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My fourth film of this year’s festival, Cracks (2009, written by Ben Court & Caroline Ip, directed by Jordan Scott), was also pretty unremarkable. Eva Green’s performance didn’t blow me away (and now that I think of it, none of them really have since her debut in The Dreamers).

The story was not very interesting to me and the boarding school film has been done many times before, and much better. It didn’t have an emotional effect on me the way other films in this genre did, such as Dead Poets Society and School Ties, to name a couple. But it was nice and moody, with a slight element of mystery.

It was also beautifully shot, although I felt that the luscious landscapes had some more potential than was used (unless that was intentional, as some kind of metaphor for the misdirected potential of the students..?). I saw the climax of the story coming from a mile away so there wasn’t even a worthwhile payout at the end. I don’t understand why this movie had so many great reviews. I was pretty bored while watching it and also felt kind of disappointed that Eva Green’s career hasn’t seen a high point since it began with a bang. She was there, though, and pretty striking, so maybe it was worth it, after all!

Also, what’s up with Juno Temple? She was in three of the TIFF films I saw this year. I think we’ll be seeing a lot more of her in the next few years.