Luminato-ing

Luminato is a pretty crazy hyped event in Toronto. It's cool to see an arts festival that gets so much money and media attention, but, I admit, I'm always a little skeptical of such hype (Nuit Blanche comes to mind).

In this case, however, my skepticism was quashed, at least when it came to the two events I witnessed.

Tales of the Uncanny, a German horror movie from 1919, screened for the first time in Canada at Luminato. The film -- as full of comic gesture as creepiness -- was set to instrumentals by electronica artist Robert Lippok, Owen Pallett, and Do Make Say Think. It rained to various degrees during the show, but I think it actually added to the atmosphere (unlike the glaring TV screens of Yonge-Dundas square...meh). At times I forgot the music was there, but then it would jolt me back to awareness as scenes grew more suspenseful, like during climax of Poe's The Black Cat (cat in wall -- gah!!). I love the idea of art forms converging like this. It's not to say they can't be appreciated separately, but they can be even more engaging when melded together thoughtfully.

Another Luminato premiere was the RedBall Project by Kurt Perschke. If I had to describe the way I saw it in one word it would be squelched (a word I love, by the way). It was lodged between two buildings on Queen Street and what struck me most about it was the way it was squelched into a normal setting, throwing off balance but also imparting a strange sense of calm.