Our Day Will Come
Director: Romain Gavras
Stars: Vincent Cassel
Country of Origin: France
Why I Chose this Film: The directorial debut of Gavras, son of Costa, and cousin of Kim Chapiron (who directed the underrated Cassel starrer, Sheitan, 2006).
The Rundown: Gavras has created a stunning film about a made up minority (red heads) and their fictionalized stigmatization in society. Olivier Barthelemy (also star of Sheitan) is our lead pariah, a lonely, pale red head that is taken under the wing of a dangerous and bored therpaist (Cassel, here a grizzled red head) and the two scour the French country side in a bizzare road trip concerning a possible rebellion or revolution. Gorgeous cinematography and beautifully arresting music intermingle with the dread of difference in this moving and memorable debut. 10/10
Potiche
Director: Francois Ozon
Stars: Catherine Deneuve, Gerard Depardieu, Fabrice Luchini, Karin Viard, Jeremie Renier
Country of Origin: France
Why I Chose this Film: Francois Ozon is one of my all time favorite directors. This is the third Toronto fest I've had the opportunity to see his work (Angel in 2007 and Le Refuge in 2009 I would never had the chance to see in a theater without TIFF) here and he is paired with one of my all time favorite actresses once again, Ms. Catherine Deneuve. (Does anyone remember her comments after working with Ozon in 8 Women in 2002, where she griped that he loved actresses but not necessarily women?)
The Rundown: An excellent social commentary set in 1970's France about the women's movement, Deneuve is given an excellent role as the wife of the owner of an umbrella factory (which is of course a wink wink to her iconic role in The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, 1964) who must take his place running the company during a strike. A frothy, French and fucking witty film from Ozon, this is his lightest fare in quite some time. And I was able to be in the same room as Ms. Deneuve, who showed up to this North American premiere. She looked fabulous. 10/10
Black Swan
Director: Darren Aronofsky
Stars: Natalie Portman, Mila Kunis, Vincent Cassel, Barbara Hershey, Winona Ryder
Country of Origin: US
Why I Chose this Film: I've been an Aronofsky nut ever since I saw Requiem For a Dream (2000) and it is perhaps the first film I saw where I realized that I was completely in love with cinema. I've loved every film he's done, thus far.
The Rundown: Believe the reviews---this is a cinematic tour de force. Ms. Portman's performance had chills running down my spine, perhaps enhanced and helped by Clint Mansell's score and the music of Swan Lake. Portman deserves an Oscar nod and Barbara Hershey I found to be stunningly creepy as well. I don't want to say too much other than that I loved this film and it's one of the best of it's kind. Cassell, Ryder and even Kunis excel here---see it when you have a chance. 10/10
The Ward
Director: John Carpenter
Stars: Amber Heard, Mamie Gummer
Country of Origin: US
Why I Chose this Film: New John Carpenter in a nearly a decade? I'm interested. An iconic director of such fare as the Halloween, 1978, and The Thing, 1981, he lost his stride in the 90's (I did enjoy his Village of the Damned 1995 remake, however) and I was hoping he took a much needed break and return with an amazing film.
The Rundown: Wrong. One of the most banal horror films I've seen for some time, this is like an overly long entry in the Masters of Horror series (which Carpenter directed two entries) and features some incredibly bad acting (Ms. Amber Heard) and some incredibly campy acting (Ms. Mamie Gummer, spawn of Meryl Streep) with an atrocious script and shoddy plot (in fact, I think this rips off Shirley Jackson's novel The Bird's Nest, for anyone familiar). I would be surprised if this gets a theatrical release. Poor John Carpenter. I was hoping for more, and it doesn't help that I saw it right after Black Swan. 4/10
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