Film

If you have ever thought ballet dancing is all about young girls and pink frilly tutus, then think again.

This film, directed by Norwegian documentary producer Kenneth Elvebakk, follows the journey of three childhood friends all vying for their collective dream of becoming a successful professional ballet dancer. Originally released in 2014, this film was part of this year’s International Festival of Films on Art.

When Jesus brought Lazarus back to life, everyone called it a miracle. Leave it to the cool, hip, nerdy medical researchers (Mark Duplass and Olivia Wilde) to start playing god and all hell breaks loose, including the fact that they should not be playing god according to the chair board.  Science and religion are the two common motifs used in horror films, so why should The Lazarus Effect not use them to their advantage. This supernatural horror film directed by David Gelb (Jiro Dreams of Sushi) and produced from the team behind The Purge and Paranormal Activities.

Anastasia or Ana (Dakota Johnson) has already met the man of her dreams, Christian Gray (Jamie Dornan), when she awakes in his bed after he “rescued” her from being drunk at a club. Ignoring the red flags of his already insatiable desire to control her actions, her thoughts and her life, on her bedside table instructive notes are arranged as a faint evocation of the vials Alice comes face with in Wonderland. Even on a level of subconscious, we understand the written commands on paper as an invitation into the world of perversion and secrets, and it is a journey that Ana willingly undertakes - or so it seems. This initial moment of accepting fantasy, of diving into the abyss of sexual discovery are very quickly discarded.

"...filled to the brim with a whole bunch of really Drake-y ideologies."

Michael Mann’s Blackhat opens with a heavily computer generated map of the internal workings of a city nuclear power plant. Shifting perspectives, rushing along power lines and electrical circuits we are thrust into a complex interior system. As we rush into the final moments of the sequence, the lines finally run a blood red before exploding: this sets the scene for an international hacker thriller in which technology becomes a mirror for the human body as well as society itself.The incredible digital landscape of the opening sequence soars like the Beyond the Infinite sequence in 2001: A Space Odyssey - but tactile, mechanical and fragile.

 “From far away you look like an artist, but up close you’re nothing”, a line from Tim Burton’s new film, Big Eyes, that could come to describe the trajectory of his career. Throughout the 80’s and 90’s he established a reputation as the kind of auteur situated comfortably between the demands of art and commerce; meaning he could adapt all sorts of brands to the screen, whether they be a comic book (Batman), television show (Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure) or even trading card (Mars Attacks!), all while maintaining a distinctly personal touch arisen from gothic horror, expressionism, animation and mid-20^th century kitsch.

With Halloween just days away, it’s time to settle in for some cold nights and some good horror. While you can never quite go wrong with classics of the genre, whether Universal monsters, 80s slasher or contemporary torture porn, part of fear and part of horror is diving into the unknown. While Canadian cinema does not have a particularly strong reputation in the minds of its citizens, Canada has always had a flair for genre cinema and horror in particular. Maybe it’s the history of surviving the unknown and often frightening elements, as well as the detached sense of dislocated identity associated with being so close to United States.