TIFF 2014: The Editor Review

The Editor

Midnight Madness

A loving homage to lesser, shoddier made giallo films of the 70s and 80s, The Editor finds its greatest strength in pulling together a lot of small details together that film nerds will love, but that others might not find as amusing.

Once one of the world’s greatest film editors, Rey Ciso (co-director Adam Brooks) was driven to the brink of madness by his work, leading to an unfortunate incident with a paper cutter that caused him to lose the fingers on his cutting hand. Now outfitted with a goofy looking wooden hand, he can only cut schlocky, sexy trash. On the set of his latest film, cast and crew start dropping like flies on grey velvet and Rey looks to be the prime suspect.

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The Editor

If you don’t understand Italian cinema of the era, especially genre cinema, The Editor’s charms will be lost on you and there won’t be much of an attraction. However, if you love oddly dubbed actors, curious mood lighting, bad acting, silly movies within a movie, and catchy synth scores, there’s plenty to love about this joint from the Canadian Astron-6 collective.

Brooks and collaborator Matthew Kennedy, who previously worked together as two of the directors of the American exploitation film piss take Father’s Day. This film has the same strengths and weaknesses despite a different style being employed. It’s a bit too long, sometimes going for long stretches without a joke before suddenly deciding to get crazy again, and few people other than the already initiated will understand a great chunk of it.

Still, the commitment to utter weirdness is something I can appreciate and the fondness for elaborate throwaway gags (including a hilarious face ripping scene and the inspired appearance of Udo Kier) is highly commendable. I really like it. I really like Father’s Day, too. But you really need to like the films being parodied to get enjoyment out of this, which I guess is a sign that despite the goofy nature of the production, they certainly treat their intended audience as equals and not unwitting rubes.

Screens

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Thursday, September 11th, 11:59pm, Ryerson Theatre

Friday, September 12th, 9:15am, Scotiabank 3

Saturday, September 13th, 6:15pm, Scotiabank 4


SPiN TORONTO - A Ping Pong Social Club

Thanks to SPiN TORONTO for sponsoring our TIFF 2014 coverage.

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