Father Geek here with a another of our reporters from TIFF, Toronto International Film Festival, this time the charming Ms Taylor with a large group of flicks that she's caught the last couple of days at TIFF...
Taylor again. It's 1:30am, managed 5 screenings today, plus a few
yesterday (to add to Fridays three) so I'm going to be brief. I hope.
The Good Thief - Neil Jordan
Most of what I've seen said around here about this movie jives with me. It has great dialog, great tongue-and-cheek, Nick Nolte's best performance, and some nifty editing. Of course taking place in Marseilles and Monte Carlo, it also looks pretty snazzy. Nice film. Nothing extraordinary, but definitely work a look.
Miyazaki's Spirited Away - Hayao Miyazaki
I dunno. Maybe it's just me... well actually it is just me, but I dunno that Miyazaki's movies are all that phenomenal. Sure they are pretty good, fairly animated, with some interesting characters but they are targeted towards the young and daydreamers. I suppose if I were to dissect Mononoke and Spirited Away I'd find all the right elements for a great movie, but nether of these two (the only ones of his I've seen) don't really do it for me. Perhaps it's because I like my Anime violent and sci-fi. Miyazaki is very much Fantasy.
The first thing I notice about Spirited Away is the initial poor dialog, likely the cause of translation and perhaps sub-par voice talent. There are a couple names I recognize doing voices like Lauren Holly and John Ratzenberger but it all comes out very robotic and as a result I find it doesn't fit. I guess I expect for this type of movie, as in Disney films, for character in the film to resemble the actor doing the voice over. We don't have this here. Perhaps I would have been better off seeing the Japanese screening instead of the re-dub, but I had already sorted out my schedule by the time the box office posted notices about the two versions.
Anyhow I'm sure most everyone will like it. I found it much better (or rather, more accessible) than Mononoke. There is some stereotypical Disney fluff in it with some cutesy characters doing cutesy stuff, which makes me wonder if they (Disney) requested these adjustments to it. The audience, however loved it, giving Miyazaki (who was there) a standing ovation. So don't listen to me, listen to them. They loved it.
Laurel Canyon - Lisa Cholodenko
Nothing overly interesting here. Pretty decent performances all around from Christian Bale, Kate Beckingsale, Alessandro Nivola, Frances McDormand and Natascha McElhone. Basically the movie is about Bale's characters mother (Frances McDormand) whom has been a record producer since back when rock was good and Bale is essentially embarrassed of her and what his finance, Beckingsale, will think of her as they move out to L.A. as Bale has a job at, for lack of a better term, mental hospital, while Kate's character works on her dissertation. Due to a snag in production on the latest album, the house Kate and Christian were supposed to live in, now has to be shared between his mom, and the band that hangs around smoking pot, drinking and hanging around the pool all day. Anyhow Kate slowly becomes engrossed in the lives of Frances and the band and slips in that direction while Bale and fellow employee McElhone find an attraction.
Blah. Shallow plot in the scope of an International Film Festival. There are many funny moments in the film, but when the laughter subsides, there's not much else here. In fact the scenes between McElhone and Bale are almost boring. However their characters are pretty much boring in comparison to the others in the film anyhow, so it's only natural that their scenes be boring too right? As you can see the characters were so memorable, I've managed to forget their names.
Bowling for Columbine - Michael Moore
Basically this is the best film I've seen at the festival so far. But it's really not a movie, but more a documentary... of sorts. Moore takes some liberties here but as I heard someone in the audience say this morning, "It's not a complaint, just an observation that makes it difficult to categorize Michael Moore's work".
Now, I see this has been talked about a length over the past few months. So I'll just put a Canadian spin on it as a Canadian, seeing it in Canada, with a Canadian Audience, with perhaps 1 or 2 Americans that weren't Moore or his Crew.
This is an important film. This is a disturbing film and a very informative film. It's also very funny, though I suspect it helps if you're not American. As Moore said today, if he were Canadian he'd be making a different film that would be a bitter pill for Canadians to swallow. So while we come out smelling like roses on this issue, we're far from perfect. But besides learning all sorts of statistics about the USA and Americans, I learned a fair amount on the subject about even my own city that I wasn't aware of.
Moore reaches a point where he's almost praising Canada at parts of this film and posing the question to Americans that while we're essentially very similar our gun fatality rates are a trip around the solar system and back in proximity. Moore suggests it's fear, and I'm with him. I always used to say it was simply the difference in population. Bullshit. You know there is only one thing that I personally can point out as a HUGE, OBVIOUS difference between your average American and your average Canadian, and that is the Television we watch. Our News coverage. Way, way different. As someone who's had Dish Network for 4+ years now, I'm in the know about this.
Of course Moore doesn't suggest it's just one thing, like the Media, (as I like to blame for most things) but suggests it's stupid old white man crap still lingering from decades of rule and racism. Watching the facts, reflecting on his opinions, you see that's part of it too.
Ultimately Moore suggests that the thing that needs fixing starts with "us" (Americans). I sincerely hope this film succeeds in getting the screen time it needs in the USA, it is definitely well received here. He received a standing ovation. Well deserved. Perhaps the most important film screening at the Festival.
Jet Lag - Danièle Thompson
Blah. What can I say...it's french. About a couple travelers in a Paris airport during "holidays" when the transit people (Air and Train) go on strike. Flights are canceled. Juliette's character is leaving her boyfriend, she's giving a friend instructions on getting her her luggage sent. She looses her cell phone. She borrows' Reno's. The typical Deja Vu, bumping into each other thing happens. Flights are rescheduled. Weather storm on the horizon. Reno gets a room, offers her to stay as she's going to try to sleep in the airport. The Weather front moves in and keeps them there longer and...etc... you already know how this goes. Predictable romance flick. Eric Serra's scores are starting to bug me, I think he's still stuck in the 80's. Jean Reno and Juliette Binoche are wasted here. Bad movie? No. Good movie? Naw. It's a movie. Some pretty funny moments, but no risks. Waste of time with 200+ other films, surely one of them I'm not going to see is better than this one.
Morvern Callar - Lynne Ramsay
The festival synopsis sounded intriguing. A young Scottish woman (Morvern) wakes up on Christmas morning to find her boyfriend had committed suicide. He leaves her a message on the computer saying this was all for the best. He loves her. And on the disk is the novel he's finished writing. He's giving it to her. He gives her a list of publishers to send it to. He's also left her a little money for the funeral. But... she doesn't use it for that. Her and her girlfriend (read: Best Friend) travel to Spain for some fun. Morvern meets with publishers about her (or rather his) book. Now I wouldn't want to give anything away but... oh wait... sorry, I guess I kind of did, nothing much else happens in this film.
The first 30 minutes are agonizingly boring. I swear I was going to fall asleep. The thing that pisses me off the most about it is the programme director introduced the film as perhaps the most exciting film at the festival this year. Huh? Wha? Did she watch the same film as I did. Please, people, don't waste your time. Compared to this Gerry looked like a roller coaster ride, and there's maybe 2 pages of Dialog in that film. Heck (diminishing to male pig zone here) there were two nakid chicks bathing together in this movie, but I didn't care. I was so bored it's not funny. The characters are totally unsympathetic. The movie ends abruptly before it even begins. I really didn't find anything in this film to like. Though I'd like to talk to someone who does like this film, so I can find out what color the sky is in their world.
8 Mile - Curtis Hansen
"A Work in Progress". Yup, that's right, the film's not completed yet. But if I understood Curtis correctly, this is the first public screening of the project. Curtis warned us of potential shifts in image quality and temporary sound effects, however watching through the film I didn't see anything I could have put my finger on, so essentially that means it was looking and sounding pretty good.
This is "The Eminem Movie". Though not about him himself, it's hardly a stretch from his own life from what I know of it. Eminem does a pretty good job playing "Rabbit" a young white Detroit urban youth looking for his break into Hip-Hop, though once again, hardly a stretch. He's shy and scared but determined. He has some ideal of a stereotypical man but he isn't one yet himself, and his manhood is further diminished as he finds himself needing to move back in with his mother(Kim Basinger) due to a recent breakup. Kim Basinger does a good job here fitting the tired trailer mom thing to a T. The movie's supporting cast full of a bunch of guys I've personally never heard of, do a great job as Rabbit's 'homies'. There's not much plot here, other than a young kid with a poor mother, living in a poor neighborhood, with a poor job tries to break out from poverty with his buddies, trying to land themselves a record deal. Several scenes of the movie take place in an underground club called "The Shelter" where freestyle hip-hop battles take place (i.e. rappers are timed 45 seconds and whichever one disses (craps on) the other one the best with his skills is the winner, winning gives you street cred, street cred is supposed to get you a record deal). *shrug* this was a good film, but there really isn't much here. Brittany Murphy show up as a model wannabe, whom is a fleeting love interest for Rabbit who just split with his girlfriend whom we learn little about over the course of the film. As a result, I expect the first cuts from this draft will be that storyline, though I suppose pieces may be put back in to round out that subplot.
After the film, I felt there was a lot more the movie wanted to say or do, but as it's already pushing 2 hours without opening or closing credits, I doubt this film is going to get longer.
It's allright, but this draft is a far way away from Curtis' other recent works, L.A. Confidential and Wonderboys. Perhaps that is why it's still a work in progress, though I think it would need some pretty award winning editing to even approach these other pieces of work. Then again with Brian Grazer on as Producer, who knows?
Shaolin Soccer - Stephen Chow
Based on some of the buzz on AICN I decided to catch this film and I'm glad I did. Much has been said, so why reinvent the wheel. It's funny. Very funny. The special effects used in this film are actually quite good for a foreign film and some of the martial arts pieces, though laden with computer generated imagery gained many clapping sessions throughout the movie. The Midnight Madness Programme Director came out to introduce the film and he said "Stephen Chow is sometimes considered as the Chinese Jim Carrey. But no, he's not, he's much more than that". Yeah I'd have to agree. The humor is nice and slapstick, which I like because it seems so rare today (well the stuff that doesn't involve bodily fluid gags is rare). The comedy hits every time. No misses. I can not say the same about Jim Carrey who is ridiculous most of the time and resorts too heavily on stupid voices or body contortion. Stephen Chow (in this film at least) sets his audience up and knocks them down with every method available. A favorite tool in watching the movie was Parody as there's a section of a synchronized dance sequence that's move for move from Michael Jacksons' Thriller. I love hidden gag stuff like that. I'm going to have to find this man's other movies.
While this was the hotly debated Miramax version with the horrific "Kung Fu Fighting" remix at the closing credits, I think the voice over acting worked very much to the films credit. Considering the film doesn't take itself seriously, the out-of-synch lips and stereotypical Hong Kong Voiceover acting fits well here.
Though it is very silly (as slapstick is) I found the two women who were at the screening with me didn't quite appreciate it on the same level. In fact I think one may have fallen asleep, which is remarkable considering how loud the laughing from the audience was.
*shrug* Regardless, *I'll* be recommending this one around to friends (male mostly) for some time.
-Taylor
