Hey folks, Harry here... Out of the 4 films reviewed here... the key one to pay attention to is DISTANT... It is a film that most likely you'll never get a chance to see... Films from Turkey usually don't end up at a theater near most of you... BUT - if you see it appear on a festival program guide... seize the opportunity and taste some quality Turkish Cinema... it is a far cry from their cheap knock-offs of E.T., SUPERMAN and STAR TREK... this is a REAL film from the cinematic vein of Turkey... Don't miss it...
Hi Harry,
Thought I would give you my two cents about the seven films I've seen thus far at the Toronto Film Fest. Will be seeing a bunch more, and seeing as how I've never really had a reason to email you, figured I'd take advantage of it.
Thursday, 4th.
DISTANT
director - Nuri Bilge Ceylan - Turkey
This film's been getting rave reviews in all the Toronto weeklies, as well as in Venice I believe. The write-up calls it a the odd-couple with a beckett flavour. Fairly accurate. A cousin from small-town-turkey comes to Budapest to find work on the boats, and to live with his semi-successful aristic and cultured relative. Through a series of interactions both together and seperately, we, the audience, get taken into the perspectives of these two very different men trough their relationships to the world. Themes of lonliness and inferiority are shared, as well as the subtle, bubbling conflict which builds between these two men as a result of their differences and close proximaty to each other.
A film which could never find a large audience in North America mainly due to the slow, character driven paces not found in American cinema. A truly beautiful film in it's subtletites of story, told mainly through body language, sparse dialogue and the length of time we get to spend in shots which averaged at least one or two minutes longer than most North American features. Not plot-driven, however maintained a very clear and simple story which allowed to film to never get overly complicated, and allowed us to invest in both the characters as individuals and together.
One of the highlights thus far, and a poignant example of how films can benefit from not worrying about an audience losing interest if scenes last more than 20 seconds. It's the silences that can sometimes reveal the most in story.
FOUR STARS.
Friday, 5th.
MATCHSTICK MEN
director - RIDLEY SCOTT - USA
What a shame. I love con movies. I love great con movies. I love good con movies. I even like mediocre. This movie is just bad.
A pair of con artists (Nicolas Cage and Sam Rockwell) have their 'thing' going. Nicolas Cage's 'daughter' shows up. Everything changes. Blah Blah Blah.
Apparently Ridley Scott and the writer(s)? felt it unecessary to obey by any rules of plausibility. It felt like a classic case of "let's get a couple great actors, and throw a movie together".
Before the screening, Ridley Scott talked about how it was his girlfriend who brought this script to his attention. His first instinct was to humor her because "nobody really listens to their girlfriends". Big, well-deserved laughs from the audience. They must have had an arguement about it, because he decided he WOULD listen to her, and make a piece of shit film to appease her. The script would have been passable if it was a first-time director, shooting on DV, trying to get his/her work out in the world in an accesible way. This film was totally unexcusable. Nicholas Cage was attrocious in his performance, proving that without a director to keep his instincts out of the way, he really has no concept of what an INTERESTING choice on film is versus an indulgent one. Sam Rockwell has nothing to do, and Allison Lohman was fine. She's much better when she doesn't speak, as we can maintain the belief that because she's in the ! movies, she's somehow older than she is. Don't get me wrong, she's a fine actor ... but she's young, and she needs to work with good scripts. Yes, working with Nic Cage is exciting. Fucking up your career isn't.
The worst movie I've seen so far. I hope it fails miserably at the box office, and the Ridley Scott breaks up with his girlfriend and goes back to making movies where people don't really have to talk.
ONE AND A HALF STARS.
LOST IN TRANSLATION
Director - Sophia Coppola - USA
This film seems to have been covered to death, so I won't say much. Sophia Coppola's father is Francis Ford Coppola. This is how she's getting her movies made. All I can say is thank-God she's so good, and how fortunate for her and for us that her father is who he is and that he's been able to give us the opportunity to have her ideas realized on screen. If only a little more money went into filmakers who knew what they're doing and had original thoughts.
It's really good. A real pleasure. Scarlett Johansan has a beautiful old soul. Coppola gets a great performance out of her ... much aided by Bill Murray's genius.
FOUR STARS
Saturday, 6th.
The Tulse Luper Suitcases - Episode 3 - Antwerp
Director: Peter Greenaway - United Kingdom/The Netherlands
Peter Greenaway is great. Even when he's not, he's worth it. His arrogance in film-making is so pleasurable that he seems to be able to get away with anything. And he almost does with this as well. He spoke before and after, letting us know this was one episode in 18 I believe, mostly geared towards DVD and multimedia.
His goal is to move forward with the digital age, and to take advantage of the rapid growth in available technology. No real story to speak of other than the fact that it takes place in the late 30's, dealing with themese of faccism, war, and obscure art. Tulse Luper is locked in a bathroom, protected from oppression by the woman who is writing his story ... the story he's written, which she's been hired to notate, protecting him from the faccists who are trying to frame him. Sounds interesting right. It's incoherent to the point that I can find no other way to describe it than it is a workshop or exploration in cinema. He freely admitted that it's totally indulgent, and the focus is in the IMAGE and how it relates to present technology. Mind-boggling quality from Hi-Def video, but ultimately a difficult challenge for audience members. He should be teaching a course with these movies, so that we get a sense of why he's confusing! the hell out of us. But he isn't. He's screening them as films. If you like Greenaway, it's worth it. If you don't, or don't know who he is, you'd likely be walking out of the screening along with about fourty other people I saw making a bee-line to the exit.
TWO AND A HALF STARS.
It's late. More to come including The Fog of War, Mambo Italiano and The Human Stain.
Tomorrow I'm seeing Elephant, The Yes Men and hopefully Les Triplettes de Belleville and Goodbye Lennin or Casa de los Babys.
Enjoy.
RubyRubes
