Everlasting Love (DIR. Marçal Forés)

By: Addison Wylie

Everlasting Love is a depressing time at the movies.  It’s not scary, all the characters are unlikable, and it slowly shuffles to its grisly finale.

With its familiar theme of cruising in an eerie world, I’m reminded of Stranger by the Lake.  Though I didn’t particularly like Alain Guiraudie’s slow burn, his film has an edge on Everlasting Love.  Stranger by the Lake had elements of conviction in a faceless getaway where anything could (and would) happen.  All Everlasting Love has is a bunch of people who have seen other arthouse horrors and wish to do nothing more than to emulate them.

Marçal Forés’ horror film follows a teacher and his naive student Toni, and their extracurricular intimate relationship.  Though much of Everlasting Love is supposed to be erotic, the teacher-student romance is not portrayed as a turn-on, which is a mature move.  It isn’t pleasant to watch, but it starts affecting our experience to find something to enjoy in Forés’ work.  Maybe that was the point.  If so, the filmmaker has succeeded a little too well.

Stranger by the Lake was trying to say something worthwhile while also striving to creep out the audience.  Since Stranger by the Lake didn’t work for me, Marçal Forés’ shallow Xerox copy of the acclaimed favourite was even more guilty of being dead in the water.

Catch Everlasting Love at Toronto’s Inside Out LGBT Film Festival on:

Monday, May 25 at 5:15 p.m. @ TIFF Bell Lightbox

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Those People (DIR. Joey Kuhn)

By: Shannon Page

Jonathan Gordon plays Charles, a young painter who is obsessed with his wealthy and privileged childhood friend, Sebastian (Jason Ralph) in Those People, the first feature length film by director and writer Joey Kuhn.

The tension between the two friends is believable, engaging, and incredibly well acted.  Gordon has some serious talent and brings an almost overwhelming amount of energy and depth to Charles, despite Kuhn’s occasionally uninspired dialogue.  Besides the on-screen chemistry between Ralph and Gordon, the dramatic and classically inspired score composed by Adam Crystal is one of the most notable and praiseworthy aspects of the film and adds a sense of grandeur to the tiny, intimate moments between characters.

Those People certainly isn’t perfect.  The central ideas of friendship and loyalty certainly come through strong, but it is never completely clear how much is at stake for the characters.  To make matters worse, even for a film with a runtime of only 86 minutes, the pace is on the slow side and may have more than a few audience members checking their watch.

However, the camerawork is atmospheric and visually compelling enough to keep the audience invested even when the pace begins to lag.  Thanks to its deliciously claustrophobic cinematography, Those People is worth checking out – despite its imperfections.

Catch Those People at Toronto’s Inside Out LGBT Film Festival on:

Friday, May 22 at 7:00 p.m. @ TIFF Bell Lightbox

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Click here for more festival details and to buy tickets.

Related Links:

Review of Grandma

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