VIFF 2015: Clever tributes abound in Eadweard

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      Eadweard (Canada)  

      From its spectacular set-pieces and cleverly mounted tributes to early photography, it’s clear what attracted the Vancouver-based filmmakers to the groundbreaking motion studies of Eadweard Muybridge (born Edward Muggeridge), which presaged cinema itself. And Michael Eklund looks perfect as the eccentric Englishman, prematurely white-haired in 1872 when the tale begins in the U.S.

      But once Eklund’s placeless accent runs into the Gossip Girl modernity of Sara Canning as his neglected wife, Flora, the story devolves into high-school play territory, complete with “comical” banjo music and guaranteed anachronisms every few minutes.

      As Flora herself asks, reasonably, “Are you kidding me?”

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