Igor's vibesite

Unexpectedly captivating and hyper-local: 8/10

I learned about this film almost by accident: from a Reddit post where the author urged people to go see it. The best way to watch this movie about Toronto, they wrote, is to see it in a Toronto cinema in a room full of Torontonians and experience the full spectrum of emotions.

And it’s true.



This obviously low-budget film (what is two million dollars by modern standards anyway, pfft!) unexpectedly becomes completely absorbing almost from the very start. Edgy documentary-style camerawork, scenes that are clearly unscripted in places, a jump from the CN Tower, Back to the Future-style time travel... What? Yes!

The hidden-camera scenes skillfully woven within fictional events are so surprisingly immersive. When ordinary people suddenly appear in the middle of a sci-fi plot, it feels unusual. I have watched many films, but I cannot recall such an effective (and efficient) symbiosis anywhere else.

Furthermore, while I have been quite indifferent to height, depth, or speed on screen for many years, damn it, the scene walking out onto the edge of the tower caused genuine vertigo. I don’t want to spoil anything, but that is not the only insane (how did they film that?) scene involving the CN Tower.

The time travel subplot works perfectly thanks to the source material: the original Nirvanna was a completely amateur web series filmed by the creators in 2008. It is so "lo-fi" that it cannot be legally published anywhere because the copyright situation in it is so dire. However, a wealth of footage from that era proved useful for conveying the spirit of the time in the feature film.



The film was a hit during the Midnight Madness screenings at TIFF 50 and only recently entered wide release. Initial ratings are encouraging—it has over eight points on IMDb and over 90% on Rotten Tomatoes. It is hard to say how much this film will impress anyone abroad (the creators believe hyper-locality is currently in vogue), but—and this is not just my assessment—it captures the vibe of the city very successfully. For those who have lived here for a long time, the historical references are even more likely to resonate.

Echoing the thought from the beginning of this post: if you live in Toronto, the film is just as much mandatory viewing as Scott Pilgrim vs. the World. And if you are around while it is still in theaters, I definitely recommend going to a screening.