Welcome to the first of two capsule reviews I am doing for the San Francisco International Film Festival! If you read our curtain raiser, you’ll know that one of the areas of focus I highlighted was Canadian films that showcased at SFFILM. Without further ado, let’s take a dive into how Canada represented at the America’s longest running film festival.
40 Acres – dir RT Thorne
Final Rating: 3/5
Starting with the premise that a fungal outbreak has killed off most livestock across the world causing arable land to be the most valuable resource available, 40 Acres follows a mixed family of black and indigenous folk who defend a farm that’s been in their family since the American Civil War from cannibals.
Setting aside my questions of how a fungus that kills most animals doesn’t also kill humans or at least kick off the plot of The Last Of Us, this dystopian survival film has the best elements of The Walking Dead, The Purge, and The Quiet Place while being headlined by a tough as nails Danielle Deadwyler.
Part of 40 Acres’ strength comes from how it wears its influences and ideology on its sleeves. The obvious titular allusion to the failed policy toward black Americans aside, the children in the film name drop the Proletarian Pocketbook and Octavia Butler’s climate change novel Parable of the Sower. During one sequence where the kids of this mixed black and indigenous family train in gun handling, they shoot old smartphones. And of course we have a pretty clear ideology of its protagonist in isolationism to protect her family, partially driven by her own intergenerational trauma.
They pursue this to the point of even letting crops go bad because they don’t want to invite others in to help them harvest it all. Of course this is challenged and eventually refuted at the film’s climax as the film asks the question of how are we supposed to survive without other people, even in a world that wants to literally eat you alive.
For the film’s strengths in vision and what it’s trying to say, there are a few minor quibbles I have. Personally, I found the pacing a bit slow, particularly in the middle where the son of course battles with his hormones when he encounters a mysterious girl, the first outside of his family that he’s seen and overall the film probably could have been maybe 20 minutes shorter.
The action is also a bit uneven; while lead Michael Greyeyes has a cool sequence repelling home invaders, other sequences feel a bit cheap, for a lack of a better word. Nonetheless, for fans of the dystopian survival genre (which admittedly I am not particularly), this is a welcome addition to the canon, particularly if you are looking for one with a more diverse voice behind it.
The Track – dir Ryan Sidhoo
Final Rating: 2/5
As someone who spent way too much time defending the inclusion of breaking at the 2024 Olympics (which by the way was won by Canadian Phil Wizard), I’m no stranger to following stories of hopeful athletes looking to make a name for themselves. Doubly so when the athlete in question comes from a disadvantaged background, overcame obstacles, and is competing for something larger than themselves. I mean it’s the basis of a lot of great sports anime. Even if I myself am not a participant in said endeavor, if you can convey what about the sport is meaningful and how much work went into competing, I can easily be bought hook line and sinker.
All that being said, I came in really wanting to enjoy The Track (which not only showed at SFFILM but also Hot Docs), but sadly was left wanting. Set in the build up to the 2022 Winter Olympics, it follows the underfunded luge team from Bosnia and Herzegovina, led by coach Senad Omanović as they work to compete on the world stage. He and his proteges train at the titular track that was built for the 1984 Sarajevo Winter Olympics, though not before working to do the repairs themselves as it has fallen into disrepair since the Bosnian war of the 90s.
The war hangs over much of the film with archival footage and architectural landmarks remaining; the young lugers also face the question if they too will leave the country for better opportunity. While this has the makings of a great documentary, the film sadly commits the fatal sin of tell not show – a lot of this is conveyed via exposition, as opposed to letting us sink into the vibes of stagnation among the younger generation. Likewise, we are told, rather than shown, that Senad has had to maintain the track with his own money.
Frustratingly, I’m not even sure we ever really learn how or why the current crop of athletes got into the sport in the first place. This makes the final climax, when Mirza Nikolajev does indeed make the Olympics, somewhat lacking emotionally.
Where the film does take your breath away is when it chooses to let the sport of luge shine. While we don’t perhaps get a true breakdown of the sport for beginners like me to understand the nuances of how to be great at the sport beyond weight control, the scenes of speed as they zip down the track contrasted against the forest around the track is exhilarating. In particular, the first person footage of Nikolajev as he qualifies for the Olympics with every turn smooth as butter was mesmerizing.
Ultimately, I think had the film either tightened up to be a short film under 45 minutes, or perhaps given a bit more depth into the challenges both coach and athletes overcame and mastered, this could really have soared just as brilliantly.
Endless Cookie – dir Seth and Peter Scriver
Final Rating: 4/5
Read Jeff Bulmer’s review of Endless Cookie from Hot Docs.
I actually watched Endless Cookie back in January when it premiered at Sundance; however due this also being in the midst of Oscars watching season, I didn’t have time to write about it until now. Thankfully, showing at both SFFILM and Hot Docs has given me a chance to do so, which is all the better since this was probably the best film I’ve watched from any of those film festivals.
Animated by Peter Scriver (who’s co-directorial feature film Asphalt Watches won Best Canadian First Feature film at TIFF 2013), the film largely comprised of audio recordings between Scriver and his half-Cree half brother Seth’s family. Flying into the remote northern Manitoba community where Seth lives, what presumably is meant to be a compilation of old stories Seth tells about growing up and the differences in their upbringing is constantly interrupted by various family members and dogs, with some stories being told and retold over the course of production.
However rather than excise these interruptions out for the cleanest takes, they are left in which adds a real charm to the film and truly brings the family and the community they are a part of to life. While the stories seem generally unrelated, rambling, mundane, and seemingly nonsensical, there is an authenticity to them with the vibes of just hanging out with your buds and going “hey remember that time when…”, which I think is a universal experience we can all appreciate.
Of course you can’t talk about this film without mentioning Scriver’s charming character designs. The best description I can think of would be something akin to late 90s Adult Swim animation, which is incredibly high praise in his inventiveness. I think given that most animation is meticulously planned out in advance before execution, and how this film was the opposite of that, being constructed as he made repeated flights up north to record, makes it all the more impressive. I’m almost mad I watched this on my phone in bed before my rental period ended, as I didn’t have time to really soak in the detail and creativity behind each design.
I’m not sure if there is an overall story or moral you’re supposed to take away from Endless Cookie. Or more precisely, I don’t know if the Scriver brothers intended there to be one. I don’t know if it’s meant to be about more than just their own family’s tales being taken down as an oral history to be shared with the world, or a larger commentary on various issues.
But while generally I find films that aren’t trying to say something and don’t have a point of view to be lacking, here I don’t. I think at the end of the day, the uniqueness of the film – in its animation, its structure, its production, its stories – in and of itself will give meaning to it, and it’s up to the viewer to decide what that is. Giving me something to chew on over and over in my head, much like how we retread the same family stories but never get tired of them? Now that’s an endless cookie.
Endless Cookie was not the only film from Sundance that showed at SFFILM! Tune in to my next post where I go over three more Sundance debuts that showed at SFFILM.
Many thanks to SFFILM for the screeners to these films.
