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TORONTO INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL
Diary 3: Sept. 9,
2000
I'm
getting sleepy. It's not even halfway there yet.
Got...to...pace...myself....
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THE ENSEMBLE CAST OF BEST IN
SHOW |
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This morning started really well - woke up with 3 hours sleep to go
meet the cast of Best in Show. I'm a humungous
Spinal Tap fan, and managed to dig up my Tap concert shirt from the early 90s
when they played north of T.O.
It was a fun conference, with a lot of
kibitzing by the cast. The dais was overflowing with the ensemble, and while
some got to speak more than others, everyone had a shot. It was obvious that
they really enjoyed working on this kind of project together.
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Other star sitings included Gwenyth herself, in with her father Bruce
Paltrow for Duets, the karaoke Hollywood pic that's supposed to be
pretty poopy. Her exit was abrupt, guarded by one of those burly guys I'm
convinced they clone for just such a purpose. More surprising to me was
André Braugher, an actor who I respect tremendously. He was in full
Pembleton mode, brushing off with the back of his hand the photographers lining
the exit.
There's a fine line, to butcher a phrase, between maintaining
privacy and demonstrating hostility.
The contrast of this behaviour
compared to the Best in Show exit was great - Christopher Guest and
Michael McKean just hung around in the foyer for a bit, talking to the press
informally. This contrast reflects the way that any festival, especially a
major one like Toronto, works. The bigger the supposed star power that's
attracted to the fest, the more likely it is that someone supposedly lower down
the tier (but usually far more interesting to meet and talk to) will be more
accessible.
In God We
Trust
Directed by: Jason Reitman
A short 16 minute
film that played before Chopper, In God We Trust takes as its
basis a simple conceit - while we are here on Earth, our actions are given a
score - positive things create positive marks, while negative or evil things
subtract from your total.
Within seconds of the film's start, a man is
hit by a yellow car. He is sentenced, due to a number of bad things he's done,
to take the elevator down to hell. He manages to escape from the accounting
office/purgatory/heavenly vestibule and go back to Earth. Unwittingly, his low
score begins to rise as he spends his last moments saying goodbye.
Well
acted and paced, this is an excellent example of a short film - a story and
idea that can much more effectively be told in 16 minutes rather than
protracting the idea to stretch to 'feature length'. A fine combination of wit
and sickness - always a good sign.
Grade: A-
Chopper
Directed by: Andrew
Dominik
Chopper explores the charismatic side of the
brutal criminal, the strange fascination that many (especially filmgoers) feel
for the interesting bad-guy. So often, the exaggerated, over-the-top character
of criminals provide the impetus for dramatic tales. In this film, the tale is
twisted, as the real life Mark "Chopper" Read's tale is heightened and
exaggerated to literary form by himself.
The script for the film is
taught, telling the story quickly and with fresh and funny dialogue. The horror
of his character comes out in his words - after severely punching his
girlfriend in the face, itself an obviously visceral and disturbing image, the
second level horror kicks in when he screams at her "Look what you've gone and
done!" He is yelling both at himself and his victim, blaming both for the
sordid interaction of violence that has ensued. This narrative dexterity,
intelligently combining violence and introspection, is indeed rare.
The
film plays like a weird mockumentary, a Man Bites Dog for the prison
population. In the end it becomes all the more sinister because of the
biographical foundation for the film. Chopper is both brutal and
violent, but not in a glorified sort of way. Much of the explicit brutality is
either kept slightly off screen, say, half-sheltered behind a wall, or shown
with excruciating clarity and openness, forcing you to confront the
violence.
It becomes quite evident why such a story would be so
compelling for the Australian market - much like Charles Manson, there is a
twisted charisma about the man. While Manson's strangeness hearkens back to 60s
counterculture, Chopper is a modern criminal bad guy, forgiven in part for only
killing other bad guys, presenting himself in a mannered way outwardly. His
fleeting moments of brutal, criminal rage give way to a surreal, Christ-like
vision of forgiveness. This paradox, that brutality is mixed with a child-like
sensitivity, is what makes Chopper's tale so captivating.
Grade:
A
101 Reykjavik
Directed by:
Baltasar Kormakur
101 Reykjavik is a slacker tale from the capital of
Iceland. Hlynur, the 30 year old living with his mother, doesn't do much other
than live off the dole, watch porn on Satellite and get drunk in his local pub.
His is the classic case of a total lack of ambition. Hlynur hates rural
Iceland, preferring to stay in the closed and cluttered house of his mother.
The film explores various aspects of the theme of closeness, from the
poles of emotional closeness and claustrophobia. From the bathtub (complete
with Ikea shower curtain!) that, with the drop of a lid converts into a bench
at the kitchen table, to the cramped throngs at the local dance halls, the
feeling of confinement is evident throughout the film. This is contrasted by
the scenes in rural Iceland, vast sweeping vistas of mountainous peaks and
glaciers. Hlynur is always trying to get space around him, all while
self-defeatingly trying to stay in the same place.
I'm always
interested in the way different countries present themselves, and this
definitely feels like a honest, non-exoticized version of life in Iceland. The
whole notion of only being on the small island because you were born there
leads to the double foreignness of the immigrant - an outsider who also chooses
to be in Iceland. Hlynur must confront with a number of machinations upon the
theme of Oedipus, and I don't wish to give any of the complexity away. Suffice
it to say, Hlynur must confront his obligations in a typical way, but the way
he is taught this differs greatly from the Lion King version of the
slacker-has-to-grow-up shtick. An interesting and different cinema, quite
enjoyable.
Grade: B/B-
Brother
Directed by: Takeshi Kitano
A
vital, stylish Yakuza pic, Kitano crafts a new world/old world, brother against
brother epic battle straddling both sides of the Pacific. Some excellent action
sequences and strong performances lead to a truly interesting retake on the
genre. Mafia vs. Yakuza warmly reminded of Simpsons episode without detracting
from the power of the film.
Grade: A
Tell Me
Something
Directed by: Chang Younhyun
A good example
of a film that would have been far better during the day - it was just too
complicated and too wordy to keep me awake at 2am. A stylish serial killer
film, there nonetheless was too much talk and not enough madness.
Grade: D+ |
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