TIFFing It Up

Four movies down, six to go.

Reviews of everything I've seen are over at FilmChaw.

Antichrist - Disturbing, brilliant, and graphic. You leave this one loving or hating it. They hated it in Cannes. We love it in Toronto.

Suck - Canadian vampire band road movie comedy. 'Nuff said.

Daybreakers - Most original take on Vamps I've seen in a while. Intelligent for a vampire movie, with the expected social commentary hidden between bloodbaths.

The Road - The end of the world has never felt so brutally realistic. Best of the fest so far for me.

Tonight is Bitch Slap. I've heard it disappoints. How can a movie where all I expect is cleavage, legs, cleavage, guns, and shit blowing up disappoint? Did I mention cleavage? What? I'm supposed to be high-brow? Fuck that.

Final TIFF

Chocolate

Every time I pick a move for TIFF, certain expectations exist. Rarely is there more to go on than the description in the official program, or the occasional early review. Some don't live up to the hype, others meet my standards, and some exceed these expectations.

I picked Chocolate expecting one thing - A whole whack of ass-kicking. It didn't disappoint.

Zen is the daughter of a Yakuza boss and Thai ganglord's girlfriend (or something). She is, as related in the story, a special child, with special needs. The audience decided she was, in fact, autistic. Slow to develop, and fairly non-communicative, her mother Zin gives up her life to raise Zen. Years pass, and Zen watches the kickboxers practicing in front of her house, martial arts movies (including Ong Bak - the director's previous film), and displays sharp reflexes and a keen sense of hearing.

Her best (and only) friend Moom uses Zen's talents to entertain crowds and take tips. She becomes a busker. The money is used to pay for Zin's cancer treatments. One night, Moom finds a book of Zin's from her gangster days, detailing who owes her how much. Naively, he and Zen go to collect from the underbelly of their city.

And that pretty much sets up increasingly impressive martial arts scenes as the debtors refuse to pay up without a fight... or more specifically, without the entire staff of whatever establishment they own putting up a fight. It's no surprise that the adversaries are little more than cannon fodder for Zen's grace.

This gets the attention of the gangsters (who happen to have a large number of Ladyboys as henchmen... go figure), figuring Zin is up to something. Of course, we all know where this is leading.

The Midnight Madness crowd are the people who own the fringe horror, categorize their martial arts movies by fight choreographer, and could probably correct Quentin Tarentino on mistakes in his homages to the Asian film world. The last time I heard them react like they did in this film was Banlieu 13, except this time it was pretty constant throughout the movie. Just when you think the bar's been set, it gets raised a bit higher.

When Zen walks into the dojo straight of Kill Bill and a dozen men come streaming down the stairs, you know you're in for a treat. The battle between her and another "special" kid (who the programmer of Midnight Madness referred to as "B-boy crackbaby") moves from an odd display of moves to a beautifully choreographed breakdancing fight scene that just has to be seen.

There's a plot, it's meant to connect the fight scenes. There's acting, it keeps it from being a silent movie. There's tragedy, because rarely do people fight for comedic reasons. In the end? It was the perfect way to end what turned out to be a great festival for me.

Penultimate TIFF

Me and Orson Welles

With a few drinks in me, I powerwalked from the subway to the theatre a city block away. Released some of the beer back into the wild, and found a seat in the balcony with minutes to spare.

The plot goes thusly: A teenager, Richard Samuels (Zac Efron), in 1937 New York talks his way into a small roll in Orson Welles' (Christian McKay) production Julius Caesar at the Mercury Theatre a week before curtain. He quickly learns his part and spends the next week rehearsing, falling in love with Orson's assistant (Claire Danes), and trying to survive the larger-than-life genius of Welles.

On it's own, and with Zac Efron, this hardly sounded like an appealing film for my limited selection. Except for one thing - it was directed by Richard Linklater.

I didn't realize he had nothing to do with the writing of it though. In fact, I didn't realize that until the credits rolled. Linklater's loved for films like Dazed and Confused, Before Sunrise, Before Sunset, Waking Life, and A Scanner Darkly. They're movies that thrive on the conversations, and in the case of the the latter two, the rotoscoped visuals that add to the conversations.

So doing a film set during the rise of Welles' career, in 1937 New York seems like a good fit for him. Lush visuals, rapid-fire conversation, and a simple story that relies on the actors and their words. And fit it did.

Linklater tries a few interesting shots here and there, but for the most part the direction is safe and serves its purpose of putting the story on the screen. Although I do like the effective use of props and tight scenes to create 1930's New York -- it seems appropriately low-budget for a movie about a low-budget theatrical production. Where his talents really come through is in the direction of the actors.

By the end of the film I'd decided that Christian McKay needs to be in a TON of movies now, because he carries this film as Welles. The man knows Orson, having done a one-man theatrical show as Welles before being grabbed for this movie. His delivery, look, and speech are dead-on. He plays Orson Welles playing the character of Orson Welles (a bombastic individual who was seldom not "on") perfectly, with brief, subtle moments where the real man comes through - in the eyes, a genuine smile, or a rage. Eventually you come to distrust every word he says, realizing he's always playing a role. I do hope he's not a one-trick pony though, and his ample skills at playing Welles can be transferred to other parts.

Claire Danes is Claire Danes. She's a strong, independent woman who aggressively goes for what she wants - be it men or career. Zac Efron is very much the teen idol trying to broaden his horizons beyond Disney musicals. He tries admirably here, but still has a lot of work to do. Efron feels like someone acting. He seldom overacts (one or two scenes near the end), but he doesn't fully embody Richard, and it leaves you somewhat detached from the film. It's a step in the right direction though, with the right cast and crew to lead him to better things.

The rest of the cast ranges from serviceable to good as Mercury players trying to put on their first show.

The romantic subplots are kept brief and in the background. They serve mainly to advance and resolve conflict. The focus stays squarely on Richard and Orson.

There's nothing heavy here, no life-changing message that will stick with you well after the lights have come on. It's a week in the life of one of the greatest dramatic personalities of the 20th century, and the effect he has on those around him. The movie achieves its goal nicely. Definitely a worthwhile way to spend a couple hours.

----

My last movie comes Saturday at midnight. I'm expecting big things from Chocolate. What kind of things? Well, a minimal plot used to service the idea of a Muay Thai martial arts fest from the creator of Ong Bak. It'll be a rowdy crowd and a hell of a way to end this fest.

TIFF Part Something

Adam Resurrected

As a director, Paul Schrader has given us a few recognizeable movies - Cat People, American Gigolo, Auto Focus, and, um, a movie about Patty Hearst? As a writer though... Well, there's American Gigolo, Cat People, Bringing Out The Dead, City Hall, The Last Temptation of Christ... and a couple small films - Raging Bull and Taxi Driver.

For Adam Resurrected, he dons the director's cap, but not the writer's. The result is a movie that really tries to be a great one, and even leaves you with the impression you just saw an important film. But it's like the arrow just missed the bulls-eye and the shadow plays tricks with your eyes.

Adam Stein (Jeff Goldblum) was once Germany's most famous clown. He grew from a humble nightclub act to filling theatres with his Circus. Of course, when you're a Jewish clown in Berlin in the 1930's, things aren't going to go well for you.

Yup, another Holocaust movie. As Schrader pointed out at the post-film Q&A though, this one is a total fiction, and nowhere near as reverent as the movies in this genre are supposed to be. That said, it's not REALLY a comedy so much as a drama with comedic moments.

The bulk of the film takes place in the 1960's, Adam is alive, but not necessarily well. He's at a clinic in Israel for the survivors of the camps. It's essentially an asylum where experimental treatments are performed on those the most far gone. A woman who is constantly holding up the sky with one arm, a man in uniform blowing a bugle, and others with various dementias. In fact, Adam appears nearly sane - he's a genius, seemingly a psychic, and has charmed the doctors, a particular nurse, and the rest of the patients with ease. He has free reign of the place, invests the other patients money in the stock market, and has booze hidden away throughout the clinic.

We get his history through flashbacks. His days as the funniest man in Berlin, the night he saved a man's life by preventing him from committing suicide (using his psychic abilities and comedy), and the day the Nazis shut him down...

Then one day at lunch, he smells a dog. He becomes upset, confronting the head doctor, and tracking down the animal to a distant wing of the hospital. There, we begin to learn the true depth of his madness and pain.

Goldblum is very good as Stein, with the exception of his accent moving all over the place. He's charming, witty, and believable as a man trying to hide his suffering. Willem Dafoe plays a Nazi Commandant who destroyed Stein. His final scene is particularly good. Tudor Rapiteanu is particularly good as a boy who believes he is a dog.

But somehow, it misses the mark. Goldblum doesn't quite nail it, and is sometimes just Jeff Goldblum with an accent (or none). Considering the amount of work he says he put into the role, I'm surprised he slips out of it as often as he does. The narrative has some holes of believablity, and the movie tries to draw you in, just to let you go.

As is often the case, it's not a bad film by any means, and is, in fact, good. But it fails to achieve its aspirations, which makes it disappointing.

More TIFF

Synecdoche, New York

Go ahead, pronounce it, I'll wait.

Okay, I'm done waiting. Sin. Eck. Dock. Key.

Giving a definition wouldn't help things.

Charlie Kaufman's resume as a writer is a list of some brilliant, brilliant films (and some quirky mainstream TV). Being John Malkovich, Human Nature, Adaptation, Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind are all his. Yet with such a unique voice, he had yet to direct his works. Luckily, people like Michel Gondry and Spike Jonze have been more than up to the task. In fact, it was Spike that was going to direct Synecdoche, but when schedules didn't match up, Charlie decided to take the reigns himself with Spike's blessing.

I went in with high hopes. Kaufman is a lock to be quirky, odd, hard to follow, and challenging. He's a perfect fit for a festival film. He didn't disappoint. Much like Eternal Sunshine, he starts off with a seemingly normal premise, with a hint of "off", and slowly cranks it up to a surreal, meta, exploration into... something.

Caden Cotard (Phillip Seymour Hoffman) is a successful theatre director in Schenectady, New York. He's married to artist Adele Lack (Catherine Keener), and has an adorable daughter, Olive. His latest production of Death of a Salesman is critically acclaimed, but his wife points out that he's stuck. He's getting praise for something somebody else wrote. Then his life falls apart - health and family both start to fail.

In the midst of this, he gets a "genius" grant, giving him financial freedom to create something magnificent. He decides to create an honest, real-life piece of theatre as his masterwork.

And this is where Kaufman goes all Kaufman on us... brilliantly. The movie shifts to New York City, where Caden buys a giant warehouse to stage his play. He starts creating a simulacrum of his life, and it grows into a reproduction of the lives of everyone else. Through it all, he deals with love, marriage, and life in general.

And that is the barest structure of the plot, which has so little to do with the experience that is this film. I think I could watch it a dozen times and have 12 different interpretations of things. It's recursive, metafictual, self-refrencing, and yet seldom confusing. By the end, I just kept staring at the screen, processing what I'd just watched. Somehow, through the increasing abstraction and blurring of lines between the fiction of the play and the reality of the film, a strong sense of pathos and pain comes through.

The directing was spotty at times. Unlike his writing, Kaufman didn't take too many risks with the camerawork. It's fairly basic, with a few interesting cuts, but it serves the purpose of the story. At times its confusing... some of those times are purposeful, but others seem to be unintentional. I forgive it all though.

I wish I could do this film justice. Many people will likely hate it, passionately, but I found it fantastic. Imagery that will take multiple viewings to work out, only to then believe something different entirely, moments of laughter that may seem like sadness in hindsight, relationships so screwed up that you sit in awe, it's all over the map, but what a fun journey it is.

Loved it, from top to bottom. This one and Pontypool would be enough to make this a top-level fest experience for me.

Tonight - Adam, Resurrected. A holocaust comedy.

*EDIT: Something I forgot - the wordplay! There is some great use of language and ambiguity in this film. It's a film that rewards those who listen to every word, and watch the entire screen.

Day 3 of TIFF Reviews

My day 3 is TIFF's day 4, but I believe that if I'm not attending the festival for a day, it must obviously be put on hold across the board.

$5 a Day

Flynn (Alessandro Nivola) loses his job and his girlfriend. Then his father Nat (Christopher Walken) sends him a plane ticket to Atlantic City, with a message that he's dying. The thing is, Flynn hasn't wanted anything to do with his dad since Flynn took the fall for one of Nat's schemes and spent 11 months in jail.

Nat's been grifting his way through life, living on less than $5 a day. Naturally, Flynn shows up at his dad's place and gets talked into driving him to New Mexico for some new-age treatment for his inoperable, terminal, brain tumour.

They climb into Nat's pink Sweet N' Low ad-covered car (free use and gas for a year as long as he drives it 1000 miles a month) and head off on a circuitous route with a Chevron (free gas) and IHOP (free meal on your birthday, and every day is Nat's birthday) every 300 miles. Along the way, Nat tries to win back his girlfriend (Amanda Peet) by telling her the truth about his life over phone messages left via the free-trial cell phones dad has in the glove box.

It's a pretty standard father-and-son road movie, with one exception - Walken. Walked MAKES this movie, without him, it's absolutely nothing special and totally generic. Alessandor Nivola could have been any actor in this role (although discussing it later with my friend, Sam Rockwell would have been AWESOME there), Amanda Peet is generic disenfranchised girlfriend, etc.. Sharon Stone plays a great cougar though. But Walken? Great. Goofy, pathetic, scheming, heartfelt, and the perfect con man. Lucky for us, he's in just about every scene.

So it was a worthwhile film, even if I did have to get up at 7:30 on a Sunday to see it, all because of Walken. Which is good, since he's the reason I chose it.

Afterwards

What a kick to the heart. The kind of film that makes you want to go home, tell your wife you love her, call up your mom just to see how she's doing, and find any friend you've ever wronged and apologize for past transgressions.

John Malkovich is Kay, "messenger". A person who can tell when someone is going to die, and tries to prepare them for the inevitable. He brings loved ones back together, helps people face their fears and mortality, and does what he can to ease the transition. He's also a doctor in a palliative care unit.

Then there's Nathan, a very busy lawyer. One day, Kay comes into his office and tells him he should cut back on the sugar, because it's not helping his hypoglycemia. Kay is cryptic, angering Nathan, but then starts to show him some things he can't deny, and tells him who he is. Nathan refuses to accept his death, getting a full checkup and finding nothing wrong (other than a little hypoglycemia), and lashes out against Kay. More signs come though, and Nathan finally turns back to the doctor in desperation.

This movie starts with a shot to the gut, and then keeps laying them on whenever you start to relax again. Over half a dozen deaths can really bring down a mood.

But everyone is solid in this. Malkovich is Malkovich. It's not his most ranged performance, but he does it well. Romain Duris is good as Nathan, as is Evangeline Lily as his ex-wife. The direction is quite nice at times, and there are more than few times when the tension is high without any seeming effort from the director (ie.- Nathan walks a few feet away from his car, and you're convinced something bad is going to happen, but it's just a standard shot). When you have a cinematographer from the Wong Kar Wai world, you know it will be beautifully shot.

There were times when I scratched my head about why certain discussions were happening (can a 6 year-old really understand an existential discussion about death?), and motivations were sometimes foggy, but it all became acceptable by the end.

This isn't a happy movie, but in its way, it's a life-affirming one.

More TIFF Reviews

Edison And Leo

George Toles is known as Guy Maddin's partner in crime. If you've ever seen a Maddin film, you know how unique an experience it is. Toles has helped write most of them. Edison and Leo was meant to be yet another Toles/Maddin film, live action and undoubtedly odd.

But the story had so much to it, that it would cost millions. I'm not sure Guy would know what to do with a budget that big.

It fell to Neil Burns to direct, and he does stop-motion animation. Oddly enough, with its rich history of short animated films, this is the first feature-length stop-motion film produced in Canada.

George T. Edison has invented a lot of things, but he considers his son Leo his greatest invention. George "collects" items from all over the world. It's just that the people he collects them from didn't exactly give them up willingly. Revenge leads to a cross-country search for help, which leads to more collecting and more revenge. His wife and son pay the price...

Personally, I think I'd rather have seen Maddin's take. The film isn't bad, but it isn't great either. The animation is decent, if not Henry Selick quality. The voice acting (by Powers Boothe and the delicious Carly Pope) is, overall, pretty solid. My problem lies with the story. There are more than a few "what the fuck?" moments where you wonder what possible motivation there is for certain events. An act by George leaves him fairly unredeemable for the remainder of the film. His other son, Faraday is totally unlikeable.

However, it is somewhat redeemed by the fact it's not for kids. There's one decidedly "adult" scene, and a fair bit of violence and death. Unfortunately, they forgot to adjust the dialogue to a similar maturity level.

So on the whole, I didn't regret seeing it, but I can't disagree with the ratings of 2-3 stars.

Pontypool

This was a second choice film for me. They canceled the screening of New York, I Love You that I wanted and gave me this. I'm incredibly happy they did.

Bruce McDonald, of Hard Core Logo and The Tracy Fragments fame has another point on his scorecard. Grant Mazzy (Stephen McHattie) is a shock jock who's been fired and finds himself in the small town of Pontypool, Ontario. One snowy winter morning he heads into work - the local radio station in a church basement, and this is where all the action takes place.

This is essentially a one-set movie that deals with, for lack of a better term, a zombie epidemic, from the viewpoint of a talk radio host.

Strange things are happening, calls are coming in, reports are increasingly odd, and nobody's confirming a thing. In fact, the three people in the studio seem to be the only ones who are providing information. Frantic on-air calls, seemingly unconnected events, and a brief hijacking of their airwaves all come together. Something about the isolated viewpoint of the entire thing really works, and McHattie does a fantastic Imus-like character in the middle of a crisis.

The whole thing seemed very Romero-like, with commentary on media, and military. There's even a reference to Norman Mailer. Another Romero-like quality is that the word "zombie" is never used.

The reason behind the outbreak is decidedly unique... so much so that my level 2 suspension of disbelief kicked in immediately to accept it, and put it aside to figure out later. I've decided it's somehow brilliant.

If it does well, there'll be two more parts released, and I can't wait for them. Honestly one of the most unique takes on the genre I've seen, and a fantastic film. My favourite so far this fest.

TIFF Day 1

Waltz With Bashir

In June of 1982, Israel and Lebanon were at war. Israel entered Southern Lebanon. On September 14th, Bashir Gemayel, the newly elected president of Lebanon (about 3 weeks earlier), was assassinated. This led his followers, the Phalangists (Lebanese Christian Militia) to retaliate. They were allowed into two refugee camps to hunt down PLO fighters. This led the massacre at Sabra and Shatila.

Waltz With Bashir is the story of an Israeli man 20 years later who can't remember his role in the war. As he says, it's just "not part of his system". He's disassociated himself from whatever role he played as fresh 19-year old recruit. After talking to a friend who has been having a recurring dream connected to the war, he has a flashback to a scene that makes no sense to him. He beings investigating by tracking down squadmates, other soldiers, and asking questions. Slowly, his memories return.

This is Ari Folman's autobiographical account of what he went through. His role in the war, and his quest to uncover it. It's a documentary mixed with acted flashbacks to the events of 20 years ago. And it's animated. The rotoscoping works incredibly well here. It's not the dream-world effect of Waking Life or the drug-addled device of A Scanner Darkly. It's fairly simple, straightforward, and eye-catching. As Ari himself said last night in the post-move Q&A, it had to be animated, otherwise it would be a bunch of old guys sitting in chairs telling war stories. The animation keeps you engrossed and absorbed. This works incredibly well when the end comes.

If you've never seen a film where the audience goes dead silent for minutes on end, then you're missing something. During the end of the film, you could have heard a pin drop on carpet in the packed theatre I was in. As the director said, "it's hard to say 'enjoy the film' because it's a tough film. But I hope you get to experience it."

This is a straightforward description of war, through the hindsight of a man in his 50's looking at his youth. Religious, social, or racial lines are barely drawn. This is a personal account that tries to stick to the facts as he creator remembers them. And very worthwhile viewing.


JCVD

"I was standing outside the theatre and thought, 'I can't believe the best movie I've seen in Cannes is a Jean-Claude Van Damme film'."
- Colin Geddes - Midnight Madness Programmer

A night for biographies it seems. JCVD is a fictional account of the Muscles from Brussels returning home after losing a custody battle for his daughter in LA. His career is in the shitter, his agent is screwing him over, his lawyer hasn't been paid, and he's a mess. He goes home, where he's still a huge star, to spend time with his parents and try and clean up his life.

Yes, it actually does star Van Damme. But I assure you, that this is a Van Damme you've never even heard of. Gone is the action star, replaced with a broken-down 47-year old man who is tired of the same old shit, but has zero respect from anyone he works with. Upon getting home, he heads to the post office for a money transfer, and gets caught up in a bungled robbery. The police believe HE is holding the place up, and hilarity ensues.

Except despite its build-up as a comedy, it really isn't. Sure, there are funny parts. In-jokes and jabs at his stardom that get laughs, but this isn't a farce. It's an incredibly clever look at the pitfalls of fame. Van Damme has his acting strengths played to here. As in he speaks very little, and his usual delivery is played for deadpan. I've seen his performance compared to Buster Keaton a few times, and that is pretty high praise, and not entirely undeserved.

It also helps that the majority of the film is in his native French, so the accent and awkward intonation and emphasis of English is gone. It makes a big difference. Usually with subtitled films, you miss the acting for the words, but in this case, Van Damme carries it. The climax of this is a monologue he gives towards the end. The fourth wall is broken down and he addresses the audience in what is one of the greatest, most touching, heartfelt, and honest monologues I have ever seen. Seriously. There were people in tears at the end of it. Nobody left unimpressed.

And then it picks back up with a dose of action and then reality. There's a damned good reason it's one of the most buzzed-about and highly-rated films of the festival circuit right now. This could resurrect the man's career.

In fact, as I was leaving, I couldn't help but think how much I'd like to see him in something like Banlieu 14, a slick, stylish action movie in his native language. Which was odd, since there was practically no action in JCVD.

Picked!

My 10 Choices for TIFF:

$5 a Day - Christopher Walken as a scam artist who claims he's dying, and travels to New Mexico with his son and son's ex girlfriend.

Adam Resurrected - Jeff Goldblum as a Jewish clown who is demeaned in a concentration camp by Willem Dafoe during the Holocaust. It's a comedy.

Afterwards - John Malkovich knows when you're going to die, and freaks out someone by telling them.

Chocolate - Muay Thai ass-kickings for everyone!

Edison & Leo - A brilliant inventor can only hear with his teeth, and he accidentally turns his son electic. Stop-motion animation.

JCVD - Jean Claude Van Damme plays himself as a washed up actor searching for meaning... then he gets caught up in a bank robbery. Self-effacing, and had a ton of buzz coming out of Cannes.

Me and Orson Welles - Richard Linklater's TIFF entry. 'Nuff said.

New York, I Love You - If it's as good as Paris Je T'aime, I'll be happy. 13 directors, 13 stories, all about love and taking place in NYC. Cast? Kevin Bacon, Rachel Bilson, Orlando Bloom, James Caan, Hayden Christensen, Julie Christie, Chris Cooper, Andy Garcia, Carla Gugino, Ethan Hawke, John Hurt, Shia LaBeouf, Cloris Leachman, Drea de Matteo, Natalie Portman, Maggie Q, Christina Ricci, Goran Visjnic, Robin Wright Penn, Anton Yelchin, and others.

Synecdoche, New York - Charlie Kaufman's directorial debut. 'Nuff said.

Waltz with Bashir - An Israeli man served in the invasion of Lebanon. He doesn't remember anything about it and strikes out to see what his role was. Cool visual style with rotoscoping sold me on it.


Alternates:

C'est Pas Moi, je le Jure! (It's Not Me, I Swear!) - Life in Quebec in 1968 for a young troublemaking boy with an unhappy family life. Something about the description struck me as endearing.

Control Alt Delete - Ryan Gosling's best friend from Breaker High has sex with computers.

Is There Anybody There? - A boy living in a senior's home (owned by his parents) befriends a curmudgeonley Michael Caine. I'll see just about anything with Michael Caine in it.

Pontypool - Washed-up shock jock ends up as a VERY small town DJ in northern Ontario. He heads to work... then the zombies show up.

Uncertainty - Almost made my top 10, but was pushed out by Afterwards. A young couple decides how to spend the 4th of July. The film is two stories - as at the moment of their decision, two sets of them go in either direction, and the movie covers both options, showing the differences a mundance choice can make.

Vinyan - I believe this is a horror. Rufus Sewell (SO underused) and Emannuelle Beart don't leave Thailand after losing their son to the tsunami, clinging to the hope he survived. They follow a video that shows a child that MIGHT be theirs in an orphan camp they head off to find him... it sounds far more psychological than gory, and could be a really interesting ride.

Leaving the Peasants Behind

I love the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF). I've been going for years. I'm not someone who takes the week off to go to all 300+ films, but I do enjoy it every year.

They're really starting to piss me off.

Originally The Festival of Festivals, and then exploding as TIFF, it's still considered the 2nd most important film festival in the world behind Cannes. Some, like Sundance and Tribeca are gaining ground (the former will stay behind simply because it's indie-centric), but there is no fetival as well-positioned for Oscar-calibre launches and geographic ease.

But it was originally a festival for the people. Toronto has (or at least had) the highest per-capita movie-going population in North America. We know our films here. As TIFF grows in industry popularity though, the people are being left behind.

Up until this year, Roy Thomson Hall was the only Gala venue in the fest. Tickets cost more, the movies were bigger, the red carpet longer, etc.. Now, they've taken over the Elgin as a gala theatre as well. This was my favourite to see movies in because it was big, opulent (it's a live theatre most of the time), and showed the much cooler 2nd-tier films for the same price as the Galas. World premieres of movies that would go on to become critically acclaimed happened here. I saw many of them. Now? $40 and not on the regular program.

Fine, the festival grows, the prestige pictures grow, and they need more space. I get it.

But there was ALWAYS a way to see these films in one of the other venues after the premiere. This year? There's a bunch that are ONLY showing at Roy Thomson Hall and the Elgin... no chance to see them for less than the $40 tickets. For a movie. So I'll just wait until they hit the theatre. I mean, Burn After Reading will be out to the public before the fest is even over.

But I just saw something in my ticketing book that really annoyed me.

The advance ticket method has been as fair as they can make it in the past. Regardless of your type of pass, you get yoru order book, pick your 1st choices, and your 2nd choices, and have 3 days to hand it in. They put your order in a numbered box. After the drop-off deadline, they randomly pick a box number to start with and move forward from there. So if you get put in box #30 and they pick box #29 to start, you're in good shape. If they pick #31, you're hoping you picked unpopular films.

But NEW THIS YEAR! If you are a donor of more than $250, you get special boxes that JUMP THE ADVANCE TICKETING LINE! On top of that, even those boxes are sorted by donation amount.

You want the donors to feel special? Give them some free tickets to the Galas. Throw a party for them. Give 'em a fucking bag with a pen in it. But as soon as you create a second class of patron, you further destroy what makes this festival so great - that anybody can go as long as they can get to Toronto... which isn't a very difficult task. So now, if you get a good position in line, you have to wait for all the donors to get their tickets first, then any other box before you.

This shouldn't affect me too much, since I tend to see smaller films without all the buzz. I live in a big city that gets lots of movies. I can catch the big ones later. But the principle of the thing pisses me off royally.

Okay, back to whittling down 29 films to 10.

TIFF Time

The 2008 Toronto International Film Festival is next week, and as usualy, I've got my 10-pass book lined up. The ticketing period starts today, which means a program book and a lot of time scanning through film choices.

I'm a bit annoyed though. In previous years, the Visa Screening Room at the Elgin Theatre was part of the usual program. This year, it's become a "gala" locale, which means $40 tickets! Fuck that shit.

So expect somewhere around 10 film reviews starting sometime next week.

Meanwhile, I'm going to publically kick my own ass here. I bought a Casio Exilim s600 in March of 07. When I returned from Iceland last summer, it stopped holding a charge. I looked online, and this was a known problem. It wasn't until TODAY (over a year later) that I called Casio... of course it's now out of warranty and I have to buy a new battery. This is where procrastination gets you kids.

I could go through my credit card company (1 year automatic extended warranty), but I get the feeling it won't be worth it. I'd need to mail the receipt (it's online, so no problem there), the original warranty (I never registered, but looking at Casio's online version of it, they don't cover the battery, even though they DO in this instance), and possibly an insurer's claim?? Well, it's not like I went to an adjuster for a dead battery... and then Visa might reimburse me for repairs.

But I can buy a compatible replacement batttery for $30 up the street from my place. I spend that in poker games in a night, so is it worth my time and hassle to follow up the insurance claim for a $30 battery? If I really wanted, I could probably find a US site to ship it to me even cheaper, or wander to the surplus store on my way home. Verdict? No. Next time though, don't wait a fucking year to call about the damned battery.

Which reminds me, I still have to submit my taxes for 2007...

Penultimate TIFF

Two more films last night, one more on Friday. The two-day break is nice, it will let me nap tonight.

First was the world premiere of Walk All Over Me, my 4th Canadian film of the fest. Starring Tricia Helfer (Number Six/Caprica on BSG) and Leelee Sobieski it's was introduced with, "It has bondage and gangsters, what more could you want?" Well, a direction and believability would be good. I think it was meant to be a comedy.

It starts off with Sobieski's character (Alberta) running from some shady business and her boyfriend getting the crap kicked out of him. She arrives at her sister Celene's (Helfer) place in Vancouver claiming she wants to start over. Turns out her sister is a dominatrix who's life plan is to save enough to afford acting school in LA. Alberta ruins Celene's Nazi outfit and takes on her own client to pay her back. In the middle of her session, some bad guys break in and cause trouble. What follows is her and Celene trying to get some stolen money, vengeance, and their attempts to save Alberta's client (who she of course has a thing for).

Now there's nothing unappealing about seeing Helfer or Sobieski (when the hell did she fill out?) in various BDSM gear, but you need substance to make the audience stay. The lead baddie (Lothaire Bluteau as Rene) was quite good with a nuanced and original performance. His henchmen were also more interesting than your run-of-the-mill tough guys. Seeing Helfer kick ass was also great. The problem is that the script relies on Alberta. Sobieski was fine, but the character was annoying as hell. She was supposed to be comic, but the running gags (Alberta's terrible driving, her constant cry of, "I'll make it up to you." no matter how out-of-control the situation, etc.) got old really fast, and seldom elicited more than a chuckle from the audience. She repeatedly does the most moronic things, is completely uncomfortable, and her big turnaround at the end isn't so much impressive and cheer-worthy as it is expected. The character failed to generate any empathy as a complete fuck up.

Plus, the only time I felt any emotion was the uncomfortable tension during the opening 10-15 minutes. After that the film just... existed.

So the acting was solid, and most of the characters were interesting. Unfortunately the script was severely lacking, the main character was annoying, and the whole thing was shot in Winnipeg, which was obviously not Vancouver, at least to me, and I imagine anybody else who has spent any amount of time wandering the streets of that city. It wasn't a BAD film, it just wasn't a good one, it was a thriller/comedy that was neither thrilling nor all that comic. By the end I was pretty upset I'd been soaked through in a downpour on the way over instead of staying home for this one.

Plus, the over 4 rows of seats reserved for cast, crew, guests, and the jury cut into the available seating for the rest of us. ALL the guest showed up, which delayed the start 15-20 minutes as they tried to find their seats.

However, I then had a midnight showing of Takeshi Miike's Sukiyaki Western Django. I am so glad this finished my night instead of the other. A truly strange and wonderful Samurai Western. Yes... take a plot worthy of Sergio Leone (and inspired by Sergio Corbucci's Django), put it in a small Japanese mountain village, cast an all Japanese cast (with one noteable and great exception in Quentin Tarantino), and have them all speak English with Japanses inflection (which results in subtitles that were largely unnecessary), and you've got a pretty unique experience.

A lone stranger rides into a town besieged by two gangs (Heiki and Genji, who are red and white respectively) in search of treasure. He offers up his services after an impressive display of gunmanship. He then learns how the village came to its current state and does what any gunman does - takes on the gangs and settles some scores with guns ablaze. Of course, this is Miike, so there's blood, humour, popular movie references (the Sheriff does his best Gollum, there's some bargain-basement Matrix-like effects done for humour, etc..), and tons of traditional Western lines. It couldn't Japanese without mythical references, chosen ones, and general weirdness.

The whole thing is one wild ride, and a Midnight Madness audience is perfect for it, and vice-versa. It was a blast, and the perfect tonic for the disappointment of earlier in the night. One friend described it as "weirdly brilliant" and he was right.

Tiff, Part Wow

Honeydripper. Wow.

Favourite movie of the festival, bar none. I'm looking at my last three and I know there's no way they'll match up. Oh, and the world premiere to boot (making it #5 so far for me this year, there's something special about being among the first to see a film).

John Sayles' work about blues becoming rock n' roll in 1950 Alabama. Of course, it's not about that at all. It's about moving forward. It's about change. It's about people. It's about letting go and holding on. It's about risks, faith, luck, and love. It's 2 hours, and like every Sayles movie, it's a walk through the story. The people and the tale unfold and you become invested in their lives. All of this with music in the background, providing bridges between the verses, causing everything to flow together.

Danny Glover deserves to be recognized for his performance. Charles S. Dutton does too, but he might be overlooked simply because he plays that part so well as it is. The whole cast was great, even Sayles' usual token appearance.

I won't give away much about the film, not because there are any great twists or shocking moments, but because like any good story, you need to discover it yourself to truly appreciate it.

It will be opening in NY and LA end of the year for Oscar consideration, and find wide release in 2008. If you get the chance, go see it and try to leave without feeling uplifted.

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One thing I always like about the fest is leaving one film and seeing the line for the next. There are always moments. Last year was the huge crowd for Borat as I was leaving one film. Michael Moore walking the red carpet and me wondering, "Why? It's not his movie." This year it was the rush line for Lars and the Real Girl. Why? Because it was full of cute girls who I have little doubt were there for Ryan Gosling more than the film. I mean, it's a movie about a slightly off-kilter man who falls in love with a Real Doll and behaves as if she was a real person. I can only hope that it maybe opens up a few of the eyes that went in hoping for Gosling of The Notebook. By the way, it BARELY missed the cut for the 10 films I picked.

Tiff, Deuxieme

Last night consisted of Erik Nietzsche The Early Years and American Venus. Today has been Breakfast With Scot and Vexille.

All solid films. Erik Nietzsche is the story of Lars Von Trier (under his alias of Erik Nietzsche) and his days in the Danish Film School. It's a biting bit of sarcasm about the state of the Danish film industry some 30 years ago. How Erik's attempts to be different and question traditional film making techniques and rules is met with hostility and threats. The fact that the only reason he's in the school is due to the dean's libido speaks to his situation. It's funny and insightful, and the final shot left me smiling.

American Venus is a decent film bolstered by a fantastic performance from Rebecca De Mornay as Celia. Jane McGregor as Jenna also does quite well as Celia's put-upon daughter. The basic plot is that Jenna is a US figure skater who botches a performance at Nationals and has finally had enough of her overbearing mother. She runs away to Vancouver to escape and mom eventually follows. Celia is an American caricature - a gun-loving sociopath living in a pristine white and orderly world. Heading to the range and firing off a few magazines is her means of stress-relief. Of course, upon trying to cross the border, her favourite handgun is taken away by customs and this leads to her gradual and remarkable breakdown as she tries to figure out Canada. The movie suffers from a case of "WHY?" Where I was regularly asking why Celia would do the things she did... if she wants her guns so badly, why not go back home? Why would she attempt to break numerous laws and put herself in danger in search of a weapon? However, these questions get answered as we realize how unstable she really is. It has moments of dark comedy, and some genuine tension. All of it is anchored by its two very strong leads.

Breakfast With Scot is one of those heart-warming films that just BARELY keeps from stepping over the "oh geeze" line. Starring Tom Cavanagh, Ben Shenkman and Noah Bernett, it's the story of Eric McNally (Cavanagh), a former Toronto Maple Leaf who has moved on to broadcasting after an injury, Sam (Shenkman), Eric's partner in their semi-closeted relationship, and Scot (Bernett) an 11 year-old boy who ends up as their temporary ward due to an irresponsible brother. Eric was a tough guy in the NHL, and now works in Sports Broadcasting - both areas where being gay might not work in your favour. He's been with Sam for 5 years, and while his friends and family all know, he's kept his orientation a secret from co-workers and the general public. In comes Scot, Sam's brother's dead ex-girlfriend's son. Sam's brother is in Brazil though, so Sam and Eric get Scot until he can be picked up.

Scot, however, has been raised solely by his drug-addict mother, and is pretty solidly gay, with absolutely no male-oriented interests or mannerisms. He shows up with a charm bracelet, silk scarf, hands smelling of gardenia hand lotion and with a bag full of cosmetics and jewellery. What follows is largely Eric's attempts to butch-up the kid so he doesn't have to suffer the slings and arrows that are inevitably thrown at school. Over the following months, we see the effect this attempt has on everyone involved - Eric, Sam, Scot, the bully down the street, friends, and family. It never quite goes where you expect it to until the end, when it gets kinda sappy and tear-jerky. That said, the movie is solid, and explore some touchy themes with subtlety and humour.

Finally was the Midnight Madness showing of Vexille. Within the first 30 seconds I knew I'd be picking this one up for my DVD collection. An animated masterpiece from Japan set some 70 years in the future. Japan has shut itself off from the rest of the world due to U.N. rules about robotics that Japan's biggest corporation didn't agree with. An attack leads the US to send in a special forces team to the island nation to see what's happening. What they find shocks them. I'll be honest, the big twist wasn't that shocking for me, but the movie was gorgeous. Fantastic action sequences, a jaw-dropping visual style, and a pretty decent story to boot. It reminded me I needed to pick up a copy of Renaissance from last year's fest as well. This was a fantastic way to end the weekend's films.

Monday night is Honeydripper from John Sayles, which I have little doubt will be excellent.

Tiff Part 1

Here begins the fairly real-time blogging of my sojourn into the 2007 Toronto International Film Festival.

For those that don't know, I live in Toronto, and for the past... oh... 5 years now I've gone to a variety of films at what is generally considered the second most important (behind Cannes) film festival in the world. It's a launching point for Oscar season, and a fantastic mix of mainstream, indie, world, and Canadian cinema. As usual, I have 10 films on the docket for this year.

Last night was Guy Maddin's My Winnipeg. Maddin is one of the most unique filmmakers out there today. Obviously inspired by silent films, his movies are generally hilarious, disjointed journeys into his mind. He's been compared to David Lynch, except without all that darkness and creep factor. He shoots largely in black and white, has recently experimented with classic silent film techniques (Brand Upon The Brain! uses a narrator, live orchestra, and live foley artists), and has amassed quite a following.

My Winnipeg is his unique look at his home town and yet another distorted view of his family life. Black and White, with minimal dialogue, and Maddin himself doing live in-theatre narration. The entire audience was in stitches from his twisted humour. His mother divining that his sister had backseat sex when she comes home crying about hitting a deer; the defense of a girls' school during the Winnipeg General Strike; his homo-erotic thievery of a Russian hockey player's jersey which he then tosses in the river to avoid the KGB. Just a few examples of what life was and is like in the "coldest city in the world"... as seen by one of its favourite sons. It was a great film, and a fantastic way to start the fest for me.

This morning was Chacun Son Cinema. For the 60th anniversary of Cannes, Gilles Jacob asked 35 of the world's most talented filmmakers to create 3-minute shorts that discussed what cinema meant to them, set in a theatre. It is a rare feat to captured and entertain an audience in 3 minutes, yet these directors achieved it in spades. To top it off, David Lynch's portion was not ready for the Cannes screening, but it opened the film today.

Some of the more recognizable names: David Lynch, David Cronenberg, Atom Egoyan, Joel and Ethan Coen, Wong Kar Wai, Lars Von Trier, Roman Polanski, Gus Van Sant, Wim Wenders, Ken Loach, Takeshi Kitano, Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, and Jane Campion.

It was fantastic. Not a dud in the lot. One of the most fun parts was that the director's name generally didn't appear until after their short, so you were consistently trying to figure out which film was who's based on their style, the actors involved, etc.. There were some interesting shared themes - 2 involved someone stealing from people; there were 3 shorts that had blind movie lovers; and of course there were few that involved young love in the theatre. But they all ran the gamut - beautifully photographed musings on love, memories of movies themselves, connections between films and reality, modern technology's incursion on the medium, peace in war-torn places, movies in the smallest of towns, people being exposed to world cinema for the first time, horror, subtle sci-fi, and many, many more.

The most remembered for me include Lynch's twisted dance, Cronenberg's suicide of the last Jew in the world in the last movie theatre in the world, the Coen's having Josh Brolin discover Turkish cinema, Wong Kai War's gorgeous memories, Takeshi Kitano's farmer trying to watch a movie, Lars Von Trier's black comedy, Ken Loach's father-son tribute, Abbas Kiarostami's ode to Romeo and Juliet and perhaps his teacher, and so many, many more. A fantastic example of masters of the medium portraying something they truly love.

Tonight is Erik Nietzsche The Early Years, and American Venus. Both films I'm looking forward to. It's shaping up to be a great selection of films.