180 Degrees
Where: Odeon
When: Today, 9:30 p.m.
Rating: Two-and-a-half stars
Although similar in structure to Paul Haggis's Oscar-winning ensemble piece Crash, Cihan Inan's drama about tragedies that befall disparate characters in Zurich, framed by the aftermath of a disgruntled civil servant's act of violence against his co-workers, has a distinct Swiss personality. Its one-dimensional casualties include a Swiss teenager struck by a handsome couple driving home from a dinner party; her grieving mother, a nurse whose husband is being pursued by an attractive student; and a hot-headed Turkish father forced to re-evaluate his choices when his son suffers life-threatening injuries.
While the film's plot contrivances, circumstantial coincidences and extraneous narrative details can be irksome, Inan makes a compelling statement about how everything we take for granted can be lost or damaged in an instant. His crisp direction, haunting imagery and several fine performances help make up for some of the more eye-rolling developments, with this troubled city emerging as a character of its own, percolating with sexism and racial tension.
Work in Progress
Where: The Vic
When: Tonight, 7 p.m.
Rating: Two stars
Chris Overing is a man obsessed. So is Bill Stone. With what he hoped would be the patience and perseverance of a Buddhist monk, Overing, a novice stonemason from Nun's Island, Que., undertook the massive challenge of manually building a stone wall without mortar in rural Quebec 10 years ago. Stone yes, that's his real name was so intrigued, he decided to chronicle Overing's labour of love in a documentary. He didn't realize how much Overing under-estimated the work involved in building a dry stone wall one metre high by one metre wide and almost two football fields long.
Eight weeks turned into years as Overing gathered, stacked and chiselled rocks weighing up to 150 kilograms with assistants trained in this historic craft. The unforeseen delays frustrated both builder and filmmaker, whose creative expectations and attempts to unearth the deep significance of such an undertaking were dashed. It's a fitfully fascinating film with some colourful characters, but an experience that, truth be told, becomes as exasperating as the laborious task it documents.
The Visual Language of Herbert Matter
Where: Empire Capitol 6
When: Tonight, 7:15
Rating: Three stars
You needn't be an art or graphic-design authority to appreciate Swiss artist and filmmaker Reto Caduff's revealing portrait of Herbert Matter, the "unexplored missing link to the art history of the 20th century." Although somewhat stilted at the start, Caduff's tribute is a clean and visually striking model of Swiss precision, underscored with fine jazz, as he offers a crash course on the Swiss artist, photographer, designer and filmmaker you might not have ever heard of, but whose works you will surely have been affected by. Caduff, who narrates, journeys from Matter's beginnings in Engelberg, Switzerland, to New York, deferring to art critics, family members, historians and Matter's contemporaries. They help put into broader perspective the achievements of this influential mid-century creative genius, best known for his pioneering use of photo-montages fused with typography, iconic Swiss travel posters of the 1920s, design of the New York World's Fair 1939's Swiss pavilion and eye-catching imagery for magazines from Harper's Bazaar to Arts and Architecture. Highlights include Caduff's judicious use of archival footage, copious artistic references and rare excerpts from the visual innovator's films. Enlightening stuff.
