TIFF 2008 - Catching Up & Wrapping Up

After gorging on 30 films in 10 days, I've managed to write a post about 13 of them and still plan on cobbling my thoughts together on another 3 ("Tony Manero". "Cold Lunch", "Daytime Drinking"). So that leaves 14 lonely films with nowhere to go...With TIFF all tucked away for 2008, I figure I'll take a stab at a few pithy comments for each one of them. Even if I don't write a full post about some of these though, it doesn't mean they don't deserve one or weren't greatly enjoyed.

I had a terrific fest - I know prevailing opinion seems to be that this is an off year and some critics have mentioned other issues with the festival (becoming less of a "people's" festival, etc.), but I walked out happy from the vast majority of the films I saw. Even films that disappointed me kept me mostly engaged and provided reasonable entertainment (well OK, that's stretching it for the Work In Progress version of "New York I Love You", but at least those stories were short). Only a single film out of the entire batch was something I wish I hadn't picked, but I'll get to that at the end.




The Paranoids
Though quite slow, repetitive and sometimes frustrating, this tale of a nervous and emotionally confused young man with many quirks does have its moments. Luciano slowly becomes enamored of his "friend" Manuel's girlfriend Sofia, but things go off the rails for him a bit when he discovers that Manuel has created a TV character based on him and his issues. Moments of comedy are interspersed within the repeated framework of Luciano not being able to deal with confrontations and other things that scare him. It drags a bit as you realize you aren't getting much of a sense of enjoyment watching this paranoid's rather dull and mostly sad life, but it regains a great deal with a hopeful ending (and a terrific dance scene that happens in a single take with a great entrance by a third character).





Detroit Metal City
Absurdly funny story of a young Japanese singer who only wants to sing "trendy pop songs" (with frothy lyrics like "When I wake up she's making cheese biscuits" played by bands with names like Tetrapod Melon Tea). Instead he ends up as the singer for an anarchic death metal band called Detroit Metal City. To prove their ultimate superiority they duel against the reigning God of metal Jack Il Dark (played by Gene Simmons) who made the classic album "Fuckingham Palace" (oh come on...you know you wish you had thought of that first). Director Toshio Lee was on hand for our screening and asked the audience during the Q&A what we thought the main differences were between Japanese and American comedies. Though there were some unfortunate generalizations given as answers, it's an interesting topic and this film could certainly be a jumping off point due to its mix of sweetness and over the top...well...everything.





Flame & Citron
"I know I'm doing the right thing" says Flame - one of a pair of the biggest national heroes Denmark had around the end of WWII. Nazi sympathizers and helpers in Denmark were, ahem, removed from society by the duo and the film shows that they wrestled with their actions and were actually complex characters and not simply infallible heroes. It's expertly made and has so far been a huge success in Denmark, but it's too long and isn't really anything overly ground breaking. But a solid thriller.





Faubourg 36
The main problem with "Faubourg 36", a musical about an old style review theatre in Paris, is that it could've been even better than it was. Though a bit longer than it needed to be and with a story that wasn't overly surprising, the music was bouncy and fun. But there just wasn't enough of it! Most of the songs came in 1 or 2 minute increments during rehearsals or were staged fairly straight up. Except, that is, for one number later in the film called "To The Sea". With full costumes and sets, it opened up beyond the stage like a Busby Berkeley number from "Footlight Parade" and gave an idea of how these simple review musicals could transport their audience to far away places. It was terrific and I had hoped at that point the film would continue down that path. But it didn't, so I was mildly disappointed that it decided not to hit those heights again. However, it did have the young Nora Arnezeder as the theatre's announcer/singer and she struck me as a potential future star...There's a certain presence about her on screen and she brought life and energy to every scene she was in.





Real Shaolin
This documentary covers a year in the life of 4 indivudals studying traditional kung fu in the Shaolin region of China. Two are Chinese (the most fascinating being a 9 year old boy) and the other two are foreigners (a 19 year old American and a 29 year old Frenchman). There's some great stuff here - the history of the Shaolin Temple, the current state of their schools, that 9 year old boy - but it gets stretched a bit thin with the 4 stories (since each of the four are in different schools they never interact). In particular the Frenchman's arc could've been dropped. But that's kind of nit-picking since it gives a look into a fascinating area, culture and art form rarely seen these days.





White Night Wedding
The second of the Icelandic wedding films I saw this year (along with the terrific Country Wedding). This is also great, though certainly a different beast. Funny, cynical, kinda heartbreaking and apparently based on the story of Ivanhoe, it flips between present day preparations for a wedding during the longest day of the year and events leading up it. Man, I gotta visit Iceland one day...





Fear Me Not
Ulrich Thomsen gives a great on the edge performance as a man who continues with anti-depressant pharmaceuticals after the scientific trial he's on gets cancelled. His behaviour begins to change, but as he becomes happier he also looks for more freedom from the family life he has and is willing to do just about anything on a whim. Some have compared it to Nicholas Ray's "Bigger Than Life", but I don't think the film is trying for anything that grand. It's a simple straight ahead tension-filled thriller with more glorious scenery of Scandinavia.





Sauna
Slow, creepy and very dark is how I've described this unconventional horror film to several people. But it's no less rewarding than a more immediate visceral scarefest. At the end of the 16th century several men are tasked with marking out the new border between Russia and Finland after a long, difficult and bloody war. As they go through a patch of swampland they encounter a village that no one knew of before. Also of interest to the expedition is the nearby sauna which ends up not being your run of the mill relaxation spot. The film sets up a fairly hopeless world for the main characters and follows it through to the end.





Toronto Stories
Not quite Toronto's version of Paris Je T'aime, this set of 4 different short films set in Toronto (as well as filmed by local directors) has its ups and downs. The opening story, though wonderfully shot by Aaron Woodley, is a bit unfocused and contains elements that don't make a whole lot of sense unless you know where the story idea came from (which was described to the audience in the post-screening Q&A). The second one, Sook-Yin Lee's "The Brazilian", also has its moments - many due to Lee herself (I find she has a terribly interesting face and can be very charming and natural). But it also has some clunky pieces of scriptwriting and occasionally cringeworthy acting moments (many of those also due to Lee). I like the story line though and the use of her particular neighbourhood of Toronto was nicely done. The third story "Windows", by director David Sutherland, was probably the least impressive story (a window washer meets up with an old criminal friend who has just escaped from prison and now wants to find out why his girlfriend is engaged to be married to someone else), but it had one of the best performances by K.C. Collins as the window washer. The last story by David Weaver is certainly the most emotional and pulls in the young lost boy who wanders through all 4 of the stories. Toronto looks great and there's some good ideas here, but too many of the stories suffer from script and focus issues. It likely would've been more effective to have shorter stories - and possibly more directors - but obviously that's difficult to do when you have extreme budgetary constraints...





Cooper's Camera
The Cooper family get a video camera for Christmas 1985 and the youngest son goes about taping the entire range of family disfunction as relatives come for the holidays and secrets get revealed. Starring Jason Jones and Samantha Bee from "The Daily Show", the film does a great job not only in staging the scenes so that you can almost believe that someone could have videotaped everything going on, but also in making things look like they were taped by a video camera from 1985 (apparently a good deal of post processing was used on the initial footage). Reviews calling this a gross-out comedy are far too simplistic as the comedy ranges from subtler stuff to situational to physical and to the scatalogical. It's a mixed bag with some gags working well and some occasionally taking the easy joke. Indeed there was some gross-ish stuff that I could've done without (I got a bit tired of the fat, chain-smoking buffoon brother in-law), but then one of the other cast members would say or do something unexpected and I'd be reeled back in.





Better Things
A young girl dies of a heroin overdose and numerous friends and family affected by the death start to consider making choices to possibly improve their lives. Each seems affected by a disabling symptom (loneliness, drugs, phobias) and has been separated from someone they love. There was so much quiet despair on display that the munching of popcorn in the theatre was incredibly distracting at times. Similar to "Kisses", there is not a lot of dialog or plot developments in the film, but a great deal of lovely visuals that tell these people's stories. Each shot is very well composed and uses natural light to great effect. There are even glimmers of hope by the end for some of the characters...





Inju, The Beast In The Shadows
Based on an Edogawa Rampo story, Barbet Schroeder's film is a reasonably entertaining version that manages to make the viewer want to sit through it until the end - though only to see if you guessed the twist ending since you're likely to have given up caring for any of the characters by that point. One of the reasons for that is there are several moments in the movie that a character has a logical choice to make and then doesn't make it - seemingly only to allow the plot to continue. You can sometimes forgive gaping holes in a story if perhaps it deals with some greater themes or at least provides some interesting tension. But if it doesn't, it gets a bit frustrating.





All Around Us
I had questioned myself when I put together my schedule whether I should have finished it off with a slow 2 and a half hour Japanese drama about the progression of a young couple's life. It turns out it was a brillant stroke on my part because Ryosuke Hashiguchi's "All Around Us" provided a wealth of terrific stuff and a wide range of topics - very funny couple discussions (in particular those about the scheduling of sex days and the amount of snot that comes from a nose), complex changing characters, tragedy, social commentary, depression and the challenges/benefits of staying with a relationship. The film understands that people are complicated and you can't necessarily assume how they will react to things or events, so it progresses naturally through its sequence of events. So when something simple like a father's sketch of an infant child is found later in the story, it can pack a very real emotional punch.





Salamandra
Not all was glorious though...Even though several of the films above weren't overly successful, for the most part they kept me engaged and rarely did I look at my watch. Not so in the case of "Salamandra", the first film from Argentinian director Pablo Aguero. You could certainly praise him for delivering a gritty unflinching look at a lost segment of Argentina's society (free spirited hippies living in desolate communes) and talk about the cruelty of bringing children into that kind of life, but it didn't provide any further context or commentary or even artfulness to the story. From the Q&A afterwards, it appears that this was somewhat of an autobiographical tale and that Aguero's mother still lives like this. That's a frightening statement and you certainly have to hand it to Aguero for finding a way out for himself. But he doesn't provide any kind of empathy for his characters in the film. A young 6-7 year old boy is taken from what appears to be a loving life with his grandmother to go on a journey into the South of Argentina to live "free" with his mother. Within 5 minutes I couldn't stand the mother and as she sank lower and lower into continuous self-deception and craziness, I just wanted to leave.

TIFF 2008 - Achilles And The Tortoise

What is art? No, wait, don't answer that...There's no way to field that one. Better questions may be: What does art mean to you? How do you view it in your world? For those who actually create it, what is your process of creating art and why do you do it?

Takeshi Kitano has been working his way through questions of that variety for his last three films. The first in the trilogy of self-examination was "Takeshis'", an example of how real life incidents and characters wind their way into Kitano's psyche and dreams to emerge at the other end as an artistic creation. The second, last year's "Glory To The Filmmaker", was a mish mash of film influences and brain dump of thoughts on how artistic ideas come about. This year's "Achilles And The Tortoise" performs a similar role for the painter side of multi-talented Kitano. He explores different influences and techniques that exist within the art world, how artists can begin to incorporate them and what happens when they do that for the wrong reasons.

It's actually a pretty wide swath to cover in a single film and even bigger under the guise of following a single character throughout different stages of his life. As a boy, a young man and a mature adult, this character named Machisu encounters a variety of different opinions, influences and opportunism. He experiences art patronage gone wrong, sellers inflating importance of art work, dealers stating objectively how artwork should be done (to meet commercial desires) and total indifference. Along with all this, Machisu dabbles in different styles via his personal studies of many artists so you would think that he would develop his own style and perspective at some point. But he doesn't and this inability to decide for himself and to keep on the road of trying to please others (in particular a specific buyer) causes him to lose sense of the real world and how to live in it like a human being.

This can make the film a difficult thing to watch if you are hoping to follow the narrative or character arc. Kitano himself plays the adult stage of Machisu and he isn't a pleasant fellow - completely self-absorbed and willing to take advantage of anyone who will give him money so he can buy paint. But that's not the story Kitano is trying to tell...The film opens with a short animated sequence depicting the famous paradox of Achilles and the Tortoise which is essentially (to quote Aristotle):

In a race, the quickest runner can never overtake the slowest, since the pursuer must first reach the point whence the pursued started, so that the slower must always hold a lead.

Machisu can pursue acceptance and commerce through his art, he can never catch up. Hence his continued slide downwards for the entire film. Though it may not be "fun" to watch his life crumble, it's the individual bits within it that bring out the discussion of art, the problems with it and the beauty of it. And some humour too.

The film starts with an introduction to Machisu when he is a young school age boy who simply likes to draw and paint. His dreams become set for him when his efforts are encouraged by an older painter that his wealthy father has been funding. Machisu receives the advice to always make sure his artwork captures the details of whatever his subject is. As an older art school student, he hears that you must experiment with your art and "let your soul paint". Both these approaches lead to tragedy for others. His attempts at experimental art are the funniest parts of the film as he tries riding bicycles filled with paint into walls, using jackhammers, baseball bats, toasters and other various methods. It's also sheer desperation to make something important or something that will sell.

But through it all, there's also a love of art. Kitano (as far as I know) painted every single piece of artwork in the film himself - from the childlike drawings to the copycat paintings - and there's some gorgeous colour throughout all of them that really pops off the screen. Actually most of the colour seems to be drained from the rest of the film in order to put even more emphasis on what Kitano feels is most important: the artwork itself. Not whether it is any good or how it was achieved or whether it has sold...Just the creations themselves. Perhaps with this last film in the trilogy Kitano has indeed caught up with his tortoise.

TIFF 2008 - Chocolate

Like kick-ass martial arts set pieces? Jackie Chan style stunts with props? Don't mind the occasional sappy moment during an otherwise fair story? I think TIFF has found the movie for you.

Directed by Prachya Pinkaew (who helmed both "Ong-Bak" and "The Protector" which starred Tony Jaa), "Chocolate" introduces 23 year-old Jee-Ja Yanin playing an autistic, yet specially gifted, young woman named Zen whose main goal (apart from popping M&M chocolate candies) is to retrieve her Mom's money from a series of criminals. As a young girl, she would study the kickboxers across the street and emulate them as well as watch films on TV (in particular we see her watching "Ong-Bak"). Because of her intense focus, she has the ability to learn the complex fight moves very quickly. She also has finely tuned hearing that can pick up air movement around her so she knows when things are approaching (you know, like large knives aimed at her head). Her troubles prevent her from doing much more than street performances (with her cousin who collects the money), but when her mother falls ill they need even more money for the proper medication. After finding her Mom's little black book of people who owe her, the two go off to collect. Of course, they don't receive very warm welcomes. After Zen has a dream about defeating monsters, she realizes she can use her skills.




And boy does she ever...Let's forget about the rest of the plot at this stage and concentrate on the 5 or so large set pieces of action and fights. During the first sequence, Zen seems to be relishing the action and lets out numerous yelps and other sounds. Each sequence gets progressively more complicated and drawn out. And fun. In particular, the meat factory scene and the final battle on window sills and high up street and shop signs are both extremely well-staged, exciting and very inventive. Props make their way into the fights as well - long pipes, locker doors, chairs and pretty much anything lying around gets used - and this usually increases what appears to be the danger factor for the actual fighters. As with Jackie Chan's movies, outtakes are included at the end to show how realistic the fights were and how painful they ended up being for some of the participants. Fortunately, all we have to do is watch, wince and exclaim "Holy crap!"

Here's the trailer - Jee-Ja starts beating the living hell out of people about 1:25 in:





There does seem to be some wires involved in the stunts (as you see on the outtakes), but apparently they were used as safety devices and not for any additional lift to the fighters. I certainly accept that as I never felt there were any special or visual effects added (not a speck of CGI as far as I could tell - Yay!). Granted, there were a few editing and film speed tricks to quicken the pace of the fights, but never too quick to be annoying or to make it look like they had to fake anything. And it never takes away from the presence of Jee-Ja Yanin - just her simple ready stance alone is a thing to behold. And when she lets loose with a leg kick to the head without much of the rest of her body moving so that she returns to that same ready stance, well it's really a thing of beauty. And kick-ass too.

TIFF 2008 - Les Plages D'Agnes

It's probably best that Agnes Varda couldn't make the Q&A after the recent screening of her new film "Les Plages D'Agnes". I'm not sure she could've withstood the massive group hug that the audience was looking to hand out to her.

The film is a set of personal remembrances of her life and her art, but it's packed with so many new ideas that it couldn't be said to be a complete summation of her work - she obviously has much more to create. Through many old photos, newsreels, old footage, recreations, current interviews and staged sets we get to follow her through her entire life from childhood to present. It's a charming wandering journey that allows Varda to wonder aloud about memory, it's accuracy and how it can be transmitted. While working her way past old signposts, Varda takes this opportunity to tell her stories and communicate her ideas in novel visual ways. A straightforward documentary is just not in the cards with her...

Some highlights:

• "If they open me up, they'll find beaches". The beaches (or 'plages' in French) of Belgium were a strong childhood memory for her as it was where they spent much time together as a family. The opening section of the film spends some time on one of those beaches along with a variety of different mirrors. This allows her to create some lovely images and be in a playful mood as she reflects the faces of her helpers to the camera.
• An early short film by Varda has a young Gerard Depardieu stealing a woman's art textbooks and then explaining to her why it makes sense that he should keep them.
• Varda started out as a photographer and many of her shots show up in the film. My favourite was one of a young Fidel Castro sitting with a smile on his face in front of two rocks that seem to be jutting out of his back. Varda describes him as a "utopist with stone wings"
• Leafing through a street market, she comes across a box full of "cinema cards" - collectibles with information about different directors. She finds not only her own, but also those of husband Jacques Demy and fellow French New Waver Jean-Luc Godard. She talks a bit about how "Breathless" did well and Godard was asked who else could make cheap movies that would sell. He recommended Demy who made "Lola". Demy in turn pointed to Varda who made "Cleo From 5 To 7".
• Painters come up a few times: an early film of Varda's impressed a segment of the Impressionists community, she recreates "The Lovers" by Rene Magritte and mentions how she brings in her art influences to her films where possible.

• The office on a beach set she creates in the middle of a road.
• The sweetness and sadness that crops up in her voice whenever Jacques Demy's name is mentioned.
• Varda sitting in the centre of a small room defined by curtains of filmstrips she made from one of her films.

I suppose a number of bullet points is no way to review a film. But considering the nature of the film (a leisurely stroll through a person's life full of memories and accomplishments) and its primary theme (the transfer and accuracy of memory) perhaps I'm not remembering correctly enough to write anything more down here.

I still want to give Varda a big hug though...

TIFF 2008 - Synecdoche New York

Normally I take notes during my TIFF screenings. They typically end up as barely legible scrawls moving diagonally up the page from left to right and sometimes even overwriting previous lines. It's a bit goofy I suppose, but it helps me remember key quotes and organize my thoughts if I want to post about a film later.

But I couldn't write a single thing about Charlie Kaufman's latest (his first as director). The page in my notebook for the film is blank. And that's because I was pretty much bowled over by this film and I didn't want to waste any effort on writing while I watched it. And even if I did, what could I possibly have written down? This is the kind of film you want to chew on and replay in your mind for days. One thing to note is that if there is any question about Kaufman's ability as director (and there shouldn't be) take a look at the performances of his spectacular female cast - Samantha Morton, Emily Watson, Michelle Williams, Catherine Keener and Hope Davis are all wonderful in every part of this disorienting film. I also have to say that Diane Wiest has the greatest voice - she could make me cry reading random wikipedia entries.

Oh, and Philip Seymour Hoffman has never been better.





At the moment, and this will likely change, I kind of like the idea that the entire film (from its very first frame) is the play Hoffman's character is writing. There's lots of little things that point to that as a possibility (the various diseases he has that come and go, his daughter's unexplained green poo, how he sees himself in various forms of advertising and TV shows, etc.), but I NEED to see it again. I also WANT to see it again. Not just to figure out it's many puzzles, but because I found it hugely entertaining and desire to re-experience the sheer volume of ideas spilling forth from it. If a director can establish these feelings in you, then I think he's doing something right.

TIFF 2008 - Kisses

As the colour slowly drains away from the screen, the camera pulls back from a dead goldfish floating in its bowl to introduce Kylie, a young teenage girl living in the bleak suburbs of Dublin with her mother and older sister. Dylan is her neighbour next door - same age and living with his constantly fighting parents. The stark black and white images of the wasteland around their houses (now that all the colour has left) shows us this is no place for children to grow up. There appears to be not much of anything - no life, no hope.

But shortly after Dylan fights back against his abusive father, he and Kylie run away to Dublin in search of his older brother. Slowly and almost imperceptibly colour comes back into their lives. By the time they've made it to the downtown area (via a hitched ride down the river), colour saturates everything

In many ways, this is a pretty simple story - a younger generation is getting pulled into their parents' hopelessness and struggling to find something to latch onto. However, the best thing about Lance Daly's film is the wordless time we spend with Kylie and Dylan on the streets of Dublin. Backed by some lovely music by the band Go Blimp Go, we follow the kids as they explore the city, search for Dylan's brother and meet new and interesting characters. There's little advancement of the plot in these sections, but they are the core of the film. There's something purely cinematic about watching them coast down the streets on their wheeled shoes or seeing how they react to the things they encounter.




The kids are both quite charming on screen. Less so off - at the Q&A after the film, director Daly was joined on stage by tight-lipped 14 year-old Shane Curry (Dylan) and a rather petulant 12 year-old Kelly O'Neill (Kylie) who obviously thought she owned the stage. It was all quite amusing actually...As novice actors though, they outdo the rest of the cast in every department. Daly has obviously coaxed some very honest performances from these youngsters as the adult actors are frankly not in their league.

But that doesn't matter. It's all about an adventure these two kids experience together, seeing the vitality of life, witnessing some of its dangers and finding perhaps a small bit of hope at the end of the day.

TIFF 2008 - Tokyo Sonata

At the outset of his latest film, Kiyoshi Kurosawa warned the audience that it was NOT a horror picture. True, it isn't. Its basic themes deal with hypocrisy, loneliness, Japan's patriarchal society and the consequences of borders. So it's not Horror. But it certainly is horrifying at times. And if by the end Kurosawa's reach stretches a bit too far, it doesn't at all negate the rest of the film's grasp.

Salary man Ryuhei Sasaki loses his job as Director of Administration for a large firm. The company has decided to outsource a great deal of its work to China since they can get three people working for the price of one in Japan. The shame is overpowering for Ryuhei and he decides not to tell his wife while he searches for another position - how could he face her as overall head of the family when he no longer feels he is the provider and protector? But his family (along with his wife, he has two sons) has already started shutting each other out. They don't so much talk to each other as AT each other. Ryuhei's insistence on attempting to regain some form of control further distances himself from his sons and his wife. He tries to stop the eldest son from joining the U.S. Army and forbids his youngest from studying piano. He gives no reasons - he just needs to have the control. As he states to his wife, he feels that once he has said 'No' he cannot change his mind otherwise he will lose his authority over his children. His position within society has been taken from him, so he desperately needs to retain his traditional role in the family. But there seems to be an abundance of hypocrisy - youngest son Kenji is chided by both teacher and father for doing things that they themselves do. And it's behaviour that appears to be commonplace.

Kurosawa sets up most of his interior shots to have layers of different frames - windows, arches, shelves and just about anything else that can divide and seperate his characters from each other. It's incredibly effective in depicting a family that has shut themselves off. In addition, the occasional dropping out of all sound helps us to focus on a single person's feelings - yet another way of having a character be isolated from what is around them. Of course, that's not the only way Kurosawa uses sound. Low ominous rumbles, blowing winds and echoing trains signal the continued slide of the family's fate.

As each member of the family begins to get more desperate for not only a way out but a way to start over, the tone of the film seems to lose its way a bit. First, it attempts to mirror some of the issues within this family and within the societal structure of Japan with the U.S. involvement in Iraq. It's not that you can't make that case, but it feels a bit forced within the context of the film. As well, the late appearance of another character, a thief played by Koji Yakusho, brings some strangely comedic scenes into the story - not only due to the thief's bumbling attempts but also because of Yakusho's broad and almost over-the-top performance. Kurosawa mentioned in the Q&A after the film, that once Yakusho's schedule found a few days availability, he began increasing the role of the thief. And it too feels a bit forced.

Overall however, there's some beautifully realized moments in "Tokyo Sonata". The film makes a strong case for rejecting societal roles that box people into specific behaviours. Perhaps there may even be some hope lingering outside those limiting conventions.


Also posted at Toronto J-Film Pow-Wow.

TIFF 2008 - Country Wedding

Shot over 7 days using 4 handheld cameras and a mostly improvised script by a core of 15-16 actors, Valdis Oskarsdottir's "Country Wedding" is somewhat like an Icelandic Dogme 95 film done by Christopher Guest. Only somewhat though, because it stands on its own as a unique and incredibly entertaining trip.

On the day of their wedding, Bardi and Ingibjorg are attempting to get themselves, their family and their guests (both the invited and uninvited) to a small country chapel for what they hope to be a simple lovely ceremony. Even though the entire wedding party is less than 20 people, they've rented two large buses to bring them to their destination. One bus has the bride, her best friend (and date), her brother, her divorced parents, her Mom's boyfriend and her friend's absent-minded grandmother. The other bus has the groom, his parents, his sister, his buddy and an old family friend (and his guest). Each of the characters seems to be hiding something and as each secret is revealed, further confusion and dismay is added to the proceedings.

Since the bride and groom aren't suppose to see each other until the ceremony, walkie talkies are used between the buses to convey messages. At one point, the groom tells the other bus that his claustrophobia won't allow him to take the highway through a long tunnel - so it's off the beaten track using gravel roads to get to the chapel. Along the way they stop at small village stores, get lost, visit several wrong chapels, lose the grandmother and fight. It's all handled quite brillantly...Oskarsdottir is an experienced editor (a number of Dogme and other Scandinavian films, with Gus Van Sant, Michel Gondry, Harmony Korine, etc.) before tackling this as her first directorial effort. Her editor's sense allows for terrific pacing throughout and along the way there is a gradual release of little bits of information. As more details come out, tempers begin to flare and a domino effect occurs where even more secrets come out. Alcoholism, infidelity, sickness, jealousy, obsession...Good thing there's a psychologist on the bus that people can turn to. Except that he isn't really a psychologist...

Along with the surprises are the many smaller character moments. The actors have really studied their roles (and apparently rehearsed their back stories) and deliver finely tuned consistent behaviour. Of course this can only strengthen the funny business - the little asides, the one on one discussions, the throw away lines in the background - and make it more relatable. Even the one-off characters encountered along the way deliver some great moments. One example is a young woman behind the counter at a puny little convenience store:

Groom: "Is there a church around here?"
Young woman: "Church? No. There is a schoolhouse...The schoolhouse has a pool. But it's been closed since the schoolmaster's wife drowned herself in it."

Just for a second you completely forget about the wedding party's predicament and wonder what that poor schoolmaster's wife's life must've been like in order for her to drown herself. I feel bad about it, but it gave me the biggest laugh of the film. Other parts of the movie seemed to give other audience members their own big laughs, so it just shows how richly talented the cast was in creating those moments. There's a wealth of them.

TIFF 2008 - The Brothers Bloom

I haven't been to a whole lot of gala premieres at TIFF. Most of the films that get that kind of treatment will likely be getting decent distribution deals, so there's usually ample time to catch up with them during a normal theatrical run. However, I don't have to deny myself immediate gratification...

I've pretty much been waiting for Rian Johnson's second film from the moment the credits rolled during my initial viewing of his first - the high school noir picture "Brick". So I needed to squeeze "The Brothers Bloom" into my schedule this year. As it turns out, I happened to pick the World Premiere screening with the director and three of the main cast members present for before and after film chit chat. Johnson was extremely affable and relaxed (bringing his cousin on stage to play a short ditty and to also provide the soundtrack to his life) and the trio of Rachel Weisz, Mark Ruffalo and Adrien Brody seemed to be genuinely happy to be there (the two male leads even spontaneously danced together during opening remarks). So I can certainly understand why people go to the star studded events - it can provide a good deal of surprises and entertainment. I just wish I could say the same for the movie itself.

That's not to say that "The Brothers Bloom" is bad or that I didn't enjoy any of it, but it never fired on all cylinders for me. I kept hoping it would catch a spark and drag me along with it, but the pieces I liked were scattershot across the whole length of the film and it never developed the kind of momentum needed in order to ask your viewer to simply follow you anywhere.




The positives first...Rachel Weisz is absolutely charming and funny in her role as "the mark" and displays excellent comedic timing. Rinko Kikuchi is also a great deal of fun as the Japanese assistant who has been with the con men brothers ever since the day she just showed up. Some of the film's highlights are the little bits of comedy coming from the two of them - Kikuchi's deadpan reactions, Weisz's own reaction to her first kiss with Brody, etc. But if neither were on screen, things just weren't clicking. Johnson does find other ways of working in the comedic elements of the film by keeping the frame busy with little bits of silly business in the background like falling trees and wandering camels. His shots are also pretty dense with some nice production design touches, so there's typically lots to chew on visually.

The "one last big con" that brothers Stephen and Bloom are trying to pull on wealthy eccentric lonely Penelope (Weisz) is fine, though it never quite hooked me into its twists and turns. It was satisfying, but not something I'm going to savour. Both Brody and Ruffalo were perfectly fine in their roles and are very watchable, but neither of their characters were particularly memorable.

Where the film somewhat failed for me was in its rhythm. Johnson seems to fluctuate between the styles of Wes Anderson and P.T. Anderson while also trying to work in absurdist humour, subtle comedy and heartfelt emotion. For a movie to succeed jumping all over the place like that, you really need to be willing to jump on board and just let it take you with it. Unfortunately after the opening scenes with the young brothers that gave the back story (narrated by Ricky Jay), I wasn't willing to hop on. The beats in the scene seemed to stutter and start, but it never got into a groove. Which brings us to the music...Fine on its own, the music and selected songs didn't ever seem to mesh with the story or the visuals - you could tell exactly what mood the music was trying to convey in any particular scene, but I didn't feel it ever accomplished its goals.

But that's subjectivity for you. While it never swept me up, the audience seemed to greatly enjoy it. I did like many parts of the whole and especially the sweetness brought to the love story by Rachel Weisz. Rian Johnson is obviously a very talented director and he has some great ideas. I hope he continues to mash up his influences for many films to come. Maybe I'll be in sync with him next time.

TIFF 2008 - New York I Love You

Comprised of 12 separate stories all taking place in New York City, the latest omnibus film from the producers of "Paris Je T'aime" was screened yesterday at TIFF as a Work In Progress. Since it is indeed not the finished version of the film (e.g. music may be changed, titles not complete, etc.), producers Marina Grasic and Emmanuel Benbihy asked that the press hold off on publishing any reviews.

So just a few comments:

• The list of directors is again a scattershot grouping of international names. This time it also contains two actors sitting behind the lens: Natalie Portman and Scarlett Johansson.
  
• Is Julie Christie actually getting better looking as she grows older?
• Though much of the music may change, I was delighted to hear bits from The Budos Band - a Staten Island based group that pulls a great deal of influence from African groove master Fela Kuti. They are a recent favourite of mine and I hope their music is retained in the final version.
• Before the film started, Benbihy related an anecdote about Anthony Minghella. He was apparently very instrumental in helping them get the film started, insisted they move their initial funding operations for the film to New York City itself and also wrote one of the stories. The movie is dedicated to him.
• The next two cities in mind for future films in the Cities of Love series are Shanghai and Jerusalem.
• I really liked the footage of New York itself that popped up between the stories.
  

The audience seemed to greatly enjoy what they saw and applauded after several of the stories. Without mentioning much more, let's just say that I'm glad the work is still In Progress - cause it needs it.

TIFF 2008 - Still Walking

I lost track of the number of times I smiled or laughed in recognition during Hirokazu Kore-eda's latest film entitled "Still Walking". Not that I have any Japanese relatives in my bloodline or have specific experience with the situations in the story, but it was the little moments and details of the characters and their interactions with their family that resonated. Some examples: Grandma cooking in the kitchen with occasional help from just about everyone, stories related by the parents that have been told hundred of times before, actions mis-attributed to one child instead of another, a parent and child who are so alike that they fight constantly (and would be horrified if you told them how alike they were) and a young Nintendo DS playing boy who likes to mix Coke and Ginger Ale when he gets his fountain drinks (reminds me of an 8 year old who is asleep in my house at the moment)...Director Kore-eda mentioned in the Q&A afterwards that the script evolved from the passing away of his parents and the discussions of his childhood they had during the time they had left. For such a personal story, the audience laughter throughout the film showed there's a universal quality to these characters to which just about anyone can relate.

It's a gentle laughter to be sure, but it's very real and honest. And it's mixed in with some bittersweet moments as well as hidden resentments, regrets and other such family staples. In the case of this particular family, second son Ryo will never be fully accepted by his father since he did not become a doctor and has left the house (he's "only" a restorer of old paintings). As well, he has married a "used" woman (ie. divorced) and though the parents are welcoming to the new family member and her son, both are treated more as guests than as full fledged family. And the parents are still grieving somewhat over the loss of their eldest son years earlier in a drowning accident.

There's no big family secrets revealed or long time grudges repaired. It's just slice of life moments that slowly build a picture of a family - particularly that divide between Ryo and his Dad. Both are overly serious and prone to pettiness. But there's still time to, if not mend all the fences, at least spend some quality time together. Ryo's sister realizes this and I think it's the main point at which Kore-eda was aiming - those little moments with those you love can be very rich and rewarding. Make the most of them while you can.

Kore-eda sticks with mostly beautifully crafted static shots and let's his actors do the rest. And the acting is exceptional - there's an ease with which all the characters talk with each other and react to what each other says. You feel like this is a real family and that you've been invited into their house to spend time with them. It's a simple, quiet and lovely bit of filmmaking.


Also posted at Toronto J-Film Pow-Wow.

TIFF 2008 - C'est Pas Moi, Je Le Jure

Leon: "We can start a new life."
Lea: "But we're only 10 years old."
Leon: "Exactly. It's not too late."

What do you do when you're young and want a normal life, but you're stuck between constantly battling parents - one who wants to be perfect and the other desirous of a more free spirited life? If you're Leon's older brother, you don't question anything, force yourself to be happy and just hope things will work out. If you're Leon, you question everything (even God), lie whenever possible and occasionally try to kill yourself.

Leon's mother: "It's bad to lie."
Leon and mother together: "But it's worse to lie badly."

Leon's mother doesn't give typical advice...Nor can she seem to function within her marriage to a man who never lies, wants to save the world and apparently doesn't have time for simple pleasures like picnics anymore. She wants to paint and not know what the next day will bring. Shortly after telling her two boys that she is suffocating, she flees for Greece.




Leon's behaviour becomes worse after this, but through all of it - the breaking and entering, the complicated fibs, the suicide attempts - Philippe Falardeau's film manages to keep the viewer's sympathies with young Leon. A huge reason for this is the quite extraordinary performance of Antoine L'Ecuyer as Leon (the young boy received a standing ovation from the audience when he came on stage after the film). He's so very genuine and natural and also possessed of great comedic timing - in particular during an hysterical sequence (probably the single funniest thing I've seen this year) where he ends up in the hospital due to a self-inflicted wound, claims blurred vision, fakes an eye exam, gets new glasses and is given a new bicycle by his Dad. As he rides off on it trying to see around the new glasses he doesn't need, his brother walks off in disgust stating that he's going to go out and break his tibia. Unfortunately, I can't do the scene justice.

Leon (after yet another failed suicide attempt): "Life wasn't made for me. But I guess I was made for life."

Leon is also dealing with the first blushes of love as he develops a relationship with young Lea - another child with family problems. There's some real moments of tenderness between the two kids and they both manage to show the intense pain of being without any kind of stability even though they are desperately searching for it. Perhaps the normalcy that Leon and his brother are looking for just isn't as common as they perceive it to be...





The period details of the film seem to be meticulously captured, especially a beautiful bowling alley complete with the old style pin boys at the back returning balls and setting up pins. The camera work is never flashy, but is used to great effect throughout creating some gorgeous scenes which when combined with the music (a lovely original score by Patrick Watson and an incredible sequence cut to the music of Sigur Ros) deliver the perfect mood. In fact, I can't think of a single thing that wasn't handled with the utmost care. One of the best Canadian films I've seen in a long time.

TIFF 2008 - Ocean Flame

You know those friends of yours that keep breaking up and getting back together? Everybody says they have a "dysfunctional" relationship? Well, they're Ozzie and Harriet in comparison to the characters Wang Yao and Li Chuan in Liu Fendou's "Ocean Flame" - a document of a fierce love/hate between two people that devolves occasionally into almost sado-masochistic tendencies and eventually consumes them both. How's that for an elevator pitch?

Wang Yao is a criminal - he and his partners pull blackmail scams on the clients of his own prostitutes. But he is a bit different than your regular small time hood. As he says to one of his rivals "You are in it to make a living. I am in it because I like it". He's nothing if not honest about his intentions. And though he wouldn't be the first thug to quote the survival of the fittest, it's not often you actually hear one of them name-check The Beagle and mention that they are in fact a Darwinist.

Li Chuan, for her part, is a simple, somewhat demure waitress. She helps Wang Yao after he gets beaten up in her cafe and they fall in love almost immediately. She doesn't seem to mind that he tells her he isn't a nice guy and that he doesn't hide any of the bad things in which he's involved. As time goes on, he begins to get her more and more involved in those same bad things until she too has become one of the prostitutes. Yet she just cannot leave him. He even tells her "You can't change me and you'll ruin yourself trying".

The film builds the relationship slowly enough that you actually believe some of the more intense things that happen between them. Both performances are very strong and incredibly passionate. If the mood of the story occasionally borders on melodramatic that's OK - it never slips into the sappy overly contrived emotions of the worst kind of melodrama, but manages to pick up some of its best characteristics. Of course, this doesn't mean that it isn't still hard to watch sometimes...Li Chuan is humiliated, slapped and otherwise debased time and time again. It's obvious she should run far away from this guy. But it just isn't possible for her at this stage. Nor is it for him to let her go.

Liu stretches out some of these scenes and uses silence (both in natural surroundings as well as with a lack of music) to effectively bring all the focus to the two main characters. There's also some lovely camera work throughout the film and it captures some gorgeous shots of the buildings in which they live and work as well as the ocean and beach to which they escape. When Li Chuan finally tells Wang Yao that she will get her revenge, there has been enough foreshadowing of events (via the initial scene before the long flashback, the dialog between them and also the use of colour) that we don't doubt it - but we just aren't sure how it will play out. We do know that obsession rarely leads to happy endings though.

TIFF 2008 - Soul Power

"When you're walking down the street then you can say 'Damn right I'm somebody!'"

With that, James Brown closes the film "Soul Power" - a documentary containing 34 year old footage of the Zaire 74 music festival. Since James and his Mighty JB's blasted open the film with the waka-chaka waka-chaka chugging of the title tune, it's appropriate to circle back to him. And there's plenty of James in between those bookends as the film is part concert doc, part behind the scenes and part historical record of "Black America" in the mid-70s.

The Zaire 74 music festival was initially conceived to go hand in hand with the George Foreman vs. Muhammed Ali boxing match ("The Rumble In The Jungle"), but early on we hear that the concert must go it alone since Foreman has cut his eye and the fight has been postponed. However, Ali has no intention of letting the cameras roll without him - he's huge in Africa and he makes his presence felt whenever he can. This is still prime Ali rattling off phrase after phrase of occasionally non-sensical patter, but always emotionally up front. His list of reasons why New York is actually a jungle or why white people cannot be brothers to black people can easily be dismissed if you are arguing about the specifics, but the MESSAGE underneath the blather is conveyed with pinpoint precision. And the Godfather Of Soul was right there preaching the same thing - though in perhaps less bombastic and more straight talk language. When talking about the fact that money is at the root of the concert they are holding, Brown simply states "Cannot get liberated broke." It must've been quite empowering for black youth (in Africa as well as the States) to hear these two world famous men try to inspire people to turn their anger into something constructive.

Less inspiring is the publicity hound qualities of Don King. His schtick got old just as fast back then as it does now, but at least some of his on screen time is amusing. And so is much of the behind the scenes footage of the show being put together. There are some similarities to the early prep scenes in Woodstock as the organizers spend time on the phone worrying about flights, hotels, equipment transport, etc. One thing the organizers of Woodstock didn't have to contend with though was a government who unilaterally decided to shift the dates of the concert. Along with the boxing match being postponed, an almost day long flight to Zaire and many difficulties communicating over radio and walkie talkies (the change in technology for immediate communication over the last 30 years really is staggering), it's a wonder they managed to get the show off the ground. Ali also contributes some great one liners during these segments: as he swats at and misses a bug he tells the reporters that the flies are faster in Africa since the American ones eat too much so they move around slower...

But all this good stuff just doesn't hold a candle to the music. The pulsing, churning, choppy rhythms of the beautiful music on display. Many of the performances have been edited down (which is understandable considering the other facets being brought into the film and the 93 minute run time), but whenever the film takes us on stage you just don't want to step off. These performers breathe their music - whether it's the constant singing and playing on the plane flight, in the small villages they visit or backstage at the concert venue the music is always with them and they infect those around them with it.

The Spinners kick things off with some great dance moves, horns and vocals. African acts like OK Jazz and Afrisa bring gorgeous melodies to the propulsive afrobeats. And Celia Cruz and her Fania All Stars lay down some spectacular Cuban salsa music that elicited some spontaneous applause at our screening. The jazz fusion band The Crusaders played with fiery intensity and really muscular chops - unlike anything I've ever heard by them on record. And then my three favourites:

1) Miriam Makeba - not only does this woman exude class (she quietly talks about not making a big deal of some lineup shuffling as long as it is in the best interests of the crowd) and confidence (she tells the crowd that French is not really her native language, but Xhosa is - and those "funny" clicks and weird sounds are part of it), but my God can she sing...Her rendition of "The Click Song" is a truly uplifting moment.

2) B.B. King - "The Thrill Is Gone" has never been a particular favourite of mine. I remember seeing B.B. perform this on The Tonight Show years ago and it was flat and pretty lifeless. Blues for middle age people who don't like the Blues. But here he absolutely kills it. The band brings it alive with a great bottom end and B.B.'s guitar Lucille sounds great, but it's his voice that sells the damn thing. He means what he's singing and you can feel it. That's the Blues.

3) James Brown - That opening salvo was terrific, but it's just an appetizer. The last section of the film is given over to the man and the fantastic Mighty JB's backing band. These guys groove it like there's no tomorrow and James works the microphone and his feet to the shuffling rhythms. You cannot stand still to this music. It just picks you up and shakes you. As his announcer says, "He'll make your liver quiver and your bladder splatter."

Overall "Soul Power" is a terrific document of Zaire 74 using just the footage from the event. No present day interviews reflecting on the past. Just the temper of the times and how it was expressed in music. One can only hope that a future DVD release contains hours and hours and hours of additional concert footage. That would be incredible.

Damn right it would.

42 Was The Answer I was Looking For...

I submitted picks today for my 30 films at the Toronto Filmfest. My envelope went into box number 42. Once all the picks had been submitted, they had 78 boxes and then randomly selected a number between 1 and 78 to decide at which box to begin processing submissions (after which they proceed upward to number 78 and then circle back to number 1 and back up again until all boxes have been processed). Of course, the sooner your form gets processed, the better chance you have of getting all your first choice picks. So I wanted them to choose #42.

They chose #9.

Well, not too bad I suppose. I'll likely get shut out of a couple of first choice picks, but I'm pretty happy even with most of my second choices so I think I'm in good shape. Also, I don't pick a lot of big name films, so the likelihood of my choices getting sold out is less than, say, "Burn After Reading".

Here's what I picked (second choices are in italics):


Thursday Sept. 4th

O'Horten

• Soul Power (Jeffrey Levy-Hinte) 6:30PM - Three and a half decades after the Zaire '74 concert (bringing the best of American R&B together with the top names in African music in conjunction with the Ali/Foreman "Rumble In The Jungle" boxing match), the unseen footage has been put together into a document of the music and civil rights issues of that time. Just seeing mid-70s James Brown and The JBs will be worth it alone. (Zift - 6:00PM)
• O'Horten (Bent Hamer) 8:45PM - I've been in a Scandinavian mood of late...Hamer's last feature was the oddly entertaining "Kitchen Stories", so I thought this might have merit. I've heard praise and pans so far. (Ocean Flame - 8:30PM)

Friday Sept. 5th

C'est Pas Moi, Je Le Jure!

• C'est Pas Moi, Je Le Jure! (Philippe Falardeau) 4:30PM - I'm due to delve further into some recent Quebecois cinema, so why not start here? A 10-year old boy grows up in 1968 Quebec with self-destructive behaviour and squabbling parents. (Three Wise Men - 5:30PM)
• The Paranoids (Gabriel Medina) 8:00PM - Argentinian comedy about a narcoleptic children's entertainer with a fear of STDs. His misunderstood behaviour inspires a character on a hit TV show produced by his long time friend. (Vinyan - 9:00PM)

Saturday Sept. 6th

Still Walking

• Tony Manero (Pablo Larraín) 9:15AM - What does the main character from Saturday Night Fever have to do with Chile's dictator Augusto Pinochet? I figure I gotta find out. (The Sky Crawlers - 9:00AM)
• Detroit Metal City (Toshio Lee) 12:00PM - A little Midnight Madness at noon. A young singer of a makeup covered controversial metal band who only wants to sing sugar-coated pop songs tries to conceal his identity from the girl he has a crush on. There's no way that this can be bad. (The Biggest Chinese Restaurant In The World - 12:00PM)
• Flame & Citron (Ole Christian Madsen) 6:00PM - Danish resistance fighters against the Nazis, the titular characters were apparently a little more complex than just your run of the mill national heroes. The film is already a huge smash in Denmark. (Every Little Step - 4:30PM)
• Still Walking (Hirokazu Kore-eda) 9:30PM - I loved both "After Life" and "Nobody Knows". I need no further discussion. (Religulous - 9:00PM)

Sunday Sept. 7th

Faubourg 36

• Faubourg 36 (Christophe Barratier) 9:00AM - Modern musical comedies are few and far between, so grab 'em while you can! (Horn Of Plenty - 9:30AM)
• Kisses (Lance Daly) 12:30PM - Two young children run away from home and land in the streets of Dublin to experience a wide range of humanity. (Food Inc. - 1:00PM)
• Real Shaolin (Alexander Sebastien Lee) 3:45PM - A documentary that goes behind the scenes of the Shaolin Temple as it follows two Western and two Chinese students. (Afterwards - 3:15PM)
• White Night Wedding (Baltasar Kormakur) 6:15PM - I wanna go to an Icelandic wedding. (Real Time - 6:30PM)
• Country Wedding (Valdis Oskarsdottir) 10:00PM - No seriously, I really would love to attend an Icelandic wedding. (Gomorrah - 9:00PM)

Monday Sept. 8th

Cold Lunch

• Cold Lunch (Eva Sorhaug) 9:30AM - Despicable characters doing darkly comic things can be a difficult balancing act, so who better than a first time director to attempt it? (Hunger - 9:00AM)
• New York, I Love You (13 directors) 12:00PM - An omnibus film along the lines of "Paris, Je T'Aime" containing 13 short stories set in New York City by a variety of directors from around the world. (Disgrace - 12:15PM)
• Fear Me Not (Kristian Levring) 3:45PM - Michael volunteers to be part of a medical testing group of new anti-depressant drugs since he believes he isn't as happy as he should be. Strangely enough, there are side effects. (Ashes Of Time Redux - 3:00PM)

Tuesday Sept. 9th

The Brothers Bloom

• Tokyo Sonata (Kiyoshi Kurosawa) 5:30PM - Kiyoshi Kurosawa's new film. That's all I need to know. (Maman Est Chez Le Coiffeur - 6:00PM)
• Brothers Bloom (Rian Johnson) 9:00PM - Likely a wide release candidate, but I'm really eager to see how Johnson follows up his terrific debut "Brick". The trailer has more than a touch of Wes Anderson (which is fine), but I hope his own style comes through. (A Film With Me In It - 8:30PM)

Thursday Sept. 11

Sauna

• Sauna (Antti-Jussi Annila) 9:15AM - Finnish brothers marking out the new border between Finland and Russia in 1595 come across a vengeful demon housed in a sauna.(Hooked - 9:45AM)
• Synecdoche, New York (Charlie Kaufman) 12:15PM - Another film that will likely find a theatrical release in Toronto later this year, but I'm dying of curiosity. Especially after some very confused reviews from its premiere at Cannes. (Winds Of September - 12:30PM)
• Toronto Stories (4 directors) 3:30PM - Omnibus film alert - only 4 stories this time, but I want to see how my city comes across. (The Burrowers - 3:30PM)
• Plages D'Agnes (Agnes Varda) 6:15PM - Agnes Varda looks back at her life and career in her own way - so it'll have to be interesting. (24 City - 6:15PM)
• Daytime Drinking (Noh Young-seok) 9:15PM - Korean mumblecore is one description I've read and now I'm oddly curious... (Me And Orson Welles - 9:00PM)

Friday Sept. 12th

Cooper's Camera

• Cooper's Camera (Warren Sonoda) 6:00PM - I hadn't even realized that Daily Show correspondents Samantha Bee and Jason Jones (real life husband and wife) were two of the stars of this Christmas time comedic examination of a family's issues. Now that I know they are, it's just increased my desire to see it. Here's a recent article in Toronto's weekly Now magazine about the film and its stars. It's accompanied by a very favourable review. (Not Quite Hollywood - 6:15PM)
• Better Things (Duane Hopkins) 8:45PM - Though the themes of the movie may well be interesting (addiction, escape, etc.), it appears that director Hopkins is using that as a base for his shot compositions, "aesthetic choices" (as per the TIFF description of the film) and interesting narrative strategies. It all sounds intriguing. (Deadgirl - 9:00PM)

Saturday Sept. 13th

Salamandra

• Achilles and the Tortoise (Takeshi Kitano) 9:00AM - I didn't think I'd get a chance to see Kitano's third film in his deconstruction trilogy so quickly following last year's "Glory To The Filmmaker". Yay! (Tears For Sale - 10:30AM)
• Chocolate (Prachya Pinkaew) 12:45PM - Action first, story second. Acting and script? Afterthoughts. Occasionally all of that is perfectly fine. (Sexykiller - 1:30PM)
• Salamandra (Pablo Aguero) 3:15PM - The image above was pretty much enough to sell me. (Eden Log - 3:45PM)
• Inju, La Bete Dans L'Ombre (Barbet Schroeder) 6:45PM - Based on a story by Edogawa Rampo - usually described as Japan's Edgar Allen Poe. (Plastic City - 7:00PM)
• All Around Us (Ryosuke Hashiguchi) 9:30PM - A two and a half hour quiet observation of the human psyche. How better to wrap up 10 days of film from around the world? (None)