Friday roundup

After the talking heads of the Israeli film documentary, Friday moved east to Asia and, eventually, north to Sweden. While none of the films was completely successful, there were elements which made the day worthwhile.

Tsai Ming-Liang has been a favourite of TIFF for many years. His "Face" is nominally about a performance of "Salome", although this is a small part of what seemed like a very long film (the pacing is glacial).

That said, there are visuals (notably a scene with mirrors set in a snow-covered forest, the final dance of Salome and a final scene shot at an outdoor fountain) that are absolutely stunning.

"She, A Chinese" is a gritty film about a young Chinese girl's path to adulthood. The path is not an easy one, taking her from a local village in China to a nearby city and eventually London. Her ability to form lasting relationships is seriously impaired and usually collapse for one reason or another.

The lead actress delivers a fairly compelling performance and there is an aggressive electric guitar soundtrack provided by John Parish (a frequent collaborator of PJ Harvey). After the quiet of "Face", it made for a perfect wake-up call.

"Sawasdee Bangkok" was the light snack of the day. A collection of four short films set in Bangkok (selected from a group of nine originaly produced for the Thai Public Broadcasting System), it provided the right mix of romance tinged with a little comedy as well as melancholy.

The four shorts were uniformly good and, overall, succeeded in a way that a film like "Paris, je t'aime" did not.

Finishing the day was a taut thriller called "The Ape". While the lead character is clearly wound several turns too tight, the film rarely showed the explosive rage he is clearly capable of in action. The implications of his rage, however, are shown, which adds to the tension of the film.

It was certainly successful at establishing and intensifying the tension over the 80 or 90 minutes of the film, but the lack of any release or catharsis made it ultimately an unsatisfying experience.