Director Amar Wala returns from his decade-long marathon of documentaries to bring his first dramatic film, Shook to TIFF 2024. This is a near-and-dear story for those who grew up in Scarborough, Ontario, Canada. Local viewers will recognize iconic places like grabbing beef patties at Warden station and the Hakka restaurant that Ash frequently visits in the film.
Writer Ashish (Saamer Usmani) faces challenges selling his first novel and dealing with his parents’ divorce. His life changes when he falls for barista Claire (Amy Forsyth) and discovers that his estranged father, Vijay (Bernard White), has been diagnosed with Parkinson’s. The play on the word ‘shook’ has many meanings throughout this poignant film.
It was symbolism for Ashish’s life getting shaken up in many ways, through dealing with his parents’ separation and falling in love. Then, his father Vijay is affected by Parkinson’s disease, which causes his arm to shake. The drums in the score and soundtrack helped shake up the pacing of the film too, but I was a little underwhelmed to find a common theme or instrument in the score.
“The outstanding part of the film was Shook’s cinematographic choices, and the locations they chose to highlight.”
The outstanding part of the film was Shook’s cinematographic choices, and the locations they chose to highlight. Most of the story took place in local Scarborough spots, and that was not a bad thing. In shows like Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, The Boys or Suits, they tended to use a lot of the downtown Toronto locations. So, it was a nice change to have Scarborough as the focal point environment.
Both the local relativism, the story and humour, and the camera work on the TTC subway and buses were cool to see as well. Wala mentioned post-screening of the premiere of the film that they worked closely with the TTC, and made sure not to roast the transit system in the film—despite what locals say. Regardless, showing the Blue Line buses after the subway trains stop in Toronto was hilarious. It became the running gag that everyone in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) knows about that struggle, even myself (ugh!)—the amount of drunk people on one can be ridiculous!
The amount of red lights in most of the bar/club scenes in this film was an interesting choice, unclear if it was a representation of love versus anger or even love and anger. The overall messaging behind the film was one so many of my friends and I can relate to, one most kids would know growing up in an immigrant family.
The idea of code-switching has been low-key talked about among friends but rarely is it a focus in films like this one. What I respected the most out of Shook was that it mixed a traditional story from a macro lens, but a non-traditional one at the micro level. Striking the right balance between addressing broad themes and honing in on specific details was executed perfectly. For example, a lot of people have been through taking care of a sick loved one like Ashish helping his dad through his doctor visits. But then, there is another layer of having a sick Indian parent that is more specific.
“Shook is the perfect movie for Toronto ‘mans’ to watch together and laugh at…”
Another special part of Shook that resonated with me was its ability to encapsulate the modern dating scene in Toronto. Crazily enough, another TIFF 2024 film Paying For It was also set in Toronto as a nearby timepiece, but also captured the diverse relationships Toronto has to offer. This film reminded me of all the crazy relationships family, friends, or friends of friends have told me. The melting pot of the city means there is also some tricky mixture of ingredients of culture, religion and ideological beliefs.
Shook is the perfect movie for Toronto ‘mans’ to watch together and laugh at, especially at the mention of BlogTO! But, it is still a broad enough story for those not from Scarborough or the GTA to understand what Ashish is dealing with. In spite of the fact that maybe a good five minutes could have been cut, seeing Scarborough and Toronto in the eyes of fellow city dwellers was a spectacle to watch.
Check out more of CGMagazine’s TIFF 2024 coverage here throughout the festival.
