Toronto - Courtesy of generous support, I’m being enslaved to write reviews - and loving every reel of it - for the short fest this year. The official selections are a good mix of experiments and those that were designed to woo the crowd. With each segment that I’ve attended so far, I’ve recommended 3 beforehand, in case the reader breaches into the spoilers. Most of the films can be found floating around - I’ve gathered what I could in a short time between tea and coffee.

“Crime and Punishment”
Terminus. Chief. How much do you love me.

The crime and punishment selection consisted of some good-natured hate against your husband, neighbors, nature, or just sheer Murphy’s Law. It seems that the theme was crime does pay. With the exception of Chief, everyone can get away with assault, corruption, murder, or double murder. But it might just be the nature of the media.

For comedic measures you need to wait until the end of the selection to see How much do you love me. I guess the main attractions would have been Down the Road (a priest’s past catches up to him, and he repents not) or The Second Line (where trash, social caste, racism, rage, and literally everything is OUT in the open as people pick up their lives after Katrina). But I didn’t find these the type of “crime” that I was looking for.

Terminus is probably the most original piece. Various pieces of architecture and furniture acquire Kafka-ish life force and we’re initially forced to presume guilt on the characters. It makes you wonder about the justice system and democracy. Watch as Cement and his ilk torments people - professional bullies who will not stop until the target is down, permanently. Why, you ask? Don’t bother - that’s the beauty of it. Ask the Akihabara dude why he killed 7 and injured dozens or why the Washington Shooter killed? We’re no longer sure who’s guilty of what anymore. Contrasting this modern hype of random crime is the old cliche of Chief, where one’s path is crystal-clear - only the acceptance is difficult. Even though as the movie progressed you are sure that the little girl would be the Samoan Chief’s guiding light, you had no idea until the very end that he would dessert his selfishness and follow. At the end of the night, you’ll just have to give yourself to the elements and see what type of punishments your crimes have led you to.

“The Great Escape”
Shaman. The Funeral. The Long Journey Home.

The escapes assembled here were quite trippy. Pulsions might be a bit too experimental for me to fully understand. The Tel Aviv produced Yom Hafifa (Another Day) was a little too perfectly portrayed that I found myself wondering if these characters were 10 years-old (perhaps from Tomboy the day before?)

I found the most fitting film here was Shaman, a deluge of oil colors that washes onto your retina, sweeping you out to an Inuit ride. You could literally squint and see a bit of Impressionism, and the story was compelling enough to keep your attention. I even found it enjoyable to take flight elsewhere and imagine other characters with the available canvas.

On the same animated side was The Long Journey Home, inspired by a 13 year old whose sickness became loneliness. The animated style reminds me of a lot f the Flash animations floating on the internet but this was exquisitely polished. Don’t be fooled - from the story to the style, this short was designed to charm your heart. And it did that very effectively, almost as soon as I found out that this is a true story. Then there was the tale of a comedic funeral. The Funeral, which was screened at Sundance Film Fest, casts all the activities of a wedding into its equivalent in a funeral. If you think about it, it’s entirely true - your funeral is your last escape. It’s a contradiction - how can the star of the show be 6ft under, unseen and unheard? I guess there’s always the obvious wedding and single-women-of-age type of relevance. But I find the idea of planning, not merely attending your own funeral, a cool outlet for the loss of control after death.

“Father’s Day”
Gilles’ Lily. The Foxhole Manifesto. New Boy.

Well, aside from the ladies who sat beside me who giggled beside their age, practically everyone was silenced (perhaps politely?) after Homecoming (which deals with the parent’s grief over a mentally and physically lost son). And practically everyone was uneasy after listening to a father harangue his ex-wife about brainwashing his daughter for 25 minutes (Alexandra). I would say this was not the most coherently themed selection, but the films themselves were all good, if you would take them outside of the box.

Gilles’ Lily was probably my favorite here. Spectacled, potty-mouth Elise takes the audience through her father’s struggle in searching (but not finding) inner peace with her grandpa’s Alzheimer’s disease. The backdrop is shot with a distorting lens and adds to the haziness of the memory. There’s also the great fractal lost of clarity through generations - Elise understands what her father was doing to her grandpa while Jack himself was in denial; Jack saw the deterioration in his father. Deliciously circular, Gilles correctly calls the little girl Lily (also his wife’s name) - which ends up being the only thing he remembers. A very neat, almost Tim Burton finish. I won’t go into details of Foxhole Manifesto - just spend some time and watch it. It was a poem that reflects on organized religion. And if you go to this screening, stay for New Boy. You will be quite rewarded with a lost-of-age tale. It has great contrast with what happened to Joseph’s father in Africa - here in the kids’ world, all can be forgotten and forgiven. Is this the price we paid growing up? Reflections aside, this is quite a heart-warming film.

That was a chore to read, I’ll bet. Go and watch the films!