TIFF 2011 - "Cafe de Flore"

I was somewhat shaken walking out of Jean-Marc Vallee’s latest film and needed to actually catch my breath off to the side of the cell-phone checking hordes. It was partially due to several very personal reactions to a few moments and characters, but mostly because the film was absolutely magnificent in just about every respect. I’ve found my “I can’t imagine seeing a better film this year” film.

Vallee’s Young Victoria didn’t exactly win any converts in major production house circles, but anyone who saw C.R.A.Z.Y. has probably already given him a lifetime pass. As great as that film was (and if you haven’t seen it, please track it down via any legal means possible), Cafe de Flore has just surpassed any reasonable expectation of what this filmmaker could do. Possibly even all the unreasonable expectations too. It shows a command of thematic content across multiple stories, an innate feeling of putting music to images and an almost perfect sense of flow. He knows when to ask his actors to be subtle, to bring forward some emotion and when to go BIG. He knows when to keep a scene going, when to stay with a take and when to cut across stories and time periods. That’s what I’m left with as I consider my reaction to the film – everything seemed dead on perfect.

Which might seem a bit funny to say when you hear the synopsis of the plot: High flying DJ with a great life bemoans leaving his beautiful wife for an even more beautiful woman while a mother struggles to take care of her Down’s Syndrome child in a parallel story from 40 years before. For awhile it seems like the only two things that connect the stories is a song by the name of Cafe de Flore – the 1960′s version is an uptempo lounge jazz number, while the present day one is pure dance club (make what you want of the fact that it is also the name of the coffee shop in Paris where Godard and other Paris intellectuals hung out). The song, though terribly catchy, isn’t necessarily notable, but it’s what it signifies to both the DJ (Antoine) and the young Down’s Syndrome boy that matters. For each, it’s a source of happiness and restores their life force. For Antoine, it reminds him specifically of the moment when he met his second soul mate and the silly song has now become a central part of his life. Music itself is his wellspring and perhaps that’s one of the reasons why I responded to the film so strongly. For anyone who lives with music day to day and finds an infinite source of pleasure and inspiration in it, Cafe de Flore will strike a chord. Antoine talks about it at a certain point in the movie – how he feels that music has brought so much happiness to his life and how he can tell when strangers look at him that he has this joy. It resonates. The scores of album covers from flashbacks to the early 80s (Joy Division, Patti Smith, Neil Young, Peter Gabriel, etc.) should keep music fans happy too.

Though it’s easy not to feel overly sympathetic to Antoine as he complains to his psychiatrist, he is honestly concerned that he may have screwed up his family’s life – his ex-wife is on her way to a nervous breakdown and his older daughter is purposely trying to annoy him at every opportunity. He begins to wonder about his choices. Can you really find two “soul mates” during your life? Can new love spring up while you are already in love? What about those that are left in the wake? How do they handle letting go and what happens if they don’t? The mother and son story adds another layer to these questions as the young boy meets another Down’s Syndrome girl at school and they immediately become completely attached to each other (the scene of their initial meeting is one of the sweetest moments on film this year). His mother has been so close to him for so long that she doesn’t quite know how to handle this competition for her affections and so the parallels of the stories begin to make sense. The film absolutely takes off for the stratosphere around this time as Vallee starts to crosscut between the different stories with an almost wild abandon at times. One of the movie’s best sequences uses a Sigur Ros song and even plays up the obviousness of choosing it (his kids and his first wife make fun of him for over-playing the song). In a montage of scenes that pushes the themes of the film forward and creates further tension, Vallee creates a breathless sprint that washes over the viewer. It doesn’t matter if you don’t pick up every detail – the feelings and intent come across easily as the story lines hurtle towards a head-on meeting and the emotional attachments to these flawed but interesting people grow and help bring about a lovely resolution. Even if it doesn’t immediately shake you, it’s the kind of art that lingers with you for days. Likely even longer.

TIFF 2011 - "Himizu"

After seeing Sion Sono's latest film "Himizu", my first thought was to write the entirety of its review in UPPER CASE. This would help get across the intensity of just about every single moment of this 2+ hour look at the state of Japanese society a short time after the March 2011 earthquake and devastating tsunami. Not only do the characters YELL and SCREAM a great deal in the film, but every interaction and even every pause for self-reflection is imbued with what seems to be a vast amount of gravitas. This is melodrama to the absolute highest possible degree as the backing repetitive music ebbs and flows and builds to crescendos matched with the characters emotions. Even the backing sound effects get in on the action as screeches, staccato static and particularly rumbling sounds permeate the film. During scenes where the tension has built to an almost explosive point, the deep rumbles feel like an earthquake has just unleashed waves of destruction that will crash to shore very soon.

The destruction of the tsunami is apparent right from the beginning as the camera pans across mounds and mounds of rubble - an amount so large that it is obviously actual wreckage from the disaster. The camera eventually settles on 14-year old Sumida who runs his parents boat rental store. It's ramshackle, but certainly in far better shape than the huts that have sprung up near the store which are populated by several people who have lost everything in the torrents of water. These people are scarred almost as bad as the landscape, occasionally taking to walking out to the middle of the worst of the rubble and screaming. Back at their shacks they find a bit of solace with each other by drinking and looking out for Sumida. His mother is a whore and his father stops by regularly to beat him up and take whatever money he has. Neither parent cares for him and his father just flat out tells him that things would have been better if he hadn't been born and that he should really think about killing himself.

If that's not pitched high enough for you, then Keiko's situation may help put things over the top. She's completely smitten with Sumida and sees his random comments in class as deep thinking which she plasters all over her walls. Her house is in much better shape, but her living conditions sure aren't. Her father is non-existent and her mother - when she isn't berating her - is building Keiko a gallows in her room. The noose is in place and her mother has made Keiko promise to use it on herself as soon as it's finished. She begins to impose herself on Sumida, playing silly games, putting up flyers for the boat shack and helping without him asking. All Sumida wants is to live an ordinary life - no happiness, no unhappiness. Once his mother leaves him, he's left to deal with his Dad on his own and once the yakuza show up claiming that his father owes them 6 million yen, it pretty much becomes the last straw. His neighbours want to help and Yoruno (the eldest of the bunch) actually gets involved in a robbery scheme to attempt to repay what he considers Sumida's kindness.

The music, the frequent use of handheld cameras and the ratcheting up of tension at every opportunity all lead the viewer to assume that things aren't going to improve anytime soon and will likely coalesce into an explosion of some variety. Sumida realizes that he must do some good on this planet and he decides to do this by ridding it of those people who do bad. The story is based on a manga of the same name ("Himizu" is a type of mole - an animal that Sumida wishes he could be so that he could be left alone), but the film is Sono's. It's filled with rage and confusion and anger and the disaster is never far from anyone's thoughts - but Sono uses this to convey his message. It's a simple one: Don't give up, don't ever give up, always have a dream and keep pushing forward. How much you'll enjoy the film is hard to say as it can try your patience with its remarkable intensity, but its message is clear and easily embraced.

TIFF 2011 - "Urbanized"

Gary Hustwit’s final film in his design trilogy is essentially a call for engagement in the democratic process and a treatise on the power of community action. You should walk out of his film talking, arguing and, most importantly, thinking. Thinking about your city, thinking about your living conditions and thinking about what you and your government should be doing.

The previous two films in his trilogy focused on tangible and real objects – things you could hold and examine closely for all their foibles and finer points. With Urbanized, he dives into the topic of urban design – a look at how our cities are put together and the problems that will face them and their denizens in the decades to come. Though it certainly discusses and shows real implemented solutions, it deals far more in the theoretical realm than his previous efforts. Therefore it becomes a much more politicized film by default – which becomes both its strength and one of its weaknesses. For the surfeit of ideas the film presents and for its ability to lead its viewers to consider their own situations, it will likely never be seen by those people that “need” to see it. And if they do, then it likely won’t be viewed with unbiased eyes.

Granted, the film isn’t exactly unbiased itself. It leans heavily towards a specific viewpoint – away from suburban sprawl and towards a non-car culture (a point of view that I mostly share) – and doesn’t provide as much counter-balance in ideas as you might expect. As I walked out of the screening a friend and I were extolling the virtues of what we had just seen and just as I praised its vast array of ideas, a third friend jumped in to say that he thought that was what the film was lacking. His point was that it had some great examples of one form of urban planning, but not as diverse a set as he wanted to see. He too agreed with the basic leaning of the film’s point of view, but thought that it needed to allow further arguments some time in the spotlight. In essence, he was killing our post-show buzz, but he had a point. A prime example is the consideration of the suburbs. One section of the film focuses on Phoenix Arizona – apparently the poster child for suburban sprawl as the city crawls its way out into the surrounding desert – and finishes with its main interview subject stating in very honest fashion: “Look, I like my big house and I like my pool. And so do a lot of other people.” Whether you felt that guy was being overly selfish or not, he has a point – a lot of people fall into that category, so where do they fit into the considerations of planning our living spaces?

Back to the actual film for a moment…It shares with its two predecessors the same striking style, shot compositions and percolating music (that underpins the many montages of cities from around the world). Hustwit and his cinematographer Luke Geissbuhler compose some truly gorgeous (and occasionally quite disturbing) shots of some of this planet’s biggest metropolitan areas. These help to set the stage for the major issues these cities face as well some of the recent solutions they’ve put in place. At its World Premiere at TIFF, the crowd was particularly enamoured with the mayor of Bogota Colombia and his thoughts about focusing on the bicycle as a main transportation device – particularly the head-slappingly obvious (in retrospect anyway) idea that bike lanes should be on the inside of parked cars and not on the outside. Of course, the crowd was already in Hustwit’s court since he finished his title sequence with a lovely (though fairly standard) view of the Toronto skyline. The film sets the tone of its message at “urgent” pretty quickly as it delivers a raft of stats that are quite frightening – one in particular stated that 33% of new urban dwellers will live in slums. Which goes to show that not all the issues have obvious solutions. A specific example of this and of the need to gather a wide sampling of data from the very people who will be using the urban landscape being designed happened in Santiago Chile. City planners asked a set of possible tenants for new public housing whether they would want a hot water heater or a bathtub. The builders thought it was glaringly obvious that people would pick a hot water heater and yet, 100% of those surveyed answered that they would prefer a bathtub. It turns out that these people are used to washing with basins and from small containers, so the thought of a bathtub is very attractive to them. Many expect that they couldn’t even afford the gas to heat the water, so the heater would probably never even get used…

It’s tidbits of information like that which become one of the joys of the film. It emphasizes what can be done when you look at a problem in a bit of a different way and involve the people who hope to gain from the solution – in other words, the citizens of the communities. The old style of planning that views a city from high up should be rejected as it’s a tactic that leads to entire waterfronts being cut off from their cities as well as individual communities from each other. The movie provides many fresh ideas and novel approaches to the many problems that are just starting to surface as our overall city populations rise. It’s absolutely something that I hope my own city’s mayor might watch and use as another tool to drive discussion. Unfortunately, by wearing its politics pretty openly it’s not a likely scenario, but the choir will love it.

TIFF 2011 - "I Wish"

"Yesterday was all we could ask for."

In response to being asked about their greatest wish, a character gives the answer above – delivering not only a tremendously sweet moment (in a film packed with them), but also a tidy summary for the film’s themes (especially given its context): Don’t wait on miracles. There’s always hope, so make the most of your current situation, work hard for your dreams and enjoy the tiny details of life in the meantime.

Hirokazu Kore-eda has worked this realm before – this is a warm, human story of real characters facing real problems and dealing with them in both funny and sometimes heartbreaking ways. There’s less at stake here compared to some of his previous works, but the hopes and dreams of 7 kids still provide for very real moments of emotion and should be recognizable by just about anyone who remembers being on the brink of maturity – and being not quite sure what to do with it. And so it is with Koichi, a 12 year-old boy dealing with his parents recent separation and prone to proclaiming “I don’t get it!”. His guitar-playing father has moved to Fujuoka with his younger brother Ryu while he stays with Mom and his grandparents in Kagoshima under the constant threat of an erupting volcano. While Grandmother opines that if they had more money both boys could stay with them, his mother frets about the fact that Ryu chose to be with his Dad. In actuality, both boys agreed on the split so they could monitor their parents and look for opportunities to get them back together. Which is where the Bullet Train comes in…

The new train line will be linking their cities soon and there’s a rumor that if you see two bullet trains traveling in different directions pass each other, a miracle will happen and you can get anything you wish. This strikes Koichi as a chance they just can’t pass up. Along with two buddies, he figures out the most likely point the two trains will pass and schemes to skip school and travel there to make his wish. Koichi’s wish is simple enough: He wants all four family members to live together again – even if that means wishing for a full eruption of the volcano to force the issue. His friends have their own wishes (one of them hoping to marry the school’s beautiful young librarian) and once Ryu decides to meet them at the crossing point coming from the other direction and bringing his own friends, the plan is set into motion. The joy of the film, though, is the time we spend with all the characters as we get to know their expressions and mannerisms – and not just the kids (though they are delightful – especially the energetic and boisterous Ryu), but their parents, neighbors and school teachers as well. Through several montages, we see them run into problems, practice for their goals and live their imperfect lives. The kids aren’t the only ones who get a chance to talk about what they wish their lives were like, so once the adults chime in there forms a greater whole of regret, missed opportunity and the always present question of “So what do you do about it?”.

As with several of his other films, Koreeda coaxes out real moments of truth from his actors. When the kids talk about their biggest wishes, there are sharp cuts which jump to side thoughts about what else they must really want. Given the way the kids relate these thoughts, one can’t help but wonder if they are completely improvised or just their real personalities talking out loud. Whatever the case, it works wonderfully and pulls you completely into the hopes and desires of every single character in the film. These feel like real, fully fleshed out people to whom you’d love to be connected. Their lives are still works in progress and if everything isn’t completely wrapped up in a nice bow, it’s nice to see by the end that Koichi is starting to “get” things.

TIFF 2011 - "The Raid"

Drawn in by the people and city of Jakarta, director Gareth Evans made a decision several years ago to continue filmmaking in Indonesia after doing a short film there. This major career turning point was aided by his fascination with the style of martial arts (Pencak Silat) he found there which he felt would work well in feature length action films. Boy was he right – without a doubt The Raid (his second feature length action film which World Premiered at TIFF’s Midnight Madness last Thursday) contains some of the most brutal, teeth-gritting and sustained fight scenes I’ve ever seen.

The story is somewhat nominal. A SWAT team attack an apartment complex that houses a dangerous drug lord and his cronies. As they move up floor by floor, they wipe out gang members and slowly secure the building. Until they are discovered and the gang fights back. That’s pretty much all there is to it. The set up is handled within 5-10 minutes and the shooting, stabbing and foot-to-face combat begins. Of course, there’s a few of the cops with specific characteristics (scared rookie, hardened veteran, soon-to-be first time father, etc.), but it really doesn’t matter. Even though the drug kingpin manages to get off a few good lines and crazy-eyed stares, this is not the kind of movie that has fans scrambling for early versions of the script on the Internet. It’s all about the visceral thrill of watching people beat the living crap out of each other in very unique as well as old-fashioned ways.

And good god do they ever…Person after person gets dispatched in highly violent and bloody fashion – at first it’s machine guns, then other assorted firearms follow and it proceeds to swords, knives, clubs and your basic tried and true limbs. Oh, and fluorescent lightbulbs.

There are 4 or 5 incredibly long fight sequences – some between just 2 or 3 guys, but others between some of the Swat team and hallways full of baddies. The pace is furious so you never have that feeling that each individual evil dude is waiting his turn to fight our hero. Each attack move happens with such speed and forcefulness that you never doubt that everyone is trying their best to eliminate the other side. The good guys take their lumps too – these aren’t supermen, so you really do feel nervous for them in each and every fight. And do you ever feel those fights. The foley editing is extraordinary with each punch, baton whack and body thrown against a wall reverberating throughout your own body. The Midnight Madness crowd was completely pulled into each and every fight with choruses of “oh!” coming frequently after particularly nasty comeuppences – for example, the one guy that gets pulled up in the air by his legs and then gets his neck slammed down on the broken shards of a door jutting up from the floor. The lead in all this chaos is played by Iko Uwais – a phenomenal talent who comes across almost as likable as he does ferocious.

It’s bloody, bloody violent and bloody good fun.

TIFF 2011 Preview

Things have been a might busy with family matters around the household of late, so my preview for this year's Toronto International Film Festival is cutting it close to the wire. It actually begins in earnest today (I told you I was cutting it close), but it's never too late to talk about one of the premiere public film festivals in the world.

I had already culled a good 35 films from their early announcements, so I was pretty sure it wouldn't be a problem filling up my allotment of 30 (I considered getting the 50 film pack this year, but it's much easier managing my current bunch - it's what I've ordered the last 4 years). Anyway, I had my eye on the 15-hour documentary "The Story Of Film", so squeezing a full fifty in with that block of time would've been challenging (though I have a friend who managed it). Once THE BOOK came out with the full listings (over 300 films), I whittled things down to about 70 that caught my eye. From there, it was actually a remarkably quick process of building the schedule - within about half an hour, I had all thirty picks placed ever so nicely on the calendar and included 2 additional free screenings: the aforementioned "Story Of Film" (split in 2 parts over the last weekend of the festival) and Jafar Panahi's "This Is Not A Film" (which I may not get a chance to see due to having very little room between screenings). The great TIFFR tool is partially responsible for helping the choosing process - you add your short list of films, it maps them across all their screenings over the 11 days and then you pick and choose which ones you want to add to your schedule to see what fits. I'm pretty happy and excited about my final schedule (on the TIFFR site) - here's a few reasons why I chose the films:


Dreileben (Christian Petzold, Dominik Graf, Christoph Hochhäusler) - Similar to the Red Riding trilogy, "Dreileben" is three separate films by three separate directors that fit together to create a larger whole - though this time the time frame is roughly the same, but the individual worlds apparently seem somewhat different...Might as well start the fest off with a 4 and a half hour block.

Pina (Wim Wenders) - Wenders is an up and down director for me, so he didn't really factor into my choice. The single screen shot just about sealed the deal for me though - and then I discovered that it is a documentary on dancer and choreographer Pina Bausch. Not that I recognize her name, but dance on film has always interested me and this looks gorgeous. It was only after I chose it did I realize it was also in 3-D. I'm not sure how I feel about that news...




Le Havre (Aki Kaurismaki) - Kaurismaki's Proletariat Trilogy made me a fan for life and I've heard many good things about his latest.


The Raid (Gareth Evans) - Midnight Madness can be a festival highlight ("The Loved Ones" from 2 years ago) or filled with disappointments (all 4 of the ones I saw last year). I think I've chosen wisely this year - "The Raid" is an Indonesian martial arts/action film about a SWAT team trapped in a building surrounded by armed criminals. As the first night selection, this could go over like gangbusters.


Urbanized (Gary Hustwit) - I expect this to be easy to find several months down the road, but as the final installment in his design trilogy (following Helvetica and Objectified) about urban planning, I simply can't pass this up. The previous films have been filled with great images, sharp and intelligent commentary and terrific music. I fully expect this to top them both.


This Is Not A Film (Jafar Panahi, Mojtaba Mirtahmasb) - Panahi's ban in Iran from writing or directing a film is still in place, so he and his partner have made a documentary about a day in his life - including the steps he takes when planning a film. The film shows his planning a film about the situation he is currently in. I feel I have to go see this simply as a show of support, but I'm also wildly curious to see what they sneak into the film. Unfortunately, I don't expect that Panahi will be in attendance...


Elles (Malgoska Szumowska) - Juliette Binoche plays a journalist investigating students who moonlight as prostitutes. The two girls she finds awaken her own desires and views of sex via their personal and very open stories. This was one of my total crap shoot picks and could be a disaster, but Binoche makes terribly interesting choices and I'll concede that an hour and a half discussion of female sexuality might be one of the reasons for the draw...




Oslo, August 31st (Joachim Trier) - I didn't even really read the notes on the story within the film - I was very impressed with Trier's first effort "Reprise" from 2006 and I have a strong bias towards anything from Scandinavia. I admit that the story doesn't actually interest me that much, but I'm hopeful Trier will bring it to life.


The Artist (Michel Hazanavicius) - I was already intrigued by the concept of a black and white silent film about the days of silent filmmaking when the buzz on this film started rolling out from Cannes. Though I wasn't a big fan of the OSS 117 films, I really liked star Jean Dujardin, so the addition of his presence here has me very eager to see one of the hottest tickets.


Sons Of Norway (Jens Lien) - Did I mention I'm partial to Scandinavian films? It also helps that it's a coming-of-age story of young punks in 1978 who discover The Sex Pistols.




Goodbye First Love (Mia Hansen-Love) - I was greatly impressed with Hansen-Love's previous festival entry "The Father Of My Children". so I'm hoping she can bring that same humanity and deep interesting set of characters to this story of young teenagers in their first romance.


Monsters Club (Toshiaki Toyoda) - I also tend to dive into Japanese films quite easily...The other 3 Japanese entries I'll be seeing this year were no brainers due to their directors, so this is the odd man out. I like some of Toyoda's previous films, but haven't quite fallen for him yet. Hopefully this will do the trick.


Gerhard Richter Painting (Corinna Belz) - Yes, I realize that there's a is a string chance that this film will be about as interesting as watching paint dry. Yes, I thought that through. Combine Richter's stunning works or art with the fact that he appears to be an irascible old fart and I feel that I need to add to this year's set of art documentaries (painting, film, dance, design).




I Wish (Hirokazu Kore-eda) - I adore Kore-eda's work.


Wetlands (Guy Edoin) - I'm also a sucker for Quebecois film and Edoin's latest is filmed in Quebec's Eastern Townships very near to where I grew up. I've had tremendous luck seeing Quebec films at the festival, so here's to that streak continuing.


Samsara (Ron Fricke) - A follow-up of sorts to Fricke's stunning visual feats "Baraka" (Fricke was also a cinematographer/editor for "Koyaanisqatsi"). How could I possibly pass up a chance to see this on a big screen?




Extraterrestrial (Nacho Vigalondo) - I loved Nacho's previous film "Timecrimes" - not as mind-bending a time travel movie as say "Primer", but in some ways even more satisfying. This is his take on the alien invasion movie sprinkled with romantic and black comedy elements.


Monsieur Lazhar (Philippe Falardeau) - I still have no idea what this films is about. All I know is Quebec's Falardeau (who made both "C'Est Pas Moi Je Le Jure" and "Congorama") is at the helm. Sold.


The Sword Identity (Xu Haofeng) - Another risky choice...Driven partially by my desire to schedule a single film on Monday just before the big Toronto film blogger meet-up at a pub, this is not a typical martial arts film. It leans more towards the philosophical and historical angles of the standard fight filled tales. That could be fascinating or it could be deadly dull.


Roman's Circuit (Sebastian Brahm) - This pick is based solely on the concept of a university researcher who deals with the effects of past memories on current thoughts and how he becomes (through experiements with one of his assistants) stuck in old images of years past. This is where I put a lot of trust in the writers of the catalog blurbs...


ALPS (Giorgos Lanthimos) - The director of "Dogtooth" returns with another high-concept film about people who replace recently departed loved ones and become stand-ins for them. Count me among those who quite enjoted "Dogtooth" and this one is getting even bigger raves so far.




Himizu (Sion Sono) - I plotzed for his two previous films "Cold Fish" and "Love Exposure", so you expect me to miss this?


Cafe Flore (Jean-Marc Vallee) - I haven't seen "Young Victoria" (which didn't receive the highest praise), but Vallee has won a lifetime pass for his terrific "C.R.A.Z.Y.". Early reports are this is fantastic. And again, I have absolutely no idea what it's about (I stop reading the blurbs when I can make a decision based on director alone).


Americano (Mathieu Demy) - As a long time fan of both Jacques Demy and Agnes Varda, I'm very curious to see what their offspring can do behind the camera. I've seen him in front of the camera before in several of Varda's films, so now he gets a chance to keep that family winning streak alive.




A Funny Man (Martin Zandvliet) - Should I remind you here that I tend towards picking Scandinavian films? The story of a stand up comedian's attempts to move into different creative areas with audience resistance is also intriguing.


You're Next (Adam Wingard) - A home invasion film (my only Midnight Madness that I'm not actually seeing at midnight) that I chose almost solely based on other friend's comments about Wingard's previous festival entry "A Horrible Way To Die"). I will shake my fist at them if they prove wrong...


Chicken With Plums (Marjane Satrapi, Vincent Paronnaud) - I adored "Persepolis" and it sounds like the filmmakers are continuing the trend of bringing their life experiences to the screen through visually interesting and fantastical ways.




Intruders (Juan Carlos Fresnadillo) - I guess this is my one concession to being drawn to big name actors - Clive Owen and Carice van Houten star in Fresnadillo's psychological horror tale of a father who can't protect his own daughter from, you guessed it, intruders. My only fear is I've heard almost nothing about the film - no buzz either way.


Smuggler (Katsuhito Ishii) - OK, I guess I do rely on the auteur theory a bit much sometimes...But Ishii was behind "The Taste Of Tea" and was one of the creators of "Funky Forest". For me, that's incredible pedigree.


Avalon (Axel Petersen) - It's Scandinavian. You figure it out.


Kill List (Ben Wheatley) - There's some mad buzz about Wheatley's second film (and Midnight Madness closer). This could be a high old time with a ravenous crowd.




The Story Of Film (Mark Cousins) - 15 hours of clips, discussion and interviews all around the entire history of film across the entire world and put together as a visual essay. Many people shook their heads at the thought of a 15-hour documentary. I jumped at the chance and this was the first thing I put into my schedule - I planned around this. And I cannot wait.

Basking In The Cesspool Of Filth #18

I like it when it's Ladies Choice...


Alone In The Dark (1982 - Jack Sholder) - By just about any measure, this is not a good movie and, if memory serves, not overly scary either. However, it's one of those early 80s horror films that still somehow manages to be fast-paced, create memorable scenes (even a few "thrills") and allow "creative" and entertaining acting choices - even if it is far from being horrific or even spooky. That point about the acting isn't completely meant sarcastically - sure there's some poor acting here, but the actors seemed to relish their roles and really put forth a variety of approaches (granted, many of those approaches defaulted to "big"). Given that the cast consists of Jack Palance, Martin Landau and Donald Pleasance playing insane asylum patients and doctors, you've got the makings for an interesting brew. The basic premise is that a power outage allows a group of 4 inmates to escape the asylum and terrorize the family of one of the new doctors in town. I can't really pretend that the "punk rock" concert and the no nukes rally weren't completely ridiculous, but it's Carol Levy's performance as the blond babysitter (in particular when in peril) that was the nadir of the film - or high point depending on your enjoyment of excruciating acting. The flip side is that it had Jack Palance with a cross bow. The 80s sure had their moments...










Ju-On: White Ghost (2009 - Ryuta Miyake) - Marking a decade since the first Japanese Ju-On film ("Ju-On - The Curse" was actually a 45 minute made-for-TV program), the double release of "Ju-On White Ghost" and "Ju-On Black Ghost" step back to the simpler roots of that initial film. Both movies have lean running times (each almost right on the hour mark) and mostly use practical effects. "White Ghost" is closest in approach to the familiar "Ju-On: The Grudge" films in that it sets up a new set of murders in that same old house, pulls in the innocent victims and shows them to us in non-linear fashion. It's frankly nowhere near as good or creepy as any of the previous films (even the U.S. remakes - though let's not include "The Grudge 3" in that list...ugh), but if you can't find entertainment in a dessicated old woman floating towards the camera holding a basketball then we obviously have different tastes...The scares don't really work as the director simply doesn't handle reveals and timing very well, but even more frustrating is that the dread doesn't come across at all. There are some disturbing scenes, but the buildup to them (I should say that lack of buildup) never once makes you curl up tighter on the couch. However, I do have to admit that I enjoyed the hour. You could easily see where the "moments" were going to occur and I couldn't help but laugh out loud at the absurdity and silliness of several of them. The key to the earlier films is that as goofy as the concept may have sounded were you to describe it to someone, any laughter during the film typically came as a release mechanism after breaks in tension. You could laugh with the movie, not at it.










Ju-On: Black Ghost (2009 - Mari Asato) - The "Black Ghost" film is both much more successful then "White Ghost" and, at the same time, far less fun. Branching off from the standard Ju-On concept a bit, this time the grudge manifests itself in the cyst of a young girl due to the fact that her twin sister died at birth. There's a slower feel to the film and it manages a much stronger feeling of dread throughout with a few genuinely creepy moments, but it suffers from maintaining the fractured timeline structure of the other Ju-On films. Though the grudge spreads in this film just as in the others (which normally allows the different timelines to work), the non-linear story takes focus away from the most creepy central part of the film. There's also a distinct lack of fun to this particular film. "White Ghost" couldn't effectively use its very goofy tropes, but it still essentially knew what it was. "Black Ghost" loses its way and never finds a good place to dwell between its creepy concept and its implementation. Filled with promise, but coming up short.










[rec] 2 (2009 - Jaume Balaguero, Paco Plaza) - Though this sequel (and I do mean immediate sequel) to 2007's pretty damn wonderful "[rec]" took an unexpected plot path and was likely far better than anyone had a right to expect, it still remains a disappointment to me. I suppose that's partially because of elevated expectations after I heard some very high praise, but it's mostly due to the fact that it left much of its previous creepy atmosphere behind and went with a more full blown EXPERIENCE. What I assume was designed to be more of an intense ride eventually became a bit tiring and, if not dull, at least rather ho hum (it's actually not a bad example of "Chaos Cinema"). The tension from the first film felt drained in spots as they tried to bring in more effects, focus on some of the demon-like beasts and really shake the hell out of that camera during the in your face attacks. The shifting plot was also a problem - every interesting tweak or new revelation was usually followed pretty closely by an eye-rolling moment. A mixed bag overall, but in the end simply not that scary. Or fun.










Count Yorga, Vampire (1970 - Bob Kelljan) - OK, now we're talking...This 1970 vampire flick is the exact perfect mix of creepy, funny, scary, purposely goofy and always unpredictable that the above movies couldn't find. It starts out at a seance and moves to the inevitable evening at the count's house - sexy vampires and all. Bad things happen to these people, but there's simply no way you can miss the good-natured fun of the film while also being just a bit on edge throughout. There's thought put into the compositions on screen and very effective use of the many shadows supplied by the house. Personally, I was extremely happy to make the count's acquaintance and look forward to catching up with his follow-up film (also directed by Kelljan) entitled "The Return Of Count Yorga". Apparently this time around he lives near an orphanage...and that's all I really need to know right there.