Day 6: September 10

This year's fest is top heavy - most of the talent leaves today, flying home before tomorrow's anniversary. Things are still going on, big films are still to come, but they certainly have squeezed much into the first 6 days of the fest.

I had a couple "star" encounters, from Kevin Kline to Michael Caine, but generally it was a good, solid day. Days like this make me wish it could go on forever - I'm finally in the groove, knowing where all the publicists are hanging out, where to go for this or that. By the time you finally gear up and your head and body adjust, the beastie starts to wind down.

Assassination Tango
Directed by Robert Duvall

Robert Duvall, who apparently smells great in the morning, and his latest love, Luciana Pedraza, romp through Argentina in what amounts to a pretty mediocre film. He's an old assassin, she's a young local dancing hottie, and they mix dance, lust and guns. Whatever, it's at least less cloying that the Appostle, though I'm convinced he blew millions just to fondle his girl onscreen with nice, moody scenery in the background.
Grade: C

Irréversible
Directed by Gaspar Noé

Ah, the film that says "Fuck you" to the overrated Memento, this is a kick in the balls film that wrenches your mind and heart in ways that simply are not done in contemporary American cinema. Much has been made of the extended rape scene, something that I luckily knew nothing about to cloud my viewing.

The film is almost unwatchable at the beginning, but the chaos and horror of the swinging camera stabilizes, the film becomes more structured and horrifying long after the cinematic devices calm down. This, of course, is the point. Noé has crafted a supremely disturbing film that's exploitational only in the way that great art exploits your fears and desires. A brilliant work of cinema, sure to enrage and offend. God bless the angry French.

Grade: A-

Dirty Deeds
Directed by David Caesar

Hrm, a Vietnam-era period-piece Australian Mafia film with John Goodman, Toni Collette, Sam Niell and Bryan Brown, eh? Cool. I'd have been pleased if they just pumped the rockin' number from local Ozzie band AC-DC through the Uptown's sound system a few dozen times. Fun, watchable, enjoyable, forgettable.
Grade: B-

My Little Eye
Directed by Marc Evans

I'd so watch more reality shows if they actually were teenagers in peril in the woods. A spiffy, high concept horror movie about webcams, isolation, and spooky guys coming in from the cold, it holds up pretty well and makes for fine midnight fare.
Grade: B/B-