A bit of a catch-up day. My BB's battery died just after lunch time (ironically, I think it might have been the TIFF app that killed it).
I saw back-to-back Nordic films on Sunday morning.
Baltazar Kormakur's "The Deep" was based on a true story of a seaman who survived several hours in the water of the North Atlantic in the winter of 1984, after his ship capsized just off the Westman Islands of Iceland. It was (and is) considered a medical miracle.
Mika Kaurismaki has been a fixture at TIFF for some time (I remember discovering him and his brother Aki at a spotlight many years ago). They have a blackly comic sense of humour but manage to do this while still respecting the basic humanity of their characters.
"Road North" concerns a concert pianist who is confronted by the father who abandoned him when he was three. Together they embark on a road trip to northern Finland and he discovers much about his family and himself.
I'm a fan of both directors but my reaction to the films was quite different.
"The Deep" was suspenseful, engaging and, in the end, quite cathartic. The location shooting on the boat and in the water (particularly during the capsizing) were very impressive.
On the other hand, "Road North" was superficial. The emotional payoff didn't really come off at the end.
Looking back at the two, the impression I was left with was of one film that tapped into some universal themes by being aggressively local ("The Deep") while the other was rootless. I sat in the screening imagining an American remake and how it could be done with almost no changes beyond the language and place names. I found that very disappointing as Kaurismaki's films have been so much better than this, by being true to their roots.
"The Deep" is the one to see.
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1 comment:
Over the past couple of days, I've heard more people talking about "The Deep" than any other film. It's all been positive.
Interestingly enough, I haven't heard a single comment about any of the galas (I've heard more comments about the Midnight Madness films). That may be a reflection of the folks who have been seeing the same films as I, but notable nonetheless.
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