Shadows on the Wall | Bucking Fastard

Bucking Fastard

dir-scr Werner Herzog
prd Clara Wu Tsai, Ariel Leon Isacovitch, Agnes Chu, Kieran Corrigan, Emanuele Moretti
with Kate Mara, Rooney Mara, Orlando Bloom, Domhnall Gleeson, Brendan Conroy, Marion O'Dwyer, Hugh O'Conor, Barry Ward, Malcolm Adams, Michael Hough, Simon Delaney, Maeve Fitzgerald
release WP Sep.26 vff,
US Sep.26 nyff
26/Ireland 1h49

TORONTO FILM FEST

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A genuine oddity, this fable-like film feels like it came from Yorgos Lanthimos rather than Werner Herzog. It's based on a true story, and the iconic German filmmaker brings his distinct quirkiness to an odyssey about sisters who defiantly march to their own beat. The film crackles with charm and wit, and their tenacious quest is for a world full of love, so emotions continually catch us by surprise.

In Ireland, sisters Jean and Joan (Kate and Rooney Mara) are taken to court by Mulroney (Bloom), who wants a restraining order because they are disrupting life with his new bride. Speaking in unison, they insist that their profound love means that rules don't apply. Months later in a Dublin flat, social worker Timothy (Gleeson) is helping them better integrate with society. But they tire of the city's challenges, heading west to visit their Aunt Louise (O'Dwyer). There, local farmer McFarlane (Conroy) piques their interest with the idea of a secret tunnel to the Orkneys.

Stylistically, the film is wonderfully eclectic, set in the present day while Jean and Joan dress and live like it's the 19th century. "There can't be pictures of us on the internet," they say, "because we don't have the internet!" They do everything in sync, which leads to clashes because it's impossible to, for example, open a sardine tin with four hands. Cinematographer Peter Zeitlinger skilfully shoots this as a lush period fantasy, with fascinating flourishes that are augmented by Ernst Reijseger's thunderous string score.

Kate and Rooney Mara are extraordinary, appropriately having the time of their lives playing amusingly tandem siblings. They find tiny differences, even while offhanded remarks are completely in unison. This makes their interaction with other characters thoroughly engaging, especially when they have uncontrollable outbursts of emotion, such as their undying love for Mulroney. Supporting roles are equally heightened, but with a droll earthiness that grounds each scene.

While the spiralling plot is resolutely bonkers, the big feelings involved continually pull us in. Even the wackiest slapstick sequences have an important point to them, such as when the sisters soap the roof of the building opposite to fend off a peeping tom. And their eerily consuming passion for Mulroney is echoed in their earnest obsession with this tunnel to the Orkneys, which they imagine as a magical place where people are free to love who they love. But of course, their digging takes them somewhere they could never imagine.

themes, language, violence 2.Sep.26 vff

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