Day 7: September 13

As the press screenings become more sparse I attend more and more public screenings near the end of the fest. Today I attended my first Roy Thompson Hall screenings in many years. The Gala section of the festival is a whole different beast, with a different demographic altogether buying a pre-packaged insta-festival.

My seats were way up in the balcony, with the entire orchestra level occupied by reserve seating. Fairly ridiculous to be sure when seen from above, but such is how the fest makes its money sometimes.

Taking it easy and skipped the midnight, back refreshed hopefully for tomorrow.

Pan's Labyrinth
Directed by: Guillermo Del Toro

Grade: B+

Toro continues his run of clock obsessed, beautifully crafted films that share brutal realism with fairy tale elements. This time the children's fantasy is grafted onto 1940s Spain, as Franco's fascists fight guerillas while a girl must pass three magical tasks in order to remain immortal. It shouldn't work, but in Del Toro's capable hands it all seems to hang together well enough to never seem jarring or forced. The performance by the little girl is convincing without being precocious, and the more adult-themed elements are, if predictable, a nice tonic to any overly sweet treatment during the fairy tale portion. Truly a film with vision, it may not be a perfect film but it's certainly an enjoyable and interesting one.

Very Nice, Very Nice
Directed by: Arthur Lipsett

Grade: B+

This 1961 editing mashup brought avant garde Canadian cinema to a generation of filmmakers. The film takes audio stems and places fast cuts of still photography, unique in the 60s, old hat by now. It reminded me of Kubrick's trailer for Strangelove, as well as the quick-cut elements in Requeim for a Dream and others of that ilk. Certainly not as breathtaking as it must have been back then (and all done on a moviola!) it's nonetheless an interesting short that still has great value.

Remembering Arthur
Directed by: Martin Lavut

Grade: C-

Unfortunately, the doc about Lipsett doesn't nearly have the power (or succinctness) of the films that are referenced. A series of talking head interviews trace the story of this maverick filmmaker (starting with an extremely brief soundbyte from George Lucas that seems to have been tacked on), the film has nothing of the experimental flourishes of Lipsett's cinema. Overly long, with stories that end up going nowhere, the filmmaker is clearly to close to the subject (his friend Arthur), and this eulogy does little but hold up his closest friends to scrutiny that is not sustainable.

Breaking and Entering
Directed by: Anthony Minghella

Grade: B+

A convoluted plot of break-ins, architectural redevelopment and mid-30s life crises mask a fairly standard tale of a love triangle. The film is elevated by fine performances, including some very real, very effective fights between Jude Law and his on-screen wife Robin Wright Penn. Juliete Binoche plays a dowdy immigrant seamstress, and she just about pulls it off. A decent film, if forgettable.

Black Book
Directed by: Paul Verhoeven

Grade: A-/B+

A holocaust film from the maker of Showgirls, Total Recall and Robocop, huh? One shouldn't be surprised that Verhoeven's return to European filmmaking is actually quite a triumph. It lacks the gloss and polish of his American output, yet there's still a tremendous amount of cinematic dexterity on display. This is no staid drama, instead it plays as an old fashioned action-thriller flick, the type of movie that's simply not being made these days, set quite effectively during the Nazi occupation of Holland. Carice van Houten is an astonishing find, and if someone were smart she'd be world famous sometime soon.