joon-ho succeeds in exploiting any and every genre available to him, and subsequently creates a thrilling masterpiece that boasts comedic talent and blends it seamlessly with the underlying drama.

To call this film an achievement would be to do it a disservice. It is simply put legendary in all elements from its theme and direction, all the way down to the rather banal process of film marketing. PARASITE is incredibly unique in that it benefits from a complete cold-viewing, knowing next to nothing about the original story-world and building from a blank perspective with ease; however, it does remarkably well on repeated viewings (which I fully endorse and encourage), as details that would otherwise go unnoticed are perhaps simply a clever addition to the film's consistent composition, rather than being presented with a smack-you-over-the-head plot device technique.

In a film that contains the elements of every genre known to contemporary Hollywood, you would be correct in suspecting the acting challenge of a decade (rivalled, in my opinion, only by Paul Thomas Anderson's THE MASTER) for the cast of PARASITE. Song Kang-ho takes this challenge head on and crafts Joon-ho's character into his own; we see a nuanced, comedic, serious, care-taker, and a family man at the centre. He plays numerous roles in his one, and is able to hammer home Joon-ho's themes in the film's climax. No actor is miscast, or left behind - although I believe Song Kang-ho is at the centre, it is excruciatingly difficult to pick star players.

There have been many critiques on class and Western capitalism, in films that are usually not brave enough to tackle both simultaneously. Yet, Bong Joon-ho is able to perfectly assemble elements from around the industry, continually and consistently create sequences of direction worthy of the score that accompanies them, and illustrates a deeply moving tale devoid of any missteps or missed beats.

PARASITE is now in theatres.

Score: ★★★★★