127 HOURS
I’ve been craving some neologism, some German word perhaps that best describes that work of art that by all rights should be just awful, yet, amazingly, beautifully, it succeeds against all odds. Whatever word we wish to employ, this latest film by Danny Boyle fits that sentiment exactly. Stories filtered throughout TIFF of viewers becoming […]
Red Nights
Often a failure at Midnight is a film that has such a slow build that it simply can’t sustain audience interest until the inevitable payoff. Certain films (this year’s excellent COLD FISH comes to mind) fit well within the purview of this audience, yet their pacing is so deliberate that it’d be a waste as […]
Tabloid
It’s not like I’ve never seen an Errol Morris film before, I’ve had the pleasure of seeing a great many of his works over the years, including many at TIFF. And yet, each and everytime, his films suck me in ’till they get to that point when, BAM, you’ve been comfortably watching one movie, and […]
Jûsan-nin no shikaku (13 Assassins)
Miike has brought to TIFF some of the most flamboyantly disturbing films I’ve ever seen. To give a sense of his usual fair, the audience was handed commemorative barf bags during the 2001’s ICHI THE KILLER screening at the beloved uptown. With 13 ASSASSINS, Miike has created a far more restrained film, free from much […]
Rabbit Hole
John Cameron Mitchell absolutely knocks it out of the park with this remarkable work about coping with loss. Under the veneer of explicit sexuality and brash weirdness, it was nonetheless clear from the remarkable SHORT BUS that this was a director finely attuned to both fine performance and heart. This is a story about not […]
Chico & Rita
Spanning decades of Cuban history, CHICO & RITA is a riot of colour and sounds animated in a brisk, engaging style. A grand reminiscence, we’re shown the transition between the music of Cuba and its incorporation into the swinging Jazz scene of New York. The love story itself is fairly conventional, but the interwoven nature […]
Mavericks: Bruce Springsteen (as interviewed by Ed Norton)
As part of the TIFF Mavericks series, Ed Norton (here for STONE) was asked to interview the Boss, Bruce Springsteen. Tickets were hard to come by, and they actually arranged for a spill-over room for journalists unable to attend. One guy who apparently seen Bruce 250+ times in concert lined up a day-and-a-half before to […]
Bunraku
BUNRAKU tries to be a madcap, genre bending bonzo Cowboys versus Samurai flick. There’s a slew of name actors in the film (from Woody Woody Harrelson to Demi Moore), a highly stylized look, and a large number of set and action pieces that should keep things ramblin’. Alas, even the more kinetic fights fall flat. […]
The Promise: The Making of Darkness on the Edge of Town
The drums clatter, the guitar strums, the organ swells and the piano hits a set of powerchords, as the E Street Band kicks into last chance overdrive. With BORN TO RUN, Springsteen becomes the Boss, and conquers the word. What comes next is the subject of this well produced documentary. With a protracted legal battle […]
Cave of Forgotten Dreams
Herzog, the mad genius narrative filmmaker/documentarian, sets his sights on a miraculous little part of the world. Southern France is famous for its paleolithic cave art, dating back 10s of thousands of years and visited by many. In the mid 90s, a unique cave was found, one that was basically sealed by a rock slide […]
Whistleblower
Rachel Weisz stars in the real life story of Kathryn Bolkovac, a small-town cop who joins a contractor in order to make some money, becoming part of the private peace keeping delegations in post-war Bosnia. While there, and after secondment to the UN, she uncovers a dark secret about corruption from both the citizenry and […]
The Ward
This is John Carpenter’s much anticipated throwback to “old school” horror, trading buckets of blood and shakycam for spooky mood and loud, ear-piercing noises that help you jump out of your seat (and, presumably, into the arms of your fellow pubescent partner). Amber Heard, last seen at TIFF in the truly awful ALL THE BOYS […]
I Am Slave
I AM SLAVE traces Malia journey, a young woman from the countryside of Sudan, as she’s she is sold into modern day slavery in London, kept as a housekeeper against her will by a brutalizing master. Trapped behind the gates of her home, Malia tries in vain to gain her independence, even escaping at one […]
Three
Tom Tykwer returns to TIFF with another clever, challenging work. While his RUN LOLA RUN will probably inevitably shape expectations of his work, THREE is just weird and playful enough to generate interest. A Berlin couple after years of marriage are finding themselves growing apart. Disinterested conversations permeate their discourse, they talk at cross purposes, […]
Barney’s Version
BARNEY’S VERSION is one of Modecai Richer’s later works, a beloved book tracing the love foibles of a man who falls for a women who’s attending his (second) marriage. Richler’s works have to date not faired well in the transition to screen, where the charm and dexterous use of language, and minute glimpses into his […]
Super
Success breeds success, and when the likes of IRON MAN and a revitalized BAT MAN saw big money for the studios, more “indie” comic fare has begun to be translated to the screen. From WATCHMEN to SCOTT PILGRIM, we’ve seen some bold and adventurous films on screen that have tried to reshape the way comic […]
Tsumetai nettaigyo (Cold Fish)
COLD FISH is one of the more brutal, provocative, and frankly insane films I’ve ever seen. It’s fantastically, at times nauseatingly violent, yet has an overt humour and deliberate pace that makes it a strange, provocative beast indeed. We’re introduced to a somber family making a go with their small exotic fish store. When their […]
Machete Maidens Unleashed
Another of the clip show docs, brought by the team behind the previous MM flick NOT QUITE HOLLYWOOD about the exploitation cinema of Australia. This time we’re introduced to the films from the Philippines, a mix of boobs, bombs and blood that saw independent American exhibitors looking to the Islands for cheap labour and more […]
140 character reviews- 2010
Well, with trying to get as many films in as possible, full (or even capsule) reviews are being delayed. In the meantime, here’s a sampling of a number of tweets that have been sent out realtime during the first few days of the fest. BALADA TRISTE-It’s as if Hitchcock cast NORTH BY NORTHWEST with homicidal […]
What’s Wrong With Virginia
It’s been mere months since (first time) director Dustin Lance Black picked up a golden, naked-man statue for his script MILK. In that film, we had some extraordinary performances, a great sense of time and place with witty dialogue, complex characters and a strong sense of story. What makes this film so very, very wrong […]
The Trip
THE TRIP’s route to success is simple – get two brilliant improvisers, throw them in a car together as they traipse through the Lake Distract and have them slowly, inevitably get on each other’s nerves. It’s WITHNAIL AND I with actors that could actually get work. Winterbottom allows the two leads to simple be heightened […]
Casino Jack
Kevin Spacey plays felled megalobyist Jack Abramoff in this comedic take on one of the more repulsive American political controversies of the last several years. As the titular jack plays one Aboriginal tribe against another in an effort to gain both financial incentives and political power, he finds himself being challenged by some of those […]
Miral
Full disclosure – Schnable once called me an asshole in front of a crowd of about 1200 people at the Uptown. Now, I haven’t held that against him ’till now, he’s a provocative and often compelling filmmaker, known for his brazen style and strong artistic sense. Which is all the more surprising that he has […]
Client 9: The Rise and Fall of Eliot Spitzer
And thus the rehabilitation of Eliot Spitzer as a public figure begins anew, with this well made and engaging documentary about the events surrounding the removal of the Governor of New York from office. Spitzer’s participation in the documentary sets it apart from any type of slash-and-burn piece, but what’s remarkable here is that his […]
Passion Play
It’s usually fun to write bad reviews, coming up with that great bon mot that effectively explains just how putrid this or that given film is. Take the hyperbole at face value – PASSION PLAY isn’t just one of the worst films I’ve ever seen, it’s painful to even recollect and write about afterward. When […]
Another Year
It was about halfway through ANOTHER YEAR that I had one of those rare, sublime cinematic moments, where you feel you’re entirely part of the work on screen, somehow a participant (if passive) of the events transpiring. Quite honestly, I felt almost a voyeur, uncomfortable about what was transpiring, but desperate to somehow make things […]
Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale
RARE EXPORTS is indeed a very rare thing, a smart, articulate suspense film with genuine chills, yet ostensibly made as a “kids film”. I had one of those truly memorable experiences with this picture – I spent much of it thinking that the one person in the world that needed to see the flick was […]
“SHUTTUP, CRIME!” SUPER premiere photos
Collected here are a slew of photos from tonight’s WORLD PREMIERE of SUPER, including LIV TYLER, RAINN WILSON, ELLEN PAGE, Director JAMES GUNN and MM programmer COLIN GEDDES.
Griff the Invisible
GRIFF joins what seems to be a long line of real-guy-as-super-hero movies, this one having the added cachet of being from exotic Australia. The ingredients are here for a fun film, with our hero falling for a woman who facilitates his heroic deeds by helping create the tools of his arsenal, including a celestial, near […]
It’s Kind of a Funny Story
This is one of those “serious” comedies, an ensemble piece with Zach Galifianakis (after the remarkable success of THE HANGOVER) set in the mental health ward of a hospital. Craig (Keir Gilchrist) is a sixteen year old who’s strung way too tight, checking himself into the ward after feeling suicidal. While his feelings of ennui […]