Despite an interesting premise, The Corridor delivered a mediocre horror experience with a scant few shocks. After spending several years in a mental institution following the death of his unbalanced mother, Tyler invites four childhood friends to the family cabin in the Canadian wilderness for a wake. After scattering his mother’s ashes, Tyler begins to have visions of a room in the forest surrounded by shimmering walls. In an attempt to prove he’s not insane, Tyler shares his experience with his friends. This time the it appears as a long corridor. Soon after the men start acting strangely then eventually psychotic even homicidal. The performances ranged from average to of the film, nothing memorable. While not a terrible script, it exhibits nothing particularly original or exemplary. The boring film feels very much like a first movie, full of potential that ultimately fails in its boredom.
Based on Jo Nesbo’s bestselling book, the taut, intelligent Headhunters reveals the secret art thief identity of successful corporate headhunter Roger Brown (Aksel Hennie). Initially just a well crafted caper film, unexpected plot twists morph the story into something completely different yet equally fascinating, culminating in a creative, surprising, and satisfying conclusion. Hennie delivers a pitch perfect performance, perhaps the best of the festival, as the unlikable lead, replete with inferiority complexes and disgusting displays of arrogance. Director Morten Tyldum superior handling of scene and action produces a top flight, edge-of-your-seat thriller. Ripe for a remake, see Headhunters before the inferior American remake hits theaters.
For his first feature Carre Blanc, director/screenwriter Jean-Baptiste Léonetti chose an Orwellian near future with absurdist views on totalitarianism. The mercifully brief (77 minute), bleak, and beautiful film opens with a series of seemingly unrelated non-sequiturs before delving into a more conventionally structured story. After watching his mother jump to her death, Phillipe attends a school with other orphans where he soon attempts suicide. Flash to the adult Phillipe as a ruthless businessman, putting applicants through strange, sometimes painful tests. His marriage to Marie, who saved him as child, is now estranged. The government supplies the soundtrack to everyone’s live through a series of continuous audio loops promoting childbirth (“Under 12? You can be inseminated. Even without your parent permission.”), an unexplained sequence of numbers, and coverage of croquet tournaments. In the nearly brainwashed society, the upper classes literally eat the poor. The tragic, richly emotional tale is particularly telling in light of the current EU economic crises. No matter what else, Carre Blanc promises you’ll never look at croquet the same way again.
