Alternative TIFF 2010 Picks: #20. Sergei Loznitsa’s My Joy

Date:

#20. My Joy

Director: Sergei Loznitsa
Cast: Viktor Nemets, Vlad Ivanov, Maria Varsami, Vladimir Golovin, Olga Shuvalova, Alexey Vertkov, Yuriy Sviridenko
Distributor: Rights Available.

BuzzI’m happy to see TIFF and NYFF programmers include this difficult film among their lineups, cuz if you like “the road less traveled” roadtrip type of movie, then you’ll want to venture into documentarian Sergei Loznitsa’s first narrative feature — one of the highlights of my Cannes experience this year that actually got panned — perhaps because it was so non-conform and psychologically messed up.

The Gist: The story about a few days in the life of truck driver Georgi seems to be a never-ending nightmare, a spiral of violence and abuses of power. A man goes to work and on his way he is sucked into the everyday madness of his country, losing his health and memory in the process and ends up as a murderer, who calmly lies down to sleep after committing the crime. A dark parable about the situation in deep Russia today.

TIFF ScheduleSaturday September 11 6:15:00 PM VARSITY 7
Monday September 13 2:15:00 PM AMC 4
Sunday September 19 8:00:00 PM JACKMAN HALL – AGO

 
Eric Lavallée
Eric Lavalléehttps://www.ericlavallee.com
Eric Lavallée is the founder, CEO, editor-in-chief, film journalist, and critic at IONCINEMA.com, established in 2000. A regular at Sundance, Cannes, and Venice, Eric holds a BFA in film studies from the Mel Hoppenheim School of Cinema. In 2013, he served on the narrative competition jury at the SXSW Film Festival. He was an associate producer on Mark Jackson’s "This Teacher" (2018 LA Film Festival, 2018 BFI London). He is a Golden Globes Voter, member of the ICS (International Cinephile Society) and AQCC (Association québécoise des critiques de cinéma).

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