A pair of very different films about young men trying to find their place in a world in which male role models can be complicated premiered at TIFF this week, and both are worth seeking out when they work their way from the festival and out into the real world. In fact, both are the kind of under-the-radar flicks that fest goers would be wise to catch at places like TIFF over the star-studded disappointments.
In the Discovery program of TIFF this year sits Ian Bawa’s confident and personal “Strong Son,” the story of a bodybuilder who doesn’t say much even as his silence obviously hides deep emotion. Mandeep Sodhi is effective as Harvey Singh, an Indo-Canadian bodybuilder whose life has been shaped by images of physically fit men. His father Jagdeep (Amrit Parbhakar) raised him as a fan of wrestling, but one gets the impression that neither man spoke much about what was going on with Harvey under the muscular surface, or what his obsessions were repressing. Even before “Strong Son” gets into issues of caregiving for a struggling parent, it’s clear that Harvey hides deep feelings: A swirl of anxiety and depression that sometimes leads to bursting into tears. His life doesn’t get easier when dad’s declining health forces both to shift their day-to-day reality and confront mortality and pending grief.
The roots of this story are personal for Bawa, whose mother passed away when he was 20, forcing a relationship with a distant father. His real father even played the role in the 2019 short film that inspired this one, a movie about a South Asian dad that couldn’t have been more personal. But dad died unexpectedly, totally altering the traditional short-to-feature journey of this film, giving this project a rich vulnerability that a lot of features lack.
It’s never manipulative, finding truth in how even the most physically perfect people on earth can hide emotional imperfections through their silence. Harvey barely speaks and struggles to start a relationship with a girl at work, but we feel like we know him through the way he carries himself and Bawa’s direction. It’s a relatively simple film that works on the complexity of masculine emotion and expectations.
It helps that Bawa doesn’t ignore craft in a way that so many young filmmakers do when they make a movie instead of going to therapy. “Strong Son” is a visually confident piece of work, enhanced further by impactful sound design. There are aspects of the screenplay that still feel like one of those projects that’s caught between short film and feature in terms of storytelling, but Bawa will likely figure that out with his next film, one I’m eager to see in a few years, hopefully in Toronto.
Less directly personal, more action-packed, but just as good is Alex Liu’s wicked “God Bless You, Mr. Kopu,” also a story of a young man seeking his place in the world, but one that works more as a thriller. It’s a sharp flick that’s not quite what it appears at first, and it’s a movie with colorful characters collaborating to bring it together. “Red Rocket” star Simon Rex does his best film work since that Sean Baker movie in a project that could find a loyal audience if it gets a wide enough release.
Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi plays Mafu Kopu, a Tongan immigrant in New Zealand looking not only for work but purpose. He finds his way to a new company called FORGET, which is a pretty aggressive brand name for a cleaning product. It’s not about forgetting trauma; it’s about forgetting stains. Sure, sure. And it’s something everyone needs in their house. It’s also something that’s sold door-to-door, which is the job Mafu gets in this U.S. company.
At first, it’s disastrous, but the brand’s most successful salesman, Marco Cass (Rex), takes Mafu under his wing to teach him the tricks of his trade. Well, one big trick actually: Believe it or not, Marco literally hypnotizes those willing to let him into their living rooms, using a Zippo lighter as a totem, clicking them into a trance in which they’re willing to buy anything.
Marco uses Mafu’s Tongan background to open up an entirely new economic pipeline. People are more willing to let in someone who looks like them, so Mafu almost plays set-up man for Marco, easing possible tension before the cool cat closes the deal in his unusual way. The themes about white businessmen taking advantage of communities of color are obvious but not underlined and highlighted.
Of course, it’s all way too good to be true, and Liu drops a massive twist before his final act, one that’s hinted at but does kind of make for a script that’s a bit difficult for Liu to write his way out of. More than the twists and inevitable violence, I enjoyed the scenes of Rex and Schuster-Koloamatangi riffing off each other, utilizing the very different energies of a quiet Tongan and a slick American.
It’s also easy to sense a personal commentary here from a filmmaker who says in the notes that he cut himself off from his Polynesian heritage in ways that he regretted. It’s a culturally rich film with strong performances—Grace Palmer is also excellent as a potential love interest who works at Forget—that uses the language of a thriller to dig into culture. If it doesn’t all come perfectly together, it’s still riveting to watch it spin apart.
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