10 Movies to See Before You Die

Becoming is part of Toronto After Dark’s Canadian Short Film Showcase. It played before Black.

Becoming is a stunningly beautiful film about a mythical woodland creature called upon to fight a battle with Man. It mixes together beautiful imagery in the form of beautiful costumes and locations, but also the beauty of movement of the short’s main character – the mythical being described by the filmmakers as “…Idolamantis, an ancient woman that moves like a praying mantis…”

Gently it paints a picture of man’s battle with nature and takes a stand on the winner. I know I’ve said this a lot, but it’s deeply, truly beautiful. Go to the official website at http://www.becomingthefilm.com/Becoming.html for more images, the trailer and more. This trailer should be seen if you can. On a big screen it was astonishing.

Hirsute is part of Toronto After Dark’s Canadian Short Film Showcase. It played before Franklyn.

Hirsute is the story of a man who is struggling to invent time travel. When he realizes that if he succeeded in creating time travel he would come back to exactly that moment to help himself, he is astonished when he actually appears. Unfortunately, the version of himself that returns is arrogant, strange and hairless creating some very uncomfortable situations.

Hirsute is a smart and interesting short film with a lot to say. It’s visually interesting and has some very fun concepts. Check out the official website http://hirsute.thesiblings.ca/news and catch a screening if you can.

Under Pressure is part of Toronto After Dark’s Canadian Short Film Showcase. It played before The Dark Hour.

Under Pressure starts out as a short film about a family sitting down to watch a movie together but it seems that someone has taped over their family movie with a movie about a boy who accidentally shrinks his mother to microscopic size on Christmas day by fiddling with one of his father’s inventions. Creating a significant divide between father and son, the boy – now grown into a young man – returns to help his father find her once and for all before his father dies of mouth cancer.

This short is pretty inventive but also pretty gross. Well done and fun I would check it out if you can, but not if you have a weak stomach.

Captain Coulier is a short film created by Lyndon Casey about a crew of a Canadian spaceship idling through space, not beacsue their warp drive or light speed or whatever is broken, but beacsue Captain Coulier doesn’t like to take life too fast. In a (very shot) 13 minutes we get to see him banter with his crew, host a ‘radio show’ (for who we don’t quite know) and get a message from his mother, which doesn’t paint a very flattering picture. The very best part about this short is that it’s titled ‘Part 1′, which excites me to no end because I would most certainly watch ‘Part 2′. Rumors indicate that this short may be optioned for a Canadian network television show, but this is unconfirmed. I really, really hope it’s true!

Check out the official site here and catch it if you can.

Toronto After Dark runs from August 14 to 21, 2009 at the Bloor Cinema in Toronto. Click here for our coverage.