• Home
  • Longform
    • Defanging the Unthinkable
      more
      View more

      Defanging the Unthinkable

      8 years ago
    • A Fitting, Impressive Goodbye
      more
      View more

      A Fitting, Impressive Goodbye

      8 years ago
    • The Ambivalent, Bittersweet "My Life as a Zucchini"
      more
      View more

      The Ambivalent, Bittersweet "My Life as a Zucchini"

      8 years ago
    • The Complex Morality of "No Country for Old Men"
      more
      View more

      The Complex Morality of "No Country for Old Men"

      8 years ago
  • Interviews
    • A New Way of Telling Love Stories
      more
      View more

      A New Way of Telling Love Stories

      8 years ago
    • Breaking Standards with Julian Rosefeldt of "Manifesto"
      more
      View more

      Breaking Standards with Julian Rosefeldt of "Manifesto"

      8 years ago
    • Indulging Mightily with Alex Ross Perry and the "Golden Exits" Cast
      more
      View more

      Indulging Mightily with Alex Ross Perry and the "Golden Exits" Cast

      8 years ago
    • The Ultimate Meta-Performance: Kate Lyn Sheil on "Kate Plays Christine"
      more
      View more

      The Ultimate Meta-Performance: Kate Lyn Sheil on "Kate Plays Christine"

      9 years ago
  • Critic-At-Large
    • Now Playing: "From Nowhere"
      more
      View more

      Now Playing: "From Nowhere"

      8 years ago
    • Now Playing: "Fifty Shades Darker"
      more
      View more

      Now Playing: "Fifty Shades Darker"

      8 years ago
    • Now Playing: "War on Everyone"
      more
      View more

      Now Playing: "War on Everyone"

      8 years ago
    • Now Playing: "The Salesman"
      more
      View more

      Now Playing: "The Salesman"

      8 years ago
  • Podcast
    • Mousterpiece Cinema, Episode 287: "Kundun"
      more
      View more

      Mousterpiece Cinema, Episode 287: "Kundun"

      8 years ago
    • Mousterpiece Cinema, Episode 286: "Pinocchio"
      more
      View more

      Mousterpiece Cinema, Episode 286: "Pinocchio"

      8 years ago
    • Mousterpiece Cinema, Episode 285: "That Darn Cat"
      more
      View more

      Mousterpiece Cinema, Episode 285: "That Darn Cat"

      8 years ago
    • Mousterpiece Cinema, Episode 284: "The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement"
      more
      View more

      Mousterpiece Cinema, Episode 284: "The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement"

      8 years ago
Movie Mezzanine
  • Home
  • Longform
    • Defanging the Unthinkable
      more
      View more

      Defanging the Unthinkable

      8 years ago
    • A Fitting, Impressive Goodbye
      more
      View more

      A Fitting, Impressive Goodbye

      8 years ago
    • The Ambivalent, Bittersweet "My Life as a Zucchini"
      more
      View more

      The Ambivalent, Bittersweet "My Life as a Zucchini"

      8 years ago
    • The Complex Morality of "No Country for Old Men"
      more
      View more

      The Complex Morality of "No Country for Old Men"

      8 years ago
  • Interviews
    • A New Way of Telling Love Stories
      more
      View more

      A New Way of Telling Love Stories

      8 years ago
    • Breaking Standards with Julian Rosefeldt of "Manifesto"
      more
      View more

      Breaking Standards with Julian Rosefeldt of "Manifesto"

      8 years ago
    • Indulging Mightily with Alex Ross Perry and the "Golden Exits" Cast
      more
      View more

      Indulging Mightily with Alex Ross Perry and the "Golden Exits" Cast

      8 years ago
    • The Ultimate Meta-Performance: Kate Lyn Sheil on "Kate Plays Christine"
      more
      View more

      The Ultimate Meta-Performance: Kate Lyn Sheil on "Kate Plays Christine"

      9 years ago
  • Critic-At-Large
    • Now Playing: "From Nowhere"
      more
      View more

      Now Playing: "From Nowhere"

      8 years ago
    • Now Playing: "Fifty Shades Darker"
      more
      View more

      Now Playing: "Fifty Shades Darker"

      8 years ago
    • Now Playing: "War on Everyone"
      more
      View more

      Now Playing: "War on Everyone"

      8 years ago
    • Now Playing: "The Salesman"
      more
      View more

      Now Playing: "The Salesman"

      8 years ago
  • Podcast
    • Mousterpiece Cinema, Episode 287: "Kundun"
      more
      View more

      Mousterpiece Cinema, Episode 287: "Kundun"

      8 years ago
    • Mousterpiece Cinema, Episode 286: "Pinocchio"
      more
      View more

      Mousterpiece Cinema, Episode 286: "Pinocchio"

      8 years ago
    • Mousterpiece Cinema, Episode 285: "That Darn Cat"
      more
      View more

      Mousterpiece Cinema, Episode 285: "That Darn Cat"

      8 years ago
    • Mousterpiece Cinema, Episode 284: "The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement"
      more
      View more

      Mousterpiece Cinema, Episode 284: "The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement"

      8 years ago
  • Home
  • Longform
    • Defanging the Unthinkable
      more
      View more

      Defanging the Unthinkable

      8 years ago
    • A Fitting, Impressive Goodbye
      more
      View more

      A Fitting, Impressive Goodbye

      8 years ago
    • The Ambivalent, Bittersweet "My Life as a Zucchini"
      more
      View more

      The Ambivalent, Bittersweet "My Life as a Zucchini"

      8 years ago
    • The Complex Morality of "No Country for Old Men"
      more
      View more

      The Complex Morality of "No Country for Old Men"

      8 years ago
  • Interviews
    • A New Way of Telling Love Stories
      more
      View more

      A New Way of Telling Love Stories

      8 years ago
    • Breaking Standards with Julian Rosefeldt of "Manifesto"
      more
      View more

      Breaking Standards with Julian Rosefeldt of "Manifesto"

      8 years ago
    • Indulging Mightily with Alex Ross Perry and the "Golden Exits" Cast
      more
      View more

      Indulging Mightily with Alex Ross Perry and the "Golden Exits" Cast

      8 years ago
    • The Ultimate Meta-Performance: Kate Lyn Sheil on "Kate Plays Christine"
      more
      View more

      The Ultimate Meta-Performance: Kate Lyn Sheil on "Kate Plays Christine"

      9 years ago
  • Critic-At-Large
    • Now Playing: "From Nowhere"
      more
      View more

      Now Playing: "From Nowhere"

      8 years ago
    • Now Playing: "Fifty Shades Darker"
      more
      View more

      Now Playing: "Fifty Shades Darker"

      8 years ago
    • Now Playing: "War on Everyone"
      more
      View more

      Now Playing: "War on Everyone"

      8 years ago
    • Now Playing: "The Salesman"
      more
      View more

      Now Playing: "The Salesman"

      8 years ago
  • Podcast
    • Mousterpiece Cinema, Episode 287: "Kundun"
      more
      View more

      Mousterpiece Cinema, Episode 287: "Kundun"

      8 years ago
    • Mousterpiece Cinema, Episode 286: "Pinocchio"
      more
      View more

      Mousterpiece Cinema, Episode 286: "Pinocchio"

      8 years ago
    • Mousterpiece Cinema, Episode 285: "That Darn Cat"
      more
      View more

      Mousterpiece Cinema, Episode 285: "That Darn Cat"

      8 years ago
    • Mousterpiece Cinema, Episode 284: "The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement"
      more
      View more

      Mousterpiece Cinema, Episode 284: "The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement"

      8 years ago
<b><i>Tower:</i></b> A New Kind of Character Study
  • Reviews

Tower: A New Kind of Character Study

  • by Tina Hassannia
  • February 22, 2013
  • 0
  • 1979

A

A character study consisting virtually of close-up shots, Tower—the first feature-length film from Toronto director Kazik Radwanski and producer Dan Montgomery—is in one sense, a story about a classically Canadian anti-hero. However, Tower delivers its portrayal of Derek—a 34-year-old construction worker who dabbles in animation and lives in his parents’ basement—in ways that are absolutely unconventional in cinema. Tower does not present Derek as a forgone loser, a quirky troubled misfit, or a tragic case of undiagnosed mental illness. Derek’s personality comes off as being so ingrained that it never once feels as though actor Derek Bogart is genuinely putting on a performance. The silence behind many of his interactions and his vocal inflections are revealing in their simplicity, like his awkward repeated pronunciations of “cool” as “kewl,” or his tendency to scrunch up his eyebrows as if expressing concern or intense concentration. These are not the same kind of over-emphasized characteristics found in other contemporary realist dramas—e.g. mumblecore—but they instead reveal in lugubrious fashion the distilled core of a person who is confounded and perplexed, even delusional about adult rites of passage.

In many respects, Derek’s actions portray an adolescent understanding of the world, though one of the film’s overarching ideas is that such actions are still relatable  and common among adults. After going on a date with a woman named Nicole (Nicole Fairbairn), Derek ignores her follow-up call whilst looking at her Facebook pictures, which show a much younger and attractive woman than the one he slept with. The scene then cuts elliptically to Derek calling her back, clumsily excusing himself for being at work. The film suggests that Derek needs confirmation via an idealized, distant version of Nicole in order to convince himself to keep dating her. It’s certainly a puerile perception of dating and romance, and yet it would be hypocritical to be too critical of Derek. Facebook is exactly the platform in which many people come to first learn about their lovers and it promotes building romanticized schemas about who they are, or what they can be.

It’s too easy to psychologize Derek; even if he does have some kind of disorder like Asperger’s, the diagnosis is a redundant statement. Tower posits that the complexity of one’s character cannot be reduced to such simplistic characterizations. There is also no denying that Derek tries to lead a social life. He goes to nightclubs, albeit with limited success, and attends parties, though frequently group scenes result in him being subtly ridiculed by others. He tries to talk to coworkers, though what he ends up revealing about himself is much more entertaining than the awkwardness of those conversations. For example, he tells a coworker he’s thinking of moving in with Nicole, though the viewer already knows that he has broken up with her, and this desire is possibly just a whimsy influenced by seeing his peer family members growing up, having children, and making their own family.

Tower is also a film about the hidden Machiavellian kind of happiness that comes from gaining control. Derek tries extremely hard to obtain that control, no matter how small, in every aspect of his life. This is most notable when he refutes other people by simply ignoring their arguments in conversation. But perhaps the most striking and glaringly metaphorical example is the film’s closing scene with his gleeful capture of a raccoon that has been wreaking havoc in his parents’ backyard. After Derek puts the caged raccoon in his basement, the animal skillfully gets loose in the house. Derek’s facial expressions hardly change with this development—which is partly why the scene is so funny—but it’s also a semi-tragic turn of events, showing a pitiable, though simultaneously sympathetic lack of mastery over life’s burdens, no matter how trivial.

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0
  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

Related posts

  • Odienator
1
Looking for Solutions <br>in “Where to Invade Next”

Looking for Solutions
in “Where to Invade Next”

9 years ago
  • KTurner
0
Exploring Past and Present <br> in “45 Years”

Exploring Past and Present
in “45 Years”

10 years ago
  • DanSc
0
“Finders Keepers”: A Cult Classic in the Making

“Finders Keepers”: A Cult Classic in the Making

10 years ago

One thought on “Tower: A New Kind of Character Study”

  1. Pingback: Interview: TOWER Director Kazik Radwansi Talks Character Study, Close-Ups and Indie Filmmaking in Toronto | Movie Mezzanine | Film Coverage

About Us

Movie Mezzanine is an online publication dedicated to covering the medium that connects us all, one film at a time. With writers stationed around the globe, we offer a uniquely diverse perspective on cinema, both old and new. To learn more about us, go here.

Spotlight

Putting the Geek to the Plow

Cleantalk Pixel