Vanguard Mascot Battle Contender #3

Pew! Pew! Pew! Splosions! Wonder!

It's that time again. The time when the most coveted award in all of TIFF is up for the taking.

We are talking about, of course, Vanguard Mascot Battle, in which several people, insects, animals and even inanimate objects compete for the coveted title of Official Vanguard Blog Mascot.

Our final contender is going to have some rough competition with the chicken and Once and Future Vanguard Mascot Joe Swanberg.

The chicken has all the powers of a chicken and a pedigree traceable to the age of the dinosaurs. Joe Swanberg has all the powers of being a good sport and probably deserving better than being drawn into our Mascot Battle, but he probably doesn't know since he's directing/acting in/producing fifty movies simultaneously right this moment. But that doesn't detract from the might of our next contender...

Name: Iconic Director Bruce McDonald's Iconic Cowboy Hat.

Also Known As: Bruce McDonald's Cowboy Hat; "Man, what a sweet hat."

Description: Straw cowboy hat, well-worn, with a lot of character.

Strengths: Protecting from the sun's glare and other bright lights; Preventing sunburn on the scalp; Looking pretty sweet; Biding.

Weaknesses: Strong winds; Possibly moths or carpet beetles; Definitely goats; Being inanimate.

See how happy the cowboy hat makes Bruce McDonald? We could all be this happy.

Signature Moves: Setting; Being cocked; Reblocking; Going really well with a men's shirt with a floral design, especially if it's embroidered by one's pa.

Why Bruce McDonald's Cowboy Hat would make a good replacement Vanguard Blog mascot for the Giant Novelty Pencil from the Keswick Pencil Museum in Ben Wheatley's Sightseers:

Bruce McDonald's Cowboy hat is equally inanimate and yet has far greater stature than the Giant Novelty Pencil from the Keswikc Pencil Museum. It has a quiet dignity that we can all admire. It could easily contain the Midnight Madness blog's isopod and at least distract the chicken. The only real challenge to the hat is Joe Swanberg. Will Swanberg's acting skills allow him to successfully wear the hat--or will the cowboy hat seem to wear him?

The hat isn't in Bruce McDonald's Hellions, but you can feel its presence... 

DER NACHTMAHR Premieres Tonight!

I like movies. Do you like movies? I like movies.

Put on your raddest rave outfit, "borrow" your parents' car and don't forget your homunculus, symbiote or parasitic twin, because they are going to want to see Der Nachtmahr's premiere tonight, too!

I'm not an homunculus, but can I come?

What is Der Nachtmahr, besides a German word for "Nightmare?" Well, we're glad you asked. Allow Vanguard programmer Colin Geddes to explain:

Secret raves, drugs, and late nights are par for the course for sixteen-year-old Tina (Carolyn Genzkow) and her friends on the decadent Berlin party scene. When Tina passes out at a party one night, she assumes it was just a side effect of her wild lifestyle — that is, until a mysterious creature begins haunting both her dreams and her waking hours. Tina struggles to make those around her see the thing, but to no avail, and as she becomes ever more unsettled and manic, her parents are forced to get her psychiatric help. But as the little beastie seems to lurk around every corner, she is forced to overcome her fears and forge a bond with the monster.

Did you say "forging a bond with a monster?" I'm coming, too!

And before you go, make sure to see the amazing creature sketches AKIZ sent us and read Vanguarder Leslie's interview with him.
 

 DER NACHTMAHR Screening Times:
Thu. Sept 17, 9:00PM BLOOR HOT DOCS
Fri. Sept 18, 12:00PM SCOTIABANK 3
Sun. Sept. 20, 6:00PM SCOTIABANK 14

EVOLUTION Premieres Tonight!

I like to think that Evolution exists in the same world as Peter Strickland's The Duke of Burgundy. It has the same gorgeous cinematography, a similar focus on the natural world. But where The Duke of Burgundy presented a world of female scholars and scientists, in which the only male voice was that of a mole cricket singing on a recording, in Evolution, there are no adult men. There are only boys. The film takes place on an island populated only by young boys and female care providers performing mysterious experiments on them.

We have a teaser now, and it looks gorgeous.

Perhaps, if we are lucky, there will be a mole cricket here and there.

Meanwhile, on another part of the island, mole crickets and lepidoptery lectures.

EVOLUTION Screening Times:
Mon., Sept. 14, 9:30pm at RYERSON
Wed., Sept. 16, 4:30pm at BLOOR HOT DOCS CINEMA
Sun., Sept. 20,  8:30pm at TIFF BELL LIGHTBOX

Be A Part of TIFF's First Ever Online-Only Film Screening!

Are you ready for the future? A sleek world of well-fitted space suits and very sensitive robots who might be sensitive enough to tire of our endless, selfish organic demands? Because we have a future right here--one that won't rise up and replace us.

The future is now with Short Cuts Re/Mix. On September 16 (Eastern Time Zone), for one 24-hour period, you can tune in digitally to a program of curated short films. Ticket sales start on Sept. 10 and run through Sept. 15. The tickets are $10 (CAD) and there are only 500 slots. 

Or as TIFF.net puts it:

On Wednesday September 16, for 24 hours, TIFF is conducting an experiment: our first ever online-only screening. We've curated a selection of international short films that are playing at Festival. The screening will include an exclusive Q&A roundtable with the films' directors. But you don't have to be in Toronto to see it – just log in and be a part of Festival from wherever you are.

You can watch a TIFF screening right from your home--in fact, wherever you might be! In a gloomy girls' boarding school. On an island populated only by boys and female medical professionals. A world of Madstaches and chickens. Even some alternate reality that is only populated by festival-going mole crickets, who are too sad to go because films make them so happy they can't help singing in the theater. And even mole crickets now that's just inconsiderate. But I digress.

"Honey, let's invite the mole cricket over to watch Shortcuts Re/Mix!"

Click through for more details.

Happy Birthday, Werner Herzog!

A belated happy birthday to one of our favorite filmmakers, Werner Herzog! And since we've been talking about chickens quite a bit lately, celebrate here with Herzog reflecting on the stupidity of chickens.

 

If only he would make a documentary about mole crickets...

'We love you, Werner," the mole cricket sings.

Listen to THE DUKE OF BURGUNDY Director Peter Strickland's "The Len Continuum"

"Darling, I'm off to the Lepidoptery lecture." "I think I'll stay home and listen to 'The Len Continuum.'"

Did you enjoy Peter Strickland's The Duke of Burgundy at Vanguard last year? Or maybe his tribute to giallo and sound design, Berberian Sound Studio, which premiered at Vanguard? Do you wish you could enjoy more dramas by Peter Strickland? Well you're in luck--Strickland has a radio drama "The Len Continuum" airing on BBC Radio 4. It features Toby Jones (Berberian Sound Studio) and it sounds plenty promising.

The debut for radio by the critically acclaimed British filmmaker Peter Strickland, writer and director of cult films Berberian Sound Studio and The Duke of Burgundy.

Sometime in the early eighties, struggling actor Len is increasingly overshadowed by his wife Alice's successful career in local radio. As his bitterness grows, he comes by a chance to finally prove himself.

Surreal soundscapes and black humour with Toby Jones and Belinda Stewart-Wilson.

Will there be mole crickets singing? Listen to find out.  You can listen to it on the Radio 4 site for another three weeks.

Hope you enjoy the show, everyone!

The Vanguard Blog Mascot Battle Winner Announcement!

Well jabrones, it's been a harrowing few days. We dropped Benson, Moorhead, and the mole cricket on an island with nothing but a match, a rubber band, a party size bag of M&Ms (plain, if you're curious), and a bowling ball and set them loose in a battle...TO THE DEATH. Okay, not actually. But only because that would be really, really expensive. We mean, as much as we here at the Vanguard Blog would love to just be dropping directors and insects on islands left and right, we have our expenses to think about. Cats too. Children and significant others? Maybe.

Enough shenanigans! It's time—finally—to announce the winner of the 2014 Vanguard Blog Mascot Battle. Who will come out on top?! Why do we still not know the best breed of cat for lifting?! Why does the mole cricket look so adorable in his boxing gloves? At least one of these questions we can answer and we will do it right now! RIGHT EFFIN' NOW!

But first, let's recap our intrepid contenders. You know, to draw this out as much as possible.

Justin Benson is apparently a respectable skateboarder and we're pretty sure he told us he also does yoga. Does he have what it takes to knock the other contenders out of the running?! DO THOSE TOWEL CONSERVING SKILLZ REALLY PAY THE BILLZ?! 

While we admire Aaron Moorhead's ability to put on sunglasses whilst lifting cats, we wonder how he held up in this battle to the death. Maybe the age old question of "cat versus towels: which is better?" will finally be answered! 

The mole cricket is just so damn cute. Lookit those boxing gloves! Ehehehehehehhehehehehehe. \

Or maybe last year's victor, Joe Swanberg, will somehow use his unstoppable charisma to reach all the way from Chicago and snatch the title back?! It's anyone's game at this point. Do you have any idea who will come out the victor?!? Neither do we! Oh, yeah. Wait, yes we do. The winner of the 2014 Vanguard Blog Mascot Battle is....

 ...a pencil?! A giant novelty pencil? Wait, but that's no ordinary giant novelty pencil. That, friends, is the giant novelty pencil from the Keswick Pencil Museum in Sightseers! How did this happen, you say? Sightseers was from 2012, you say?! Can a pencil even win things, you say?! Listen, that giant novelty pencil transcends all space and time and is also super practical, because you can write notes with it, use it as a weapon, maybe even a door stop. Tina and Poppy understand where we're coming from, right guys?

Seriously, what could be better than that pencil?! 

This has been the 2014 Vanguard Blog Mascot Battle. Congrats to all of our contenders but, sorry, not sorry, this pencil is really rad and we wish we had one and doesn't it look great in a crown? Deal with it. AND IN ONE YEAR WE WILL RETURN WITH THE NEXT VANGUARD BLOG MASCOT BATTLE. EXCELSIOR!

(PS - if anyone were to know of the location of such a glorious pencil (and not one of those barely larger than normal sized ones Amazon sells, pfft, please inform Siân immediately. Thank you.)

DUKE OF BURGUNDY Twitter Buzz!

There's only one more screening of The Duke Of Burgundy. We've shared an interview with director Peter Strickland. We've shown you the beautiful poster. We've shared some reviews. And we've discussed mole crickets at some length. But if you're still not sure if it's a movie for you, maybe you'd like to read what some other people who saw it think.

THE DUKE OF BURGUNDY Final Screening:

Monday, Sept 8th 3:15 PM SCOTIABANK 12

Vanguard Blog Mascot Contender #3: The Mole Cricket!

Pew! Pew! Fireworks! Confetti!

Just when it seemed like it was all settled. Just when the helicopters had been deployed to retrieve Spring's Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead and relocate them to the mysterious island on which they will battle for Vanguard Mascot Supremacy, everything's changed.

There's a new contender in town and he brings the regards of The Duke Of Burgundy...

Name: Mole Cricket

Also known as: Gryllotalpa gryllotalpa; "Aaaaah!"; and "What the hell is that?!"

Description: Brownish with a lighter underside; heavily plated head, forelimbs and prothoroax; mole-like digging claws.

 Strengths: Digging; Singing; Flight; Biting.

Weaknesses: Not a strong jumper; Winter; Curry.

Signature moves: Digging; Long Whirring Call; Stealth Attacks; Mole Cricket Fist

Finishing moves: Creeping people out; "Mole Cricket Exits The Cave" Stance.

Why the Mole Cricket would make a good replacement Vanguard Blog mascot for Joe Swanberg:

The Mole Cricket looks cute in boxing gloves. He is the contender most likely to be able to defeat the Midnight Madness Isopod mascot, if it came to a thrown down. The ability to enrage golfers alone is enough reason for the Mole Cricket to become the Official Mascot. Mole Crickets are also bound to become an indie film sensation just like Joe Swanberg.

DUKE OF BURGUNDY Press Round-Up!

"Should we go into town to see a film?"

 There's one more screening of The Duke Of Burgundy and maybe you haven't quite decided if it is for you. Here's a little round-up of reviews to help. We like to help.

At Little White Lies, David Ehrlich has a nice review of The Duke of Burgundy, writing, "Peter Strickland's sapphic giallo dream is a tied-up and twisted masterpiece."

And adding:

A few minutes into Peter Strickland’s The Duke of Burgundy, the matron of a gorgeous European estate pulls her maid into a bathroom and pisses into her mouth. That’s the exact moment when it becomes clear that these two women are deeply in love with each other.

Perhaps the major discovery of this year’s Toronto International Film Festival, The Duke of Burgundy is a Certified Copy riff for the S&M crowd, Strickland’s third feature cementing his status as a world talent while also assimilating shades of early Fassbinder and a diffuse (but palpable) giallo atmosphere into its cheeky exploration of relationships and their performative nature

At Screen Daily, Allan Hunter writes, "The Duke Of Burgundy is a complex, melancholy romance in which love is sustained by negotiating the limits of desire and understanding the expectations of your partner. It is an odd, original and beguiling work."

 Robbie Collin writes at The Telegraph:

In the same way Strickland’s last film, Berberian Sound Studio, invoked the black gloves and curdled screams of giallo horror without actually making a home for itself in that genre, The Duke of Burgundy draws on the sexually charged European chillers of the late 1970s, by directors like Jess Franco and Joe D’Amato – it operates at the same kind of sex-dazed remove as Vampyros Lesbos or Lorna the Exorcist, although here, that forbidden creaminess comes spiced with very British humour.

 Jordan Hoffman writes at The Guardian:

The Duke of Burgundy will have its detractors. But this is not just a filthy movie. It's a considerable work of art, and one that touches on a rarely discussed side of human sexuality completely free of judgement. You may be surprised to find shades of your own life in Evelyn and Cynthia's fragile relationship.

Meanwhile, Culture Addicts looks at the soundtrack by Cat's Eyes:

Cat’s Eyes have created a compelling atmosphere which beautifully showcases [Rachel] Zeffira’s classical leanings and [Faris] Badwan’s darker side, while drawing previously invisible arcs between Verdian Requiems, Phil Spector pop, and Paul Giovanni’s Wicker Man.

 Unfortunately, I can find no reviews of Peter Strickland's mole cricket 7".

Sorry, little guy.

THE DUKE OF BURGUNDY Final Screening:

Monday, Sept 8th 3:15 PM SCOTIABANK 12

THE DUKE OF BURGUNDY: Our Friend The Mole Cricket

Hi, everybody!

When we interviewed Peter Strickland, director for The Duke of Burgundy, he revealed that his favorite insect was the mole cricket and his favorite insect sound is the mole cricket's call. And it became clear to me that the heart of The Duke Of Burgundy is not European Erotic Cinema or even the complex negotiations of human relationships. It's mole crickets.

Things to know about mole crickets:

Mole crickets are in the same order (Orthoptera) as crickets, grasshoppers and leafhoppers of various kinds, but their family (Gryllotalpidae) have developed specialized--and kinda adorable if you look at them a long time--claws for digging. Their rear legs are adapted for helping them push through the ground.

They are nocturnal, omnivorous and hibernate deep beneath the ground in the winter.

Mole crickets might not be strong jumpers, but they can fly, making them a terrestrial, aerial and subterranean triple threat.

As adults, mole crickets are classified as "big-ass"--growing up to an inch and a half or 3-5 cm.

"I am at the heart of cinema itself."

According to Peter Strickland, golfers and golf course grounds keepers despise mole crickets. My own internet research bears this out.

Male mole crickets create swank dens for female mole crickets to lay their eggs in. The dens act as a resonating chamber for the male's call.

via Listen To This Noise as is the video below.

And mole crickets make this sound:


Learn more about mole crickets--and love--and loving mole crickets tonight with The Duke Of Burgundy. And make sure to pick up one of Strickland's recordings of mole cricket song if you get the chance!

THE DUKE OF BURGUNDY screening times:

Saturday, Sept 6th 10:00 PM TIFF BELL LIGHTBOX 1
Monday, Sept 8th 3:15 PM SCOTIABANK 12

SPRING: Does Supernatural Love Work?

Ah, young and/or ancient love...

In the Vanguard program guide, Spring is described as "Before Sunrise with a supernatural twist in this tale of an American backpacker in Italy who falls in love with a beautiful young woman harbouring a dark, primordial secret."

And that love does certainly look nice in the picturesque still above. But I have said before that relationships with dead girls just don't work and so I'm a little concerned. Maybe she's not dead. Maybe she's not a vampire. After all ancient tomes and grimoires on vampirism don't mention anything about molting.

[The Vanguard Blog does have an extension collection of Dark and Infernal Books, Tomes, Grimoires and Codices dedicated to many subjects including vampirism, Ryan Reynolds and mole crickets ~The Editor]

Molting can be hard on a relationship

These vampires need napkins, but they're definitely not molting.

Though vampire David Bowie does seem to molt a bit in The Hunger and that didn't work out for him at all. He ended up in a box stored in Catherine Deneuve and Susan Sarandon's attic.

Does not work out at all.

It's quite possible that the woman in Spring is some sort of natural spirit and there is something like a huldra situation going on. That did not go well in Thale, but as Christopher Walken says, you'd always know how someone with a tail felt.

She's feeling "disturbed while creepily reading about human anatomy."

Maybe the woman in Spring is some kind of veiny ghost who molts a little now and then. I mean I've seen the most beautiful ghost ladies have some issues.

This ghost lady is having several issues.

Or she could be a disturbing post-modern Galatea, a woman made as a gift for another, like the Bride. That one ends in a murder-suicide.

She's alive, alive--and dead two minutes later.

But it's possible that I'm too pessimistic about supernatural love. I mean, it worked out in The Ghost And Mrs. Muir. The widowed Mrs. Muir has a lovely life with her ghostly beloved whom only she can see.

It's not creeping if he's a ghost and not a vampire. Also, if he's Rex Harrison.

And Macarena Gómez' character in Dagon got her happily ever after despite her "dark, primordial secret." Sure, there were some rough patches on her road to happiness, but what relationship doesn't have those?

A rough patch.

See if it works out for those crazy kids (and that dead bird) when Spring premieres tonight!

SPRING screening times:
Fri., Sept 5th, 6:00 PM, BLOOR HOT DOCS CINEMA
Sun., Sept 7th 7:00 PM, SCOTIABANK 4
Sat., Sept 13th, 3:15 PM, SCOTIABANK 3

 Macarena Gómez without tentacles in SHREW'S NEST:

Thu., Sept. 4th, 8:45 PM, SCOTIABANK 2

Fri. Sept. 5th, 3:00 PM, BLOOR HOT DOCS CINEMA

Sun., Sept. 14th, 6:30 PM, TIFF BELL LIGHTBOX 2

And enjoy some non-molting vampires in WHAT WE DO IN THE SHADOWS:
Fri. Sept. 12th, 11:59 PM, RYERSON
Sat. Sept. 13th, 9:30 PM, SCOTIABANK 12
Sun. Sept. 14th, 3:45 PM, SCOTIABANK  3