Rhinoceros Eyes (2004)

It's no definitive masterpiece but it's damn close.

Excellent, Without a doubt!!

This is a tender, generous movie that likes its characters and presents them as real people, full of flaws and strengths.

This is ultimately a movie about the very bad things that can happen when we don't address our unease, when we just try to brush it off, whether that's to fit in or to preserve our self-image.

It is totally possible that I am not as gifted as others at analyzing films. I am certainly no critic, simply a chick who loves the movies. Personally, I enjoyed this one. It was dark, strange and surprisingly sweet. I won't pretend to be Ebert or the other guy by commenting on various camera angles, lighting choices, plot development or editing. I can only say that I was completely engaged in the story, genuinely concerned for the main character, and disturbed (in a good way) by the strange animation. I enjoyed it, you may not. Since its finally available on DVD from amazon.ca why not pick it up, watch it and judge for yourself? Don't go by what a bunch of people (including yours truly) with too much time on their hands have to say.

This is a seriously cool psyched out movie. Like some hybrid of Cronenberg Lynch and.well someone else with a great sense of humor. As someone once said to Cronenberg `you gotta take this movie to a shrink'. Rhino eyes is a case in point. The film is almost like some kind of psychological case study. Theres Chep - his ego, alter ego and ID - Masks, talking animated objects, a can-can dancing geriatric amputee and men dressed as Gorillas .Michael Pitt is totally captivating as Chep who practically lives in a prophouse, eats, drinks and sleeps the place. When femme fatale Fran enters his life and sends him on expeditions to get more strange props for her, he starts discovering as the audience that theres a dangerously fine line between what's real and what's not. Then a cop starts investigating and pushes the reality/fanasty factor to stratispheric heights.The whole thing plays like some ironic version of Homers Odessey journeyed inwards into the workings of the mind.Awesome. The cinematography is amazing and makes the whole fantasy/reality thing work on so many levels. If you liked Donnie Darko, you' love Rhino. Oh yeah, and it's funny funny. I said that already, right!!

Rhinoceros Eyes is stunningly original and beyond creative. I found it hilarious, frightening and breathtakingly beautiful all at once. Aaron Woodley is a rare Canadian talent who has a voice of his own and is not afraid of taking chances. It was one of my favourite films of the Toronto International Film Festival -- the Discovery Award was truly deserved! If you ever get a chance to see this film, you will not be disappointed.

As one of the 6 films I had a chance to see at the 2003 Toronto International Film Festival, it would have to be at the bottom of my list of recommendations. Slow doesn't begin to describe this somewhat "inspired" tale of a prop-shop worker named Chep (Pitt). Chep himself is a bit slow and experiencing some fantastical delusions. I felt like most of the movie, revolving around the search for some bizaar props, was filmed in ultra slo-mo. The dialouge was poorly timed, the acting was so muted it became painful (with the exception of supporting player Victor Ertmanis as "Sweets") to watch and the end so anti-climatic and directionless, I wondered how I would get those 90 minutes of my life back. I have read it compared to "Donnie Darko" and after seeing it, the only way that comparison works is that both carry a emotionally tortured lead characters. Pitt seems to summon more of a Giovanni Ribisi in "The Other Sister" (quietly endearing), than Jake Gyllenhaal in "Donnie Darko" (emotionally complex).Without being to harsh, Paige Turco as the object of Chep's affections is a total casting zero. It's not terrible, but not memorable. Hopefully first time director Aaron Woodley will step back a bit from his attempts to be so "indie profound" in his next project.