Hey folks, Harry here... Art Snob has been reporting in on Toronto for eons now, and he's always done a great job. This year is no different. His coverage of THIS LITTLE LIFE has me interested in seeing that film, but his bit about setting your expectations down a bit for LES TRIPLETTES DE BELLEVILLE has me insanely excited... because he mentions Max Fleischer and Jacques Tati... And seeing a film in that style, is what I want! Here ya go...
Art Snob here. As usual, I’m taking in the Toronto Film Festival in two stages. I was there from Friday thru Sunday, and am currently back inRochester, getting ready for another banzai run starting Thursday afternoon. Here are some thoughts on a few of the films that I saw on the first leg:
Ong-Bak: Muay Thai Warrior
Midnight Madness at the fest may be a bit of a crapshoot, but when the dice come up seven, you’re as close to movie geek nirvana as you can come in mortal life. This was one of those occasions. I can’t recall ever attending ANY movie where there were more oohs, ahhhs and cheers from the audience.
As other AICNers at the fest have already made abundantly clear, this Phanom Yeerum guy has definitely GOT IT in the marshal arts department. There’s no shortage of stock elements in the movie: mentor who forbids pupil from using his powers, maguffin that necessitates pupil disobeying master, goofy sidekick, eccentric bad guy with formidable underlings, etc., etc. But whenever Yeerum takes center stage – which is often – all is forgiven. It’s going to be VERY interesting to see where his career goes from here. He may have all the moves down, but I think it’s safe to say that he’ll never be Jackie Chan’s equal in the comedy department (it looks like it would hurt him to smile). A grim, determined countenance may work fine when you’re fighting for the cause of Zen Buddhism, but we can’t have him continuing down THAT road now, can we?
Sadly, the original version exhibited inToronto will probably never be shown intact in the States. The “ouch!” factor of some of the blows in the movie (especially late in the game) exceeds even the lax MPAA standards for R-rated violence, and these blows will simply have to be trimmed for the American release. So if you want to see the whole movie in all its kickass glory, you may want to hunt down one of the VCD’s (sans English subtitles) that are available on EBay. Believe me, it’ll be worth the price just to see the fight and chase sequences.
Les Triplettes de Belleville
There’s been some enthusiastic good word on this French animated feature on AICN lately, and that was one of one of the reasons why I decided to check it out. Advice: If you’re anxiously looking forward to this film, I suggest that you move your expectations down a notch. There’s a fine line between humorous and silly, and I’m afraid that this film ventured over to the wrong side a bit too often for me. I can certainly understand somebody enjoying it ….. especially Jacques Tati and Max Fleischer fans. But if you’re not familiar with these names or are strictly anime & Pixar when it comes to animation, you’ll probably want to give this one a pass.
This Little Life
By far the best drama that I saw was this little BBC Films gem, directed by first-timer Sarah Gavron. It tells the story of a woman who gives birth to a 17-week premature baby, and then becomes absorbed – to the point of almost total empathy -- with the baby’s survival struggle against 4-to-1 odds. Lead Kate Ashfield is simply stupendous ….. she has to navigate a huge gauntlet of complex emotions, and does so without even a minor stumble along the way. The animatronic work in creating a VERY believable preterm infant (by folks who normally work on ghouls and dinosaurs!) is outstanding. Ditto for the set design ….. you have the feel of a real working hospital and neonatal intensive care unit, but it’s all make-believe. This film is a genuinely thoughtful, honest, non-condescending handling of a very tough subject that thankfully eschews soap opera machinations and focus-group endings. Here’s hoping that BBC Films makes it available inNorth Americasometime soon. They’ve exhibited some great stuff at the festival in the past without ever making it available over here, and I really hope that this isn’t yet another occurrence.
I Love Your Work
I’m afraid that I can’t repeat this film’s title to director Adam Goldberg … this is easily my biggest disappointment of the fest so far. It has an interesting sounding premise about a star stalking a fan. It has names like Giovanni Ribisi, Franka Potente, and Christina Ricci. What it DOESN’T have is any semblance of coherence. It just meanders and meanders from one idea to the next. Ribisi’s A-list movie star character becomes unhinged as the film progresses..... so in a given scene, are we watching (a.) what’s really happening to him, (b.) what’s going on inside his mind, or (c.) him acting in a movie-inside-a-movie? Eventually it gets to the point where you don’t care any more. There are some interesting ideas floating throughout the film, but Goldberg simply can’t give them structure or proper pacing. He definitely seems more absorbed with individual shot compositions than the big picture. Look for this one to go straight to video.
The Human Stain
One of the “prestige” films of the festival, doubtless to be given a vigorous Oscar push by the Miramax machine. It’s certainly a polished, interesting work, but to me, it felt just a tad too “engineered” to be completely satisfying. Does Anthony Hopkins seem like the right casting choice to be playing a college professor who everyone accepts as being a Jew fromNew Jersey? No, but he has an OSCAR PEDIGREE. Does Nicole Kidman seem like the right casting choice to be playing a blue collar gal working two jobs, a farmhand and a janitor? No, but she has an OSCAR PEDIGREE. Director Robert Benton has one also, and supporting players Gary Sinese and Ed Harris have both been nominated in the past. The casting and staffing of the movie seems pretty much like Harvey Weinstein went shopping for press-kit prestige on the open market, with appropriateness being strictly an afterthought.
It’s not a bad movie by any means – the impressive assemblage of talent DOES deliver and the story (especially the flashback parts toHopkins’ character’s youth and a life-altering decision he made then) keeps your interest. But the inappropriateness of the two leads is repeatedly distracting. The pandering Hollywood “gidget and geezer” romance angle is getting pretty tired, also. This is easily the best movie adaptation of a Phillip Roth work to-date, but I don’t think even Harvey can bring home the gold with this coldly calculated effort.
AS
