Like Someone in Love, directed by Abbas Kiarostami
A slight but playful effort from Iranian master Abbas Kiarostami, Like Someone in Love (named after the song) hints at the conventions of the erotic thriller while undermining expectations and, finally, pulling the rug out from the audience in an abrupt denouement. The film focuses on college student and part-time escort Akiko (Rin Takanashi) who travels through Tokyo at night to visit an aged sociology professor, Takashi (Tadashi Okuno), where she promptly passes out on his bed. The next morning, he drives her to school, where he witnesses her encounter with a jealous boyfriend (Ryo Kase), and the old man pretends to be her grandfather. As with Kiarostami's Certified Copy or Close-up, this is a film about characters assuming false identities, with the conventional urban thriller triangle of endangered girl, evil overseer and rescuer flipped inside out.
At VIFF: Oct. 4, 6:30 p.m., Vogue; Oct. 10, 3:30 p.m., Vogue; Oct. 12, 11 a.m., Vancity
At TIFF: Sept. 7, 9:30 p.m., and Sept. 9, 9 a.m., Yonge & Dundas.