TIFF 2011: ‘Samsara’ is not to be missed
Samsara
Directed by Ron Fricke
Written by Ron Fricke & Mark Magidson
USA, 2011
Covering TIFF has been a privilege for many reasons, but particularly for the opportunity to screen Ron Fricke’s awe-inspiring Samsara. The follow-up to 1992′s breathtaking Baraka, Fricke surpasses even that great film with an effort that can only be described in superlatives, and with what sounds like hyperbole, but isn’t. Like Baraka before it, Samasra is something akin to a human-centric, arthouse Planet Earth, surveying the globe in a series of astonishing, dialogue-free, 70mm vistas, and underscored by a mixture of traditional instrumental and choral music. Fricke further demonstrates his mastery of time-lapse imagery, a technique that invests even familiar sights – say a helicopter shot of an L.A. freeway – with a hypnotic, organic rhythm. That Samsara is instantly one of the most visually-stunning films in the history of cinema is reason enough to cherish it, but Fricke and co-editor Mark Magidson achieve truly profound juxtapositions, brimming with meaning and emotion. It sounds preposterous, but it’s true: In 99 minutes, Samsara achieves something approaching a comprehensive portrait of the totality of human experience. If you’re even remotely fond of being alive, Samsara is not to be missed.
Jullian Carrington
The Toronto International Film Festival runs from September 8th to the 18th. Tickets, schedules, and other information can be found on the festival’s website.
Born in the UK, raised in Barbados, and raised in Toronto some more, Julian hasn't let his regrettable decision to drop Cinema Studies 101 prevent him from becoming a pretentious, know-it-all-film snob. He is a graduate of the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Law, but takes the fact that he achieved his highest grade in a course called ‘Law and Film’ as an indication of his true calling. Julian turned his impassioned film-related Facebook notes into a personal blog, a Healthy Disdain, in 2010, before joining blogTO, and later Sound on Sight in 2011. His favourite films include In the Mood for Love, Beau Travail, Pulp Fiction, Waltz With Bashir and Exit Through the Gift Shop. 
