2009 Edinburgh International Film Festival

Hello there everybody, its foreign correspondent Blair Stewart here with a report from the recently wrapped 63rd annual Edinburgh International Film Festival in Scotland. Here's a quick roundup of what I saw:

All That She Wants (2008-Canada) Dir. Denis Cote
Starring: Eve Duranceau

***

A slow-boiling look at small-town hustlers and burnouts shot in gorgeous black and white, Quebec director Cote impresses with his Diane Arbus-ish framing. Eve Duranceau plays Coralie, the 'She' of this film, a sullen local making poor decisions so she can blow town with her boyfriend while the local thugs otherwise scheme. It moves slowly, but has moments of beauty and dark humour to elevate the patience that some audiences might not have. Likely only to be seen in Quebec and on the festival circuit, but worth a look.

The Missing Person (2009-US) Dir. Noah Buschel
Starring: Michael Shannon, Amy Ryan

**

A modern day noir led by the talented Michael Shannon about a private detective on the biggest case of his wonky career. Shannon's John Rosow is a fine gumshoe and a lousy drunk, stuck in a nostalgic time of fedoras and jazz. Rosow is given the task of following a mystery man with a Mexican boy across the western States and south of the border while running afoul of femme fatales, gangsters and new-age flatfoots. SWhile Shannon is exceptional with his Peter Lorre eyes and a squeezed lemon for a face, and both Amy Ryan and Margaret Colin make good of their brief screentime, several vital roles are woefully misplayed - like watching Ray Charles with a lousy backing band. The story dumps several good sub-plots when the topical main plot finally emerges concerning Rosow's past but all the loose ends were bothersome. I did appreciate the patience of the storytelling as the truth uncoiled itself, but I found the editing distracting as several noticable disolves looked out of place. Michael Shannon will next be seen in a new Herzog film produced by David Lynch, which is now a must-see for me next year.

Lights in the Fog (2008-Iran) Dir. Panahbarkhoda Rezaee
Starring: Behrouz Jalili

**

A bigger story than the film was the difficulty in extracting the print out of Iran which delayed the screening, so the fact that it was seen at all is a small triumph. Set in the cloud-schrouded mountains of Northern Iran, "A Light in the Fog" observes an Iranian woman quietly mourning the disapearance of her soldier lover as she nurses her dying father while scraping by in life. A short feature that's more for observation than engagement, its blessed with a stunning, unknown setting on par with Lean's deserts and Malick's forests for beauty. This is a film that seems to be set in-between momentous events in the characters lives, where not much is happening.

Giallo (2009-Italy) Dir. Dario Argento
Starring Adrien Brody, Emmanuele Seigner

*

What could have been a grand last kick in the slasher genre's ass from one of its masters is instead a folly that could spell Dario Argento's retirement and Adrien Brody's agent getting fired. Written exclusively for Argento by fanatics Jim Agnew and Sean Keller, "Giallo" concerns a jaundaced serial-killer (Giallo is 'Yellow' in Italian, and refers to the pulp nature of Argento's oeuvre) hacking away through Turin's ranks of pretty gals. After one model gets kidnapped by the yellowed killer for a slow, drawn out death (very slow at that) Detective Brody and the model's sister Seigner team up to crack the case. What mostly insues is cutting room scraps mistaken for a film, including Brody putting another nail in the coffin of his career post-'The Pianist' with a lackluster performance. Seigner puts proof into my theory that she should only act in her native tongue while Argento labouriously goes through the motions. Put the virturso camera movements from the likes of Argento's 1987 "Opera" or the stylishness displayed in his '70's work against "Giallo" and it appears the Italian master should just hang it up now.

Black Dynamite (2009-USA) Dir. Scott Sanders
Starring: Michael Jai White

***1/2

A little longer than it needs to be for its premise of a Blaxploitation spoof, but still a stone cold funky groove. Bacchus called it right after its Sundance premiere, sure to be a big hit for the marginalized Jai White, cut from "Kill Bill", killed off early in "The Dark Knight" and buried under makeup and costume in "Spawn". Here he displays brilliant comedic timing, and the batcrazy climax has to be seen without spoilers.

The Raven (1963-USA) Dir. Roger Corman
Starring: Vincent Price, Boris Karloff, Jack Nicholson and Peter Lorre.

**1/2

The Holy Trio of Ham and Cheese and more Ham is Price, Karloff and Lorre matching
wits in an overhauled version of Edgar Allen Poe's "The Raven". Written by the great Richard Matheson and directed by Corman, "The Raven" skips over the terror and veers
straight into comedy as Vincent Price plays a sorcerer who comes out of retirement to help the cursed Peter Lorre (in a bird's costume). Meanwhile in the shadows of a forbidden castle, Boris Karloff pulls the strings of a nonsenscal plot against them that also ensnares Price's daughter and Lorre's son played by a young Jack Nicholson. The entertainment comes mostly from the three veterans' playfulness and a great final magic duel that George Lucas may have nicked for his "Return of the Jedi's" finale.

The Wild Angels (1966-USA) Dir. Roger Corman
Starring Peter Fonda, Bruce Dern and Nancy Sinatra

**

The mold cast for Dennis Hopper's future smash-hit "Easy Rider" and the great "Vanishing Point", Corman's "The Wild Angels" roars on the screen with the 'assistance of the L.A. branch of the Hell's Angels'. Peter Fonda is the head of a biker gang that goes hunting in the desert for a stolen bike with distasterous results. Mostly a repetitive cycle of chases, fights and partying, "The Wild Angels" stands as a better, earlier, nihilistic version of the overrated "Easy Rider", Watch for the great backwards dolly-shot through a dive that may have given Scorsese ideas for "Mean Streets'" classic bar shot. While Corman makes great use of the grand Panavision format its a B-movie rosetta stone for American film before its last golden age.

The St.Valentine's Day Massacre (1967-USA) Dir. Roger Corman
Starring: Jason Robards, George Segal and Ralph Meeker

***1/2

An excellent, forgotten gangster film anchored by Robards's performance as the original Scarface, and the surprise of the festival for me. Approaching the Chicago massacre from a journalist's persepective, Corman successfully recreates the crimewave mentality of the Prohibition era with Robards's Al Capone pitted against Ralph Meeker's Bugsy Moran. Bullet-fast narration sets the tone as the film rolls towards its bloody end, with George Segal handing in his best work as a henchman, and a few great staccato gunfights. In an interview it was revealed that Orson Welles was once tipped to play Capone with Robards as Moran, but the studio shuffled the deck with the underwhelming Meeker. Regardless, its a joy to watch Capone chew on the scenery.

SUNDANCE PREP

For the first time Daily Film Dose will be covering the Sundance Film Festival. It’s the 25th year, and despite an attempted boycott and an economic downturn the Festival is going full speed ahead.

As usual the U.S. Dramatic Program is comprised of mostly premieres, showcasing a new crop of fresh perspectives on cinema. As with the Toronto International Film Festival I will be covering a mix of high profile star-driven films and some promising no name independent films.

Here’s a sampling of what you’ll see covered over the next 7 days:

Documentaries shine at Sundance, and this year is highlighted by “The September Issue”, R.J. Cutler’s documentary on Anna Wintour, that fashion publishing diva famously played by Meryl Streep in “The Devil Wears Prada.” Doug “Surfwise” Pray is back with “Art and Copy” about the effect of advertising on modern culture. “William Kunstler: Disturbing the Universe” tells the story one of high profile civil rights lawyer William Kunstler.

From the U.S. Drama Competition, there’s been surprisingly little buzz on Robert Siegel’s directorial debut, “Big Fan”. But this film is high on my hit list. If Robert Siegel rings a bell, that’s the talented scribe of “The Wrestler” and former editor in chief of ‘The Onion’. “Big Fan” was the spec script which drew Darren Aronofsky’s attention to Siegel. This low budget dark comedy is also low on the radar but with much potential to break out. Lee Daniels’ “Push: Based on a Novel by Sapphire” is being hyped by the Festival programmers as ‘setting a new standard for cinema of it’s kind.’ “Sin Nombre”, a Focus Features film, will appear to launch Cary Joji Fukunaga as a bold new filmmaker to watch. Festival head honcho Geoffrey Gilmour describes it as, “at once a love story and a chase film, a thrill ride and a vision of an apocalyptic hell.” And how about Marc Webb’s topsy turvy romance featuring and irresistible pairing of Joseph Gordon Levitt and Zooey Deschannel?

In the World Drama Competition how can I resist “The Clone Returns Home” a Japanese sci-fi flick with what's described as deep philosophical Solaris-like tones. The French/Liberian/Belgian co-pro “Johnny Mad Dog” piqued my interest as a potenial African “City of God”. And look out for my review of “Rudy Y Cursi” the reteaming of Gael Garcia Bernal and Diego Luna with their “Y Tu Mama Tambien” co-writer Carlos Cuaron – of yeah, Guillermo del Toro, Alejandro Gonzales Inarritu and Carlos’ bro Alfonso Cuaron produce.

And in the Park City at Midnight Program we’re promised some badass genre goodness from the Nazi zombies of “Dead Snow” to the Michael Jai White doing blackspoitation in “Black Dynamite” to the dark Hardy Boys meets American Pie comedy “Mystery Team.”

As well, look out for postings on my general impressions of this Sundance virgin’s first taste of the festival, and a number of filmmaker interviews. Enjoy.

Toronto After Dark Film Festival - LET THE RIGHT ONE IN

Let the Right One In (2008) dir. Tomas Alfredson
Starring: Kare Hedebrant, Lina Lenadersson, Per Ragnar, Henrik Dahl

**

One of the major buzz horror films this season is a peculiar Swedish vampire flick – “Let the Right One In”. Sweden’s not known for it’s horror films, but this one manages to take a familiar genre of teenage angst and vampirism and inject a thoroughly-skewed Scandanavian spin on the genre.

We’re in a small, depressed wintry Swedish town. Oskar is a lonely and shy pre-teen kid. The bullying he suffers at school has become so annoying he dreams of the day he gets to stab to death his abusers like a stuck pig. One day while Oskar is expressing his rage by stabbing a tree he meets an equally lonely girl, Eli. This is no ordinary girl though. She’s a vampire who loathes her existence and clings to Oskar to rekindle her once ordinary life. She’s attracted to both his timidity and his rage. Through Eli Oskar develops the courage to stand up to his enemies and claim his dignity.

Cudos to Alfredson who manages to breathe new life into the bloated vampire genre. He’s very sure not to make this a typical genre film by using a distinct visual style and pace. His frames are immaculately composed tableaus. No shot seems out of place, or wasted. Every camera movement is carefully executed.

Unfortunately his stylistic efforts also act as a crutch on the film. Pacing so unnaturally slow should be used sparingly to emphasize a scene or build up tension. As the audience we’re continually waiting for the shoe to drop, to pay off, but it never comes. It’s like persistent slow motion. Every shot has a laboured beginning middle and end. Dramatic pauses seem to last eons.

Perhaps the pacing is designed to mask the razor-thin plot, which if performed in regular speed is really about 30mins of screen material. Not much happens at all. There’s one so-called ‘plotpoint’ midway through the film when Oskar triumphantly fights back against the bullies. It’s a great moment, but in between this and the next moment of conflict for Oskar his character seems to be on pause for 45mins.

The trump card in Alfredson’s pocket is the climatic scene, which admittedly is, hands-down, bar-none, the stand-alone ‘scene of the year’. Alfredson crafts a tense confrontation between Oskar and the bullies in a vacant swimming pool late at night. In one of the most stunningly creative, disturbing and yet beautiful shots ever conceived in the horror genre Alfredson caps off his film with a bang.

Unfortunately the final scene is not enough to forgive the lengthy tedium of waiting we have to suffer to get to this point.

“Let the Right One In” has been winning awards and increasing it’s buzz over the past few months. It’s original and daring and stylistic and a refreshing change to the traditional vampire genre-film, and rightly deserves its attention. But beware of over-hype. “Let the Right One In” is art-horror film, with more art than horror.

CANNES 2008 REPORT Part II

The hardware has been handed out and here's the winners:


Palme D'Or - THE CLASS dir. Laurent Cante
Grand Prix - GOMORRA dir. Matteo Garrone
Jury Prize - IL DIVO dir. Giulio Andreotti
Best Director - Nuri Bilge Ceylan for THREE MONKEYS
Best Actor - Benecio Del Toro in CHE
Best Actress - Sandra Corveloni in LINHA DE PASSE
Best Screenplay - Luc and Jean-Pierre Dardenne for LORNA'S SILENCE
Special Jury Prize - Catherine Deneuve for her body of work
Special Jury Prize - Clint Eastwood for THE CHANGLING

Please read PART 1 of my report which covers the films from the first 6 days of the festival.

TWO LOVERS dir. James Gray

James Gray who took 7 years from “The Yards” to last year’s Cannes entry “We Own the Night”, is back one year later with “Two Lovers”. Gray has moved away from the crime genre, and crafted a touching relationship film about man who is love with two women – a good girl (Vinessa Shaw) and a bad girl (Gwyneth Paltrow). Anne Thompson of Variety calls it “a gem”. Variety’s Todd McCarthy calls it “An involving, ultimately touching romantic drama.” Though Allan Hunter of Screen Daily says, “it is well-crafted and ably acted but never especially moving and winds up feeling like something from the classier end of the American TV movie spectrum.” The old-fashioned nature of the film seems to be polarizing some people.

CHANGLING dir. Clint Eastwood
Special Jury Prize

Clint just can’t seem to do wrong, and he makes it look so easy. Clint’s new film is a 1920’s period film starring Angelina Jolie as a loner who fights against corruption amongst police and the courts. More praise from Todd McCarthy, who writes, “Changeling impressively continues Clint Eastwood's great run of ambitious late-career pictures.” Time’s Richard Corliss writes, “the movie is a companion piece to last year's Cannes entry A Mighty Heart, in which Jolie played the wife of kidnapped journalist Daniel Pearl - except that Changeling is far more taut, twisty and compelling.” Comparisons are already been made with “Million Dollar Baby” – good and bad – UK Guardian’s Xan Brooks writes, “It's a solid, confident, old-school studio picture that packs a few big emotional wallops, but it is also ponderous and self-important, with a surfeit of lead in its boots.”

DELTA dir. Kornel Mundruczo

Delta is an unabashed European art film from Hungarian director Mundruczo. A story of a man who returns home to the delta region he grew up in, where he will find romantic love with the sister he never knew. NY Times’ AO Scott finds it, “slow, difficult, formally austere,” but “a welcome antidote to the fast-moving, accessible movies that thrive in the sphere of commercial cinema.” Fabien Lemercier at Cineuropa writes “staggeringly beautiful from an aesthetic perspective, the film manages to captivate viewers despite its minimalist plot and dialogues.”

LA MUJER SIN CABEZA (THE HEADLESS WOMAN) dir. By Lucrecia Martel

"The Headless Woman" tells an intriguing story of a woman who thinks she ran something over on the highway. The event haunts her until she travels back to the site only to find a dead dog. The relief only last so long until a new gruesome discovery is revealed. The Boston Globe’s Ty Burr writes it “a minor but effective ‘Blow Up’”. Peter Bruenette of the Hollywood reporter comments on Ms. Martel’s direction, “she isa master of visual and aural technique, which is on full and splendid display.” Lee Marshall of Screen Daily isn’t impressed: “a dour tale of moral and social paralysis.”

CHE dir. Steven Soderbergh
Best Actor - Benecio Del Toro

Perhaps the most anticipated premiere was Steven Soderbergh’s 4 ½ opus on Che Guevera. The film is divided in two parts “The Guerilla” and “The Argentine” but at Cannes was screened as one entire film. Whatever people thought of watching a 4+ hour film, James Rocchi of Cinematical says , “what a rare pleasure it is to have a film (or films) that, in our box-office obsessed, event-movie, Oscar-craving age, is actually worth talking about on so many levels.” AO Scott (NY Times) is mostly ambivalent, “Che” itself is interesting, partly because it has the power to provoke some serious argument — about its own tactics and methods, as well as those of its subject.” Variety’s Todd McCarthy writes, “Unfortunately, Che doesn't feel epic - just long.” The Guardian’s Peter Bradshaw praises Benecio Del Toro’s performance, buts call the film, “a flawed masterpiece.”

ADORATION dir. Atom Egoyan
Winner of the Ecumenical Jury prize

Cannes’s Canadian regular, Atom Egoyan, was back with his 8th Cannes premiere. “Adoration” is a more intimate film than “Where The Truth Lies”, centering on a boy who reinvents himself as another person on the internet. Kim Voynar of Cinematical found the film “a beautifully evocative film, though some may find its convoluted storyline distracting.” Variety’s Justin Chang finds it “a very Egoyanesque miasma of elegantly fractured chronology and provocative ideas, this ambitious think-piece ultimately smothers its good intentions in didactic revelations.”

LA FRONTIÈRE DE L'AUBE (FRONTIER OF DAWN) dir. By Philippe Garrel

“Frontier of Dawn” is a familiar but peculiar love story about a married movie star who strikes up a passionate affair with a photographer who has been assigned to shoot her. Lisa Nesselson of Screen Daily finds it an “earnest, inherently divisive effort, lusciously photographed in black and white, is one of the weaker recent entries in Philippe Garrel's four decade career of bravely iconoclastic art films." Leslie Felperin (Variety) calls it "a risible slice of pretentious hokum.”

SYNECDOCHE, NEW YORK dir. Charlie Kaufman

It’s Charlie Kaufman’s first visit to Cannes, and I’m curious how the world press would react to his quirky sensibilities. This latest Kaufman adventure puts the audience in the mind of a theatre director (Philip Seymour Hoffman) whose personal life is in shambles, and who has a mysterious medical condition which finds his body’s automatic functions systematically shutting down. Wendy Idle at Times Online UK finds it ‘staggering’, though “a defiantly uncommercial movie - it's infuriatingly enigmatic, philosophical.” Todd McCarthy finds it “Unusual for a first film, the strangely titled opus feels more like a summation work, such as 8½ or especially All That Jazz. “Kaufman could use a Spike Jonze (less so a Michel Gondry) to rein in his indulgences, but this is a funny, self-lacerating film," blogs Ben Kenigsberg for Time Out Chicago.

IL DIVO dir. Paolo Sorrentino
Jury Prize

Il Divo is satirical biopic about Italian post-war politician Giulio Andreotti. Screen Daily’s Lee Marshall likes “Paolo Sorrentino's enjoyably original, lurid, sardonic political opera.” Jeffrey Wells of Hollywood Elsewhere writes, “I knew I was seeing something intensely audacious and stylistically exciting, but the political arena it depicts is so dry and complex and wholly-unto-itself that gradually the film makes you feel as if you're lying in an isolation tank."

MY MAGIC dir. By Eric Khoo

"My Magic" is another film about a man whose wife leaves him and finds solace in his work. This time protagonist Francis becomes a magician to reconnect with his son. The film received a 15min standing ovation after its premiere. Dan Fairnaru of Screen Daily called Eric Khoo an ‘acquired taste’ and in My Magic, “Khoo's usual minimalism here is pared down to a level where the direction almost appears non-existent.” There’s very little coverage of this film, which is the first film from Singapore accepted into competition, but more importantly was shot on a shoestring budget. Good on them.

ENTRE LES MURS (THE CLASS) dir. By Laurent Cantet
Palme D'Or

Laurent Cantet’s film takes us into the classroom of an unconventional teacher in a tough suburban Parisian high school. Timeout’s Geoff Andrew loves the film, “Everything rings absolutely true in this film, and everything is utterly engrossing from start to finish.” Justin Change of Variety finds it one of the most entertaining films at the festival this year, “the film exhilarates with its lively, authentic classroom banter while its emotional undercurrents build steadily but almost imperceptibly over a swift 129 minutes.”

PALERMO SHOOTING dir. Wim Wenders

Cannes favourite Wim Wenders closes off the competition slate with a story of a photographer who travels from Düsseldorf to Sicily and comes face to face with death as played by Dennis Hopper. James Rocchi at Cinematical says “it’s hardly the worst film I've ever seen at Cannes” but, “it's still a little sad to see a major filmmaker make such a series of major mistakes in the name of a fairly minor film.” Jonathan Romney at Screen Daily says, “the Palermo Shooting is a glossy travelogue-thriller with metaphysical pretentions, and one of the low points of this year's Cannes Competition.”

CANNES 2008 REPORT Part 1

We’re about half way through this year’s Cannes Film Festival. Even though I can't afford the ticket to Cannes myself, I feel as connected as ever through Skype's video calling association with the American Pavilion. Cannes has never been more accessible.

There hasn’t been any resounding or unanimous Palme D’Or buzz yet. Of course some of the higher profile entries such as Steven Soderbergh’s “Che” or Clint Eastwood’s “The Changling” hasn’t screened yet.

Here's a recap of the critical response to the first half of films screened:

BLINDNESS dir. Fernando Meirelles

Unfortunately “Blindness” didn’t receive the resounding unanimous acclaim that “The Constant Gardner” or “City of God” got. It’s a bold venture, filming the once thought unfilmable book by Jose Saramago about a future epidemic that blinds the entire population of the world, but Meirelles has higher expectations than most filmmakers. Cinematical’s James Rocchi sums up the film, as “a clear case of a film, and filmmaker, failing to hit the mark occasionally only because they've set the bar so high for themselves. Manohla Dargis of the New York Times, is more curt, referring to it as a “bad movie” in the tradition of bad Cannes opening films. Variety's Justin Chang finds it "an intermittently harrowing but diluted take on José Saramago's shattering novel. Rocchi also likens it to “a curious mix of highbrow literary aspirations and lowbrow genre fiction.” Blindness doesn’t appear to be a favourite for the weekend’s awards ceremony, but it’s still a highly anticipated fall/winter North American and international release.

LEONERA dir. Pablo Trapero

Argentine Pablo’s Trapero’s ‘women in prison’ film is causing a stir. “Leonera” is no exploitation film though. When a woman wakes up next to the dead body of her husband, she’s convicted and sent to prison. The twist is that she’s pregnant and locked up in a special ward with other new mothers. The prison doesn’t turn out to be camp cupcake though as we get to see the gritty horrors of a different kind of Third World jail. Deborah Young’s (Hollywood Reporter) bottom line reads, “powerful, emotional filmmaking and acting give a lift to the familiar women-in-prison film” and “… a blend of police procedural, documentary realism and engrossing drama.” The Guardian’s Xan Brooks is less enthusiastic, saying, “It wasn't bad: steroided social-realism with much rattling of bars, tooth-and-claw survival techniques and cat-fights aplenty.”

WALTZ WITH BASHIR dir. Ari Folman

After the success of “Persepolis” Cannesunveils another edgy political animated film from the Middle East. Ari Folman’s “Waltz With Bashir” is an Israeli film about a 1982 slaughter of Palestinian civilians in Lebanon. It’s a harrowing unconventional documentary told in “Waking Life”-style rotoscoped animation. Leslie Felperin at Variety says, “Although less immediately accessible than “Persepolis,” another mature-aud-skewed cartoon with which this is bound to be compared, “Bashir” could dance nimbly round arthouse niches offshore.” Dan Fainaru from Screen Daily, says, “it could easily turn out to be one of the most powerful statements of this Cannes.”

UN CONTE DE NOËL (A CHRISTMAS TALE) dir. Arnaud Desplechin

Arnaud Desplechin’s latest is a darkly comic film about a dysfunctional family reuniting years after the tragic death of their 4 year old child. Though it’s difficult to find humour in such seemingly depressing material, Kim Voynar of Cinematical says “Desplechin keeps the tone light, infusing the drama with humor in the most unexpected places.” Derek Elley of Variety is less enthused, saying, “Performances and direction, rather than the yards of inconclusive dialogue, are what keep Arnaud Desplechin’s ‘A Christmas Tale’ from curdling in its own juices.” But Andrew O’Hehir of Salon calls it “a marvelously rich visual, intellectual and emotional experience, one that I expect will grow deeper with repeat viewings.”

ÜÇ MAYMUN (THREE MONKEYS) dir. Nuri Bilge Ceylan
Winner of Best Director

“Three Monkeys” is creating some major buzz after the first weekend. This Turkish film from Nuri Bilge Ceylan (“Uzak” and “Climate”) sounds like one of those trainwreck dramas about ordinary people caught making bad decisions under extreme duress. The film starts when a politician commits a hit and run. He makes a deal with his longtime driver to take the fall for the crime in exchange for a lot of money plus paying his salary to his wife and child while in prison. This bad decision leads to a downward spiral of consequential actions. “Three Monkeys” reminded Jeffrey Wells (Hollywood Elsewhere) of last year’s Palm D’Or winner “Four Months, Three Weeks and Two Days.” Wells isn’t sure it’s a masterpiece, but was clear saw “an exceptional, very powerful, high-end thing.” Wells says, in terms of a potential award winner, “Moral fortitude, razor-sharp vision and stylistic sure-footedness of this calibre are impossible to ignore.” Jonathan Romney of Screen Daily says “standard pulp-thriller tropes are tantalisingly spun out for the first hour, but the slyness of the narrative approach only becomes fully apparent after that.”

LINHA DE PASSE dir. Walter Salles, Daniela Thomas
Winner of Best Actress - Sandra Corveloni

With “Linha de Passe” Walter Salles (and his co-director Daniela Thomas) return to a familiar urban Brazilian story which continues their earlier saga “Foreign Land” 12 years ago. “Passe” takes place in the overpopulated outskirts of Sao Paulo, and depicts in neo-realist style, a summer in the life of a pregnant mother and her three kids. Child actor Kaique de Jesus Santos has apparently put in a remarkable performance. Deborah Young of the Hollywood Reporter says, it won’t get the broad audience of “The Motorcycle Diaries”, but “it has a great deal of strength and sincerity going for it, which should attract the kind of audiences who admired the sociological line of Salles' "Central Station.” Todd McCarthy (Variety) concurs and says Salles/Thomas’ “engrossing if not gripping effort possesses the quality and seriousness to make limited inroads on the international art circuit.” Some are on the fence though, like Anthony Kaufman (IndieWire), calling it “an accomplished, though unremarkable competition film that never rises above its familiar tale of a poverty-stricken family.”

ER SHI SI CHENG JI (24 CITY) dir. Zhangke Jia

“24 City” is a documentary/drama hybrid which tells the story of a dying Chinese aeronautics factory and how it’s demise changes the fortunes of its workers. It’s an unconventional doc and drama. Maggie Lee says ”through talking heads and wordless images exclusively, the documentary strain prevails to simple, yet emotionally reverberating effect. IndieWire’s Anthony Kaufman concurs saying, “Jia's masterful aesthetic remains consistent, mixing documentary and fiction with intriguing results.” With the recent tragic earthquakes in China Jia’s film seems to provide tragic timeliness and should put the film into a greater historical context.”

GOMORRA dir. Matteo Garrone
Winner of the Grand Prix

Garrone’s new film “Gomorra” is a film about Italian organized crime that, according to Natasha Senjanovic of the Hollywood Reporter, “goes beyond Tarantino's gratuitous violence and even Scorsese's Hollywood sensibility in depicting the everyday reality of organized crime's foot soldiers.” The film centres around five stories within the Neopolitan mafia organization. Lee Marshall at Green Cine writes, “it’s probably the most authentic and unsentimental mafia movie ever to come out of Italy… a courageous, bruising and harrowing ride.” Andrew O’Hehir (Salon) offers more praise, “a dynamite reinvention of the Italian Mafioso movie as both a multileveled social melodrama and an Antonioni-style nihilistic contemplation.” With the genre elements familiar to North American audiences watch for this film to make a late-Oscar season splash.

SERBIS dir. Brillante Mendoza

One of the films generating a lot of talk is this Filipino film about a family living in a porn movie theatre. “Serbis” looks a bit edgier than “Cinema Paradiso” though, Jay Weissberg of Variety writes, “Explicit fellatio, blocked toilets and a crudely exploded ass-cheek boil form some of the more unsavory elements of “Serbis,” Brillante Mendoza’s latest opus that revels in shock value.” Kim Voynar of Cinematical walked out of the theatre calling the film “gratuitous yuckiness”.

LE SILENCE DE LORNA (LORNA’S SILENCE) dir. The Dardennes Bros
Winner of Best Screenplay - Luc and Jean-Pierre Dardenne

Les Bros Dardennes (two-time Palm D’Or winners) are back with another film about the urban Belgian underclass. This time we observe a story about an arranged marriage of an illegal immigrant from Albania to a drug addict in order to obtain Belgian citizenship. It’s hit and miss for Mike Goodridge of Screen Daily, “’Lorna’s Silence’ starts as rivetingly as any of their films and then, an hour in, spins into an unexpected and unsatisfying direction.” Justin Chang doesn’t mind the change of pace, saying, “Dardenne brothers make some slight adjustments to their formula but maintain their unblinking commitment to human nature and the possibility of grace in lowly circumstances…” Jeffrey Wells over at Hollywood Elsewhere hated it, saying, “I felt strongly irked by the Dardenne brothers' screenplay. Which means, despite the feeling and focus that went into it, that I didn't care for the film. At all.”

Watch for Part II this time next week...

HOT DOCS - "Planet Bboy"

Planet B-Boy (2008) dir. Benson Lee
Documentary

***1/2

There are four core elements to the influential art form known as Hip-Hop:  Rap, DJing, Graffiti, and Bboying (aka breakdancing). Since the late 70’s/early 80’s Rap has come to dominate Hip-Hop leaving the other elements behind and out of the pop culture loop. And while Rap has become a huge money making and marketing machine, the dance form of the culture - Bboying - has gone stayed true to its roots.

Benson Lee’s exhilarating documentary reveals to the average layman the explosive worldwide phenomenon of the underground bboying scene and how the passion for this highly expressive form of art unites youth around the world.

At the top Lee gets the housekeeping done first and quickly. In a fast-paced 5 mins sequence Lee quickly summarizes comprehensively the history of bboying from its origins and influences to its status today. Lee then gets down to the real showcase and the focal point of the film - the annual 'Battle of the Year' competition. Every year Germany holds a bboying competition which sees the 18 of baddest international crews battle it out to be the best in the world. 

Lee criss-crosses the globe at breakneck speed to cover four of the most promising crews competing - Korea, Japan, France, U.S. Each of the dancers from the crews become the characters in the film. The more we learn about the backgrounds of the dancers the more Lee reveals their commonality across their different cultures. Whether it’s a Korean teen who continually seeks the approval of his single father, or a 12 year old French boy whose discovers her mother’s latent racism, Lee, in humourous and emotional ways, shows how the passion to dance, compete, and entertain allow them to rise above the poverty, discrimination or domestic problems in their lives.

In addition to these great characters, Lee captures some of the most phenomenal dancing you will ever see – period. The Battle of the Year begins with a choreography round where the crews perform a routine as a group. As each crew takes the stage we get to witness astounding feats of acrobatics, complex leg, arms and body movements and uniquely creative choreography. The final round is the traditional crew vs. crew battle. The two crews that compete in the end go through a series of jaw-dropping one-manships that had the Hot Docs audience shaking their heads in unison. The results best anything seen on "Dancing With the Stars".

So if bboying is so much fun to watch, why hasn't television hasn’t tapped into this. The dance is inherently a freestyle form of expression, and without traditional rules and conventions mainstream media has never been able to find a way to bottle and package this energy. But the dancers wouldn't have it any other way. Bboys continually push their bodies and minds to the limit because there is no rulebook, no manual to learn from, no school to teach it. It’s still a self-taught discipline and an unruly artistic force of nature.

Go and see this film, it’s currently playing in selected cities in the U.S. and in Canada in May.

Planet B-Boy

HOT DOCS 2008 - "Song Sung Blue"

Song Sung Blue (2008) dir. Greg Kohs
Documentary

**

Mike and Claire Sardina are easy targets for documentary treatment. Over the past 17 years the duo have become local Milwaukee celebs performing as a Neil Diamond/Patsy Cline cover band under the moniker “Lighting and Thunder”. Both are those celebrity-wannabes that live for the limelight no matter how dull or dim that light is. The Milwaukee cover band scene is small enough but their semi-cult following has given them dreams of grandeur.

The duo reaches their height of success when they play to over 30,000 people at a Pearl Jam concert with Eddie Vedder. But when a random accident cripples Claire, their energy to perform is diffused causing a serious rupture in their domestic bliss. With the band defunct Mike and Claire’s lives devolve into passionless existence. The film goes through the usual rise and fall and rise again path.

Its people like Mike and Claire that made the wonderful HBO series “Flight of the Conchords” so enjoyable. Lighting and Thunder (their given names are rarely used) are like Jemaine and Bret - they are so naïve to the realities of show business, yet they perform every show with every ounce of their limited talents. Usually these average Joes with hearts of gold makes for good viewing, and some rave reviews would suggest I'm in the minority, but Lighting and Thunder, their joie de vivre aside, are mildly interesting people at best.

Director Greg Kohs is a little sloppy in his storytelling, the film is cut together with a vast amount of what looks like home video footage shot by either Lighting, Thunder or their kids. Greg never establishes a timeline. And so the only reference to date becomes their fashion and hairstyles. Eddie Vedder’s appearance grounds the backstory to the mid 90’s, other than that is a slightly confusing journey.

Director Kuhs over-embellishes the ugliness of the film. The opening scene features Mike’s crotch and his droopy briefs framed as he sets up the camcorder for a confession. He then puts his face so close to the lens his black pores look like saucers. It’s just one example of many where Kuhs consciously uses the ugliest footage of his characters to generate either humour or sympathy. His mixture of tape quality ranges from Americas Funniest Home Videos rejected footage to passable quality sit down interviews. In the second half of the film Kuhs eats up screen time shooting lengthy and banal kitchen conversations with the Sardina family. Claire’s kids become key characters as the film moves along but their actions only adds to the exploited ugliness of small town America. Kuhs even shows us the screaming birth footage of Claire’s soon-to-be-given-up-for-adoption granddaughter.

All of this extraneous footage had me asking why? Kuhs seems to be passing time to get to his impossibly poignant finale when Eddie Vedder enters the saga once again with a gift which couldn’t have been written better in a feature film. This great life-fulfilling moment almost makes this long ugly journey worth it.

HOT DOCS 2008 - "All Together Now"

All Together Now (2008) dir. Adrian Wills
Documentary

***1/2

Toronto's Hot Docs Documentary Film Festival is underway, this is the first of several reviews over the next week

One of the hottest attractions in Las Vegas right now is the Cirque du Soleil show, “Love”, a Beatles-inspired extravaganza of music, light and colour. While documenting the staging of the show, Canadian filmmaker Adrian Wills is somehow allowed unprecedented access to the world’s most spectacular performance team and the world’s most legendary band. With the access, time and tools at his disposable Wills perfectly visualizes the marrying of these great artists with thoroughly entertaining results.

Talking head interviews, shot in crisp and clean High Definition, are combined with verite camera footage backstage of the Cirque production to tell the story of how these two forces got together. We learn it was the brainchild of the late George Harrison who first approached Cirque founder Guy Laliberté. Since the Beatles music is so preciously handled the Cirque artists inevitably have to get approval of the Beatles themselves and their surviving families. Paul, Ringo, Yoko Ono and Harrison’s widow Olivia,and  producer George Martin all become intimately involved in the show. In fact Martin and his son Giles go back into the studio and remix all the songs from scratch to create a 'live-like' experience specifically for the show.

Early on the Cirque producers fear the committee approach might cause more harm than good and so the whole show is approached with some trepidation. If anything is missing from the film it's the drama and tension which invariable would come from the butting of artistic heads. But surprisingly there is very little conflict. At one point Yoko Ono gives some creative feedback, which prompts director Dominic Champagne to proclaim that Yoko hates it, but other than that it’s smooth sailing. The film never turns into a puff piece though. Beyond the spectacle, it's a story of family and how the business of the Beatles has been passed down to the next generation. Wills concentrates of his characters despite them being some of the most familiar people in the world. Is there anything to know about the Paul or Ringo we haven’t learned in countless interviews, books, or documentaries? No, but we get to hear some of the wonderful anecdotal stories straight from the horses mouth often in intimate unencumbered settings.

With the aid of some long lenses and great microphone placement, Wills is both invisible and omnipresent at the same time - fly-on-the wall filmmaking at it’s best. Wills catches McCartney reminiscing with Ringo and George Martin alone during rehearsals. Wills zooms in to catch George Martin 'air-conducting' his own music while hearing the first test sound mix in the theatre. We even catch Paul singing along to his own songs!

Wills give the audience exactly what they want to see. In the Hot Docs Q&A he explains that the film wouldn't be worth doing unless he got Paul, Ringo, Yoko Ono, Olivia Harrison and George Martin involved. Everyone is there and Wills gives everyone ample screentime. We also get to see a great summarized version of the final stage performance. The film 10 minutes is a condensed version of the show using several camera angles, intercut with Paul and Ringo’s reactions to the show.

But Wills' secret weapon which can do him no wrong is the Beatles’ music, which is wall-to-wall throughout the film. The music still gives me chills when I hear certain songs, but when combined with the awesome visual beauty of the Cirque du Soleil artistry it makes for an awe-inspiring experience. Enjoy.

TORONTO AFTER DARK FESTIVAL #3: Wolfhound

Wolfhound (2007) dir. Nikolai Lebedev
Starring: Aleksandr Bukharov, Oksana Akinshina, Aleksandr Domogarov, Igor Petrenko

***1/2

For me, no one does melodrama better than the Russians. Perhaps it’s the sheer size and uncompromising environment that brings out the heart and soul of the people from their art. Though it’s no “War and Peace”, or “Doctor Zhivago” “Wolfhound” – a large scale sword and sorcery fantasy is in the tradition of these “big” stories. Billed as “Russia’s” “Lord of the Rings”, it comes close to being one of the best in the genre of medieval fantasy.

Having just seen and given two stars to Uwe Boll’s take on sword and sorcery – “In the Name of the King” with Jason Statham, “Wolfhound” towers over that film and stomps on it like a blow from a blunt mace to the head. Speaking of blunt maces to the head, the film owes a lot to “Braveheart”. The opening sequence establishes the lead character’s journey, when we see in flashback our hero’s innocent farming parents brutally murdered right in front of the child’s young eyes. Like William Wallace after his new bride is murdered, “Wolfhound” makes it his lifelong mission to avenge their deaths.

When he takes down his first victim in a violent and brutal fight in a castle, he takes with him a female tagalong (a traditional element of the genre) Princess Helen, a Russian Goddess who will soon be crowned Queen of land. Wolfhound and Helen are joined in their quest by a blind wizard and a few other warriors, slaves and scholars. Oh, I forgot Wolfhound’s pet bat as his sidekick – a definite first for the genre. Like R2D2 or Twinkle Bell his bat is his trusted ally and comes to his aide on a number of occasions. It’s corny, but each and every time it put a childlike smile to my face. I won’t go into detail about the quest and the special rock-like key that supposed to open the gates of Callidor (or something like that). There’s also a love story between the scarred warrior Wolfhound and the Princess. Typically her hand is already taken by another prince, but Wolfhound’s sensitive power is able to win her love. It's all food for the sweeping majesty and melodrama of the genre.

“Wolfhound” apparently had the largest post-Soviet budget for a film. And it’s on the screen. The special effects are mostly invisible to the eye. Even though people told me the bat was CGI, I still couldn’t tell. The film also has an aged, 80’s feel to it. Like 80’s classics “The Sword and the Sorcerer” or “Flesh and Blood”. Trust me, “Wolfhound” is not a nostalgia-fest, it’s taken very seriously and there’s ample bucks on screen to make it look believable.

As director, I don’t know who this Nikolai Lebedev guy is, but he’s definitely got some cinematic chutzpah. There’s at least 6 to 8 awesome sequences that get the blood pumping and adrenaline flowing. There’s a great sequence intercutting three transition scenes – the Princess’ coronation, the evil lord’s preparations for battle, and ceremonial goat killing – set to a heart pounding drum score. Lebedez turns what could have been a perfunctory montage scene into fun music video style exercise. There’s great battle between “Wolfhound” and a lifelike white fog that’s one of the more creative action sequences I’ve seen in a while. Wolf’s final battle against the tornado rock creature has certain biblical allegories and Lebedev’s framing of the gothic imagery feels like a Wagner score put to life.

Lebedev is clearly steeped in the cinematic fantasy and action cinema. There’s lot of “Excalibur”, “Braveheart”, “Gladiator”, “Lord of the Rings”, and a subtle dose of “Raiders of the Lost”. Though there’s a lot Spielbergian camera movements, it’s the attitude and joyful cinematic tone of Indiana Jones that really shines through.

My pals whom I saw the film with complained about its corniness. Indeed the love story and Wolfhound’s overly dramatic arc of revenge moves well into melodrama, but it’s a genre film, and though it may not match “Lord of the Rings”, there’s plenty of room at the top to make it worthy companion film. The Russians wear their hearts on their sleeves and considering their history of pain and suffering, and the damned cold weather, they are allowed to rejoice loud and grandiose as they want. I'll always listen. Enjoy.

PS I don't know when this film will get a North American release. If anyone has any info, please send a comment.

TORONTO AFTER DARK FESTIVAL #2: In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale

In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale (2007) dir. Uwe Boll
Starring: Jason Statham, Ray Liotta, Ron Perlman, John Rhys-Davies, Matthew Lillard, Burt Reynolds

**1/2

It was a fun screening last night with the infamous Uwe “Bloodrayne” Boll present in the audience. “In the Name of the King” is being billed as Uwe Boll’s largest budget to date, conspicuously leaving out the quality of the film. As a piece of adventure fantasy cinema the film is fantastic, but it’s also hampered by easily some of the worst performances this year. With an After Dark Festival audience it was terrific night out, but when it comes to competing with regular weekend box-office audiences that’s a different story.

The crowd was indeed primed to watch a Uwe Boll film. Mr. Boll’s humourous self-effacing introduction gave us permission to laugh at the bad parts and cheer the good parts. The story is typical of the genre. The evil sorcerer Gallian (Ray Liotta) has created an army of Krugs (like LOTR’s Orcs), laid siege to the land and taken over the Kingdom of his uncle King Konreid (Burt Reynolds). Jason Statham plays a humble farmer named Farmer (seriously) turned reluctant hero who summons latent but powerful fighting skills in order to rescue his kidnapped wife.

Farmer is joined by his mentor Norick (Ron Perlman) and his brother-in-law Bastian (Will Sanderson). Along the way Farmer discovers some secrets about his association with King Konreid and must reconcile the needs of the people with his own desire to save his wife. Much sword fighting, horse riding, magic conjuring ensues in this fun “Lord of the Rings” knock off.

The film looks fantastic, and though the fighting is 100% bloodless Boll and martial arts expert Siu-Tung Ching (of the Zhang Zimou films) choreograph some terrific epic action scenes. The film has an aged sepia-toned quality to it –unpolished and raw, like an untimed one-light transfer from the cut negative. Ironically it was refreshing to see a film without the dousing of an over-processed colour palette and digital effects.

Burt Reynolds’ performance was so bad every time he entered a scene he drew fits of laughter from the audience, and even more when Boll cut to the close-ups of his obviously face-lifted face. In fact, Jason Statham deserves an award for keeping a straight face through Reynolds’ bedside death scene, which is drawn out to a magnificent five minutes of agony. As mentioned, with the jazzed After Dark audience the scene drew thunderous applause.

Also turning in over-the-top performances are Ray Liotta at his maniacal best as the evil scorceror, and Matthew Lillard hamming it up as Konreid’s snot-nosed delinquent nephew and heir-to-the-throne. The rest of the cast knows their place in this expensive b-movie realm as well. Leelee Sobieski is comfortable saying the bad dialogue, as is Clare Forlani. Ron Perlman is perfectly cast and is at his grizzly best. Brian J. White also keeps a straight face and turns in a noble performance as the leader of the King’s army. He makes a strong case to be a future action star. But the film is all about Jason Statham’s star persona, and he delivers with great action chutzpah. Every leap, sword swipe, and leg slash is matched with a snarling squinting stare. Few actors today could do this role better than he.

The film has the honour of being part Canadian and being filmed in the glorious Rocky Mountains of B.C. (eat your heart out New Zealand). While it’s certainly no “Lord of the Rings” Boll has turned in a decent part-action film, part unintentional comedy, which deserves to be in the “so bad it’s good” column. Enjoy.

P.S. The film will be released in U.S. and Canada in Jan 2008.

Here’s a cool trailer to keep you going till then:

TORONTO AFTER DARK FESTIVAL #1: Mulberry Street

Mulberry Street (2007) dir. Jim Mickle
Starring: Nick Damici, Antone Pagan, Sarah Dickinson

***

Opening the ‘Toronto After Dark Film Festival’ last night was the acclaimed New York City zombie film “Mulberry Street”. When an infestation of half-rat half-man zombies take over Manhattan, a group of lowly apartment building tenants including a former boxer, a drag queen and a war veteran form an unlikely bond to fight off the predators. It’s a humorous logline, but the film is a seriously intense urban action zombie film in the tradition of “28 Days Later”.
The opening establishes a group of well-meaning New York City working class residents of a condemned apartment building slated for demolition. Before that happens, some of the feral rats also inhabiting the building start exhibiting more than the usual belligerent behaviour. When a rat takes a chunk out of the arm of one of the residents, he becomes infected with a new virus that will soon turn him into a rat zombie. Of course, where’s there’s one rat zombie there 10 more. And so it doesn’t take long for Manhattan to turn into a rat-zombie war zone.

In the building the fight is led by former boxer Clutch (Nick Damici) who is joined by Drag Queen Coco (Ron Brice) and a group of unlikely working class heroes. Clutch’s paternal instincts kick in and he becomes the Romero-like hero of the building. Meanwhile, in another part of the city Clutch’s daughter Casey (Kim Blair) has returned home from a tour in Iraq to be with her Father. She is forced to fight her way into the city to be reunited with her long lost father. The reunion is bittersweet as more death and bloodshed soon follow.

The film is played completely straight with little overt humour, though I giggled at some of the creative beatings from Clutch and his comrades-in-arms. There are no guns in the film; instead fists are the weapons of choice. Rat-zombies are punched to a pulp and thrown around like rag dolls. The hook of the film seems to be the introduction of the New York City rat into the zombie world. It sounds great on paper, but apart from catching a glimpse of a few prosthetic noses in some of the shots, the enemies are just flesh-eating zombies – plain and simple.

Jim Mickle keeps his camera moving and cutting at a frantic pace. His staccato shutter effect mimics the visual techniques in “28 Days Later”. In fact, the tone of Danny Boyle’s film is all over this film. Mickle uses an ambient feedback music score that Boyle used to punctuate his emotion beats in “28 Days Later”. Mickles overuses this technique and through repetitiveness, unfortunately it loses its impact. There’s about 6 or 7 action sequences with muted location sound and amplified ambient feedback. Mickle seems infatuated with it.

I’m being a little tough on the film, because considering the zero-budget the filmmakers had to work with, it’s a remarkable tough, gritty and intense film. When the characters finally get together at the end there’s a brief moment of calm when Clutch and Casey realize they’re a family together under the most extreme of circumstances. Mickle knows his film is about his characters, not the effects, or the action or the bloodletting.

One major distraction I had with the screening was the yucky full frame letterboxed digital projection. The colours were muted and dull and the grainy dark images which dominated the entire film only made more obvious the film’s no-budget. It’s a shame because under proper projection conditions – ie. maybe a print transfer, or a ‘Christie’ digital machine the film could have looked much better. Instead we were watching a giant television screen.

This is just part one of a few more After Dark Reviews of some of the best under-the-radar horror and fantasy films coming to your local theatre, underground video store, or Bit Torrent queue list. Enjoy.

TIFF REPORT #13 - No Country For Old Men

No Country for Old Men (dir by Joel and Ethan Coen) 2007
Starring: Josh Brolin, Javier Bardem, Tommy Lee Jones, Kelly MacDonald

****

Guest review by Blair Stewart

Here's a last Toronto review to come your way. It's the most buzzed about film, Coen's instant classic - "No Country For Old Men".

A mean son-of-a-bitch of a film, the Coen brothers have shaken off the light-weight doldrums of "Intolerable Cruelty" and "The Ladykillers" for a return to their "Blood Simple" roots with an adaptation of Cormac McCarthy's neo-western "No Country for Old Men".

Laconic Vietnam veteran Moss (Josh Brolin) is out hunting antelope in the backcountry of early 80's West Texas when he discovers the remains of a Mexican drug deal turned "colossal goat-fuck" as one character puts it mildly. Finding $2 million convinces him to pack up his little lady (Kelly Macdonald) and leave his trailer park existence behind for the open road, with some help from the remaining drug dealers and an angel of death embodied by Javier Bardem nipping as his heels. Meanwhile, Tommy Lee Jones is Sherriff
Ed Tom Bell, cleaning up their messes and anticipating their next moves.

A relentless thriller that curls and doubles-back on itself like a desert snake, "No Country for Old Men" strength comes from its unpredictable plot shifts, unconventional casting, awe-inspiring bloodlust (Bardem mows down half of the entire cast, and would make mincemeat of Hannibal Lector), and dry, brittle Texas dialogue.

This is return to form for the Coens after their recent audience-friendly work, the characters have been tripped of caricature and the humour is shaded with misery, hopefully a sign of maturity in their subsequent work, like the impact of "The Unforgiven" on Clint Eastwood's as a director. Highly recommended, just be sure to shield your eyes.

TIFF REPORT #12 - With Your Permission

With Your Permission (2007) dir. Paprika Steen
Starring: Lars Brygmann, Sidse Babett Knudsen, Søren Pilmark, Rasmus Bjerg, Nicolaj Kopernikus

***

I’m confident enough to say Denmark’s Anders Thomas Jensen is the best screenwriter working in the world today. His quantity and quality of work has been consistent for almost 10 years. He’s can write dark brooding character films such as “After the Wedding” and “Brothers” as well as wildly hilarious comedies, “The Green Butchers”, “Adam’s Apples”. Therefore it’s no surprise that “With Your Permission” is a late festival gem. It’s a wicked black comedy about a n’er do well restaurant manager whose being physically abused by his overbearing wife and seeks solace with group therapy. Only the Danes could find humour in spousal abuse and make it easily translatable to American audiences.

Jan (Lars Brygmann) is a pathetic man. Everyday he shows up to his ferry restaurant job with a new bruise or scar from the frequent beatings from his wife. He is a failed opera singer who developed tinnatus and thus had to abandon his artistic career. He has taken his own personal misery out on his wife (also a former opera singer) by not letting her pursue her own career. He also takes out his aggression on his staff and customers on the ferry – and in one funny scene calls the police when a customer takes a fry from her husband’s meal without paying for the buffet plate.

Jan is instructed to go to therapy to seek help. When he shows up in the first session, there’s only two other men in the room – both of whom are tough burly car mechanics who beat their wives. Jan feels shame for his own plight, and through peer pressure, pretends to be a wife-beater as well just to fit in. This first lie begets more lies which compound on top of each other thereby worsening in his situation. When Jan’s wife Bente (Sidse Babett Knudsen) gets a part in ‘La Boehme’ his jealousy fuels further despair. With no other options Jan is forced to go to extreme measures to relieve himself of the sorrows in his life.

Writer Anders Thomas Jensen and director Paprika Steen start out by drawing Jan with superb clarity. Though his hairdo and moustache makes him look like a 1970’s Dennis Weaver, he’s not caricature. He’s both meek and cruel at the same time. At first we feel sorry for Jan and his subordinate relationship with his wife, but then as backstories are revealed, specifically in a well-written and acted dinner table scene, roles are reversed and our sympathies change. Two of the highlights of the film are Jan’s fellow therapy clients, Alf and Rudy, who attach themselves to Jan and Bente and give us the absurdly violent elements that is Jensen’s hallmark. Jan, Alf and Rudy first bond over their mutual penchant for spousal abuse, and at one point they violently beat up a man who confronts a nervous Jan in a park. Alf and Rudy change over the course of the film as well and eventually develop an odd three-way platonic relationship with Bente which further alienates Jan.

Sidse Babett Knudsen, who was seen last in “After the Wedding”, is a wonderful actress. Her black hair and piercing blue eyes make her a striking actress to look at, and she translates the same intensity from “After the Wedding” to this film with ease. Festival Programmer Steve Gravestock told us before the screening Steen couldn’t be there because she was directing Knudsen in an adaptation of “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf”. I can’t wait to see that – she’s would do an excellent Elizabeth Taylor.

The film has much in common with “Fargo”, both move fluidly from black comedy, to violent comedy, to poignant drama. Though “With Your Permission” ends with a Garry Marshall-like finale, this doesn’t detract from the overall tone, in fact, it adds to the absurdity of it all - two people who have spent the entire film physically and mentally abusing each other do find love and happiness in the end. “With Your Permission” is another score for Jensen and the always-interesting Danish cinema. I wish we could do that here in Canada. Enjoy

P.S. Don’t forget to check out Jensen’s other comedies, “Adam’s Apples” and “The Green Butchers”.

TIFF REPORT #11 - Before the Devil Knows You're Dead

Before the Devil Knows Your Dead (2007) dir. Sidney Lumet
Starring: Philip Seymour Hoffman, Ethan Hawke, Albert Finney, Marissa Tomei

**

Sidney “Serpico” Lumet hasn’t made a good film in 20 years (“Running on Empty”?) but from the premise and cast I was hoping for a return to form. The premise is intriguing as hell – a two troubled brothers pull off a heist of their parents’ jewelry store, but inadvertently kill their own mother. The action sets off a firestorm of familial bad blood and Shakespearean-like tragedy. Unfortunately “Before the Devil Knows Your Dead” is not a return to form, it’s a terribly overwrought, implausible, overproduced, overacted melodrama without an ounce of truth.

The film opens with the jewelry heist. A masked man robs a kindly old lady of her store of jewels. The woman surprisingly fights back and winds up getting shot and killed. The guy driving the car, Hank, (Ethan Hawke) is shocked to see the ‘easy score’ turn bloody. In the next scene, we flashback a few days before to meet Hank and his family, when it’s revealed that the store owner was in fact Hank’s mother. The film moves back and forth across the days before and after the heist to tell us how it all shook down. Four days before, Hank’s ball-breaking arrogant brother Andy (Philip Seymour Hoffman) posits the plan to rob their parent's store to his younger brother. Both brothers are on the verge of crackling under social and financial pressures and appear to be living depressed, uneventful lives. Thinking it’s a victimless crime and their parents secure through insurance, Hank agrees to do the deed, the results of which we know already from the opening scene.

Hank and Andy’s father Charles (Albert Finney), frustrated with the ineffectual police investigation takes it upon himself to find the killer – not knowing he’s looking for his own sons. As the boys desperately try to hide their tracks, Hank spins out of control, turning sadistic and dangerous. The three men eventually collide with tragic consequences.

“Before the Devil Knows Your Dead” is a good film gone bad. Despite a talented cast and once talented director, the film sounds better on paper than on the screen. Philip Seymour Hoffman’s character is unrelatable as a human being. We first see him making mad animalistic love to his wife (Marissa Tomei), then having sweet modest pillow talk afterwards. But after this first scene he is a crazed maddog of a character from then on. His proposal to his brother is completely mishandled – the devilish unemotional sneer he emotes while telling his brother to rob their own parents is unnecessary and unbelievable. Why the pair of brothers couldn’t simply ask their parents for some money is a question never raised. Someone missed the boat here, because there’s a backstory to be explored as to how a father could raise their children to commit such a heinous act. The proposition is told to us so quick and early in the story we never get to ponder the extremity of their situation – and ask, ‘is this the only option for the boys?’

I suspect these issues were never answered in the script and as a result Lumet compensates by giving us some cinematic gymnastics to distract our attention. First, he jumbles the timeline, flashing forward and back in typical over-used Steven Soderbergh/ Quentin Tarantino fashion. Unfortunately the jumping around doesn’t heighten the drama or compliment the story. It’s artificial and distracting. Secondly, the performances are surprisingly weak. Philip Seymour Hoffman is over-the-top and scene-chewing. He’s so sadistic, cruel and dispassionate he’s a bad guy drawn from the action film genre. Thirdly Lumet distracts us by making Marissa Tomei strip down in the majority of her scenes. I definitely counted the first three scenes with her were played either topless or buck naked. She’s a fine woman to look at, don’t get me wrong, but it's too exploitive for a serious film.

Albert Finney used to be a great actor, but he is too old, shaky and lost in his role as the vigilante father. It’s a minor quibble, but Finney could not close his mouth in the film. Whenever he’s onscreen, his mouth is gaping wide open which makes him look like he’s constantly gasping for air. His actions in the final moments of the film seem tacked on in a conscious effort to be shocking. I just rolled my eyes and said – "nice try Sidney, you can’t fool me, this film is not profound, nor tragic - just overwrought, manipulative and unbelievable."

TIFF REPORT #10 - Le Scaphandre et le Papillon

Le Scaphandre et le Papillon (2007) dir. Julian Schnabel
Starring: Mathieu Amalric, Marie-Josée Croze, Emmanuelle Seigner, Max von Sydow

****

“Le Scaphandre et le Papillon” aka “The Diving Bell and the Butterfly” is a fabulous film about former editor of “ELLE”, Jean-Dominique Bauby, who was rendered paralyzed from a tragic brain aneurism, and whose only way of communicating was through one blinking eye. The film premiered at Cannes earlier this year and has recently made its North American debut, here at the Toronto International Film Festival. It’s one of the best films of the year.

Through a fractured point of view we are behind the eyes of Jean-Dominique Bauby who has suddenly woken up in a hospital room and realized he is completely paralyzed. We can see the doctors and nurses trying to communicate, but Jean-Do can’t respond. He is told he suffered a brain aneurism and will now have to live the rest of his life completely paralyzed. The lovely nurses slowly teach Jean how to communicate by blinking his one eye. They help Jean spell out each word by reading aloud the letters in the alphabet in order of their most popular usage – ie. E, S, A, R, I etc. By blinking at each letter Jean can spell out his thoughts.

Before the aneurism Jean was contracted with his publisher to write a book. He boldly honours that agreemeent and takes on the gargantuan task of writing a novel, which gives him the joie de vivre to carry on with life despite his disability. But even with his affliction he can’t escape the troubles of his past life. Jean still has trouble communicating with his father (Max Von Sydow), and his mistress has stayed in the picture which forces Jean to reconcile his secret/cheating life with his family.

The details of the rehabilitation and the therapy he receives is documented with procedural precision. I was reminded of the scientific research the Odones go through in the film “Lorenzo’s Oil”. If we understand the tremendous effort and dedication it takes Jean-Do to create even one word, the achievement of writing an entire novel with one blinking eye becomes that much more extraordinary.

Schnabel employs Steven Spielberg’s DOP Janusz Kaminsky to photograph his vision of Jean’s new life. And together they create a well thought out visual arc. In the opening scenes in the hospital we see the world through Jean-Do’s two eyes. Since one eye is infected the view is fractured and warped. When his right eye is sewed shut (a squirm-inducing scene we see in a large macro close-up), suddenly his vision becomes clearer. With only one camera angle at his disposal Schnabel manages to sustain the story and the drama and create the character of Jean-Do without ever seeing him. We are helped by hearing Jean-Do’s inner thoughts read out to us as humourous voiceover. Schnabel doesn’t go outside this point of view until the second act and he chooses the just right moment to enter this world. It’s a wonderful scene which kicks the film into another gear. And with fine editing, Schnabel cleverly contrasts Jean’s vivid and lush memories of before the accident with the cold, quiet and clausterphobic life of being ‘locked-in’.

I was surprised to see Hollywood blockbuster-makers Kathleen Kennedy and Frank Marshall were the producers of the film. It was written by Oscar-winning screenwriter of “The Pianist”, Ronald Harwood and, as mentioned shot by the great “Janusz Kaminsky”. The film certainly has a Hollywood feel to it, but also with a pleasant mixture of Schnabel’s uniquely creative artistic sensibilities. The influences of both schools of filmmaking are evident and they mash well together.

The film is Oscar-worthy on the technical aspects and the performances. Don’t be surprised if we see this garner some major hardware come next February. Not only is the film about a physically-challenged person, which always impresses voters, but it’s a both tragic and feel-good and the ultimate triumph of the human spirit storytelling.

Please check out this remarkably beautiful trailer sans subtitles though:

TIFF REPORT #9 - Stuck

Stuck (2007) dir. Stuart Gordon
Starring: Mena Suvari, Stephen Rea, Russell Hornsby

***

“Stuck” has one of the most intriguing film concepts– a man is hit by a car and gets stuck in the windshield. The female driver fears prosecution and drives him to her home where she leaves him to die in her garage overnight. And ironically the film is inspired by actual events. Veteran horror-film director Stuart “Re-Animator” Gordon and writer John Strysik tackles the story with a unique b-movie spin turning the film into an effective absurdist black comedy.

Stephen Rea plays the humble protagonist Tom. He’s just been evicted from his apartment and forced out onto the street with a handful of clothes as his only possessions. He’s met by a kindly homeless person who graciously gives him a grocery cart to carry his belongings. Tom thinks he’s at the lowest possible point in his life, until he meets Brandi that is.

Brandi (Mena Suvari) is interestingly drawn. She’s a decent care-worker in an old age home. She seems to have her head on both shoulders – career-oriented, responsible and hardworking. But Brandi’s not all red roses. She’s got a gangster-streak in her. Brandi’s hair is braided into atrociously inappropriate cornrows, and her nails are intricately painted like museum artwork. Her boyfriend – Rashid (Russell Hornsby) is a drug dealer who supplies her and her friends with a steady supply of ecstasy and weed. After a night of partying Brandi drives home high and crashes into friendly Tom. The crash is horrific, dramatized in super slo-mo, breaking his shins and sending him hurdling into the windshield. Brandi is so shocked she drives him home into her garage to gather her thoughts.

Fearing criminal charges she doesn’t tell anyone, until the next day when he enlists Rashid into ‘taking care’ of the problem and making Tom disappear. But Tom is a resilient crash victim and so begins a battle for survival against Brandi and Rashid.

For the first half of the film I struggled with the tone. The opening sequence is a slow-motion parody of rap videos inside the old folks home. And when we first see Brandi’s cornrows, it’s a shock – in fact, I couldn’t not take my eyes off them the whole film. After the crash, with Tom stuck in the windshield, their interaction is off kilter. I couldn’t figure out if the film was horror, comedy, drama or all of the above. As the film moves along and Tom has to find safety the film’s tone made sense. It settles nicely into a b-movie absurdist black comedy territory which could have played along side Tarantino and Rodriguez’s “Grindhouse” doublebill.

The sex scene with Brandi and Rashid is shown in graphic length. It’s exploitive and funny at the same time. The hallucination of Tom coming through the windshield while Rashid is on top of Brandi confirmed the tone. And the battle in the garage is wonderful Grindhouse-like sequence of events.

Mena Suvari, who also serves as one of the producers, is surprisingly good and turns in a darkly comic outrageous performance. She has no problem having fun with the role, braiding her hair and stripping down for some nasty sex.

“Stuck” knows its place in the genre. Like “Snakes on a Place”, it could be a fun theatre experience for a cine-loving audience. “Stuck” bests “Snakes” because it doesn’t coast by on the premise, it brings us some genuine thrills, chills and laughs with a 'Ripley's Believe it or Not" reality. Enjoy.