VICTORIA
SPECIAL PRESENTATION D: Sebastian Schipper. Germany. 138 min. Sep 16, 5:30 pm Ryerson Sep 17, 1:15 pm, TIFF Bell Lightbox 2. See tiff.net. Rating: NN
A young Spanish woman (Laia Costa) meets some guys at a Berlin dance club, hangs out with them for a while and winds up as their wheelman in a bank robbery – all in real time, in one unbroken shot.
Some judicial trimming would have helped tighten Victoria’s narrative and better serve Costa’s compelling performance and her fizzy connection with Frederick Lau’s ambiguous thug.
Instead, it’s an experiment that only works in fits and starts.