Toronto Film Festival 2010: Day Five - "Our Day Will Come," "Potiche," "Black Swan," "The Ward"

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

Toronto Film Festival 2010: Day Four - "Julia's Eyes," "Beginners," "Dirty Girl," "Cold Fish"

Julia's Eyes

Director: Guillem Morales
Stars: Belen Rueda, Lluis Homar
Country of Origin: Spain

Why I Chose this Film: I loved the plot synopsis (woman slowly going blind of degenerative disease finds her already blind twin hanged in the basement) plus Guillermo Del Toro produced this film that also stars the lovely Belen Rueda, the star of the 2007 Del Toro produced The Orphanage.

The Rundown: While it gets a little wishy-washy melodramatic with some subplots that could have been eliminated, in my opinion, there are several noteworthy spooky moments. As Julia's impending blindness becomes inevitable, the tension is ratcheted up to a nice degree with a decent twist about the identity of the killer. While the ending borrows mercilessly of from Wait Until Dark, that awesome 1967 thriller starring Audery Hepburn, Morales manages to give it his own unique spin. And Rueda is always a treat to see, so I love that I managed to be at the world premiere where she showed up, along with the director and produce Guillermo Del Toro. 7/10


Beginners

Director: Mike Mills
Stars: Ewan McGregor, Melanie Laurent, Christopher Plummer
Country of Origin: US

Why I Chose this Film: A fan of Mike Mill's 2005 film Thumbsucker, I was keen on this project learning Plummer would be playing a 75 year old dad coming out of the closet. I also have loved the gorgeous Melanie Laurent ever since she played Isabelle Huppert's in the 2007 L'amour Cache and I'm happy that Tarantino gave her a delicious breakout role in Inglourious Basterds, 2009. And Ewan has a very gay friendly year with I Love You Phillip Morris at last scheduled to be released stateside this December.

The Rundown: I loved this movie, which is more of a mid-life crisis movie for the McGregor character than it is a coming out story about his 75 year old father. Plummer is extremely moving and touching in his role as a crusty old man getting to experience a life he couldn't have lived when he married the mother of his child in the 1950's, waiting until she passed away to come out. Meanwhile, McGregor develops a comical and realistically quirky relationship with a traveling actress played by Laurent. My husband attended this screening and found it boring, but I found this film sad, beautiful, pathetic, life affirming and I was completely enchanted. I felt that Mills hit all the right notes with a quiet little story. Look for some great appearances from Mary Page Keller and Goran Visnjic. 10/10


Dirty Girl

Director: Abe Sylvia
Stars: Juno Temple, Milla Jovovich, William H. Macy, Tim McGraw, Mary Steenbergen, Dwight Yoakam and Jeremy Dozier
Country of Origin: US

Why I Chose this Film: I loved the description and word of mouth surrounding this film. I'm familiar with Juno Temple and her involvement with a number of high profile films in supporting roles---also, great word of mouth and stellar supporting cast.

The Rundown: Hands down, may be one of the best films I've seen in a long time, and certainly one of the best first features I've yet to see. Dirty Girl is a growing up comedy/drama set in 1980's Oklahoma about the self professed "class whore" and a chubby gay boy struggling with an abusive father and a passive mother. This is Juno Temple's star making performance, and quite an impressive first screen role for newcomer Jeremy Dozier. A film about growing up, discovering yourself, friendship, and a fabulous gay 80's soundtrack featuring several tracks from Melissa Manchester (who showed up for the premiere) Dirty Girl is an extremely moving, satisfying and entertaining film. 10/10


Cold Fish

Director: Sion Sono
Stars: Mitsuri Fukikoshi
Country of Origin: Japan

Why I Chose this Film: I've been eager to see Sono's last feature for some time, the 4 hour long Love Exposure (2008) and I've also been meaning to watch the cult favorite Suicide Club (2001) for some time as well. I happened to catch his Strange Circus (2005) some years back and remember it as ultra-violent and very strange.

The Rundown: Let me first say that my husband saw this film with me and absolutely hated it. While I can understand his negative response, I found the film compelling and subversive in it's way. An exercise in controversial ultra violence (but nowhere near something like, say, Ichii the Killer, 2001 from Takashi Miike) Cold Fish tells the tale of a tropical fish store owner, who happens to be a psyhcotic serial killer. Purportedly based on a true story of a dog kennel owner from the 1980's, Sono sets his tale in early 2009. Lots of gore, extreme violence and rape of women and strange and violent bloody sex of course aren't very funny, but there is a lot of black comedy threaded throughout Sono's feature---which made me laugh uncomfortably and guiltily several times. While it's frustrating to watch our lead character be so passive as to become a serial killer himself only because a more powerful and established tropical fish store owener is telling him what to do, the results, while based on a true story, are every telling about a cultural problem in Japan---standing up for what you believe in as an individual. While Sono's film depicts the ultimate nightmare and extreme of a possible predicament, it's not so implausible as to be written off as a straight up horror film. While it may not be for everyone, it definitely is compelling and controversial---and worthy of discussion. 9/10

Toronto Film Festival 2010: Day Three - "Trust," "The Strange Case of Anjelica," "Love Crime"

Trust

Director: David Schwimmer
Cast: Clive Owen, Catherine Keener, Viola Davis
Country of Origin: US

Why I Chose this Film: While not part of my top 30 picks, the trifecta of Owen, Davis and Keener (with emphasis on my love for Ms. Catherine Keener and the always moving Viola Davis) overrode any preconceptions I have for David Schwimmer as director (I've yet to see his first feature, Run, Fatboy, Run--2007). A time slot open on the morning of my third day at the fest found me bopping down to a screening of this drama.

The Rundown: While the title is rather forgettable and hardly memorable and the plot sounds like something that has the potential to drop into television film territory, I was actually moved to tears several times by some very powerful performances. Newcomer Liana Liberato stars as Annie, the second child of Keener and Owen. At the tender age of 14, she has been chatting online with a boy she thinks is only two years older. Film's dealing with "chat room" scenes often falter considerably, usually in tech thrillers like The Net (1995) or Halle Berry's A Perfect Stranger (2007). The film's use of Annie's chatrroom conversations appear on the screen as subtitles, usually while the characters are engaged in other activities---nice multi-tasking, but even so, the establishment of the relationship via chat convos still feels contrived and distracting. It's after the meeting of Annie and her online boyfriend (who turns out to be a 35 year old pedophile) and what he does to her that the film picks up speed and observes a quietly entrancing tension as Annie's family members find out what happened. All the key players are quite good, but it's Clive Owen that really knocked me out here as an angry, confused father that desperately wants to find the man that did this to his daughter. While the story is simple, overall, it's an imporant film for people to see due to the obvious but often overlooked subject matter. Being part of a generation that first began to experience "chat room" conversations as a young teenager, much of what happens in this film felt real, plausible, and terrifying. A suprise effort from actor cum director David Schwimmer. 9/10

The Strange Case of Anjelica

Director: Manoel de Oliveira
Stars: Ricardo Trepa, Pilar Lopez de Ayala
Country of Origin: Portugal

WhyI Chose this Film: Well, lauded as a Cannes favorite this past May, I regretted having missed out on Oliveira's Eccentricities of a Blond Hair Girl at the 2008 Toronto fest and I made it a point to get this in my lineup. Also, Oliveira, at 101 years of age, is the world's oldest filmmaker. With the recent deaths of French auteurs Alain Corneau and the amazing Claude Chabrol, I felt I better make an effort!

The Rundown: Oliveira's film tells the story of Isaac, a Portuguese Jew, who takes photographs as a hobby. One stormy night, he is sought out by an important family, whose young, beautiful daughter, Anjelica has tragically died. While he photographs her, he catches Anjelica's corpse smiling at him through the camera lens, which no one else sees. Isaac becomes obsessed and falls in love with her, imagining her spirit visits him at night and they float majestically together through the night skies. While a metaphysical/philosophical conversation among the tenants of where Isaac resides sheds some light on what may be happening with his, "spirit" or "energy," this doesn't add any weight to this simply, inarticulate, and elliptical tale. While not a bad film, Anjelica suffers from an extremely stiff performance from it's lead actor and in the end, I felt nothing in particular for what happened. 6/10

Love Crime

Director: Alain Corneau
Stars: Kristin Scott Thomas, Ludivine Sagnier
Country of Origin: France

Why I Chose this Film: Well, French master Alain Corneau passed away after I had made my selections, so I felt extremely lucky to have picked this as I've not seen any of his major works. My original reasoning was to see the incomparable Kristin Scott Thomas and one of my favorite French starlets Ludivine Sagnier go toe to toe in this black comic thriller.

The Rundown: I loved this movie. Kristin Scott Thomas was spot on as a manipulative, ballsy and bitchy viperous boss that manipulates the hell out of her underling Sagnier. Both women are sexy, intelligent, intense and engaging. I loved every minute of this frothy, French, sexy and cynical film. I would go more into plot details, but it's a revenge thriller that should just be seen to be enjoyed. 10/10

Toronto Film Festival 2010: Day Two - "Bad Faith," and "A Night For Dying Tigers"

Bad Faith Director: Kristian Petri Stars: Sonja Richter, Jonass Karlsson Country of Origin: Sweden Why I Chose this Film: This film was on my radar, but didn't make my initial top 30. Strangely, all of it's screening times fell on holes in my film going schedule. The Rundown: An interesting little Swedish film that sets itself up like Repulsion (1965) on the streets, I think I appreciated the film the more I thought about it. Mona, a young woman who has just moved to Sweden and joined what appears to be a law firm (we’re given no details of her background or reason for moving to Sweden, though she speaks the language fluently) is portrayed by Sonja Richter in an intriguing performance (she resembles a young Amanda Plummer, and I thought she was about as twitchy). Mona’s creepy boss wants to hit on her and demands she meet him and her co-workers for a drink after work. On the way to meeting her co-workers, she stumbles upon a man recently stabbed in an alley, the victim of a serial killer currently terrorizing the city, known as the Bayonet killer. She examines the man, getting blood on her hands, stooping over him as the life slowly ebbs out of him. Rather than report this to the police, she stumbles in a daze to the bar where her co-workers are and promptly has to leave. On her way home, she sees another crime of violence, in which a long haired man beats another man senseless over a traffic incident. Threatening her to not stare at him, she walks away. Convinced she has just seen the Bayonet killer, she goes home and calls in to work using sick leave, and thus begins a potboiler of a thriller that involves Mona’s creepy boss, a stranger named Frank that enters her life the same evening, and the man she suspects to be the killer. All the while, we suspect that Mona may not have all her marbles in a row…..Interestingly, the film title refers to Sartre’s theory of Bad Faith----meaning, when you’re letting the outside direct how you act, you’re not being your authentic self---you’re being what people/society want you to be. 8/10

A Night For Dying Tigers

Director: Terry Miles

Stars: Jennifer Beals, Gil Bellows

Country of Origin: Canada

Why I Chose this Film: Sounding a bit like a Canadian Lawrence Kasdan picture mixed with something like Home for the Holidays (1995) and featuring the gorgeous and talented Jennifer Beals, this was a delightful sounding film of which I'd heard no word of mouth whatsoever.

The Rundown: From Canadian director Terry Miles, Tigers is one of those dysfunctional family movies where there’s way too much dysfunction to be realistic and the film often feels like a soap opera written by J.D. Salinger (whose work Franny & Zooey is reference accordingly). Three genius brothers and adopted sister are throwing a party for the eldest brother (Gil Bellows) the night before he is to serve a five year prison sentence for killing the supposed rapist of his mistress. His wife is played by the film’s strong point, a drop dead gorgeous Jennifer Beals. His other brother is the author of a canonized piece of literature and hasn’t written anything sense (more Salingerisms) and he brings his 19 year old girlfriend to the party. His youngest brother just filmed a movie in Swedish and has optioned the rights to his other brother’s famous novel. Meanwhile, the director has been having sex with the adopted sister, herself a pill popping mess whose lesbian college friend is catering the party and is also in love with her. The director is currently engaged to the ex-lover of the author brother and has just left his Icelandic producer or editor behind in Iceland. Their parents killed themselves in a cult-like Hale-Bop incident and everyone makes a lot of money in some type of artistic, creative way and they’re all viciously unhappy. Like I said, Beals gets to shine in a handful of key scenes, but all the happenings were more cause for eye-rolls than any genuine emotion. 7/10

Toronto Film Festival 2010: Day One - "Film Socialism"

Film Socialism

Director: Jean Luc Godard

Stars: Patti Smith, Alain Badiou

Country of Origin: France

Why I Chose this Film: Why, the last chance to see a major premiere of a new Godard film, of course (and blatantly overlooking most of the criticism it received at Cannes in May).

The Rundown: The film I was least looking forward to seeing this year (I usually don’t have one of those in my lineup) happened to be my first screening, and what may also stand as the last chance I would have of seeing the premiere of a new Jean-Luc Godard film. Overlooking the lukewarm criticism it received at Cannes, I plowed on ahead to Godard’s latest, Film Socialism. Unfortunately, this film was not only dreadfully dull, but an exercise in cinematic pretension. Apparently the film consists of three different threads, but I missed what exactly what was going on. While I have enjoyed some of Godard’s previous attempts at alienation and mind fucking the audience (like Pierrot Le Fou), I believe he has hit the pinnacle of mind fuck excess. What appears to have been a documentary filmed in digital set on barge looks like it has been dropped into a vat of corrosive liquid then dried out and pieced together into a reel. Patti Smith shows up to warble nothing (much like Marianne Faithful’s bizarre cameo in Made In USA except much more useless here) and there’s some interesting footage of two furry cats communicating with each other. The film ends with the words “No Comment” flashing across the screen. Yeah, tell me about it. Interestingly enough, while waiting in line I was accosted by a blonde witch in a track outfit warbling at me about what line I was in. Turning off my Ipod, I said, “This is for the Godard film.” Her face rearranged itself as she squinted at me and asked, “Is that the director?” Before I could respond she added, “I don’t have time to memorize all that.” I hope she enjoyed herself, though I should have asked what she thought sounded remotely interesting about this painfully non-subtitled film (yes, I don’t speak fluent French---excuse moi). 4/10

Out of the Past: The Week In Film

The Banal, the Blah, the Banausic:

1. Clash of the Titans (2010) Dir. Louis Leterrier - US

2. Repo Men (2010) Dir. Miguel Sapochnik - US

Recommended:

1. $5 a Day (2008) Dir. Nigel Cole - US

2. Smiling Fish & Goat on Fire (1999) Dir. Kevin Jordan - US

Essential Cinema:

2. Suzanne's Career (1963) Dir. Eric Rohmer - France

1. They Drive By Night (1940) Dir. Raoul Walsh - US

Theatrical Screenings:

3. Mesrine: Killer Instinct (2008) Dir. Jean Francois Richet - France 8/10
2. The American (2010) Dir. Anton Corbijn - US 10/10

1. The Last Exorcism (2010) Dir. Daniel Stamm - US 10/10

Rewatched Goodies:

4. Uninvited (1988) Dir. Greydon Clark - US 1/10

3. Why Did I Get Married, Too? (2010) Dir. Tyler Perry - US 7/10

2. Sleepwalkers (1992) Dir. Mick Garris - US 9/10

1. The Girl in the Park (2007) Dir. David Auburn - US 10/10

Out of the Past: The Week In Film

Cess Pool Cinema:

1. Bangkok Dangerous (2008) Dir. Pang Bros. - US

2. The Back Up Plan (2010) Dir. Alan Poul - US

The Banal, the Blah, the Banausic:

1. The Raspberry Reich (2004) Dir. Bruce La Bruce - Germany/Canada

2. A Secret (2007) Dir. Claude Miller - France

Essential Cinema:
6. The Flower of Evil (2003) Dir. Claude Chabrol - France

5. Why Does Herr R. Run Amok? (1970) Dir. Rainer Werner Fassbinder & Michael Fengler - West Germany

4. Nothing Sacred (1937) Dir. William Wellman - US

3. The Girl at the Monceau Bakery (1963) Dir. Eric Rohmer - France

2. Comedy of Power (2006) Dir. Claude Chabrol - France

1. Fury (1936) Dir. Fritz Lang - US

Theatrical Screenings:

5. Centurion (2010) Dir. Neil Marshall - UK 7/10

4. Animal Kingdom (2010) Dir. David Michod - Australia 7/10

3. Machete (20010) Dir. Robert Rodriguez & Ethan Maniquis - US 9/10

2. Agora (2009) Dir. Alejandro Amenabar - Spain 10/10

1. Cairo Time (2009) Dir. Ruba Nadda - Canada 10/10