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