disappointment media
  • Home
  • Reviews
  • Interviews
  • The Snake Hole
  • About

[TIFF 2022] STORIES NOT TO BE TOLD -- An Anthology Film That Would Have Been Better Off Untold

9/9/2022

0 Comments

 
Review by Sean Boelman
Picture
Image courtesy of TIFF.
Everyone knows that film festivals value their alumni — filmmakers who are willing to come back time and time again with their high-profile premieres. However, this can sometimes result in less-than-stellar movies being included in a festival lineup. That is the case with Cesc Gay’s Stories Not To Be Told, a horrid Spanish anthology film that might be one of the worst movies TIFF has ever selected.

Telling five supposedly “comedic” interconnected stories, the movie’s issues begin with the fact that all of the characters are pretty detestable people. The official festival description of the film describes it as “awkward and sardonic” with “flawed characters,” but in reality, that’s code for the fact that the movie is about a bunch of people who are absolute pieces of shit.

The first story starts out decently enough, exploring a love triangle between a woman who has fallen out of love with a man that desperately wants to keep her, and the new guy who appreciates her for who she is. Granted, the short-form nature of the film prevents it from saying anything interesting about the patriarchal structure of relationships, but it is inoffensive enough.

However, it is in the second story that things begin to go off the rail. This portion follows a man who, unbeknownst to him and to the dismay of his friends, falls in love with a trans woman. Yes, it is exactly as transphobic and regressive as it sounds, and while it may have been Gay’s intention to satirize the people who hold this outdated belief, it is ineffective at doing so.
Picture
Image courtesy of TIFF.
Indeed, one of the supporting characters in this segment even points out the fact that their actions might be wrong, but another character defends it as sticking up for his pal’s “best interests” and everything continues as normal. And again, because of the short length of the segments, there isn’t a whole lot of time for them to learn a lesson about the error in their ways.

It’s really a shame, because Alex Brendemühl gives a legitimately good performance in his role as the down-on-his-luck loner in the movie who finds unexpected love. He’s also maybe the only character in the film who isn’t to some extent annoying or a total asshole. However, the people around him are so overwhelmingly bad that he cannot thrive.

It might just be the residual anger from the second segment, but the remaining three aren’t particularly good either. Although nothing ever matches the offensive nature of the second segment, none of them are particularly entertaining either. Exploring kinks, age gap relationships, and people who are being cheated on, these are things that we have seen dozens of times — just a stupider version of it.

It likely wasn’t purposeful, but the title of Stories Not To Be Told perfectly describes what should have happened with this production. One of the stories is offensive, and the others are plain boring, making this a movie you should skip this TIFF.

Stories Not To Be Told screens at the 2022 Toronto International Film Festival, which runs September 8-18.

​Rating: 1/5
               
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Archives

    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019

    Authors

    All
    Adam Donato
    Alan French
    Camden Ferrell
    Cole Groth
    Dan Skip Allen
    Jonathan Berk
    Joseph Fayed
    Josh Batchelder
    Paris Jade
    Rafael Motamayor
    Sarah Williams
    Sean Boelman
    Tatiana Miranda

disappointment media

Dedicated to unique and diverse perspectives on cinema!
  • Home
  • Reviews
  • Interviews
  • The Snake Hole
  • About