TFCA talks about "Limits of Control"

This Friday, May 29, at 7 PM, the Cumberland Cinemas will host the inaugural edition of “TFCA Presents,” a new series presented in partnership with the Toronto Film Critics Association. TFCA President Brian D. Johnson, film critic for Maclean’s, and Eye Weekly critic Adam Nayman will be on hand to present and discuss Jim Jarmusch’s latest film, The Limits of Control, which will be entering its second week of release at the theatre. The critics will introduce the film and then host a question-and-answer session with the audience afterwards.

The series, which is expected to run roughly once a month, was devised with several goals in mind. Besides affording TFCA members an intimate new platform to discuss worthy local releases, it gives audiences the chance to put faces to the bylines of film critics they read every week—and to add their own voices to the fray. TFCA critics will take turns hosting the event.

The Cumberland’s commitment to screening the best of international and art-house cinema made it a natural partner for the TFCA, which broke from the mainstream earlier this year by giving its 2008 Best Film award to the independently produced drama Wendy and Lucy (which made its Toronto premiere at the Cumberland). Given its polarizing reception among critics, The Limits of Control—an auteur film that stars Isaac de Bankole as a taciturn hit man stalking unknown prey through a series of picturesque Spanish locations— is an ideal title for discussion.

“The best films are like unfinished conversations, that you’re dying to resume as soon as the lights come up,” says Johnson “With ‘TFCA Presents,’ we want to create that opportunity. The poetic intrigue of The Limits of Control—a drama that’s willfully oblique and open-ended—is an ideal choice to launch this new initiative of taking film criticism off the page and into the theatre.”

“We are hoping to create an ongoing dialogue with the audience,” says Graeme Maitland, Operations Manager of the Cumberland Cinemas. “We present a variety of smaller films that sometimes get lost in the fray of Hollywood blockbusters. We feel they deserve to be recognized for their artistic achievements, and the partnership with the TFCA is the perfect way to move towards this goal. It is our hope to develop this into a monthly event where people can interact with the presenters and with each other. It is a perfect venue to strengthen Toronto’s film-watching community.”