Bind.

 

Top contenders at TIFF

A _ of this year’s Toronto International Film Festival

    

Angela Espinoza

Ts Toronto International Film
Festival, or TIFF, is often cited as
being, arguably, the most important
movie event in North America. Thousands
are drawn in each year to view a range

of 200-400 films, including premieres

and the best of the best from around the
world. Operating as a non-competitive
event, the award most sought after is the
People’s Choice Award — presented to the
film with the highest rating given by the
festival’s attendees. However, despite the
lack of pressure one might see at Cannes

or Sundance, TIFF is highly regarded as
officially beginning the Oscar season.
Often enough, the People’s Choice winners,
amongst others, get fair recognition at the
following Academy Awards (the last two
winners were Precious (2009) and Slumdog
Millionaire (2008)).

The 2010 People’s Choice Award went
to The King’s Speech, a co-production
between the UK and Australia. The film is a
period piece about King George VI (Colin
Firth) overcoming his stammering disorder
with the help of speech therapist, Lionel
Logue (Geoffrey Rush). Best Canadian
First Feature Film went to The High Cost of
Living, about a budding romance between
an expecting mother (Isabelle Blais) and
a drug dealer (Zach Braff). Best Canadian
Short Film was awarded to Les Fleurs de
V’ge (2010), an eighteen-minute piece about
a summer day in the lives of various school
children, Best Canadian Feature Film went
to Incendies, directed by Denis Villeneuve
(of Polytechnique (2009) fame). Based
on Wajdi Mouawad’s acclaimed play, the _
story tells of twins (Mélissa Désormeaux-

Poulin and Maxim Gaudette) whose mother
has just passed away; they venture to the
Middle East to learn of their mother’s past,
making a startling discovery. It has already
been selected as Canada’s entry for Best
Foreign Language Film for the 83" Academy
Awards. Prize of the International Critics
(FIPRESCI Prize) for the Discovery went to
Beautiful Boy, starring Michael Sheen and
Maria Bello. Sheen and Bello play a married
couple on the verge of separating — until they
hear their son has caused a mass shooting at
his college and committed suicide.

FRPRESCI Prize for Special
Presentation went to L’Amour Fou, a
documentary about the life and death of
fashion designer Yves Saint Laurent and his
lifelong relationship with industrialist Pierre
Bergé. People’s Choice Midnight Madness
Award was given to Stake Land, about
a group of survivors amongst a vampire
epidemic taking a road trip across America.
Finally, People’s Choice Documentary
Award went to Force of Nature: The
David Suzuki Movie, chronicling the life of
Canadian environmentalist, David Suzuki.

TIFF took place from September 9-19,
showcasing 258 features and 81 short films.
With the cinematic disaster that has been
this past summer (save for obvious Oscar
contenders Inception and Toy Story 3),
TIFF 2010 has been the desperately needed
sunlight over the dead and cold terrain that
was movie theatres everywhere. While not
all the films were People’s Choice winners,
many of the other highly praised films will
see wide recognition over the next few
months.

Get ready to be part of the action ahead
of time when the Vancouver International
Film Festival arrives September 30. Several
of this year’s TIFF entrees will be shown,
from serious contenders, such as Incendies
and Beautiful Boy, to amusing pieces like
LA. Zombie.

The King’s Speech

 

 

Firmly grasping ‘The Virginity Hit’

A cuming-of-age story for the YouTube masses

By Angela Espinoza,
Arts Reviewer

his weekend saw a number
of rather dull movies to pick

from. Zack Snyder directed
his first children’s film (insert laugh
track), Legend of the Guardians. You
Again brought us another pointless
“we’re dumb women acting like
dumber teenage girls’ flick, plus
Betty White. Then of course, we had
The Virginity Hit.

How many of us saw the trailer
or commercials and thought, “this
is just one more movie about horny
teenagers’? Well, you’re all half-
right; before I continue, The Virginity
Hit is really just a 90-minute, twelve-
dollar YouTube video. You can’t say
that about all shaky-cam movies,
mostly because they’re usually horror
or sci-fi, so we have our fiction factor
set up.

It’s a mockumentary, about four
New Orleans boys in their late-teens
who take a hit from their special
bong every time one of them loses
their virginity; thus, The Virginity
Hit. This is the first five minutes of
the movie, but don’t walk out just
yet. Over the course of the film,
Zack (Zack Pearlman), Jacob (Jacob
Davich), and Justin (Justin Klyne)
go to great lengths so their friend
Matt (Matt Bennett) can finally
get his freak on. Through various
expositional moments, we learn
Matt’s had a difficult life; amongst
many other things, losing his mother
(Susan LaBreque) to cancer. Zack,
who is constantly filming, shows us
the hilariously pathetic ventures they
must endure as Matt gradually inches
closer to manhood.

What is essentially an entertaining
character study turns flat when, after
their epic adventure, they cop out for

 

a sappy ending. It’s a perfect example
of being so predictable, it was nearly
unpredictable; it turns a great story
into one of many other high school
movies.

The interesting thing about the
film, though, is that it’s a great (albeit
uninspired) period piece. Earlier this
year I wrote a review about Kick-
Ass where I discussed some of the
techniques used to make it a ‘modern
day’ film. The Virginity Hit almost
does it better, because we’re not
constantly hearing the words ‘eBay’
and ‘MySpace’ as way to prove a
point; these are just the fictional lives
of average people. The world sees
their lives because Zack constantly
uploads his videos to YouTube.

With the characterizations,
only two of the four leads (Zack
and Matt) really have anything to
offer — and that’s because they’ re
two more Jonah Hill’s and Michael
Cera’s. The other fifty teenagers we
see in the film are simply friends of
theirs; they serve no purpose. Then
comes the question of whether the
kids are just being themselves or if
they’re all good actors. In the case
of Matt, I have a feeling he was just
sick of being on horrifically bad
Nickelodeon shows. As for Zack,
he was discovered after posting
an embarrassing YouTube video
about himself (Repressed Memories
(2008)).

In conclusion, The Virginity Hit
is a teen sex comedy targeted at our
specific generation. It’s got some
great moments thanks to writers
Andrew Gurland and Huck Botko,
and it makes for a fun weekend
movie with friends or a partner.

A