AN ISLAND (Vincent Moon). 50 minutes. Subtitled. Saturday (March 12), 3:35 pm.
CANADIAN MUSIC WEEK FILM FESTIVAL Friday and Saturday (March 11 and 12) at the TIFF Bell Lightbox Box. canadianmusicfest.com/filmfest. See Indie & Rep Film. Rating: NNNN
Parisian filmmaker Vincent Moon inspired a minor revolution with his Take-Away Shows for French music website La Blogotèque, a series of spontaneous one-shot performance clips that apply cinéma vérité principles to the music video format.
Teaming with eight-piece Danish band Efterklang for what is billed as an “abstract documentary,” Moon proves that his style is just as suited to feature length. Filmed over four days at an island off the coast of Denmark, An Island is a stunning ode to music and its role in community and identity formation.
Though Moon’s spontaneous fly-on-the-wall handycam work is meant to capture the authenticity of the fleeting moment, there’s a distinctive authorial voice at work.
Mesmerizing digital footage of the island’s scenery and expository dialogue are intercut with sweeping live performance scenes set in the band members’ elementary school gym, high school auditorium and, in the film’s best set-piece, with their parents in their original practice space.
It’s the perfect accompaniment to the eloquent grandiosity of Efterklang’s music.
