I was having trouble figuring out how to review Insanity because it’s such a personal project. It’s less of a conventional documentary and more of an outlet for filmmaker Wendy Hill-Tout (Marlene) and her family to decompress and reflect on James Bruce Hill-Tout, Wendy’s missing and homeless Schizophrenic brother.
Every so often, an overly confident filmmaker comes along to lighten the mood around taboos. There was Josh Lawson’s comedic approach to bizarre sexual fetishes in The Little Death, then Dave Schultz’s tasteless handling of suicide and death in Considering Love & Other Magic, and now Stephen Wallis with Defining Moments, an exhausting flume of individual stories dealing with heavy subject matter (like mental health) and the writer/director’s unbearably quirky perspective.
The Rendezvous With Madness Festival, a unique collective of film screenings and live performances primarily focused on mental health awareness, takes place in various Toronto locations from October 10th – 20th. Wylie Writes’ Shahbaz Khayambashi received a sneak peek of some of the selected films.
Last Call pitches itself to audiences with an intriguing gimmick. Shot in real time, the film’s story is told from two perspectives – using a split-screen technique to divide the pair of one-take shots. However, Last Call is more than a crafty production with a trick up its sleeve.
