VIFF: Slumming

There's a lot happening here, and this has become the first film I have seen at this year's festival that I actually want to see again. It's a film of sadness sprinkled with good humour and redemption. Is an unintentional good deed still meritorious?

Standing around with festival goers after the film, there were many theories regarding the cast of characters and their motivations and the meanings of their actions. Ranging from freudian psychology to Catholic theology, intents and motives were assigned to people and places. How much of the transformation of the characters can be attributed to religious icons or forces outside of themselves? I like to view this film as more of a direct, non-representational study in how actions can cause unintentional effects well beyond the immediate.