Seventh Row

A place to think deeply about movies

Toronto International Film Festival

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NFB short Rock The Box **1/2: unclear intentions in promising feminist short

Courtesy of NFB.
Courtesy of NFB.

Rhiannon Rozier has a degree in political science and Latin American history, but her true passion is connecting to people through music. She is a DJ and creates electronic dance music (EDM), but she’s also a woman, working in a male-dominated genre. Katherine Monk’s National Film Board of Canada documentary short Rock the Box begins with a few fact cards backing this up. One addresses the disparity in bookings — women are employed for only 9% of EDM gigs — and another notes that of the top 100 DJs in the world only 2 are women. Rock the Box exposes a microcosm of sexism in EDM.

Monk’s camera follows Rozier around her hotel room as she prepares for a gig and she explains her history with EDM. Her make-up routine is precise and elaborate, and the same could be said of her clothing choices. Here, Monk makes it clear that Rozier’s appearance is incredibly important for her performance. By showing only moments of Rozier working on her appearance, Monk’s thesis on the sexualization of women in EDM becomes clear. Without showing Rozier’s musical preparation to balance the scenes of Rozier crafting her on stage look, Monk makes Rock the Box a film about image and the apparent sexism in what women have to do to survive in this industry.

Rock the Box
Courtesy of NFB.

What Rozier says is even more damning, and it shows the toxicity of the industry towards women. At one point, Rozier laments the earliest moments of her career when the only women that were being booked to play music were those willing to show off their bodies. After seeing this happen, she ultimately decided to join them. She donned tight clothing, altered her music to become overtly sexual, and even posed in Playboy. She considers this an act of liberation: She was breaking the glass ceiling by finally being able to make it in the industry.

Rock the Box
Courtesy of NFB

If Rock the Box were simply about the sexism of EDM, Rozier’s testimony would be enough for the picture to bear witness to a kind of “call-to-action” moment where audiences would feel outraged enough to want to bring actual change to this kind of misogyny. But when Rozier asserts that she liberated herself, it complicates Monk’s portrait of the industry’s misogyny. The film is both about Rozier’s stated empowerment and Monk holding up a mirror to sexism. Because these two ideas  conflict, the impact of Rock the Box is partially muted. The film never decides if it should damn or praise Rozier for becoming liberated in an industry that is so obviously rife with hatred towards women.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T40UlGKPUEI]

Rock the Box is screening in the Short Cuts 7 Programme of the Toronto International Film Festival.

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Ville-Marie is gorgeously dispassionate ***1/2

Ville-Marie
Courtesy of TIFF.

Guy Édoin’s Ville-Marie is a visually striking film with a curiously dispassionate core. The film, co-written by Édoin, tells the stories of four individuals whose lives intersect one night at Ville-Marie Hospital in Montreal. A European actress (Monica Belucci) is filming in Montreal to reconnect with her son (Aliocha Schneider), who is trying to finally learn the identity of his father. A paramedic with PTSD (Patrick Hivon) leans on a nurse (Pascal Bussières), who is coping with an overcrowded emergency room by burying her own traumas.

These tales of love, motherhood, sex, and sacrifice unspool against a refreshingly unsentimental background. Édoin’s long following shots and unhurried close-ups give the film a measured pace, counterbalancing its almost melodramatic plot. This aesthetic exactitude comes at the price of emotional resonance, but for a film this gorgeous, who really cares? See this and admire it, even if the stories won’t linger.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FB2WPgCyKlQ]

Ville-Marie is now available on VOD.

Read more articles about Canadian Cinema here.

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TIFF 15 Review: Mia Madre is a mediocre comedy about a female director

Mia Madre
Courtesy of TIFF

As commendable as it is that Nanni Moretti’s Mia Madre revolves around a female director who is juggling both director problems and regular life problems, the film never really hits its stride. In the midst of shooting her film, Margherita (Margherita Buy) must deal with a diva actor who can’t remember his lines (John Turturro) and her denial about her mother’s worsening illness.

Despite a few wonderful moments, like Margherita’s advice to actors that even she doesn’t understand — “You have to stand next to your character.” — and the fact that her crew never question her insane logic because she’s the director and it’s their job to follow her lead, there’s not much substance here. Moretti shows up in yet another sweater as Margherita’s down-to-earth brother who gives her emotional support and talks sense. Unfortunately, the film never hits the emotional highs or lows it’s aiming for, and the comedy is too sedate to be enough to carry the film: it’s more likely to induce silent chuckles than laughs.

Mia Madre or My Mother screens in the Special Presentations section of TIFF on Sun. Sept. 13 at 9:45 p.m. at TIFF Bell Lightbox and Mon. Sept. 14 at 9 a.m. at TIFF Bell Lightbox. For tickets and details,  visit the TIFF website here.