Hey folks, Harry here with a Toronto International Film Festival report from... CARTUNA!!!!!! That's right, CARTUNA THE GREAT AND POWERFUL ANIMATOR OF KNOWLES!!!! In a well well WELL deserved break from bringing the imaginary cute version of me to life... he's currently on research duty exploring the TORONTO INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL. So far he's very much enjoyed two films and hated the other one. From the sound of them though... MEMENTO and SHADOW MAGIC are a pair to catch...
Hey Harry,
I have suffered mightily in the hands of the Toronto Transit System, and so have been unable to write until now, but I will try my best to make it up to you, with a few reviews for the boys and girls out there in TV-Land which you may not have already received.
Firstly, I concur with the general opinions already posted regarding State and Main, Best in Show, and Almost Famous. These are each very good films, and hopefully will be seen by a good many people. The movie-going experience is always heightened by an excited audience, which each of these films certainly had, but I have a feeling that they will each hold up pretty well outside of the extra-exuberant Festival setting.
Secondly, I unfortunately cannot agree with the previously posted review of Urbania, which I really wanted to like, but left me disappointed.
You can certainly feel the heart put into this film, but it betrays its roots as a play, and refuses to focus on its main plotline, which had the potential to be very tense and dramatic. It has a revenge plot at its core, and one that somehow manages to dodge many of the cliches, but the waters are muddied by multiple diversions, each defusing whatever tension has been built. By sending the protagonist on pointless side-trips to visit a dying friend, or share an almost-tryst with an egotistical bisexual soap opera star, the first-time director John Shear is clearly making points he feels need making, but distracts the audience from the matter at hand. Vengeance for the loss of a lover.
The real loss I feel at the failure of this film, is that it might have been one of those rare films that one attends film festivals for. Films that you might never see released into the mainstream, but which represent a point of view decidedly divergent from the one from which we usually hear. It tries very hard to be that, but in the end, fails by trying to take on too many topics, without considering how they will affect the whole.
A valiant effort, but a disappointment overall.
Now for a few films, which I have yet to see reviewed.
Firstly, Shadow Magic.
Did you like Cinema Paradiso? Who didn't? I have yet to meet someone not charmed by that film. (Though I'm sure the talkbackers will soon correct me) Shadow Magic has the same feeling to it. An unabashed love for the medium of film.
Set in China at the turn of the century, director Ann Hu has crafted a beautiful film about the introduction of the motion picture to the East. Based on the true story, we follow Liu Jung Lun who works as chief photographer at the Feng Tai Photo Shop, and is absolutely fascinated by modern inventions and machinery, messing around with phonographs when he should be photographing China's most famous opera star, who has arrived in full regalia for the shoot.
When Raymond Wallace arrives, and sets up a "Shadow Magic" theatre, Liu cannot keep himself away, disrupting the plans that everyone else seems to have for him, as he falls in love with the images crafted from white light and darkness, seemingly by the magic of this strange foreigner.
Cultural differences are made clear as the locals begin to resent the invasion of Western technology which is disrupting their world, and threatening the ancient artforms that had flourished until Wallace's arrival. And Liu is forced to make decisions that jeopardize each of his relationships, but allow him to pursue his dreams of documenting the life of that period before the flow of history washes it away.
This film is truly the sort of gem that you hope to happen upon at this type of festival, but usually only hear about in the aftermath. The performances are singularly charming, and the response of the townsfolk watching footage of Westerners they had previously only referred to as Barabarians, is particularly touching, and oh so telling of the power of film to shrink the world, and introduce us all to one another.
Secondly, The Nine Lives of Tomas Katz.
I hated this film. I cannot illustrate how much. (Well, maybe I could ILLUSTRATE it, but words fail me)
The film follows a man named NO, (who is named in the credits NO/Tomas Katz) as he crawls out of the London sewer into our world where he proceeds to trade places with people, replacing them and screwing up their lives in an attempt to bring on the apocalypse. Only the blind chief of police can stop him, with a mixture of psychic abilities running the gamut from Oujia board divination to astral projection, but will he be in time to save the entity who represents existence??? Who cares?
This film wants to be a comedy. It wants to be a surreal fantasy. But most of all, it wants to emulate the works of Guy Maddin, a modern director who tries very hard to make his films such as Twilight of the Ice Nymphs, and Tales from Gimli Hospital look like they were made at the dawn of film, and is quite successful at it. The director of this film, Ben Hopkins, apparently does not share Maddin's level of technical expertise, because he fails miserably in the same endeavor, crafting a slow, unfunny, and generally aggravating film which equates silliness with surrealism.
There are a few good points to the film. Some interesting ideas that might play out well in some other film. But for the most part it is simply inept, and a huge waste of time I could have spend more profitably waiting in line for the next movie. And that is more than enough said about that.
Lastly, Memento.
Seek out Memento. Ask for Memento. Beg, if you must.
Memento is an amazing film, brought to us by director Christopher Nolan, and featuring an ingeniously complicated structure which somehow manages to still be incredibly clear. We are adeptly placed into the same position as our protagonist, Leonard, (Don't call him Lenny) who is intent on avenging the brutal rape and murder of his wife, but suffered brain damage attempting to fend off her attackers, and now is unable to form any new memories which don't fade almost as soon as they are recorded.
How does a man put together a puzzle, when the edge pieces vanish as he places them? How does he hunt a killer, when each clue slips his mind, almost as he finds it?
Well, without revealing too much, he first re-creates his life for himself every morning with a series of index cards, file folders, and most importantly, tattoos, which set him on his quest anew each day, armed with the bare bones of his previous investigations, the facts as he knows them laid out in black ink along his arm and down his thigh.
Guy Pierce is amazing in the role of Leonard. He has grown so much as an actor since L.A. Confidential, where he stood his ground next to Kevin Spacey and Russell Crowe. He truly comes into his own in this fast-paced thriller which becomes more and more dense even as more information is revealed to us.
Also featured are Joe Pantaliano, and Carrie Ann Moss, and if that don't get the fanboys out to see this, I don't know what will.
Prepare to find yourself dropped into the same position as Leonard, never knowing what has happened in the previous scene, never able to place the pieces together, until finally everything becomes clear.
Keep your eyes peeled for this one, it's truly a gem.
Hopefully, I'll be able to report back with more from the festival which is keeping me from my cartooning duties,
but until then I remain,
earnestly,
Cartuna.
