TIFF24 Dispatch: “On Becoming a Guinea Fowl,” “Luckiest Man in America,” & “Cloud”
This review was originally posted on Film Obsessive.
The 2024 Toronto International Film Festival is underway! Reporting from TIFF24 is Film Obsessive’s News Editor Tina Kakadelis. Here, she breaks down her thoughts on Luckiest Man in America, On Becoming a Guinea Fowl, and Cloud.
Luckiest Man in America
courtesy of TIFF
As the age-old saying goes, truth is stranger than fiction. Samir Oliveros’ Luckiest Man in America exemplifies that adage as it tells the story of an ice cream truck driver (Paul Walter Hauser) who takes the 1980s game show, Press Your Luck, for over $100,000. At the time, it was the largest prize ever won during a game show, but it wasn’t luck at all. Michael Larson, always looking for the next get-rich-quick scheme, obsessively watched Press Your Luck in his Ohio home. He noticed that the board followed a pattern, and knew that if he could get on the show, he could spin his way to thousands of dollars without landing on the dreaded whammy.
The entire film playing at TIFF24, save for a scene or two, takes place in and around the CBS lot in Los Angeles where Press Your Luck was shot. This single setting creates a claustrophobic feeling, but not for Michael. He’s pretty comfortably in control of what’s happening. It’s the CBS executives watching from their eye-in-the-sky editing suite who are slowly melting down, vowing that this episode will never see the light of day. That is, until one of them says something along the lines of, “isn’t this what we’re selling?” The idea that an average person can come to the show and leave with life-changing money. Of course, what they don’t tell the contestant is the amount of taxes they’ll have to pay on their winnings.
Luckiest Man in America is more of a snapshot of that specific episode and less of the man himself. Michael Larson’s appearance on Press Your Luck is only one example of the ways he tried to beat the system. As someone who came to the film well aware of this odd scandal, there was the hope that the story would be a more retrospective look at Michael Larson the person, but given the restraints of the production, the smaller scope is understandable. The film lives and dies by the claustrophobic tension it creates to dissect the role game shows play in American culture. Luckiest Man in America works as a confined, almost-thriller-of-a-film about a man desperate to achieve the American Dream any way he can.
On Becoming a Guinea Fowl
Courtesy of TIFF
Director Rungano Nyoni’s second feature-length film playing at TIFF24, On Becoming a Guinea Fowl, may be in the running for the oddest named film at the festival. When the film begins, Shula (Susan Chardy) is driving in her car while wearing a bedazzled helmet and a gigantic trash bag over her body. Suddenly, she pulls off to the side of the road because she sees the dead body of her uncle lying there. It’s a shock to the audience, but something Shula takes in stride. What comes next is the slow unraveling of why Shula reacted so calmly to the sight of her dead uncle. Through the funeral traditions and Shula’s interactions with her family, the film’s title comes to light. I won’t spoil it here because the thrill of the realization is so lovely.
On Becoming a Guinea Fowl has been picked up after TIFF24 by A24 for distribution, and if there’s any justice, Chardy will be in the Best Actress category for the upcoming awards season. It’s a restrained performance, but what makes it so memorable is watching the rage inside her bubble to the surface. It’s not outright explosive, but the sort of build that takes the audience’s breath away. Chardy’s supporting cast feels like generations of family members we all know. The people who are loud and boisterous, who poke and pride over the smallest of details, and who aren’t always concerned with a person’s wellbeing if it negatively affects the reputation of the family.
Beneath the death of Uncle Fred is decades-long abuse that was swept under the rug by the family elders. On Becoming a Guinea Fowl is masterful in the way it slowly exposes the depth and breadth of complicity in the face of abuse. The ending comes a little too quickly, but the final moments still pack a magnificent punch. The film’s final sounds will linger with you long after the lights come on.
Cloud
Courtesy of TIFF
Kiyoshi Kurosawa‘s cyber-thriller Cloud is a reminder of just how interconnected we all are. The film is focused on Yoshii (Masaki Suda), who spends his days working at a job he hates in a factory. In his spare time, he scours the internet looking for the Next Big Thing. When he thinks he’s found it, he’ll buy in bulk and resell at an insane mark-up. Unbeknownst to him, Yoshii’s actions on the internet have made him the subject of a witch hunt. People who have been scammed by his resales or who feel like he’s cheating the system want to take him down. Suddenly, his online world becomes reality.
At its core, Cloud is a dark comedy about the ways capitalism has fundamentally altered our perceptions about work, life, and relationships. “Hustle culture” is just the 21st-century version of pulling yourself up by your bootstraps. It’s a myth that so many people buy into. That if they push a little harder, work a little longer, they too can become a billionaire. That sort of thinking keeps the working class fighting amongst themselves.
In many ways, Cloud feels like a Coen Brothers movie by way of Japan, but one almost wishes Kurosawa had leaned more into the film’s madcap sensibilities. Cloud also teases a potential supernatural subplot at TIFF24 that never comes to fruition, nor does it ever reach the frantic frenzy it so easily could embrace.
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