Stephen Brown – The Sea
Section: Contemporary World Cinema
Dates: Saturday 7th, Sunday 8th, Friday 13th
Buzz: While The Sea marks the directorial debut of Stephen Brown, it’s based on the 2005 Man Booker Prize Winning novel by John Banville. And perhaps most excitingly, it provides beloved character actor Ciaran Hinds with a leading role, here playing a trouble author retreating to a seaside cottage from his youth, a place that holds many secrets, it seems. Opposite Hinds is the iconic Charlotte Rampling, a revered screen presence that’s worked with a boggling amount of cinema’s most notable auteurs. Drifting in the midst of a sea of other notable titles in TIFF’s Contemporary World Cinema program, we hope it’s not lost there, and stress that the leading performers are worth considerable interest.
The Gist: A middle-aged art historian returns to the Irish seaside village where, as a boy, he and his family spent their holidays. His visit triggers a series of memories, some romantic, some disturbing, of a summer that saw the awakening of sexuality and an unexpected tragedy.
