Spinning yarns at the Euro film fest
The U.K. is (perhaps prematurely) absent from the lineup, but there are 25 member countries represented in this year’s European Union Film Festival. In an always mixed bag, standout titles include: Finland’s One Last Deal, opening the 11-day festival on Friday (November 22); A Moon of My Own, a biopic about ’70s Swedish pop star Ted Gärdestad from A Man Called Ove director Hannes Holm, screening Tuesday (November 26); and the quasi-experimental Icelandic-Danish coproduction Winter Brothers, which was a knockout at this year’s TIFF (December 1). Here are three more titles worth noting.
THE TOBACCONIST (Germany/Austria) Is it ever wise to populate your movie with real historical figures? Whatever the answer, Sigmund Freud shuffles in and out of this German tale of a lake-country naif dispatched to Vienna by his widowed mother on the eve of the Nazi takeover. The story is frequently interrupted by the horny youth’s overtly symbolic dreams (they’re Freudian—surprise, surprise—so lots of water) while the father of psychoanalysis offers impish advice on how to score with the Bohemian hottie who dances at the after-hours bar. Meanwhile, the Gestapo is setting up shop and taking names, so you can guess how at least some of this ends. Based on Robert Seethaler’s novel, The Tobacconist is ripe for ridicule but ends up being great entertainment, provided you leave your feminism at the door. The late Bruno Ganz as Freud and the film’s splendid re-creation of 1930s Vienna help elevate its harebrained delights, placing it in the company of glossy trash like Never Look Away, which was also too fun to dismiss. Friday, November 22 (8:30 p.m.)
THE WEEPING HOUSE OF QALA
(Malta) What is with Malta? EUFF 2018 gave us the supernatural relationship drama Gozo. This year it’s an old-dark-house tale set inside one of that island’s many abandoned and crumbling estates, with a bunch of filmmakers unravelling under their various relationship dynamics. It’s hardly any more straightforward than last year’s elliptical effort, just not as style-conscious, sadly. The ending cheats on the film’s premise and spends too long by half on mood, not substance—the curse of so much modern cinematic horror on a medium budget. But here’s your one shot if it’s scares that you want from EUFF, and some clever shocks in the final stretch provide a creepyenough payoff. Monday, November 25 (8:30 p.m.)
SAWAH (Luxembourg) An Egyptian DJ takes off for an international competition in Brussels, leaving behind a Cairo in the grip of violent protests, a girlfriend endangered by her work as a news photographer, and a father on the verge of disowning his starry-eyed son. But bigger problems await the Belgium-bound Samir, a.k.a. DJ Skarab, when he’s mistaken at the border for an illegal and finds himself “at the pleasure of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg”. His confused response: “The grand douchey?” A light comedic touch and charming leads carry the film through its overly strained, After Hours–like plot, which eventually includes incompetent cops and a gang of murderous Roma. As braindead fluff, it’s likable enough, and it arrives with an odd local connection: director Adolf El Assal wrote the script with Vancouver’s Dennis Foon, whose last big credit was 2017’s Indian Horse. Thursday, November 28 (8:40 p.m.)
The 22nd annual European Union Film Festival takes place at the Cinematheque from November 22 to December 2. More information is at thecinematheque.ca/.