CIFF 2007: Day Two - Stuck Premiere

Mena Suvari

Stuart Gordon's Stuck premiered last night at Landmark's Century Centre Cinema. Darkly comic and sometimes gruelingly gory, the film is a study of the lengths to which (stupid) people in an apathetic society will go to save their own asses.

Gordon, actress Mena Suvari and screenwriter John Strysik were in attendance and held a Q&A after the screening.

"People always ask why I have such a bleak outlook on life," Gordon said. "I'm a Cubs fan."

The film is inspired by the real story of a woman who struck a man with her car and drove home with him stuck in the windshield. Suvari plays the woman; Stephen Rea plays the man, whose bad day keeps getting worse.

Suvari, who worked with the director previously on Edmond, said that she and Gordon "share a similar interest in the dark side."

Why a real-life-inspired story? "The things that people do to each other is more horrible than anything that can happen in a horror movie," Gordon said.

He and Strysik are working on another stranger-than-fiction tale, Strysik said: A script based on Chicago Columbian Exposition serial killer H.H. Holmes.

Stuck plays again tonight, Oct. 7, at Landmark at 10:30 p.m. and Friday, Oct. 12, at the Music Box at 10 p.m.


Suvari and Stuart Gordon

Also screened:

Esteban Sapir's visually exhilarating The Aerial (La antenna) is a loving homage to the silent film days. Featuring direct references to many silent era favorites, the film tells the story of a city that has lost its voice and the evil television station that's planning to do worse to the population. Using old-school techniques (with some modern flourishes), Sapir tells a relevant allegory of the dangers of the Information Age.

The Aerial will screen again tomorrow, Oct. 8, at Landmark at 3 p.m.

Also visually enticing is Kôichi Chigira's Brave Story, an anime about a boy's travels to a fantasy world. The movie looks fine, but the population of humanoid animals and the story's role-playing structure are too familiar.

Brave Story plays again on Sunday, Oct. 14 at Landmark at 12:30 p.m.

--Mark Dujsik