Discovering connections (Raf and It Must Be Heaven)

As I’ve mentioned in TIFFs past, occasionally linkages appear between films that only exist because of their presence in my schedule for September. I found one of those yesterday. 

I started my day with a film called “Raf” by Harry Cepka. It’s a very good first film about a relationship that emerges between two women from opposite sides of the track with two strong performances from Grace Glowicki and Jesse Stanley. Set in Vancouver, it uses the city very effectively for its setting. 

The music was done by Casey MQ and consists of a lot of techno music. In the middle of the film, Glowicki’s Raf has a dream where she is dancing in a laneway to Leonard Cohen’s “I’m Your Man”. 

Shift to the afternoon and Elia Suleiman’s “It Must Be Heaven”, shifting the setting from wet, cool BC to sunny, arid Palestine. Suleiman is a veteran filmmaker and I’ve seen several of his films at TIFF. Where Cepka brought us in close to his characters, Suleiman sets his story up in a much more distanced, deadpan manner, placing himself in the centre as a dispassionate observer of life. He shows very little emotion, evoking a very Keatonesque perspective on whatever is going on around him.

It’s very funny. Authority figures, either official or unofficial, are frequently held up to ridicule, although it’s done in a very quiet, gentle way. In “Heaven”, there are also a number of scenes where the authorities, esp uniformed authorities, move in a very choreographed manner. Life is a dance, even when the dancers are not aware of it. 

In a sequence in Central Park in New York City, a group of cops try to contain and arrest a young woman with angel wings. She is topless and has the flag of Palestine painted on her breasts. During the chase, Leonard Cohen’s “Darkness” serves as the soundtrack. 

As it turned out, the person who dropped into the seat beside me was the composer from “Raf”, which gave me an opportunity to pass on my appreciation of their film.  Another connection.

Both films are recommended.