Toronto Stories (2008)

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A taciturn young boy slips off a plane at Pearson and glides by customs agents, effectively forming the connective tissue for this journey through the city of Toronto as he makes his way through a city that still seems decidedly uncertain of its own identity. Aaron Woodley's "Shoelaces" gets things… More A taciturn young boy slips off a plane at Pearson and glides by customs agents, effectively forming the connective tissue for this journey through the city of Toronto as he makes his way through a city that still seems decidedly uncertain of its own identity. Aaron Woodley's "Shoelaces" gets things off to a poetic start by telling the tale of two kids who are emboldened to take a late night tour of the Don Valley after dodging a local bully. The second tale, an anti-romance directed by Sook-Yin Lee and entitled "The Brazilian," paints Toronto as a city where it's difficult to make connections, and nearly impossible to sustain them. Things begin to get gritty as a man named Elton attempts to turn over a new leaf while finding that the past isn't easily forgotten in Sudz Sutherland's "Window," and draw to a close in David Weaver's "Lost Boys," a brooding drama that finds an unstable, drug-addicted vagrant pondering how he can be of any help when he spies a suspicious character abducting the wandering boy from the beginning of the film. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi