Southcliffe

Southcliffe holds the title this year of the longest screening I will attend at TIFF13. It's representative of the blurring of lines between cinema, television and new media. The piece was shot as a mini-series for TV in the UK, but its length just over three hours) and complexity make it a good choice for a festival like TIFF.

Set in a small "market town" in the south of England, it opens with the shooting death of an old woman in her front garden. The killing is actually one of many that afternoon and the story is revealed through a series of flashbacks and scenes set in the present. At thee beginning the shifts occur without warning and it takes a little while to dispel some confusion about when a scene exists in the timeline. Over the course of the four episodes, though, one's comfort with the approach settles, just as your understanding of the situation grows.

It's a powerful story and the first three episodes were gripping (while the fourth maintains the level of tension, the story goes in directions that I didn't think worked very well. Overall, it's reminiscent of "Blue Velvet" or "Twin Peaks", though without Lynch's weirdness.

It wouldn't surprise me if this ends up on the schedule for one of the specialty channels in cable land. Definitely worth a look when it returns.