FEBRUARY: Director Profile: 5 Questions for Oz Perkins

Premiering at TIFF tonight, February tells the story of three young girls who are intertwined by a dark, malevolent spirit that is plaguing them. Kat (Kiernan Shipka) is a quiet young girl who has been left at her prep school because her parents mysteriously never showed up, but she makes due by trying to befriend the elusive (and good-smellin') Rose (Lucy Boynton). Far away is Joan (Emma Roberts) who commences a blood soaked voyage to the school, with her motives unclear to the audience until the very end.

February is the debut feature for writer-director Oz Perkins, who although has never sat in the director's chair before, is no stranger to the film industry, working as a writer, actor and editor on several different pieces. I got the chance to chat with him about horror, movies and writing horror movies. (It's really all that I ever concern myself with.)

Richelle Charkot: What attracts you to horror? 

Oz Perkins: The dark glamour; the raw emotion. The fact that horror is all about that which is hidden from us which is far more interesting to me than all that we can see and know and understand. 

RC: What were some of the challenges with shooting February?

OP: It was extremely cold, with a two week prep. 

RC: Who are some of your favourite creepy girls in horror movies? 

OP: Sissy Spacek in Carrie, Eli from Let the Right One In and Catherine Deneuve in Repulsion.

RC: If you were in charge of a late night double-feature at a theatre, what two movies would you play?

OP: Eraserhead and Don't Look Now. 

RC: Can you name some films that first attracted you to the idea of writing and directing a horror film?

OP: The Shining, Let the Right One In, Don't Look Now, Rosemary's Baby, The Strangers, Psycho, Repulsion.

FEBRUARY screening times:

Monday, Sept. 14th, 6:45 PM SCOTIABANK 9
Friday, Sept. 18th, 6:45 PM THE BLOOR HOT DOCS CINEMA

LOVE: Arthouse Meets Pornhouse: Previous Explicit Art Films

In anticipation for Gaspar Noé's 3D film Love, which follows the encounters of a man, a woman and another woman, it only seemed appropriate to look back at some of our other favourite steamy art films.

Shame (2011) 

Directed by Academy award winner Steve McQueen, Shame follows Brandon (played by Michael Fassbender), a man in the depths of his sexual addiction while living alone in the city. When his confused young sister (Carey Mulligan) arrives for an indefinite stay, he is forced to address his issues.

Last Tango in Paris (1972)

Is there anything more notorious than the butter scene in Last Tango in Paris? Bertolucci's infamous film follows a young Parisian woman and an American businessman and their relationship based purely on sex. Last Tango is still talked about decades later by critics who often seem totally divided, but it still remains as one of the most referenced and debated films ever.

In the Realm of the Senses (1976) 

Realm is a re-telling of the circumstances involving Sada Abe, containing unsimulated sex scenes between many of the actors. Sada Abe works as a maid in a hotel, where she is violated by the owner. The two begin an affair that is rife with sexual experimentation, which ends in drastic violence.

Stranger by the Lake (2014)

Where to begin with the very provocative Stranger by the Lake? Following the affairs of Michel and Franck two men who frequent a cruising spot for young men, and featuring several scenes of unsimulated oral sex, this movie will make anybody blush.

LOVE screens:
Tue, Sept 15, 8:45 PM RYERSON
Thurs, Sept 17, 6:00 PM TIFF BELL LIGHTBOX

DEMON Director Profile: 5 Questions for Marcin Wrona

Marcin Wrona is an extremely strong presence in the European entertainment industry, with experience in film, theatre and television directing, as well as screenwriting and producing. He first gained notoriety in film school for his short film Magnet Man, which was featured in several film festivals and highly decorated in its festival circuit. His latest feature film Demon follows an encounter with a dybbuk, which is a demonic entity that has its roots as a part of Jewish folklore. This film promises to be an unsettling and provocative inclusion to the TIFF alumni, making it a perfect fit for Vanguard.

I got the chance to chat with Wrona about his work with Demon, and get a little glimpse into his beliefs as a filmmaker.

Richelle Charkot: Where did you first learn about the story of the dybbuk? What were your thoughts? 

Marcin Wrona:  Dybbuk is part of our past, culture and history. It belonged to beliefs of Jewish communities, which used to lived Poland. Dybbuk was present in the Polish culture and theatre (famous theatre play called "Dybbuk" written by Szymon An-sky in 1914 - as a kind of scary version of Romeo and Juliet) - as a mystical phenomenon and powerful metaphoric symbol of love between life and death, soul and mind, the past and now. Few years ago I began thinking what the dybbuk could be like in nowadays. I thought this is was a great idea for a film: a ghost from the past comes back to a Polish wedding, as a provocative and uninvited guest who forces all the guest to confront with their own identity. The past that can't be forgotten and erased, because is a part of our DNA.

RC: Tell me about one of your earliest memories with expressing yourself visually. 

MW: In my early school years I had obligatory visit at psychologist who was checking how a child is skilled, what are he's natural preferences and what type of mind he has, etc. I remember I had a task given: draw something what you like. I said I like to draw, especially people faces. I also remember when in my primary school I wrote a short story about plants that talk to each other. Our class teacher suspected I had rewritten it from a novel.

RC: Why do you think humans are attracted to horror and the macabre? 

MW: I think watching a horror is like touching a primal fear. People need that kind of feeling, same like having fun. We look for different emotion so that create our emotional system and scale. I like horrors that offer more than just simple, pure fear. That's way I added more cross-genere elements to Demon.  It starts like pure genre, and than gradually becomes multilevel. I hope audience will get that vibe.

RC: From your perspective as a storyteller, do you enjoy making typically darker films? 

MW: Not really. Obviously dark stories seem to be more tempting, but each story has different temperature and mood, so a genre you use for your film depends on energy of a plot and relationships between characters. Everything begins with a story, and then consequently you decide what genre is the most suitable for that specific plot you will finally put info a cinematic frame. The main idea (core of the story) starts all the narrative elements, which are just tools; the director decides which of them are the best for the story you want to share with audience. In every sad stories I look for funny moments. In light I search darkness. The contradictions build a conflict - and viewer interest.


RC: Describe someone who is the ideal audience for Demon. 

MW: I would love to people will perceive Demon as a film which contains universal elements for international and local audience. I hope the concept itself is interesting enough for genre lovers, critics, and those who simply love cinema. Those who like cross-genre films should be especially satisfied.

DEMON screens:
Fri, Sept 11, 6:15 PM BLOOR HOT DOCS
Sun, Sept 13, 4:15 PM SCOTIABANK
Sat, Sept 19, 9:15 PM SCOTIABANK

DEMON: Polish Genre Essentials

Demon, directed by Marcin Wrona, details the classic story of the dybbuk, a Jewish legend which has haunted several stories since its creation. With the highly anticipated Demon coming soon to Vanguard, it seemed like the right time to revisit some other pillars of Polish genre cinema.

The Devil (1972) 

Directed by Andrzej Żuławski, who was no stranger to having his films banned from the country, this exploitation-level psychotic film chronicles the Prussian invasion of Poland in 1793. A man named Jakub escapes imprisonment by someone who in return wish to obtain a list of his fellow conspirators, Jakub then follows him through a labyrinthine underbelly where he learns of his father's murder and his mother's prostitution, which drives him to commit multiple disgusting acts of murder.

Mother Joan of Angels (1961)

Sharing similarities to 1971's The Devils, this Polish staple of nunsploitation follows a priest who visits a parish where a demon is believed to be wreaking havoc on one nun, but when he gets there he finds himself overcome by a world of depravity. Directed by Jerzy Kawlerowicz, this film has a scene that is one of the most deserving of iconic status, depicting several nuns sprawled around the church ground in a group exorcism, making it a must-see for fans of genre-weirdness.


The Third Part of the Night (1971) 

Also by Andrzej Żuławski, this film is further off of the horror-edge than his other work, but is equally violent and bleak. It follows a man named Michal in Nazi-occupied Poland, who while hiding in the forrest loses his entire family to a horde of murderous soldiers. Michal sees doppelgänger copies of his deceased wife wherever he goes which drives him further into a pit of madness, as this slowly paced movie falls further and further into absurdity.

Although the country is often sparse in its inclusions to the scene and many of its films cross over multiple genres and persuasions, Polish pieces are rife with political overtones and violence, likely due to a long history of upheaval in the country.

DEMON screens:
Fri, Sept 11, 6:15 PM BLOOR HOT DOCS
Sun, Sept 13, 4:15 PM SCOTIABANK
Sat, Sept 19, 9:15 PM SCOTIABANK

THE MISSING GIRL: Cast Profile

Writer-director A.D. Calvo's film The Missing Girl follows Mort, a comic book store owner who fills the void with rare pieces of pop culture paraphernalia and daydreaming about his beautiful employee Ellen. When Ellen misses work one day, Mort becomes consumed with fear that she is in danger, because of something similar that happened to him earlier in life, which is completely exacerbated when his former classmate Skippy returns to town.

Mort is played by Robert Longstreet, who has worked on several aspects of the filmmaking process and been in dozens of roles in his time, acting in films such as Take Shelter, Ain't Them Bodies Saints and This is Martin Bonner. Longstreet has been decorated with the Sidewalk Film Festival Jury award for his work in both What Happens When Robert Leaves the Room (2012) and Cork's Cattlebaron (2011), and has been nominated for multiple awards for his work.

Alongside Mort is the beautiful Ellen, played by Alexia Rasmusssen, who is perhaps best known for her role as Esther Woodhouse in Proxy, a young pregnant woman who is brutally attacked on her way home, in one of the most disturbing scenes in horror movie history. (Incidentally, Proxy premiered at Vanguard, too). Rasmussen has also worked behind the camera for the short film Silo, which follows Silo, a drunk white man who can't find his missile. She was also nominated for her work in Listen to your Heart in 2010 at the Action on Film International Film Festival for Best Actress.

And last but not least, the former high school classmate Skippy is played by Eric Ladin, who most will recognize as the ritzy brother of January Jones' character on AMC's Mad Men. Ladin is perhaps more known among avid TV watchers, as he is also a part of Big Love, Bones, The Mentalist, Criminal Minds, and several more.


THE MISSING GIRL screens:
Sun, Sept 13, 10:00 PM SCOTIABANK
Tue, Sept 15, 4:15 PM SCOTIABANK
Sun, Sept 20, 2:30 PM SCOTIABANK

The Ladies of EVOLUTION

Lucile Hadžihalilovic returns with her sophomore film, the moody body-horror flick, Evolution. Hadžihalilovic is also known for her 2004 debut film Innocence, which is based off of the Frank Wedekind novella Mine-Haha or On the Bodily Education of Young Girls. Evolution follows the 11-year old Nicholas who lives with his mother in a seaside community, where Mengele-esque morbid practices are taking place on the boys in the community, in order to stunt or prevent their evolution. The film stars the captivating and cold Roxane Duran as a nurse named Stella and Julie-Marie Parmentier as Nicholas' mother. These two women who are no strangers to heavily dramatic stories.

Before Evolution, Roxane Duran starred in the award-winning drama The White Ribbon which concerns itself with social constructs in Germany before World War I. She also starred in Le Moine, which is an adaptation of the gothic Matthew Lewis novel, The Monk, which follows Vincent Cassel as the highly-regarded Capucin Ambrosio in the midst of his eventual downfall. Duran plays Soeur Agnés, one of many people who encounter Ambrosio as he falls deeper into the wills of Satan.

Julie-Marie Parmentier, equally well-equipped in the realm of dark cinema, is a French actress who is perhaps best known for Les Blessures Assassines (or Murderous Maids), which recounts a true story of sisters Christine and Lea Papin, who after years of brutality in their upbringing, decide to kill the people they work for, after first gouging out their eyes. Parmentier won Best Actress at the Mar del Plata Film Festival for her role as a murderous maid, as well as multiple other awards and nominations under her belt.

EVOLUTION screens:
Mon, Sept 14, 9:30 PM RYERSON
Wed, Sept 16, 4:30 PM BLOOR HOT DOCS
Sun, Sept 20, 8:30 PM BELL LIGHTBOX

Mads Mikkelsen in Danish Cinema

Although many audiences know Mikkelsen as the titular character on NBC's Hannibal, or the brooding Bond villain Le Chiffre in 2006's Casino Royale, his work in his home country of Denmark is extensive and impressive, with several movies as well as a television series under his belt. 

Coming to Vanguard in the next coming days--Mikkelsen will star as Elias in the Anders Thomas Jensen-directed dark comedy Men & Chicken, a story of two brothers who seek out their father (who is known among elders as "The Wiener of Death.")

Looking for a little more Mikkelsen in your life? (But really, aren't we all?) Then check out some of his other work in Danish cinema: 

Pusher - 1996 

One of the first big roles that Mikkelsen has on his resume is as Tonny the drug dealer in 1996's Pusher. There are three movies in the Pusher series, all depicting the dark under-belly of Copenhagen. Tonny is a low-level criminal, who is deeply affected by drugs and his relationship with his cynical father.

Open Hearts (Elsker dig for evigt) - 2002

Open Hearts follows two couples who are tangled in a web of unfortunate circumstances, immediately following a car crash. Joachim is wounded by the other driver Marie in the crash, making him hospital-bound indefinitely. Marie's husband Niels (Mikkelsen) is a doctor treating Joachim, but in the process falls in love with Joachim's fiancee, and they have an affair. Open Hearts is also a TIFF alumni! 

The Hunt (Jagten) - 2012 

Mikkelsen stars as the lonely teacher Lucas, who is trying to get his life together during a lengthy custody battle for his son. When things are starting to look up finally, his life crumbles when a little girl tells a seriously damaging lie about Lucas, saying that he was sexually inappropriate to her. This film is definitely not for those who are adverse to sad cinema, but it is a captivating story with some of Mikkelsen's best work (especially during the Christmas church scene). 

MEN & CHICKEN screens: 

Mon, Sept 14, 9:00 PM SCOTIABANK

Wed, Sept 16, 10:00 PM BLOOR HOT DOCS CINEMA

Sun, Sept 20, 3:30 PM SCOTIABANK 

A look back at Lucile Hadžihalilović's INNOCENCE (2004)

Before the richly atmospheric Evolution, Lucile Hadžihalilović's provocative debut feature Innocence hit the big screens in 2004. The film is an adaptation of the short story Mine-haha or On the Bodily Education of Young Girls by German playwright Frank Wedekind, and follows the goings-on in an an all-girls school tucked tightly within a thick woods, where new students arrive in coffins. Featuring the likes of the award-winning Marion Cotillard (Inception, La Vie en Rose), this wispy examination of pre-pubescence teeters on exploitation as it peeks in and out of the skirts of young girls, and keeps hold on its audience in its surreal, dreamlike qualities.

Hadžihalilović's film was highly decorated after its premiere, winning several awards including Best New Director from the San Sebastián International Film Festival, Best Cinematography from the Stockholm Film Festival, and the People's Choice Award at the Istanbul International Film Festival.

Although the director herself as stated that she does not wish to give answers to every bit of symbolism in her movie, it allows the viewer to draw their own conclusions on what each theme means to them. Following in the ilk of being a deeply metaphoric ride with more weight placed on effective atmosphere, Lucile Hadžihalilović's sophomore film Evolution exercises her knack for submersing audiences into her unique universes. 

EVOLUTION screens:

Mon, Sept 14, 9:30 PM RYERSON 

Wed, Sept 16, 4:30 PM at BLOOR HOT DOCS CINEMA

Sun, Sept 20, 8:30 PM at TIFF BELL LIGHTBOX

LOVE First Look: Poster and Trailer

The latest film from the infamously provocative Gaspar Noé is coming to Vanguard this September, and after checking out the viciously sexy poster and trailer, we can't wait to watch this tale of a man, a woman, and another woman.

Although variations on the poster are worthy of a blush and a giggle, this film promises to be a beautiful, poignant examination of sexuality. 

LOVE screens:

Tue, Sept 15, 8:45 PM RYERSON

Thurs, Sept 17, 6:00 PM TIFF BELL LIGHTBOX

MEN & CHICKEN First Look: Poster and Trailer

Writer/director Anders Thomas Jensen returns with his dark comedy Men & Chicken, which is coming to Vanguard this September. The film follows two brothers who discover unsettling secrets about their family by seeking out their father, who is known among elders as "The Wiener of Death."

Do we have your attention yet?

Check out the trailer, complete with chickens, laugh-out-loud quick dialogue and Hannibal's Mads Mikkelsen.

MEN & CHICKEN screens:
Mon, Sept 14, 9:00 PM SCOTIABANK
Wed, Sept 16, 10:00 PM BLOOR HOT DOCS CINEMA
Sun, Sept 20, 3:30 PM SCOTIABANK