The current press screening schedule for the Toronto International Film Festival is a clogged mess, no day more so than Monday, September 12 which begins with six films I want to see all playing at the same time in the morning and four playing at the same time in the afternoon. Those latter four include Butter, Your Sister’s Sister, The Eye of the Storm and the one I’m here to talk about right now, Dogtooth helmer, Yorgos Lanthimos‘ follow-up feature, ALPS.
After enjoying Dogtooth as much as I did it seemed unlikely I would skip seeing Alps for any of the other options, and with a newly released teaser trailer for the film now arriving it looks even more likely I’ll be making sure to catch this when I can.
Alps centers on a mysterious underground outfit, going by the name of ALPS, which offers bereaved individuals a very unusual service: they stand in for their dearly departed. To go along with that description there are also 15 rules ALPS members must follow, which I have included below the teaser. Give it a watch and see what you think.
ALPS members:
- Must declare in advance the things they are unwilling to do by filling out Form (e.g. kissing, lifting weights, traveling etc.)
- Must declare in advance the things they are good at by filling out Form (e.g. dancing, waterskiing, discussing etc.)
- Must have some basic knowledge of psychology and sociology.
- Are obliged to support, under all circumstances, the interests of the Alps group.
- Must respect each other.
- Have the right to change their nickname only twice. They cannot choose a nickname belonging to another Alps member. The nickname must strictly be the name of a mountain in the Alps, and not something general or irrelevant (e.g. Blonde, Master, Dragon etc.)
- Can never talk about Alps activities with non-Alps members.
- Are obliged to take the Gymnastics Club Test, if necessary.
- Must be over 14 years of age.
- Should always be smart, clean, punctual, and in complete control.
- Must never get emotionally involved with clients, or have intimate relations with them.
- Cannot change their physical appearance without the Leader’s permission (e.g. dye hair, lose or gain weight, wear coloured contact lenses etc.)
- Must be able to make convincing facial expressions (sadness, happiness, despair etc.)
- Must honour the title of their membership, and be ready to kill or die for it.
- Must never attack one another, and must believe in teamwork.
