Hey folks, Harry here with Repojay reporting in from the 25th annual TORONTO INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL.... This is Repojay's first report from the festival and... he seemed to of had an eye blowout and a couple of other adverse reactions... His reaction to the 9 LIVES OF TOMAS KATZ was very very different than our previous report... Here ya go...
Hello all! My first day here is done and already filled with trauma. My very first screening had my contact pop out of my left eye just as the lights were going down. Thank you to the guy next to me who offered up saline solution to solve my struggle! Yikes!
By the way, did anyone see the surreal Taoist Tai Chi parade yesterday up here?
Already downed 5 movies and here's the report:
9 LIVES OF TOMAS KATZ (Dir. Ben Hopkins)
This British film was actually pretty damn good. Very, very VERY surreal, though. The concept is easy. Some force is ready to descend on London with the impending solar eclipse and a blind cop is looking to stop it. The spirit moving around London is the title character who's really named "No". He goes into people's lives, takes over them, and switches bodies with that person. Eventually that person takes on the body of the person before. For example, No first starts out as a bum rising from the sewer. He hails a cab on the M25 and eventually changes lives with the cab driver who becomes the bum and so on. It also checks in on said driver throughout the film.
The black and white film remains ridiculously surreal with things like windows talking to each other, which only increases as the movie progresses, often humorously. At one point, the movie gets "stuck" for a minute until NO kick starts it again.
Ridiculosly odd and VERY British, it's impossible to get all the meaning in one sitting. It's really good and begs repeat viewing, even if it has no chance of Mainstream acceptance, let alone Arthouse.
DUETS (Dir. Bruce Paltrow)
Duets sucked. That's all that needs to be said, but I'll say more.
While billed as an ensemble, it's actually 3 short stories strung loosely together by Karaoke. There's the father (Huey Lewis) who has a tag along lost daughter (Gwyneth Paltrow). That story is utter schmaltz filled with bad acting and even their singing is better than that.
Then there's Scott Speedman (a heartthrob up here who elicited many cheers from the female audience) who runs around the country with Maria Bello who does sexual favors to get what she needs. Of course, she doesn't even sing Karaoke until over an hour into the film.
The movie's saving grace is Paul Giamatti's sad sack character who slowly unwinds in very hilarious ways.
Then the end was so ridiculous and unsatisfying, that you're rooting for the fat guy who's singing Copacabana!
The worst part was the audience. Yes, you expect a festival audience to be generous, but did they need to cheer after every song? They're Karaoke songs, fer cryin' out loud!
OK, I've got to dash to another screening so no time right now to tell you about Baise-Moi, Tell Me Something or State And Main, other than to tell you all were great! I'll fill you in on those in the next report!
REPOJAY
