Toronto International Film Festival 2017: Part 2
Directions, Disappearance, The Drowning Man: Realistic about harsh conditions
By
David Walsh
26 September 2017
This is the second in a series of articles devoted to the recent Toronto International Film Festival (September 7-17). Part 1 was posted September 22.
Certain films grab you by the throat.
In the opening scene of Stephan Komandarev’s Directions, set in contemporary Sofia, Bulgaria, a small business operator, Misho, tries to prevent the repossession of machines vital for a workshop he plans to open. He has an upcoming appointment with a banker, Popov, to discuss a line of credit.
Misho drives a taxi to make ends meet. When he drops off his young daughter at school, another girl jumps in the cab. “I’m off-duty,” he explains. He has to meet Popov in a few minutes. Extraordinary tension is written on his face. Repossession and possible economic disaster loom. The girl won’t get out of the taxi. “It’s just five minutes. My grandmother is sick,” she says, or something like that.
Misho’s desperate to be rid of her and make his meeting, but the only way seems to be to drive her to her destination, a hotel. Suddenly, she’s changing clothes in the back-seat. She’s obviously working as a prostitute. He insists on making a u-turn and driving her back to the school. The girl goes crazy, screaming at him—“Everything is money today!”—and insulting him. Misho manages to drag her out of the car, and drives like a madman to make his appointment at a café.
The “banker” Popov is a mafia type, cold and implacable, gleefully sadistic in his tone and approach. The cab driver and would-be workshop owner has made the mistake of complaining to some government body about the extortionate…