Hey folks, Harry here... Seems that the attendees of this year's Toronto Film Fest want to set the record for the best covered film festival of the year... Seriously, what's up with Cannes and Sundance and Telluride and New York's and SXSW and all these other film festivals... Damn, Toronto's attendees are kicking your asses and we're getting great coverage of the films. This is fantastic. Hours and hours of material to read about films from all over the globe. Fantastic! Here's Johnny on the Spot, whose coverage of WHAT THE EYE DOESN'T SEE has me very anxious to see that film. Check that, and these others out!
Hi Harry,
I visit the site regularly, and since i"ve been reading all the TIFF stuff
you've been posting I figured you might want a couple of more reviews for
films to check (or in some cases, not check out).
Lost In Translation (US)
I'm going to breeze over this one pretty quickly because you covered most of
what needs to be said about this great film in your review: essentially, go
see this film. No matter to what small degree, we can all relate to the
position Charlotte and Bob find themselves in at the start of this film -
that ominous sense of feeling so utterly detached and alienated from the
world around you. And to find a kindred spirit that could help you get
through those times, like Bob and Charlotte found in each other, is a
something no one has the sense to really look for, but is so grateful when
they find that person. The film has such a small concept at the base of it,
yet such a universal one - don't miss it.
The Cooler (US)
If you've seen any movie set in Las Vegas before in your life, you've seen
this one. Though the premise of following around a Las Vegas casino "cooler"
and watching him spread him spread his bad luck and cool down gamblers on a
hot streak is interesting, it is also apparently the type of one-trick pony
premise that sounds good, but is clearly quite difficult to formulate a
story around. I guess that's why the filmmakers seem forced to fall back
onto the crutch of cliches. It's such a shame too because William H. Macy,
Maria Bello, and Alec Baldwin all do give it their all. It's too bad the
script is as exciting to watch as their performances.
The Storytellers (Brazil/France)
Nice little movie about a South American town called Jave that is about to be flooded once a dam is built nearby. The only way for the townsfolk to stop the dam from being built is to convince the government of the historical merit of the town. So they hire the only literate person in their town to write down all the stories that the townsfolk love to tell each other, therefore documenting the history of Jave with which they can make an appeal to save their town.
Storytellers is a warmhearted film that reinforces the need for storytelling
in the world around us. It is not even the need for telling stories to serve
a purpose since that even the stories of the Jave townfolk cannot save their
town for destruction. It is just that the need to tell stories and share
each others lives is important in itself - even for the people as forgotten
as those in Jave.
What the Eye Doesn't See (Peru)
This is a very well done film that follows about six characters in the wake of a political scandal that results in a change of government. One story follows two old men as they sit in a hospital ward commenting on the scandal as it unfolds, constantly bickering about which party is more wrong. Another follows a sixteen year old girl as she tries to get her father out of prison after he was thrown in for associating with a militant group affiliated with the downfalling political party; another follows the wife of an archaelogist after she is hit by the car of a suicidal army general, and is taken into the care of the general in the wake of the accident; another follows a squirrely hopeless romantic who has deluded himself into believing he is wooing the love of his life, who eventually gets embroiled in the political events surrounding him, but is too lost in his delusion to pay any attention to anything but the girl he lvoes.
The film interweaves each of the stories lines better than most North American films that have tried to do the same thing. To use a tired comparison, it's like ripples in a pond - one event affects so many different lives in some many ways, and in the process forces those people to interact with the other characters in the film in accordance with that first event, which in term affects the other characters who those characters interact with, and so on... The film that most comes to mind that i heard a lot of talk when it came out in regards to it's way of interweaving storylines is Magnolia. Don't get me wrong, Magnolia was fantastic, and the drama of Magnolia is much better than this film, but in terms of interweaving it's characters lives with each other, What the Eye Doesn't See succeeds in this one place where Magnolia failed.
Check it out if you can - it can be a little dry at times, and quite bleak
near the end... but it's always fascinating to watch.
Aileen: The Life and Death of a Serial Killer (US/UK)
This is a fascinating documentary about Aileen Wuonos, a Florida hooker who shot seven men in what may or may not have been self-defense (though by the end of the film, it becomes somewhat clear that it might have been).We see Aileen through the camera of directors Nick Broomfield and Joan Churchill as Nick takes us through the history of Aileen's case, and into the death row prison where he interviews her quite extensively. It is clear that Aileen trusts Nick, but also that is has become increasingly paranoid as a result of her imprisonment and the callous policework of the Florida police who had movie deals in the front of their minds instead of upholding the law (according the the TIFF website, there actually is in fact a movie being made about Aileen, and is even set to star Charlize Theron).
You'd think Broomfield's obvious presence in the film, from narrating it
with his amusing British wit to even appearing in it at a court subpoena,
would be intrusive. But it actually has the unique effect of giving the film
a sort of casual, hearing-this-all-from-a-buddy quality. Aileen and her case
is taken in in almost the same manner as if you'd be talking about, you
know, "this wild story about this woman serial killer" with a friend during
a lunch hour. Broomfield leaves very little out, even letting interviews go
on for minutes at a time and I never felt swayed to one side of Aileen's
case or the other - merely to that of the documentarian's. This is not so
much a story as the account of a story, and it works really well.
In the Cut (US)
Unfortunately, late night's of partying at the filmfest can take it out of you, and I was nodding off through the middle of this film (blasphemy!), but I saw enough of it, I think, to form an opinion.
I've heard a lot of award hope for Meg Ryan for this role since she is apparently trying to play a much darker character, but really it seems that since she gets naked, that constitutes playing a different character. It seems she is still playing the same role, but only that that role is reacting to much harsher situations that we've ever seen her react to on screen. And getting naked. But I digress.
In the Cut is not a bad film, just is marred by mediocre story. Jane
Campion's direction is superb, flowing through the scenes in almost a
dreamlike way. Dion Beebe's cinematography is breathtaking, with different
parts of the frame appearing out of focus even though appearing in the same
line of focus as other objects in the frame. And even though Ryan's
performance as Frannie may not be THAT different than her performances in
other films, that doesn't mean it doesn't suit the movie. Mark Ruffalo's
work as the grizzled cop, along with Jennifer Jason Lee as Frannie's sister
is also admirable. But it's just that damn killer-on-the-loose,
woman-must-be-protected-by-the-tough-cop-and-fall-in-love story that bogs
down all the extraordinary work in the film.
La face cache de la lune (Far Side of the Moon) (Canada)
Robert Lepage's latest is film starts off with a description of the far side of the moon which, as Soviet pictures discovered inthe 50s, is deeply scarred by the barrage of meteorities and space debry that has bombarded it's surface over the eons of it's existence. Lepage plays two roles of brothers who are living in the wake of their mother's death. Phillipe, the story's main focus, is a struggling Ph. D student who is trying to get his dissertation on narcissism in space exploration and humanity noticed by the powers that be. Andre, Phillipe's brother, feels less attached to their mother, and sees no sense in Phillipe's insistence on keeping all of her things. A former university professor, Phillipe currently works a dead end job as a telemarketer, desperately wants to get his thesis read so he can get back to teaching. When Phillipe hears of a contest for a SETI program where 10 videos from around the world are being chosen to be turned into binary code and sent through space - in an attempt to try and fill the void in his life of anything worht meaning, he decides to shoot a video off his apartment.
La face cache de la lune is very much a film of searching for happiness. Phillipe is at very much the same place Bill Murray and Scarlett Johannson's characters were at in Lost in Translation - he just feels very out of touch with where his life has taken him, and desperately wants to find something to relate. The characters in Lost in Translation find each other. Phillipe isnt so lucky.... Aside from it's dramatic merits, the film is shot in HD digital video and looks marvellous. It really stands as a testiment to the power of digital filmmaking when put in the right hands.
The film is also quite lighthearted too - Lepage was at the screening and he answered some questions afterward where he talked about how when he gives interviews in French he comes off as very serious, yet when he gives interviews in English he comes off as much funnier. Possibly the humour in the film was an attempt to make that sense of humour more evident in his French side.
Well, I'm checking out a couple of midnight madness screenings Gozu and Undead tonight and tomorrow, so I'll pass on reviews for those in you want them! Take it easy...
Call me Johnny on the Spot
