TIFF 09 Round Up - Part 5

Continuing with films that were not what I expected...

Jean Charles - Dir. Henrique Goldman

I read this as a film about the man with the same name, who was mistaken for being a terrorist in the London subway bombings in 2006 - a topic of interest to me as I travelled to London shortly after these events.  I guess that is what the film is about, but somehow I thought it would be more centered around the bombings themselves rather than an intricate look at this man's everyday life and his significance to those around him.  To sum it up, it was more Brazillian than British, focusing on a minority community & their specific culture within London.  We get an up close look at the finer workings of the lives of illegal Brazillian immigrants working in the city and different roles and hierarchies of people in the community, how they interact with each other and those not of their ethnic minority.  The terrorist events were really just a vague backdrop, which is fine, but then the last 15 mins it seems to take on a new focus, which confused me.  Jean Charles went from being an everyman story to a martyr almost.  It felt like with his death we were suddenly pulled out from this intimate setting and the focus became more documentary-like, with meetings with British officials and of the family seeking retribution, etc.  I realize it's meant to portray the injustice and suddenness of what took place, but the shift in tone was too abrupt for me.  That along with clashing with my preconceptions, made this film not work for me.

2/5
 
Leslie, My Name is Evil - Dir. Reginald Harkema
 

Leslie, My Name is Evil had a much more political and less campy backdrop that I expected, the filmmaker even emphasized camp in the intro, but I certainly didn't see enough of it for my tastes.  Not surprisingly it attracted a lot of Manson fans (interested parties and not followers I hope :P) given that the story plays out similarily.
 
The Q&A for Leslie, My Name is Evil was quite interesting, much intellectual political prefacing - although borderline too much explanation.  I always feel like the film should be able to stand on its own and only that which is meant to be questionable or mysterious gets revealed.  On the flipside, it was interesting to know that the director named his characters after his family members, and also the commentary on how the staunch republican/hippy divide still exists in the USA today.
 
This film was worth checking out, however I would still classify as a "Canadian effort" in that the ideas are good, but I still feel like they didn't go full tilt.  This movie had the potential to be much more, but in the end still comes off as tame and watered down to me.

2.5/5

Youth in Revolt - Dir. Miguel Arteta

This is both 'more Michael Cera being Michael Cera' and 'Michael Cera not being Michael Cera at all!' at the same time.  Lose you, did I?  Call it the film where the guy finally gets to expand on his talent a little.  I've never read the book so I'm not in a position to make a comparison, but I can tell you that the result is decent, light entertainment that keeps you engaged.  It's not the most original piece of cinema you'll ever see, but I think both filmmaker and lead actor put their stamp on it.  Portia Doubleday is fine as the lead actress, but I don't really see what the huge fuss over her is about.

3/5

Soloman Kane

First viewed as an underdog in the Midnight Madness, but with growing hype as we approached the fest, I finally caved in the first few days of TIFF 09 got myself a ticket to Soloman Kane.  And in the end all I got from it was:

a) relatively simple story (ie. I slept through most of it but still understood the plot)

b) nice digital effects (ie. my friend J was not elbowing me to get me to wake up and pay attention to the story but rather to comment on the cinematography)

c) flashy battle scenes (ie. everytime I heard swords and weapons clanging I'd open my eyes and think "well that looks cool")

d) will likely garner a mainstream audience (ie. afterwards Adil's comments were that it was like "part Punisher, part Lord of the Rings...." etc etc.

I don't feel it's appropriate to rate this film since I didn't really see most of it.  My only argument is that no matter how tired I am, if a film is worthy, I will somehow find it in me to stay awake.  I slept like a baby through the great part of Soloman Kane.


High Life - Dir. Gary Yates

As I set out to write the review for High Life, I momentarily got it mixed up with another Canadian effort.  I guess what I'm trying to say is:  although it was sandwiched in the middle of 30 films in 10 days, the fact remains that 3 weeks later, this film has become utterly forgetable.  I remember it to be a coherent and stripped down heist movie (the latter is not necessarily a bad thing), with adequate talent and passable production values.  It's enjoyable at the time of viewing, but doesn't stand out among the dime a dozen heist movies.

2.5/5

TIFF 09 Round Up - Part 4

Half way into TIFF this year, I came to the realization that many of the films I'd seen up to that point have not been what I expected in terms of story/style/genre, ie. The Loved Ones, Jean Charles, and Leslie, My Name is Evil just to name a few.  I suspected that I spent the equivalent of a day and a half with that dumbfounded look on my face watching these while wondering if I was in the right theatre.  I wondered how much of this had to do with me misinterpreting the synopsis I'd been reading?



The Loved Ones - Dir. Sean Byrne

Each year the Midnight Madness program has certain programming mandates, or so it would appear.  MM is usually never without a) some form of zombies, b) something off the wall from Japan, c) wild rollicking Asian martial arts, d) a torture flick, e) some B horror, and f) a couple of flicks that mind f*ck you over to say the least.  These can be combined, duplicated, and/or modified, but you can always expect the above when showing up at Ryerson during the Witching Hour.

From its description in the program book, I expected some B horror in the tradition of Carrie meets Pretty in Pink.  I was expecting a lot of groans for cheesiness factor and laughs and cheers for acts of campy heroicism and/or horror cliches.  Instead what I got was a mostly irrational torture flick was more like the Martyrs meets 80's camp.  While I was engrossed (more so than grossed out), it really was just shock horror for the sake of shock horror and dementia.  I was sitting between Jack and Darrin who in squirmed more for the twisted incest factor than any of the gore itself.  In many ways I guess it was still your standard B horror - lousy acting, story that doesn't entirely make sense, and lots of gore.  I can't say I didn't like it, but ... I'm rather indifferent to it.  I wouldn't recommend oer se, but no need to run away from it either... it's not my type of movie I guess.

SPOILER:  I really feel like it should've ended with them backing up and smacking her in the head. Although it's not the only thing that felt unecessary, it is overall an insane sadistic film like that doesn't need a family reunion for an ending.

2.5/5


Wheat - Dir. Ping He

When I read the synopsis for Wheat I was already wary.  It didn't sound like the type of film I'd enjoy watching after a long day at the office, but Ping He's last film was the Chinese historic epic Warriors of Heaven and Earth which I enjoyed very much.  Where there is the backdrop of war in common between the films, that's were the similarities end.  Where Warriors focus is on the battlefield, Wheat is about the village of women left behind and the two deserter enemy soldiers that stumble into their world one day.

There definitely wasn't enough action in this film to sustain my attention.  It's an interesting look at the characters' complexities and emotions,  they do not live in easy times.  Overall it just seemed like too many people who didn't necessarily like one other but forged alliances all the same based on life's mandates.  I'll admit to nodding off for a bit somewhere in the middle, it really wasn't my kind of movie.

2/5

The Invention of Lying - Dir. Ricky Gervais & Matthew Robinson

Ricky Gervais is always a pleasure to watch and The Invention of Lying is no exception.  He also wrote this film that takes place in a world where the concept of lying does not exist - until Ricky's character stumbles upon it.  This is definitely one of the freshest ideas I've heard come out of Hollywood in a while.  However it does still fall into a few of the Hollywood traps... the cliched romance, and storybook ending.  I also thought that he didn't go far enough given his personality and writing talents, I believe his audience and fans could've taken it.  Extremes that were more outlandish, scandalous, and just pushing the envelope, but no, he plays it safe.  It's still a great movie, very appropriate for a first date, or something to take your mother to (which I did! haha)

3/5

Bitch Slap - Dir. Rick Jacobson

On one hand, Bitch Slap could garner the same comments as The Loved Ones - lousy acting, flimsy story, don't really care what happens to characters, doesn't make much sense... But it's clearly a homage and sexy stripped down love letter to Russ Meyer.  Style, homage, and boobs over substance for sure, but hey, it's not like anyone ever expected different from Russ Meyer himself.  There's nothing really innovative about this movie, but damned if it isn't a great time.  It's like the R rated version of Charlie's Angel 2, you know it's going to be horrible, so down a couple beers first and don't expect to witness cinematic history and you'll have a blast!  The flashbacks may get more and more ridiculous, but take solace in the fact that all the stunts were coordinated by the amazing Zoe Bell, who clearly thought this movie was worthy of her time and effort.  The story just gets more and more ridiculous as it goes along, but so do the relationships between the girls... get my drift?

3.5/5

TIFF 09 Round Up - Part 3

The following two films I did not see consecutively.  I did not even see them on the same day.  But like the year I chose to have my reviews of Control and Joy Division side by side (for obviously reasons), I feel strongly about discussing Accident and Vengeance together.

The main link between the two are that they are both Hong Kong productions that involve Johnnie To, one of my favourite Hong Kong filmmakers.  To produced Accident and directed Vengeance, and while they gravitate towards some of the same cinematic goals, there is a vast difference between them.

Vengeance – Dir. Johnnie To

Some of my fellow TIFF-ers loathed Vengeance.  I didn’t.  I was expecting it to be horrible given the budget and unlimited artistic license that I knew Johnnie To would allow himself, I had predicted pretentious, over-the-top noir imagery so that helped in lowering my expectations.  But I think even without that mindset the film was adequate, and none of the things I’d expected.  Agreed the story progression slowed down in the 2^nd half and I felt some aspects of Johnny Haliday’s character were brought in a little too late, making it feel tacked on to invoke our sympathy towards his somewhat extreme motivations.

And despite any shortcomings, I have no regrets attending this screening for the opportunity to hear the Q&A with Colin Geddess and Johnnie To, which included humorous tales about when Colin went to visit the Milky Way Films’ studio.  Johnnie To also talked about his usual crew of actors, and gave us some background on how Lam Yeut got his start.  Very interesting and fun.  Then signing autographs and being an all around decent guy on his way out, well that was an even bigger bonus.  It all became a highlight of my festival.

3/5

Accident – Dir. Pou Soi Cheang

For much of TIFF, Accident was the most thought-provoking film of the fest for me.  Deliberate acts carefully crafted to look like accidents is attention grabbing unto itself, but Louis Koo does a good job of taking us further into his character, the obsessive leader of this group of “accident” stagers whose delusions overtake his abilities to reason.  The brilliance is that we start to unravel with him, the world he’s shown to us begins to overtake our objectivity as well.  Also intriguing is the ebb and flow of fate portrayed in this story – SPOILER:  how he suspected the every day guy was stalking him, but the every day guy had no reason to kill him until he wound up giving him a reason in his delusions.  Makes you think.

Philosophy aside… Contrary to my expectations, Accident wound up being more noir-ish than Vengeance, it summoned images of Seven and made me think of Melville’s work with the strong focus on a single lead that lives his life neither black and white but in a perpetual shade of grey.  I believe both Vengeance and this film had a common goal, but Accident’s story is fresh and inspired.  It draws from the genre rather than copy it.

4/5

TIFF 09 Round Up - Part 2

My Queen Karo - Dir. Dorothee Van Den Berghe

Amsterdam, 70’s, squatters, leftist free thinkers, revolutionaries and not to mention good advance buzz, just a handful of reasons why I was looking forward to seeing My Queen Karo. But that’s just the back drop, the story centres around a young girl and the relationships within her expanding family in the age of free love, giving it a more universal theme told with innocence and free of convention from the eyes of child. The Q&A following this film also provided some insight on the casting of the child lead and the filmmakers relationship to the setting. I enjoyed My Queen Karo but when sandwiched in the middle of 30 films, it doesn’t shine. It’s subtle complexities are thoroughly engaging and I would recommend checking it out.

3.5/5

I, Don Giovanni – Dir. Carlos Saura

Half music history lesson, half mind-blowing cinematography is how I would describe I, Don Giovanni, which is about De Ponte’s life in and around the time he and Mozart composed this very famous opera. Maybe it was because I was very tired, maybe it was because the emphasis really was on the aural and visual aesthetic, but I didn’t really feel like I absorbed enough of the story. Not to mention I have a tendency to stop reading subtitles during the singing numbers, I’ve always thought it more important to really hear the music rather than read and derive meeting from the words (might have something to do with my belief that “opera in English is still opera” haha). If you’re an opera fan or want to see some terrific sets, you should definitely take a look at this film.

2.5/5