CIFF 2007: Day Seven - Screening Madness

No rest at the fest for me on the seventh day. I caught Anthony Hopkins' Slipstream, which has its premiere on Sunday at the Music Box (Hopkins is scheduled to appear). I'll hold off my thoughts until then.

A documentary about the techniques used on detainees at prisons like Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo Bay, Taxi to the Dark Side is an infuriating look at the way the Bush administration has allowed torture through ambiguous statements of procedure for MPs. It's tough viewing, and writer-director Alex Gibney's argument uses a good amount of speculation in addition to the hard facts. There's also the problem of condoning some soldiers for the "we were only following orders" defense while condemning others (one in particular) for the same reason, and even though it states that its initial subject's story (a taxi driver in Afghanistan wrongly detained and murdered in Bagram Prison) was lost in the fallout, the man's story is lost here as well. Still, this, like No End in Sight earlier this year, is an important one.

Taxi to the Dark Side screens again on Sunday, Oct. 14 @ 2:45 p.m. and Monday, Oct. 15 @ 4:15 p.m.. Both screenings are at Landmark's Century Centre Cinema.

The first, legitimately great film I've seen at the festival, Denys Arcand's The Age of Ignorance,, (L'Âge des ténèbres) is a brilliant satire of modern life. Mirroring the widespread social loss of personal freedom is the tale of Jean-Marc (Marc Labrèche), who's caught in a loveless marriage with two daughters who, he says, wouldn't notice if he died. He escapes his dreary existence in a series of fantasies that let him act out his desires, including an affair with a movie star (Diane Kruger), multiple dreams of being an important writer, and eventually living out another woman's means of escaping from reality at a festival that celebrates the Dark Ages. The daydreams begin to become corrupted by reality, and he slowly learns to find the real means to achieving the goals his fantasies hold. It's a familiar theme but done with genuine wit and timely perceptions.

The Age of Ignorance screens again Monday, Oct. 15 at Landmark @ 9:30 p.m.

A huge surprise is Lars and the Real Girl, which was directed by Craig Gillespie, the man who brought us the lame, nearly unfunny Mr. Woodcock. Don't judge a man by his previous work, because this is a real treat. Nancy Oliver's script is a small gem full of strong, intelligent and compassionate characters, all played by perfectly cast actors. There's more humanity and compassion here than we get in a lot of high-profile, prestige films, and while the story of a man falling in love with a "love doll" could easily be played for cheap laughs, the humor is gentle and never judging.

Lars and the Real Girl screens again Saturday, Oct. 13 at Landmark @ 5:45 p.m. and opens in theaters in Chicago on Oct. 19.

--Mark Dujsik