Resurrection

We're heading to TIFF 2015 in a mere 13 days!

Have any suggestions on movies we should really see? Celebrities whose photos we should really try to take (you know who you are)? Take a look at the film list.

Review: The Double

I picked The Double for pretty much one reason, and somewhat silly one at that. We saw Bunny and the Bull at the 2009 festival, directed by The Mighty Boosh veteran Paul King. I saw that this film was directed by Richard Ayoade, who acted in several Mighty Boosh episodes. Decision made. The silly part is that we haven't seen a single episode of The Mighty Boosh.

Ayoade developed the screenplay from the Fyodor Dostoyevsky novel of same name. He updates the story's landscape from Russian bureaucracy to an American company.The lead character, Simon and his Doppelganger James are both portrayed brilliantly by Jesse Eisenberg. Mia Wasikowska plays Simon's love interest, Wallace Shawn easily nails the role as Simon's abusive boss, and Noah Taylor rounds out the headliners as Simon's coworker friend Harris.

Simon is not a man comfortable in his own skin. He has a job, and believes in his value to the company, but is entirely incapable of communicating that belief to anyone else. His day is consumed by people with whom he works disrespecting him: guard at the secured entrance, his boss, even the lady in charge at the copy room. Things worsen when James, Simon's extremely confident doppelganger starts at the company. Everybody loves James, who begins to take credit for Simon's work.

I can best describe the style of the film as "retro futuristic", like someone in the 1950's made a film about the future and got it rather wrong (see Blade Runner and most every movie about the future once The Future rolls around). The film is packed with surreal events, odd humor, paranoia, and a general sense of discomfort. Think early David Lynch, Terry Gilliam, and the like. Ayoade worked extensively with sound designer Adam Armitage to further advance the feeling of other worldliness.

This is not a film for people who like a clear narrative with things neatly wrapping up at the end. We spent a while after the film sharing our ideas about what happened, though neither of us were particularly strong in our beliefs. If you like the occasional quirky challenge, give this film a go. My imdb rating: 7/10.

***

As an added bonus, I'll leave you with a nugget of the film festival experience. If Ayoade were doing stand-up comedy, I'd say he killed during the film's introduction. Paraphrased gems (from memory, so quite possibly inaccurate): "This film is... 93 minutes long. So there's that. And 7 of those are the credits. So 86, really. It was written... [end of thought]" He was barely more serious for the Q&A after the film, but about as funny. I think we'll track down some of his other works, including (finally) The Mighty Boosh and The IT Crowd.

Review: Therese

I don't remember the precise reason we picked Therese, directed by Charlie Stratton. It could have been simply that the plot sounded fun - adultery, murder, guilt - you know, the standards. It could have been that it starred Draco - I mean Tom Felton and Elizabeth Olsen, whose life was spared the early fame of her older sisters.

Therese is an update of a 19th century novel by Émile Zola, set in mid 19th century France. The updates essentially consist of showing things merely implied in the original version, namely the sex and violence. Still, neither is done in explicit fashion.

The movie begins with Therese (Olsen) being dumped in her aunt's lap. Her mother is dead and her father has no idea what to do with her while he's gallivanting around Africa. She's close in age to her cousin Camille (Felton), who is sickly, weak, and doted upon by his mother (Jessica Lange). The kids grow up, and Camille's mother arranges for the marriage of the two cousins.

Therese is certainly not attracted to the idea of marrying her wheezing, sniveling, pale faced cousin. However, she is also made aware that, while she is a pretty young woman, she lacks the connections, money, or social standing required to bag another man. Meanwhile, no one else would have Camille either. It's a match made in heaven - what could go wrong?

Enter Camille's friend Laurent (Oscar Isaac), who Therese finds attractive, alluring, and doesn't seem to mind sleeping with his good friend's wife. Things get hairy when they decide to take their relationship past the affair stage and into the "get rid of the wheezer" stage.

The first couple acts seem to set things up pretty well, with nice comedic moments. In one, there was a new take on the tried and "hide the secret lover under the bed" scene. Other good bits were provided by the supporting cast, which includes Shirley Henderson and another actor whose name is frustratingly missing from both the festival guide and imdb. Check back with the latter and see if they've updated the page.

The film falls apart a bit in act three, with the characters' actions seeming a bit random. Lange is great down the stretch, and the final scene isn't bad, but I can't forgive how the film gets there. Perhaps they'll clean it up a bit in the editing room before the release. My imdb rating: 6/10.

Review: 12 Years A Slave

We saw Steve McQueen's (not that Steve McQueen's) Shame at the 2011 festival. It was the first of his films I'd seen, and on the strength of that one film, I knew I wanted to see this. McQueen is not one to shy away from challenging subject matter - Shame was about a functional sex addict in New York City - and this year's film, 12 Years A Slave, is no different.

This is true story of a free black man who is kidnapped and sold into slavery for (you guessed it) 12 years. It begins when Solomon Northup's wife and two young children leave their New York home for a few weeks. Solomon, a free black man and professional musician, is lured by two men to Washington, D.C. where they promise him good pay to play for a circus. There, Solomon is wined, dined, drugged and, when he awakes, sold into slavery.

The rest of the movie shows Solomon's fight for survival, the occasional shred of dignity, and ultimately, freedom and a return to his family. The people he meets along the way, from plantation owners, white hired help, and other slaves, paint a grim picture of the reality in the slave-era south. Conditions are brutal, and McQueen doesn't turn the camera away, even though you might choose avert your gaze for a moment or two.

The cast is top notch. Smaller supporting roles are filled by Paul Giamatti as a slave trader and Brad Pitt as a Canadian carpenter. Alfre Woodward puts in a nuanced performance as Mistress Shaw, who enjoys life as "slave nobility". Benedict Cumberbatch builds on his recent portfolio (see Star Trek Into Darkness, Sherlock, and War Horse), playing a plantation owner who, aside from buying, selling and owning people, seems like a decent man. Paul Dano is a guy who must have had a bad childhood and later becomes a plantation manager to take it out on slaves (we just see the latter). The always impressive Michael Fassbender was terrific as a plantation owner who is brutal and despicable, but much more than a simple villain to be despised.

The best, though, came from unknown (to me) actors. Adepero Oduye is incredible in her heartbreaking portrayal of Eliza, a fellow slave on one plantation and object of its owner's desire. Sarah Paulson is wicked as that plantation owner's spurned wife. Anchoring the entire production, in another Oscar worthy performance is Chiwetel Ejiofor. He is magnificent as Solomon Northrup, taking us along for his journey from free man to kidnap victim to his basic fight for survival.

All of this is navigated expertly by McQueen, a director of great intensity. Mr. McQueen is not without a sense of humor, but he is very serious about the art of film making and the results show it.

Okay, I'll gush a little more. This is my 13th trip to TIFF, and this is one of if not the best film I've seen here. I think it's worthy of many Oscar nominations; supporting roles, best actor, score, screenplay, direction and film. I'm probably leaving out things like costume and art direction because I seem to be clueless as to which films win those awards. Go see this film. Bring a tissue. Weepers, bring a box. My imdb rating is a solid 9/10.

Side note: Mr. McQueen and several cast members were on hand for a lengthy Q&A after the film. It was a wonderful Q&A, with good questions and thoughtful and insightful answers. And thanks to Mr. McQueen for insisting on a few more questions after TIFF tried to shut down the session.

Review: Lucky Them

We picked Lucky Them on the strength of the cast, which includes Toni Collette and Thomas Haden Church, and that the film was advertised as an "edgy comedy", which seemed right up our alley. I hadn't seen any of Megan Griffith's first three directorial efforts.

This film's central character is Ellie (Toni Collette), a music critic working for a small independent magazine in Seattle. Ellie is charged with the task of tracking down Matthew Smith, an either deceased or reclusive musician, ten years after his disappearance ended both his career and their romantic relationship. Adding to the mess, she finds herself needing the help of a millionaire wanna be documentary film maker, Charlie (Thomas Haden Church).

Ellie has a blend of alcohol, man, and brooding after Smith problems. This leads her to bad decision making, like sleeping with her interview subjects. Coupled with her fixation on unknown artists, she's  not performing well at her job. Given the ultimatum of tracking down Smith or losing her job, she reluctantly opts for the former, but does not seem well-suited for the task.

The film, aiming to be both an edgy comedy and a drama about a woman who has become lost after the devastating abandonment by her lover, ends up missing on both. Many of the jokes fall flat, and in the end, I really don't feel Ellie's pain. A **Major** cameo in the film's climactic scene seems distracting, only subtracting from the emotion your supposed to be experiencing alongside Ellie.

Geez, I wanted to like the film, willing myself to laugh at some of the bits, but in the end all I felt was "meh". My imdb rating: 5/10.

As a side note, the Q&A after the film was quite nice. Some in the audience appeared to have enjoyed  the film more than us, even going so far as to gush that it was "something special". There is an interesting effect associated with movie going at a festival that, in some cases, enhances your feelings about a film. That's part of the fun about the film festival experience.

One Leg Down

We're in Minneapolis. The mimosas are going down nicely. Flight #2 is on time, according to the big board, though we haven't been to the gate yet, so who knows if we have a plane. I've learned, over the years, not to be presumptuous. Really, until you're in your local accommodations, keep on your guard.

On the road

Smooth sailing so far. Alarm went off, taxi showed up on time, and we only hit two red lights. The security line was not impressive. Still, it's no time to get cocky. Our plane isn't here yet, and we do have a connection to make. Also, I'm going through my morning travel panic - what have I forgotten?

Stupid twitter isn't working this morning, but I can live with that.

Maureen got me a magazine. Onward...

Booked

We spent about a half hour this morning booking our tickets for this year's festival. We will see twenty films in eight days, and strangely it seems like a light load. I'm sure I'll feel differently about thing at 2 AM Thursday night after our fourth movie that day.

We got nearly all of our picks, a big improvement over 2011. The schedule (see pop-up calendar to the right or embedded calendar at the bottom of the blog) is up and current. TIFF did something a bit different this year: you make and receive your tickets real time - when you pick them, you know you have them. In previous years, you arrived, waited in line, listened to the drum roll in your head, and then found out what you got.

If you'd like to play along at home, you'll find a link in the contents of each calendar entry with details about the film.

Departure in 11 days!

Resurrection

We're back! I secured 40 tickets for TIFF this morning and gleefully printed out my pick-up voucher, even though I won't get to use it for ten weeks. I can't wait to get back to Toronto.

Toronto International Flesh Festival

We noticed that this year's films, at least the ones we saw, contained a lot of nudity.  It wasn't necessarily sex or even sensual, but certainly a lot of nudity.  Is it a trend, or did we just pick pervy movies?  We may never know.

Review: Short Cuts Canada Programme 2

Every year, we see a programme (Canadian spelling, eh?) of short films from emerging Canadian directors.  Most of the films in this year's screening were decent, though nothing knocked my socks off.  Here are brief reviews of each the films we saw in this year's batch.

Tabula Rasa - Directed by Matthew Rankin.  A strange telling of people reacting in different ways to natural disaster, in this case flood.  Perhaps I'm dense, but I didn't quite "get it".  Nonetheless, there were some interesting images and subtle humor here and there.  My imdb rating: 6/10.

Solar Wind - This was a rather creepy tale of a mass cult suicide, drawing inspiration from Heaven's Gate and other cult suicides, the director creates great suspense and foreboding with sparse dialog.  The film made me think of early David Lynch.  Rating: 7/10.

The Fuse: Or How I Burned Simon Bolivar - Directed by Ian Lagarde, this film is essentially a short documentary.  Relying primarily on footage from family and friends, it explains how, as a boy, Lagarde thought that he caused civil war to erupt in Bosnia by performing poorly on an art assignment in school.  I liked the film for its personal treatment of a subject which my only previous exposure consisted of the nightly news, and how that subject looked through the eyes of a young boy. Rating: 7/10.

Afternoon Tea - DJ Parmar directs this tale of a boy who seeks out his grandfather, an elderly Indian man who has cut off ties with his daughter due to cultural disagreements.  Apparently, the man doesn't know what his grandson looks like, and the boy claims to simply be a kid who needs to use a phone to contact his parents.  He goes on, though, to probe into the man's family.  The script felt a little contrived, and I felt the film landed a little flatly.  Rating: 6/10.

The Paris Quintet In Practice Makes Perfect - Benjamin Schuetze directs and performs along side four other sharply dressed men in a strange apartment, apparently in the sea, completing one another's actions with precision.  The effect is amusing and intriguing to watch.  The unanswered question from the Q&A: Is it really five guys, or just one guy with multiple personalities?  Rating: 7/10.

The Pedestrian Jar - Evan Morgan directs this short mockumentary.  You have perhaps experienced an office that collects money from associates who are late to a meeting, swear in a meeting, etc.?  This film twists that around into a hilarious public service announcement.  Employees in this office deposit a quarter into the jar for each pedestrian they hit on the drive to the office.  Bicyclists?  $0.15.  This was probably not the most challenging material, but it was executed well, and the result is very funny.  Rating: 7/10.

Sorry, Rabbi - Mark Slutzky directs this odd but funny short, which combines romantic comedy with misunderstanding between Josh, the romantic male lead, and a small group of Hasidic Jews.  They believe Josh has purposely struck one of them with an object in the head, causing minor injury.  It's up to the rabbi to sort through the information, determine the truth, and ultimately negotiate an acceptable outcome.  Josh, meanwhile, also needs to save face with his girlfriend, who he has given a rather unacceptably romantic anniversary gift.  Rating: 7/10.

Review: Extraterrestrial

Extraterrestrial was one of the films we picked to lighten up our schedule, in terms of drama, though it had potential for actual social commentary.  We also wanted to see a film from Spain, where we had visited early this summer.  It is the second feature film from Spanish writer/director Nacho Vigalondo, who set the bar high with his debut film Timecrimes.  We have yet to see this one, but we've added it to our Netflix queue.

This story opens with the debris from a one night stand.  Julio, portrayed by Julián Villagrán (Nacho called him the Spanish Adrien Brody), awakes alone in an unfamiliar bed, clothes strewn about the room.  Unable to locate his pants, he wanders into the living room in his boxers.  He and his co-conspirator introduce themselves.  Somehow, he forgot that her name is Julia (Michelle Jenner).

Soon, the pair start to notice that things are not normal in Madrid.  The cable is out, the streets are empty, and eventually they notice that a space ship, miles wide, is hovering in the sky.  Nacho introduces a couple other characters, namely Julia's boyfriend Tipo (Miguel Noguera), and her intrusively creepy neighbor Ángel (Carlos Areces).

The presence of the UFO, which provides the plot with an excuse to keep the characters together, first distracts the characters from the obvious nature of Julio and Julia's relationship.  Eventually, however, Ángel becomes suspicious, and to discredit him, Julia drops the suggestion that perhaps he is an alien and can't be trusted.  This sets off a series of misunderstandings, confusion, and accusations -- all handled with comedic wit.

The script stays true to the self-absorbed characters, avoiding the typical "lessons learned" ending, yet ends satisfactorily.  My imdb rating: 7/10.

Review: Take This Waltz

Our third and final Rush experience this year was for Sarah Polley's sophomore directorial feature film, Take This Waltz.  We got there a solid three hours before showtime, and by the time they were giving out Rush passes, Maureen had already secured a ticket from a woman who approached her in line and said, "Here, take this."  People are always giving Maureen stuff.  She took the ticket and, assuming I'd get into the theater (right, honey?) enthusiastically joined the ticket holders' line.  We entered the theatre simultaneously.

Polley, who also wrote the script, assembled an small but interesting cast for this drama with occasional comedic moments.  Michelle Williams plays Margot, a woman who apparently fears transitions, but at the same time craves the fire of a new relationship.  Seth Rogen is her husband Lou, a chicken-only cookbook writing nice guy, with an odd practical joke sense of humor.  Sarah Silverman plays Lou's (recovering) alcoholic sister Geraldine.  Lastly, Luke Kirby is Daniel, a rickshaw owner/operator and aspiring artist who Margot meets out of town, only later to learn that he lives in an apartment building across the street from her house.

There is an instant attraction between Margot and Daniel, but when she informs him of her marital status, he politely backs away.  Margot and Lou have an odd relationship.  They occasionally pass the time by informing one another of the ways in which they will physically harm and mutilate each other, typically with kitchen implements.  Lou seems quite content with simply being together, and doesn't recognize Margot's restlessness and anxiety.  Daniel's presence so nearby, Margot will eventually have to make a decision between her husband and the new, shiny guy across the street.

Polley's script creates likable characters with depth -- you understand them and believe the course they choose for themselves.  She weaves in a couple of moments of clever foreboding into the film, if you're paying attention.  I was little shocked at a couple uses of nudity and sex, since she seemed somewhat embarrassed about her own "sex" scene (tame by comparison) from Guinevere, in which she starred several years ago.  She was only 20 at the time, though.  My one critique of the film is that I think the finished product could use some editing, as the pace suffers now and then.  Overall, though, I liked the film.  My imdb rating: 7/10.

Renegade Bikers

This was by no means the only bike attached to the scaffolding.

Review: Juan of the Dead

We've been trying this year to lighten up the mood, after a 2009 season filled with war and other forms of death and destruction.  What better way, we thought, to lighten things up than with a zombie-themed comedy/horror flick?

Juan of the Dead's writer/director, Alejandro Brugués, hails from Argentina, though this Spanish-language film is set in Cuba.  Brugués drops in humor now and then related to the reigning regime, which takes to using typical Communist propaganda to blame the zombie behavior on the Americans.  Zombies are now "dissidents".

Other than that and dark humor moments, such as Juan's sidekick friend's occasional accidental harpooning of a non-zombie, there just wasn't too much much to keep a viewer awake for this one.  Overall, the film had a very melancholy feel to it.  A common theme was various characters' motivation to return to or to leave Cuba.  Juan, meanwhile, is confident he will survive the zombie plague, as he has other catastrophes in his homeland.  He's going nowhere.

I wanted to like this movie.  Despite my best efforts, I just couldn't enough reason to.  My imdb rating: 5/10.

Rush to Nowhere

We waited in line for over two hours for a chance to see a documentary called The Island President.  It's about the president of The Maldives and his work with the world's super powers to effect change with regard to global warming.  It seems that his nation is projected to be under water if things don't change, and soon.  The president himself was due to be on stage for an interview and Q&A after the film.

Alas, only 5 rushers were allowed into the film, and we were numbers 9 and 10.  Bummer, yes, but we still had a good time.  We met a nice couple in front of us, who we stupidly convinced to rush for our film instead of the one they had in mind.  We also were able to witness our first ever Longboarder Flash Mob, and get a peek at a former Canadian prime minister.  You never know what you're going to see in this town.

Seth Rogen Quote

We heard a great quote from Seth Rogen during a Q&A for a film we have yet to finish the review.  Explaining the level of multi-cultural-ness of the city of Toronto:

You guys have little versions of countries I've never even heard of.

Review: Goon

We picked Goon because we are in Canada, and it is a Canadian hockey comedy co-written by Jay Baruchel.  Do you require further explanation?

Loosely based on a true story, very loosely, it tells the story of a Jewish bouncer from New England named Doug Glatt who gets discovered by a minor league hockey coach when Doug beats the crap out of one of his toughest players.  Doug can't skate, sure, but boy can he beat the snot out of guys.

Doug is brought on to protect the star player, Xavier Laflamme, who has never been the same since the crushing knockout he received from the league's predominant goon, Ross Rhea.  The idea is that Doug will beat senselessly the face of anyone who threatens Xavier, who'll once again feel comfortable, and thusly regain his confidence and resume his offensive prowess.

Doug may be the nicest goon ever, even if a little dense, and it's easier than you'd think to get on the side of a guy whose career involves bloodying other guy's faces.  Of course, he has a love interest, whose name I can't recall but I do recall that he found her very pretty.  She was played by Alison Pill, who we'd just seen playing Zelda Fitzgerald in Midnight In Paris.  She has a problem, though, in that she already has a boyfriend, but that can be worked out through a face pounding or two.

And boy, is there blood.  And broken bones, and other body parts.  And more blood.  If you're squeamish about such things, you might want to blink for long periods of time here and there.

There are many laugh-out-loud moments, and Seann William Scott pulls off Doug's aloofness perfectly.  You really feel behind him the whole way, especially since things don't work out so well for the guys in front of him.  Liev Schreiber, of all people, plays the haggard goon Ross Rhea, and I'll admit that I didn't at first recognize him.  He melts into the role.

We enjoyed this movie quite a bit, and you can't imagine the joy of watching it with a bunch of blood-thirsty Canadians.  I don't know if it will make it to a theater near you, but you can surely catch it on Netflix next year sometime.  My imdb rating: 7/10.

...

Maureen: This movie was my number one choice for the festival. This may be an odd selection, but it just seemed like the right movie for the Festival: fun, unexpected, and quirky.  It was all this, and introduced as "the most Canadian film at TIFF". 

It is a bit violent at times and I am not into brutality at all.  But oddly most of the fighting had a real, yet over the top feel.  The sound used for the hitting was extreme and so it became comical.  I think the strongest point for the movie is the script.  There is a great reference to ET (the extraterrestrial), that is so funny, I want to see the movie again for this one part.

Review: The Ides of March

Maureen and I were successful in our first Rush line experience of this year's festival, securing two seats to George Clooney's The Ides of March.  I had extra motivation to see this one because of high demands among my readers (or one reader, anyway) for Ryan Gosling pics.  Alas, George, Ryan and the crew were not in attendance.  It's a shame, because I know that George was in town, if he isn't yet still.

The movie, directed by Clooney, also casts him in a supporting role of a sitting state governor and presidential candidate, Mike Morris.  The story, though, was really of the political behind-the-scenes education of his press secretary, Stephen Myers, played by Gosling.  Rounding out the cast are Phillip Seymour Hoffman and Paul Giamatti, Morris's and the opposition's battle-tested campaign managers, respectively, and Evan Rachel Wood, a young intern on the Morris campaign.

Myers is idealistic, energetic, and has drunk Morris's metaphorical Kool-aid.  Throuigh a series of events and gamesmanship by the major players on both campaigns, Myers obtains a more realistic view of the world in which he's chosen to dwell.  If he is able to thrive or even survive, he may have to ditch his idealism.

Some of it may be predictable, though some surprises will certainly seep through on occasion.  Overall, the movie is fairly standard suspense fare, though made better than it may otherwise have been due to excellent performances from Hoffman and Giamatti.  I've grown to expect it - these guys are just fun to watch.

As a side note, we were both dismayed to have our vacation from American politics interrupted by this film, a vivid reminder of the constant ugliness in which we are constantly drenched back home.  Sadly, I can't print a line of dialog spoken by Gosling's character in the film, as it contains a major spoiler, but for me it is a sad truth of American politics and what is important to the public.  Stupid scruples.

The film has strong performances from the entire cast and the script and production are solid, even if there's no new ground broken.  If for some reason you feel like you haven't gotten a strong enough dose of political figures dumping on one another, this movie should serve you well.  My imdb rating: 7/10.

Maureen's notes:  The Ides of March page on imbd.com is missing a principle cast member.  Jennifer Ehle, who is a big name in BBC circles, played Morris' wife.  She is missing from the cast list as of now.  It seems like an odd oversight on what is considered one of the best sources of film information available. ... Although I feel Giamatti and Hoffman steal the show from the leads, George Clooney has again thrilled many female fans by signing autographs and posing pictures as long as his handlers will allow.  We have heard from fans and some industry folks he is as good of a guy as he is said to be.  Oddly, we also heard the same about Woody Harrelson.

Brush with Fame, part 3

Sarah Silverman, saying hi to the crowd after the Q&A following Take This Waltz.