Ruben Östlund's sophisticated, wickedly funny, and intriguing dissection of masculinity, gender roles, marriage, and relationships is irresistibly alive, uncomfortable, yet absolutely clever. Östlund's psychodrama follows a couple and their kids in a ski vacation somewhere in France, but the couple's relationship is severely tested by an avalanche that will trigger their inner demons, as well examine their moral dilemmas.

It's like Bergman's Scenes from a Marriage meets Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf with special participation of Haneke's cold precision. Ostlund creates a very warm, emotionally explosive atmosphere even if it's set in a cold, snowy setting. You can't help but squirm and laugh with the characters as well as question your own morals when watching the film. The actors are…

TIFF 2014 Film #3

Reason for pick : Peter Strauss recommendation based on buzz at Cannes.

Guys … we’ve all been there before. You make one ‘teensy’ and she never lets you forget it. Alas, sometimes, well, most times .. ok, all the time we deserve it.

Swedish director Ruben Östlund takes a look the topic of gender roles, reflexes, instinct, honor, and what society expects of us in the face of a sudden crisis. What makes Force Majeure special is how Östlund shifts between tragic and hilarious with such ease, constantly keeping you off balance. Just when you think you’re catching a break, a swift punch to the gut is delivered.

The comedy is blacker than black, and the…

That man cry was… horrendous. Really horrendous. A couple with two kids is on a winter sports vacation when on the second day of their skying trip, they have settled for a nice meal in an outdoors restaurant and a controlled avalanche is initiated. That controlled avalanche, however, turns out to be less controlled than it was intended and it almost manages to hit the diner place. Of course the family of four is scared as hell, but when the snowy fog has settled, mother notices that daddy has run away with his gloves and mobile phone, leaving them behind at risk. Some would describe it as an act of cowardliness, others as an abandonment of his family and yet…

What do I even say about this? This is one of those movies that mostly consists of conversations but is more intense than most psychological thrillers could ever hope to be. The cinematography, sound design, performances, and especially the writing make it just feel like an inescapable path towards some terrible thing. We have no idea what, but the feeling is inescapable. It's a movie that is impossible to take your eyes off. Every moment, every frame is important and filled with some kind of anxious dread.

Wikipedia says it's a comedy; I didn't find one thing funny at all. It's closer to a horror film if anything; a horror film where the fear doesn't stem from a monster or…

Swedish guy having a masculinity midlife crisis meltdown while on holiday with his family... Sign me up fam!

Again, feels extremely Scandinavian in its extremely awkward humor. You just want it to end.

The direction and acting are so good that it makes this (and the rest of his movies) not only feel natural... But makes them human.

The lighting was extremely well done but at the same time very subtle, a great example is the shot of the man smoking a cigarette on the floor above them, at first glance it seems like a pretty straightforward shot but look closer and you will see it is pretty advanced lighting, he does return to this shot a few times in…

One of the few times I've really wondered what the hell the critics were thinking…

It started off reasonably well. But after an hour or so it dawned on me that, oh, is this really where the film is going? It just seemed to be setting up something so much more interesting...

I don't remember the last time I was so annoyed at characters, and not in any way that felt intentional, like it was illuminating or perceptive of the human condition. Maybe I don't have the perspective that comes from being a parent, but both the husband and the wife in this film drove me totally nuts. The thing is, I totally understand what they were getting at, but…

Eskimos can see up to 30 types of shades of white. For these people, to differentiate every tiny hue of this color represents a fundamental system of defense and survival, while for the Western men or women, who live surrounded by chroma, all kind of white mass is practically identical to the others. Sometimes, a bland and ordinary situation is the one responsible of making visible the eternal shades of gray that stain the canvas of a family relationship that, far from flaunting that bright white its members try to project to the outside world, hides inside several demons, dirt and imperfections. In order to show us that there are no happy families and to draw a picture full of…