Facing his own final act, 86-year-old Viktor Rotin wants just one thing: to play the lead in Shakespeare's King Lear. A retired actor, Rotin thinks about the betrayed old monarch and his disloyal daughters all the time—perhaps too much. Award-winning filmmaker Denis Klebleev follows Rotin closely, revealing how far his over-identification with the character extends—right down to the perceived ungratefulness of his kids, who he thinks just want his money. Cameras struggle to keep up with the bedraggled old man as he lurches from lectures on Lear's staging to his empty luxury apartment, furnished in a style befitting a king. Speaking directly to the camera at times, he oscillates between dramatic confessions and lines from Lear, slipping between interview and monologue almost seamlessly. A deluded actor and a lonely old man with more money than sense play each other in this compelling example of life imitating art. Myrocia Watamaniuk
Co-presented with The Toronto Fringe.