Hey folks Harry here with the simian escapee with another from his torturous TORONTO INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL... No sleep for the weary... film film film film.... A smorgasborg of cinematic delights... weeeeeeeee.... Enjoy the coverage...
Waaaashhhclootthhhhhh!
Ugh.. it's 3am, just got home.. and need to leave in 4 hours. I love movies.. but this is borderline torture. Although I scoffed at the idea when the girlfriend raised it.. we should have gotten a room DT for the week. I'd be much better rested. Anyhow.. enough bellyaching. Here's a few capsules for the 3 films I saw today. If by some strange reason they don't get a full review from someone else, I'll be more than happy to elaborate, that is, if I can contain myself here.
Brother (Dir: Takeshi Kitano) - Great gangster flick. What's been said about it here in the talk backs and such is pretty accurate. It has heart and emotion, plus fantastic real-feel girtty violence. I'm not sure it will gain a wide US audience, it's not a very ready for prime-time type of film that Americans are used to putting in their theatres for mass consumption. But it does have an audience, I'm sure of it. You might describe the movie as a japaneese western, but not exactly like Kung Fu. No one from the cast or crew were on-hand. too bad. so sad.
The Luzhin Defence (Dir: Marleen Gorris) - This was an alright film. I like John Turturro (who was the only one of the cast on hand, along with the Director) and in liking John Turturro, I really wanted to like this movie because I want it to do well, and bring a little more Turturro into our lives. But I think the sad truth may be that he isn't the kind of actor that can carry a lead role for 100 minutes. I don't know this for sure, it's just a feeling. I love him in almost every movie I've seen him in, but most of the roles are pretty small, yet memorable. Almost like a William H Macy. Emily Watson appeared to be her same self that we're getting used to seeing these past few years, no groundbreaking acting from either of them. The story is somewhat intriguing but I really hate to give much away. The basic sypnosis is that Alexander Luzhin (Turturro) is somewhat of a Chess prodigy, but along with this 'idiot-savant'-like ability with Chess, he's quite the odd ball, but while attending the World Champion chess tournament at a european resort, he manages to catch and impress himself upon Natalia (Watson), by asking her to marry him before he even knows her name. It has it's sweet moments, it's funny moments, and it's sad moments where many in the crowd reacted verbally when Luzhin was being taken advantage of. The ending is disappointing. Also, I've read an interview with John Turturro on films unlimited (uk) where he didn't seem overly pleased with the outcome of this film. So that should be all you need. But, if you actually care, in my opinion, It's a renter.
American Nightmare (Dir: Adam Simon) - Midnight Madness Screening. I'm going to make this one really short. But this documentary opens very interestingly, with voice overs from various horror film directors, while a "tv" is switching between channels showing real-life horror of war and other terrible events regarding America in the 60's and 70's. This sets up the documentary to be an insight to the reasons why Horror directors do what they do. The first 20 minutes were very interesting, but ultimately I felt it failed. Perhaps "why" wasn't the intention. But it sure looked like it. I think this documentary was more of a tribute to the late 70's TIFF group called "American Nightmares" when they screened North American horror films at the festival than an honest to goodness attempt to look at the wonder that is horror films and why people make them and why we watch them. Although an entertaining documentary, it seemed to loose its focus and allowed a wide range of horror film makers and their drastically different approaches provide less and less insight as to "why" as the film went on. The Q&A session after the film seemed to bring about questions to the director of opinion on horror movies and the like. And I myself also had a question I wanted to ask the director with the relavence of in-your-face-head-slicing-blood-dripping-violence in slasher type films, then the more implied-brutality portrayed brilliantly in a film like Texas Chainsaw, but after hearing his answers to some others questions. I realized this man is really not a horror movie guru, and I'm not sure I'd be anymore satistfied with the documentary with his answer, so I decided to keep my mouth shut.. and save it for here. :) One humourous person in the audience seemed slighted that Evil Dead and Sam Raimi were not referenced in the film, (paraphrasing) "So you didn't put in Evil Dead because of Raimi?" "Well yes really I was trying to focus on films from the late 60's and 70's.." But man.. Evil Dead". I think there was some theatre wide confusion as to the intent of the documentary. Unfortunatly, I didn't come out with any new insight. So I guess that has to mean it wasn't very good. It was entertaining enough though.. in a sci-fi channel sort of way. I think had the Director been doing a movie simply on the directors and what makes them tick, he might have had something, or if he has stuck to his guns in the opening minutes and kept the parallel of real world horror and how it translates to film through these directors, I would have a better opinion of it. But it seems that the director wanted to ask too many questions and make too many points in the documentary that it's focus blurred into obscurity. Then again.. maybe I was just too darned tired to clue into the last half of it. What do you guys, who also saw it, think?
(ivansxtc. tomorrow. Along with the reviewed-to-death Shadow of the Vampire (can't wait *jitter*))
Taylor
