Since @mgny441 asked, I've created a post here in case anyone wants to discuss films they've seen at TIFF this year. Feel free to add to the comments, but please try to keep it a discussion of the films themselves.
Showing posts with label films. Show all posts
Showing posts with label films. Show all posts
Thursday, September 15, 2016
Monday, August 31, 2015
My 2015 Films
My picks for 2015:
- 25 April (Leanne Pooley, New Zealand): a stunningly animated look at the landings at Gallipoli during the First World War.
- The Danish Girl (Tom Hooper, United Kingdom): from director Tom Hooper (The King's Speech), this film based on David Ebershoff's novel stars Eddie Redmayne (The Theory of Everything) as a man who discovers new feelings and eventually becomes one of the first to undergo gender reassignment surgery. Also stars Alicia Vikander (Ex Machina).
- Dheepan (Jacques Audiard, France): winner of the Palme d'Or at Cannes in 2015, the latest from Jacques Audiard (I previously saw his Rust and Bone at TIFF) follows a Tamil family that flees from Sri Lanka to France.
- Endorphine (André Turpin, Canada): I've seen Turpin's work as a DoP on Incendies and Maelstrom. His latest directorial effort intertwines the stories of three women all named Simone.
- The Final Girls (Todd Strauss-Schulson, USA): a kind of send-up and homage to horror films, with Taissa Farmiga as the daughter of a famous horror movie star who is transported with her friends into one of her mother's films.
- Francophonia (Alexander Sokurov, Germany/France/The Netherlands): Sokurov's latest film that sounds reminiscent of one of his previous works, Russian Ark.
- Hardcore (Ilya Naishuller, Russia/USA): shot from a first-person point-of-view, this film follows a resurrected cyborg super solider on a mission to rescue his wife from a psychotic supervillain.
- High-Rise (Ben Wheatley, United Kingdom): based on J.G. Ballard's novel of the same name, with Tom Hiddleston as a new resident who must navigate the social politics and class structure of a monolithic apartment tower.
- Horizon (Fridrik Thor Fridriksson, Bergur Bernburg, Iceland/Denmark): an examination of the work of Icelandic landscape painter Georg Gudni Hauksson).
- Lace Crater (Harrison Atkins, USA): a woman attends a house party in the country, ends up sleeping with a burlap-wrapped ghost, and strange things start happening to her body.
- Mr. Right (Paco Cabezas, USA): Anna Kendrick meets Sam Rockwell and they fall for one another, only it turns out Rockwell is a hitman, and the body count starts to pile up. Saw Kendrick last year in The Last Five Years and Rockwell in Laggies.
- Love (Gaspar Noé, France): probably will be the most interesting use of 3D I'll see at the festival this year.
- Office (Johnnie To, China/Hong Kong): To's first musical, about backroom corporate politics.
- Our Little Sister (Hirokazu Kore-eda, Japan): Kore-eda's latest to hit TIFF finds three sisters in a seaside town who learn their estranged father had another daughter who comes to live with her stepsisters are her father's death.
- Schneider vs. Bax (Alex van Warmerdam, Netherlands/Belgium): a black comedy about a hitman trying to kill novelist, although the novelist may be more than he seems.
- Veteran (Ryoo Seung-wan, South Korea): Ryoo's latest (I've previously seen his The Berlin File) follows a maverick detective that takes on a huge corporation that flaunts the law.
- Where to Invade Next (Michael Moore, USA): Moore's latest film asks the question about what would happen if the US were better at invading other countries, and launches off from there.
- Yakuza Apocalypse (Takashi Miike, Japan): a mish-mash of everything from monsters to gangsters and everything in between.
- Youth (Paolo Sorrentino, Italy/France/United Kingdom/Switzerland): Sorrentino's follow up to The Great Beauty finds Michael Caine and Harvey Keitel reflecting on life and the world while relaxing at a spa in the Swiss Alps.
Thursday, August 28, 2014
My 2014 Films
My picks for 2014:
- 1001 Grams (Bent Hamer, Norway/Germany/France): Saw Hamer's Home for Christmas back in 2010, this sounds like a fun film.
- Before We Go (Chris Evans, USA): While Evans might be best known for Captain America, this marks his directorial debut, and from some interviews I've read, may be the direction he takes career-wise once his Marvel commitments are over and done with. A friend pointed out this year there are a number of films somewhat similar in nature to Before Sunrise, this being among them. I like both Evans (in films as varied as Captain America, Scott Pilgrim, and Snowpiercer) as well as Alice Eve, so I'm interested to see how this turns out.
- Cake (Daniel Barnz, USA): I like both Jennifer Aniston and Anna Kendrick, so picked this one for both of them.
- Clouds of Sils Maria (Olivier Assayas, France/USA): got some good buzz out of Cannes, plus I've seen a number of Assayas' and Juliette Binoche's films at the festival (sometimes together, sometimes not). Was disappointed by Words and Pictures last year, but I'm holding out hope for this film this year.
- Force Majeure (Ruben Ostlund, Sweden/Norway/Denmark/France): another one I heard buzz about from Cannes, about the effect of a father's actions when he thinks he and his family are about to die, but don't.
- Kabukicho Love Hotel (Ryuichi Hiroki, Japan): this film about people intersecting in a red-light district in Tokyo sounded interesting; I didn't realize that the star, Shota Sometani, is in another film I'm seeing this year (Tokyo Tribe).
- Kill Me Three Times (Kriv Stenders, Australia): sounds like an over-the-top, noir-ish film set in the Australian outback. Have to admit one of the main reasons for picking this is the photo of a black-clad, mustachioed Simon Pegg holding a rifle.
- The Kingdom of Dreams and Madness (Mami Sunada, Japan): I'm seeing this documentary about Studio Ghibli back to back with The Tale of The Princess Kaguya. Having seen a number of Ghibli and Miyazaki films over the years, I'm really interested to get a look behind-the-scenes.
- Laggies (Lynn Shelton, USA): Keira Knightley plays a woman stuck in a state of arrested development since high school who gets a push out of her rut when her longtime boyfriend proposes to her. I like Knightley, and enjoyed her in last year's Can a Song Save Your Life?
- The Last Five Years (Richard LaGravenese, USA): Anna Kendrick is probably the only thing that could get me to see a musical like this, although I've liked some of LaGravenese's other work.
- Mavericks Conversation with Juliette Binoche: Having seen so many of her films at the festival over the years, was a no-brainer to pick this extended Q&A with her.
- Monsoon (Sturla Gunnarsson, Canada): intriguing look at the impact of this natural phenomenon on India. I've seen a couple of Gunnarsson's other films at the festival including Beowulf & Grendel, and Force of Nature.
- October Gale (Ruba Nadda, Canada): a thriller starring Patricia Clarkson and Scott Speedman.
- Over Your Dead Body (Takashi Miike, Japan): set in a theatre during rehearsals for production of a Kabuki play rife with murder and betrayal, life soon begins to imitate art.
- Revivre (Im Kwon-taek, South Korea): a businessman with an ailing wife struggles with his feelings for his younger coworker, against his dedication to his family.
- Seymour: An Introduction (Ethan Hawke, USA): Hawke directed this documentary about classical musician Seymour Bernstein, that takes its focus from the question of why should anyone make art? Sounds like an interesting study, plus my girlfriend is a fan of Hawke's work.
- The Tale of The Princess Kaguya (Isao Takahata, Japan): a film from Studio Ghibli co-founder Takahata, this film seems very visually distinct from Ghibli's (and Takahata's) normal style.
- Tokyo Fiancee (Stefan Liberski, Belgium/Canada/France): a Belgian woman obsessed with Japanese culture falls in love with a Japanese man obsessed with French culture.
- Tokyo Tribe (Sion Sono, Japan): based on a manga, this film is placed in a futuristic Tokyo beset by warring gangs and set ro a driving hip-hop beat.
- The Tribe (Myroslav Slaboshpytskiy, Ukraine): a new student at a boarding school for the deaf and mute falls in with a gang of fellow students that revel in criminal behaviour from theft to prostitution, but soon falls afoul of friends.
- Winter Sleep (Nuri Bilge Ceylan, Turkey/France/Germany): I always mean to see one of Ceylan's films but never seem to get around to it. I'm disappointed I never got to see Once Upon a Time in Anatolia, so I made an effort this year to pick his latest, which won the Palme d'Or at Cannes this year.
Saturday, August 31, 2013
TIFF 2013 Experiences
I've had a couple of requests to create a thread where people can post their experiences, or must-sees, or must-avoids for TIFF 2013, so I've added this page for just that purpose. Please feel free to add in the comments any films you liked or disliked, or anything about your experiences at this year's TIFF. But try to avoid any long-winded rants or anything like that: I reserve the right to prune the comments down especially if things start getting out of hand. I'll see how this page goes this year, and if it's successful, I'll try to do this again next year.
Monday, August 26, 2013
My 2013 Films
Just finished selecting my films for 2013:
- All About the Feathers (Neto Villalobos, Costa Rica): A small-town security guard finds his life changed when he adopts a rooster for cockfighting.
- Attila Marcel (Sylvain Chomet, France): The first live-action film from the director of The Triplets of Belleville, follows Paul, 33 but arrested in his development. His neighbour helps to unlock his repressed childhood memories, letting his experience the world through musical fantasies.
- Beyond the Edge (Leanne Pooley, New Zealand): A documentary covering the first ascent of Mount Everest by Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay.
- Blind Detective (Johnnie To, Hong Kong): To's latest finds Andy Lau as a blind private detective who teams up with cop Sammi Cheng to solve a variety of crimes.
- Blue Is the Warmest Color (Abdellatif Kechiche, France): Palme d'Or winner this year at Cannes, about the relationship between a high schooler and an art student.
- Can a Song Save Your Life? (John Carney, USA): From the writer/director of Once, a drama revolving around the music industry, with an all-star cast of both actors and musicians including Kiera Knightley, Mark Ruffalo, Catherine Keener, Hailee Steinfeld, Mos Def, CeeLo Green, and Adam Levine.
- Cold Eyes (Cho Ui-seok, Kim Byung-seo, South Korea): Korean thriller follows a police surveillance team trying to catch a gang of bank robbers.
- Dom Hemingway (Richard Shepard, United Kingdom): Jude Law plays a gangster recently released from prison who tears it up with his former sidekick, played by Richard E. Grant.
- Don Jon (Joseph Gordon-Levitt, USA): Gordon-Levitt's feature film directorial debut, in which he also stars as a porn-addicted, womanizing lothario.
- The Double (Richard Ayoade, United Kingdom): Jesse Eisenberg finds his life taken over by his doppelganger.
- El Mudo (Diego Vega, Daniel Vega, Peru/France/Mexico): a crusading judge soon believes himself to be the target of a conspiracy after several incidents culminating in an attempt on his life.
- Enough Said (Nicole Holofcener, USA): one of James Gandolfini's final roles, starring Julia Louis-Dreyfus as a divorced woman who is tentatively navigating a new relationship while dealing with her feelings about the past.
- The F Word (Michael Dowse, Canada): Daniel Radcliffe falls in love with a girl already in a relationship, in this romantic comedy from the director of Goon, Fubar, and It's All Gone Pete Tong.
- Gloria (Sebastián Lelio, Chile/Spain): Paulina Garcia plays a woman looking for love and life.
- The Grand Seduction (Don McKellar, Canada): A small town tries to entice a big city doctor into staying permanently so they can win a new factory and save the town. Be interesting to compare and contrast this with La grande séduction (can't remember if I actually saw this at TIFF back in 2003 or not). Ken Scott, the original screenwriter, collaborated with Michael Dowse (who wrote and directed The F Word, which I'm also seeing this year).
- In Conversation With Spike Jonze: interview with Jonze with clips from his new movie, Her, which stars Joaquin Phoenix.
- The Love Punch (Joel Hopkins, United Kingdom/France): a romantic comedy-cum-heist movie starring Pierce Brosnan and Emma Thompson as a formerly married pair of thieves.
- Lucky Them (Megan Griffiths, USA): Toni Collette plays a music journalist looking into the decade-old disappearance of a local musician, who just also happened to be her former boyfriend.
- Man of Tai Chi (Keanu Reeves, USA/China): the directorial debut of Keanu Reeves, who also plays the organizer of an underground martial arts tournament that lures in Linhu (played by Tiger Chen), who needs money to save his master's temple.
- The Past (Asghar Farhadi, France/Italy): From Oscar-winning director Farhadi (A Separation), The Past finds an Iranian man travelling to Paris to secure his divorce from his wife, but ends up being drawn in deeper into her life and that of their daughter.
- Quai d'Orsay (Bertrand Tavernier, France): a political satire built around a French foreign minister and his staff.
- A Touch of Sin (Jia Zhangke, China/Japan): won best screenplay at Cannes this year, and tells tales of four people driven by circumstance into violent action.
- Unforgiven (Lee Sang-il, Japan): a remake of Eastwood's Unforgiven that transplants the action to late 19th-century Japan. I watched one of Lee's previous films, Hula Girls, at a previous festival).
- The Wind Rises (Hayao Miyazaki, Japan): the latest film from Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli that tells a somewhat fictionalized story of the man who designed the Zero fighter, and which seems to have generated divided reactions overseas.
- Words and Pictures (Fred Schepisi, USA): I usually end up seeing any film Juliette Binoche is in at the festival, and here she plays a painter locked in a debate with Clive Owen's English teacher over which form is the more expressive and meaningful.
- You Are Here (Matthew Weiner, USA): Weiner's (Mad Men) feature film directorial debut, starring Zach Galifianakis as an offbeat fellow who ends up inheriting his estranged father's considerable estate, much to the chagrin of his sister, played by Amy Poehler.
You can also view this list at letterboxd.com.
Tuesday, July 30, 2013
TIFF 2013 Docs, City to City, Vanguard, Midnight Madness, Cinematheque Films
The festival released the films that will be appearing in the TIFF Docs, City to City, Vanguard, Midnight Madness, and Cinematheque programs. Highlights include:
- The Unknown Known: Errol Morris' feature-length interview with Donald Rumsfeld
- The City to City programme this year is focusing on films set in Athens
- Horns: from Alexandre Aja (Haute yension, Piranha 3D), Daniel Radcliffe stars as a man who awakes one day with horns growing from his head after being accused of the murder of his girlfriend (Juno Temple)
- The Green Inferno: Eli Roth's latest, a homage to Italian cannibal movies of the 70s and 80s
Tuesday, July 23, 2013
TIFF 2013 Galas and Special Presentations Announced
The festival announced the first batch of films today, in the Galas and the Special Presentations programmes.
There are 17 galas, including:
- August: Osage County, with Meryl Streep and Julia Roberts
- The Fifth Estate, a biopic about Julian Assange, starting Benedict Cumberbatch
- The Grand Seduction, which would appear to be Don McKellar's remake of the 2003 French Canadian film La grande seduction, with Brendan Gleeson and Taylor Kitsch
- Kill Your Darlings, with Daniel Radcliffe as Allen Ginsberg and Ben Foster as William S. Burroughs
- Life of Crime, based on Elmore Leonard's 1979 novel The Switch, starring Jennifer Aniston, Tim Robbins, and John Hawkes
- The Love Punch, a caper comedy starring Pierce Brosnan and Emma Thompson
- Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom, with Idris Elba in the title role
- Rush, Ron Howard's latest set in the world of Formula One back in 1976, with Chris Hemsworth
- 12 Years a Slave, from director Steve McQueen, with Chiwetel Ejiofor, Michael Fassbender, Paul Giamatti, Alfre Woodard, and Benedict Cumberbatch
- All Is By My Side, a biopic of Jimi Hendrix, with Andre Benjamin in the title role
- Bad Words, the directorial debut of Jason Bateman
- Can a Song Save Your Life? the latest from the writer-director of Once, John Carney, starring Mark Ruffalo, Kiera Knightly, and Catherine Keener
- Dallas Buyers Club, with Matthew McConaughey, Jennifer Garner, and Jared Leto, from director Jean-Marc Vallée (C.R.A.Z.Y.)
- Devil's Knot, a dramatization of the aftermath of the 1993 West Memphis murders starting Reese Witherspoon and directed by Atom Egoyan
- Dom Hemingway, a comic caper film with Jude Law and Richard E. Grant
- Don Jon, from writer-director Joseph Gordon-Levitt, with Scarlett Johannsen and Julianne Moore
- Gravity, Alfonso Cuaron's space-based drama with George Clooney and Sandra Bullock
- Hateship Loveship, based on an Alice Munro story and starring Guy Pearce, Kristen Wiig, Nick Nolte, and Hailee Stanfield
- The Invisible Woman, directed by and starring Ralph Fiennes as Charles Dickens
- Joe, the latest from David Gordon Green, starring Nicolas Cage
- Labor Day, the new film from Jason Reitman, with Josh Brolin and Kate Winslet
- Like Father, Like Son, Hirokazu Kore-Eda's latest that won the Jury Prize at Cannes this year
- Night Moves, with Jesse Eisenberg, Dakota Fanning, and Peter Saarsgard as eco-terrorists, from Kelly Reichardt
- Only Lovers Left Alive, Jim Jarmusch's latest with Tom Hiddleston and Tilda Swinton as vampires
- The Past, director Asghar Farhadi's (A Separation) latest film which won for best actress (Bérénice Bejo) at Cannes
- Third Person, a new film from writer-director Paul Haggis, with Liam Neeson, Adrien Brody, and James Franco
- You Are Here, a comedy starring Owen Wilson, Zack Galifianakis, and Amy Poehler
Friday, September 07, 2012
Imogene
Imogene features Kristen Wiig as the titular Imogene, a once-promising playwright who has let her talents lie fallow in favour of whiling away time with her high society friends and boyfriend in New York City. A series of events causes her to hit a nadir in her life, which leads her back to her dysfunctional family in New Jersey, headed up by her larger-than-life mother, played with gusto by Annette Bening.
This was a warm and funny film, never failing to get a laugh out of the audience at the premiere. While the characters all had their eccentricities, the film still felt grounded and relatable, and both Wiig and Bening give really good performances. Well worth seeing, and there still appear to be tickets available for the Saturday, September 8 showing. Bening and co-star Matt Dillon were unable to appear at the premiere because of conflicts, but are trying to make it in for subsequent screenings. Wiig, directors Robert Pulcini and Shari Springer Berman, screenwriter Michelle Morgan, and much of the rest of the cast including Darren Criss did make it to the premiere.
Kristen Wiig leaving the premiere of Imogene:
Saturday, August 25, 2012
My 2012 Films
My films for 2012 include:
- Antiviral (Brandon Cronenberg, Canada): interested to see how his style compares to that of his father.
- At Any Price (Ramin Bahrani, USA): with Dennis Quaid, Zac Effron, and Heather Graham. My friend really liked Goodbye Solo, another of Bahrani's films.
- Blancanieves (Pablo Berger, Spain/France)
- The Color of the Chameleon (Emil Christov, Bulgaria)
- The Deflowering of Eva van End (Michiel ten Horn, The Netherlands)
- The End of Time (Peter Mettler, Canada/Switzerland)
- Ghost Graduation (Javier Ruiz Caldera): this one sounds fun.
- How to Make Money Selling Drugs (Matthew Cooke, USA): sounds interesting, and where else are you going to find Susan Sarandon in the same film as 50 Cent?
- Imagine (Andrzej Jakimowski, Poland/France/Portgual)
- Imogene (Robert Pulcini, Shari Springer Berman, USA): with Kristen Wiig, Annette Bening, and Matt Dillon.
- In Conversation With... Jackie Chan: couldn't pass this one up.
- Key of Life (Kenji Uchida, Japan)
- Laurence Anyways (Xavier Dolan, Canada/France): saw Dolan's last film, Heartbeats, at the festival.
- A Liar's Autobiography - The Untrue Story of Monty Python's Graham Chapman (Ben Timlett, Bill Jones, Jeff Simpson, United Kingdom): can't believe it's been 23 years since Chapman died.
- Love is All You Need (Susanne Bier, Denmark)
- Motorway (Soi Cheang, Hong Kong): sounds great, plus saw Accident and many Johnnie To films at the festival before
- Much Ado About Nothing (Joss Whedon, USA): was a fan of Firefly and Dollhouse, so curious to see what Whedon and his regular cast do with Shakespeare
- Passion (Brian de Palma, France/Germany)
- The Place Beyond the Pines (Derek Cianfrance, USA): saw Blue Valentine, so interested to see what Cianfrance and Gosling produce this time around
- Room 237 (Rodney Ascher, USA)
- Rust and Bone (Jacques Audiard, France/Belgium)
- Smashed (James Ponsoldt, USA)
- Storm Surfers 3D (Christopher Nelius, Justin McMillan, Australia): saw Pina in 3D last year; this is this year's 3D pick, and it sounds like it should take full advantage of the medium
- Tai Chi 0 (Stephen Fung, Hong Kong): the director of Gen-X Cops and fight choreography by Sammo Hung? Sure, why not!
- Thale (Aleksander L. Nordaas, Norway)
- The Thieves (Choi Dong-hoon, South Korea)
Monday, September 12, 2011
TIFF 2011 Day 4 Recap
Thoughts on day 4:
- In place of the normal trailers, they showed a short film talking about 9/11 and what happened at the festival in 2001. Although someone forgot to tell the projectionist for Lightbox 1 for Drive that.
- Drive: interesting film with a bit of an 80's vibe going on; esthetic reminded me a bit of Michael Mann. Gosling gives a good understated performance, but Brooks steals the show. Director Nicolas Winding Refn, Ryan Gosling, Bryan Cranston and Albert Brooks all made it to a Q&A after the film (alas, no Carey Mulligan or Christina Hendricks).
- In Conversation With Frances Ford Coppola: wide-ranging discussion with questions from Cameron Bailey and the audience, covering everything to his thoughts on how to deal with actors, how he learned to stand up to studios, to his winery, and his writing process. Coppola received a well-deserved standing ovation at the start and end of the session.
- I'm Yours: fun and dramatic road trip through northern Ontario with Rossif Sutherland and Karine Vanasse. Thought it was a nicely put together film. I couldn't stay for the Q&A with Sutherland and director Leonard Farlinger (Vanasse appeared before the film, but had to jet off for shooting on the ABC TV series Pan Am). The film was proceeded by Something Red, a fun little short from first-time director Ilana Frank, an EP on Rookie Blue, which explains the presence of Travis Milne, Missy Peregrym and Gregory Smith in the short and at the screening. Combined with seeing Charlotte Sullivan at last night's premiere of Edwin Boyd, I only need to find a film with Enuka Okuma to get the set.
- Headshot: latest from Pen-ek Ratanaruang (who is a pretty funny guy in real life), about a hitman who after being shot sees the world upside down. Liked the story of how the main character sees his life differently as his view changes, and was quite accessible, which is not always the case with films in the Vanguard program. Only problem was apparently the film was projected far darker than it should have been, so some of the scenes at night were difficult to make out. Hopefully that won't happen in other screenings.
Sunday, September 11, 2011
TIFF 2011 Day 3 Recap
Some quick thoughts on the movies I saw today:
- The Artist: a film about a silent screen star that can't cope with the advent of the talkies. Shot as an actual silent movie with no dialog, this was a really clever move that produced a really touching and funny story. Hard to believe you can get a compelling 90 minute movie with no speaking, but director Michel Hazanavicius does it with aplomb.
- Killer Elite: couldn't get more star power than having Robert De Niro, Jason Statham and Clive Owen on stage at once. But I was actually there to see Yvonne Strahovski (from TV's Chuck), and she didn't disappoint. :-) She even managed to change at some point between the start and end of the movie! The film itself was action packed, but was a bit awkwardly structured at the start, and I'm not quite sure I bought the Featherman as this all-powerful Illuminati-like cabal, at least from how they were portrayed. But I enjoyed the interplay between all the characters, and De Niro's turn, while nothing taxing, reminded me a little bit of his role in Ronin.Owen and Statham played well off of each other. Strahovski's part was a 180 from Sarah Walker, and I wish the script gave her more to do, but she acquitted herself well with what she had, including sharing scenes with De Niro.
- Burning Man: Matthew Goode does a great turn as a chef plagued by his own inner demons as he comes to terms with a tragedy in his life. The film jumps around quite a bit in time and as such is a bit hard to follow at the start; by the end the rhythm settles and you can see everything come to together.
- Edwin Boyd: Based on the real life exploits of a Canadian bank robber, the film features Scott Speedman as the title character. Speedman really digs into the role and you can see his struggle as he finds his way to criminality first as a means to support his family, and then as he begins to enjoy the noteriety. Also features Kelly Reilly (who I recognized but struggled to remember from where, until I remembered her as Caroline Bingley in Pride and Prejudice and Mary Morstan in Sherlock Holmes), Brian Cox, Kevin Durand (who's old Toronto vocal coach happened to be in the audience), Charlotte Sullivan (who I recognized from Rookie Blue), and William Mapother.
Saturday, September 10, 2011
TIFF 2011 Day 2 Recap
Some quick thoughts on the films I saw today:
- Urbanized: the latest from documentarian Gary Hustwit (Helvetica, Objectified), the film takes a look at urban design around the world, from the US to South America, from Europe, to Africa, and to Asia. A fascinating look at how the organization, or lack thereof, in how a city is built can affect communities, societies, and the environment. The film was well-received by the packed crowd at the Ryerson. Hustwit himself, who stayed for a Q&A, was quite well acquainted with the urban planning challenges we have here in Toronto, including the mayor's recent attempt to throw out the current, long-in-the-works plan for the waterfront with a completely different one that he somehow thinks can be in place in six years. Probably the biggest hit in the film was the former mayor of Bogota, who talked of the city's move to put transit and cyclists front and center. If you care about having a vibrant, livable city, this is one to see.
- Elles: an interesting film, but can't say too much about it as I was unfortunately sitting behind the tallest person in the theatre so I couldn't make out much of the subtitles and my French is rather limited. Juliette Binoche did appear, as did director Malgoska Szumowska. I'll have to catch this again at some point.
- Sons of Norway: at turns funny and dramatic, this film from director Jens Lien (The Bothersome Man) showcases the story of a young boy who turns to punk to cope with a tragedy in his life. Also features a cameo by John Lydon (aka Johnny Rotten) who joined Jens Lien and writer Nikolaj Frobenius on stage afterwards for a Q&A. Lydon said he rarely if ever puts his name behind anything, but he was really committed to this film.
Friday, September 09, 2011
TIFF 2011 Day 1 Recap
Had a pretty good start to the fest:
- Pina: I'm not into modern dance, but if any film can make me a convert, it's this one. Wim Wenders did a Q&A after the film, and you can tell this was a labour of love for him and Pina Bausch's dance company. The use of 3D is not overwhelming, and is effective in giving that added layer of depth that makes the dance movements stand out.
- From Up on Poppy Hill: intentionally not as fantastical as Studio Ghibli's other output, it's a nice little coming-of-age/love story, although a little bit thin on plot/drama except for the main obstacle that arises between the leads, which in and of itself is a bit out there (and which the film itself knowingly acknowledges). Still enjoyed it and was a nice break between some heavier films.
- The Raid: probably the best martial-arts action film I've seen in a long time, and puts anything coming out of North America to shame. Great fight choreography that is well shot and framed so you can see all the movements and action.
- The new Cadillac and RBC trailers were funny and a nice change, although I think the RBC ones will get tired quicker.
- The new volunteer trailer was fun; wouldn't want to cross Deepa Metha.
- Last year they were plugging an upcoming Tim Burton exhibit at the Lightbox; this year it's Grace Kelly.
- They really have to work on their line management at the Lightbox. We were queueing for Poppy Hill, and they had the line doubling up on itself multiple times; credit the volunteers and the crowds from keeping things getting ugly, but they should fix the whole situation fast.
- Don't lose your 3D glasses! They'll charge you $10 if you do.
Thursday, September 01, 2011
My 2011 Films
My films for this year include:
- The Artist (Michel Hazanavicius, France), shot in the style of the silent era in which it is set
- Burning Man (Jonathan Teplitzky, Australia), starring Matthew Goode
- Dark Horse (Todd Solondz, USA)
- Drive (Nicolas Winding Refn, USA), starring Ryan Gosling, Carey Mulligan, and Bryan Cranston, won for best director this year at Cannes
- Edwin Boyd (Nathan Morlando, Canada), with Scott Speedman as the eponymous bank robber
- Elles (Malgoska Szumowska, France/Poland/Germany), continuing my Juliette Binoche streak at the festival of L' Heure d'été, Le Voyage du ballon rouge, Quelques jours en septembre, and Paris, je t'aime)
- From Up on Poppy Hill (Goro Miyazaki, Japan), from the son of famed anime director Hayao Miyazaki, directing his father's screenplay
- I'm Yours (Leonard Farlinger, Canada), starring Rossif Sutherland, of the famous acting Sutherlands
- In Conversation with... Francis Ford Coppola
- Killer Elite (Gary McKendry, USA/Australia); despite having De Niro, Statham, and Owen, really just going to see it for Yvonne Strahovski :-)
- Melancholia (Lars von Trier, Denmark/Sweden/France/Germany), with Kirsten Dunst, best actress winner at Cannes this year
- Page Eight (David Hare, UK), with fairly high-powered UK cast including Bill Nighy, Michael Gambon, Ralph Fiennes, and Rachel Weisz among others
- Pearl Jam Twenty (Cameron Crowe, USA), curious to see what Crowe has been up to since Elizabethtown (which I liked, btw)
- Pina (Wim Wenders, Germany/France), 3-D tribute choreographer Pina Bausch; be interesting to see the use of 3-D here vs Wener Herzog's Cave of Forgotten Dreams that I saw last year at TIFF)
- The Raid (Gareth Evans, Indonesia), my Midnight Madness action pick for this year
- Sleeping Beauty (Julia Leigh, Australia)
- Smuggler (Katsuhito Ishii, Japan), my Midnight Madness action/comedy pick for this year
- Sons of Norway (Jens Lien, Norway), my one Scandinavian movie this year, sounds like it should be entertaining
- That Summer (Philippe Garrel, France/Italy/Switzerland)
- Urbanized (Gary Hustwit, USA/UK), Hustwit's follow up to Objectified, which I saw a couple of years ago at the Hot Docs festival
Sunday, September 19, 2010
Thoughts on TIFF 2010 Day 11
Thoughts on the final day:
- Boy, there were some die-hards lined up for tickets for the free screening of the Cadillac People's Choice Award Winner, The King's Speech. I was there at 2:00 for The Trip, and there were already people lined up, and they weren't releasing tickets until 4:00.
- The Trip: hilarious improvised romp through the restaurants of Northern England with Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon played fictionalized versions of their real-life selves. As everyone has mentioned, their dueling Michael Caine impressions are one of the highlights of the film (and having seen Michael Caine in person at the festival last year, I can attest to that). But their conversations are also interspersed with personal moments, Brydon missing his wife and newborn, and Coogan having one-night stands while longing for his girlfriend in America and thinking about his own pre-teen son, lending a bit of dramatic flair to the comedic road trip. Well worth seeing.
- 13 Assassins: the latest from Japanese director Takeshi Miike, 13 Assassins is a remake of the 1963 Eiichi Kudo film of the same name, and follows the real-life story of Shinzaemon Shimada, a samurai who is secretely charged with a mission to assassinate Lord Naritsugu, the adopted younger brother of the current shogun. Naritsugu is brutalizing his subjects, and after another lord commits seppuku, the consipracy is put in motion. Shinzaemon recruits others to his cause, and it all comes to a head in an action-packed 45-minute climax reminiscent of The Seven Samurai or Miike's last film, Sukiyaki Western Django. Even though there is a long buildup, the film never felt like it dragged, and the assassins' last stand again insurmountable odds is worth the wait.
Thoughts on TIFF 2010 Day 10
Some thoughts on Day 10:
- Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives: winner of the Palme d'Or at Cannes, this latest from Thai director Apichatpong Weerasethakul finds Uncle Boonmee at the end of his days, suffering from kidney failure. He is visited by ghosts and spirits from his past, and experiences some of his past lives. This is a fairly arty film with a lot of levels not necessarily apparent on first viewing, so your enjoyment might or might not be tempered as such (I think I fall into the former camp).
- Trigger: Vic (played by the late Tracy Wright) and Kat (Molly Parker) were once the two halves of a band called Trigger, until a falling out on tour. Fast forward to 10 years later, and the two women meet up for dinner, right before a tribute concert to the women of rock. The film follows the two over the course of a night, during which they hash out their long buried issues, conflicts, and feelings. Directed by Bruce McDonald (Roadkill, Highway 61) and written by writer/playwright Daniel MacIvor, Trigger features a couple of great performances by the leads, even more so especially considering the short time frame in which the completed the movie (a matter of days). Actor Don McKellar, Wright's real-life husband and who had a small cameo in the film, was at the Q&A and almost broke down while giving his thanks to everyone who worked so hard to get the film completed.
- Henry's Crime: average heist movie that finds sad sack Henry (Keanu Reeves) serving time for a botched bank robbery for which he was duped into being the getaway driver. Eventually parolled, Henry decides if he's done the time, he might as well do the crime. Teaming up with former cellmate Max (James Caan), Henry figures out the best way into the bank is to tunnel from the theatre next door. This embroils him with a production of Chekov's The Cherry Orchard being staged there, along with leading actress Julie (Vera Farmiga). Whether you enjoy this movie is likely closely linked to whether you would have bought Reeves as Hamlet when he played the role in Winnipeg a number of years back.
- Fire of Conscience: excellent high-adrenaline Hong Kong action flick from director Dante Lam. Follows Manfred (Leon Lai), an emotionally damaged cop who prowls the streets at night looking for a particular pickpocket. But his days are occupied trying to solve the murder of a prostitute and teaming with another detective, Kee (Richie Ren), to track down a cop killer who may be linked to something bigger. As typical with the genre, nothing and no one is as they seem.
Friday, September 17, 2010
Thoughts on TIFF 2010 Day 9
Some thoughts on Day 9:
- This blog was referenced by an article on The Guardian's film blog.
- Home for Christmas: based on some of the short stories of Levi Henriksen, this film from director Bent Hamer (Kitchen Stories, O'Horten) consists of several vignettes, largely connected only by the fact they all occur on the same Christmas Eve. There's the workaholic doctor called out for a childbirth; a couple of teenagers connecting with one another; the woman in an affair with a man who will never leave his wife; a divorced man who can't give his own kids presents on Christmas; a homeless man trying to make it back to his hometown; and others. The film constantly shifts between stories, and despite the short time available to each, you do develop feelings and sympathies for the characters. Only one story, that of an old man and his aged mother didn't really click for me, but the others found me longing for family and the holidays.
- The First Grader: this film is based on the real-life story of Kimani Ng'ang'a Maruge, a veteran of the Mau Mau Uprising against British colonial rule in Kenya in the 1950's. After the government announced free universal education for all in 2003, Maruge, at the age of 84, enrolled in primary school to get the education he never had as a child. At first, the teachers refuse to admit him, but his persistence causes head teacher Jane Obinchu (played by Naomie Harris) to relent. Jane and Maruge must fight against wary parents and the system to keep Maruge in school, all the while Maruge must deal with his own demons from the past. An inspiring, dramatic, and at times, funny, story.
Thoughts on TIFF 2010 Day 8
Some thoughts on Day 8:
- Beaver!
- Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale. Hilarious and thrilling film. Young Onni Tommila is the real star of the film, and the next great action hero. Well worth seeing.
- Monsters: Interesting film, but don't go in expecting an action piece. The "monsters" of the title are almost more of a background piece to the relationship between the two leads (played by real-life couple Whitney Able and Scoot McNairy). Much of the dialogue is improvised, which didn't always work for me especially when it tried to get allegorical, but probably does fit with director Gareth Edward's goal of having a "real-life" monster movie. Some of the sci-fi elements reminded me of The Mist or Cloverfield, but like I said, the film is more about the journey of the leads (both physically and emotionally) than the aliens around them.
Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale
Pietari (played by Onni Tommila), a young boy living in rural Finland with his single father Rauno (Jorma Tommila), is intrigued by the excavation being done on a nearby mountaintop by a group of supposed scientists. After investigating with his friend, Pietari becomes consumed with the thought that the scientists have found Santa Claus frozen in the ice; but this is not the "Coca-Cola" version of Santa we're used to today, but a much darker one from ancient lore, one that would sooner spank or boil alive young children. As mysterious happenings soon envelope his neighbours, only Pietari knows what's going on, and may be their only saviour.
It's hard to characterize this film; it's more of a thriller with some horror elements thrown in, but with a lot of humour and some tender moments around the relationship between father and son. The film, from director Jalmari Helander based on idea from himself and his brother, is a prequel of sorts to the short films Helander has previously released on the Internet (YouTube has Part 1 and Part 2).
The movie maintains a brisk pace right out of the gate, and the suspense builds to a thrilling and hilarious climax. Young Onni Tommila does a great job as Pietari, and is one of the best things about the film. Overall, it was really fun and exciting, and it seemed to be a real crowd-pleaser. Well worth seeing if you get a chance.
Director Jalmari Helander did a Q&A after the film:
- He's made two shorts on the same topic before, and this movie is kind of a prequel; everyone seems to like the shorts and always ask him why he doesn't make a feature, so he did.
- The idea was developed by him and his brother; they wondered why Santa Claus has changed over the years. The original Father Christmas is totally opposite from the one we have now. So they started to investigate it.
- The music was done by first-time composer Juri Seppä, who is a friend of Helander's.
- Onni Tommila is actually Helander's nephew, and has been in a few of Helander's short films. Helander thinks Tommila is really something.
- When asked why there are no women in the film, Helander responded that there was one in the beginning on the first shooting day, but he suddenly realized that there couldn't be any in the story. He originally had more women in the script (for example, Pietari had a mother), but when men have their own plans, it's so much easier to do those plans when there's no women around asking "what the hell are you doing?"
- Shooting took place over 26 days.
- They went to the northern part of Norway because the mountains are great there, unlike in Finland. The real Korvatunturi mountain is a really stupid, sad hill.
- It was nice to be really isolated with the whole team, it was really interesting.
- They don't have the Easter bunny in Finland, they have an Easter Witch, but Helander doesn't have any opinion on her.
- Helander is 34 years of age. One of his influences is the movie E.T.
Possible spoilers below:
- He's working on something else right now, but does have an idea for a sequel. He says it's not going to be pretty with all these Santas around the world.
- There's lots of CGI in the last 15 to 20 minutes of the film, not so much in the beginning, except for some snow, the excavated pit, and dead reindeer (because they didn't have enough real ones).
Thursday, September 16, 2010
Thoughts on TIFF 2010 Day 7
Some thoughts on Day 7:
- How to Start Your Own Country: funny yet thoughtful look at a few micronations around the world that raises deeper questions about what it means to be a country. The film takes a look at well-known micronations like Sealand, as well as lesser known ones. While some of the founders come off a bit eccentric, the filmmakers do portray them in a sympathetic light, and all have their own deeply held beliefs as to why they do what they do.
- The Solitude of Prime Numbers: based on the best-selling Italian novel by Paulo Giordano, who co-wrote with director Saverio Constanzo, this film examines a boy and a girl through different period of their lives; their childhood, their teens, their early 20's, and their late 20's. Both are damaged, either physically or emotionally or both, and struggle with relating to family, people, and each other. Filled with melancholy, it's occasionally as difficult to relate to the characters as it is for them to relate to their own world, but the shifting timeframes gradually reveal the source and depth of their sorrows.
