The wheel makes another revolution and I'm back in line for another film festival, waiting for the box office to open and to collect the catalog and forms (we're Canadian, so there must be lines and forms!) for my annual end-of-summer ritual.
This morning is beautiful. We're camped out on the western edge of Nathan Phillips Square (the main box office has moved from the labyrinth of the Toronto Life Building to here -- a good choice if the weather is good).
Many familiar faces in line (the transient community reforms for another year).
Given that this is Nathan Phillips, the "locals" are wondering what the hell just landed on them. A well-dressed black man in a suit just appeared, hammering the hell out of one of the metal garbage cans with a wooden cane, yelling something about tornados, food, the law and hellfire, before wandering off to browbeat someone else. I think I'm awake now...
I've decided to use the existing blog this year for TIFF 09, rather than create a new one. As with last year, I'll be posting comments and other items from lines and other locations.
More to come...
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2009/08/25
2008/09/18
After the deluge
I've had a few days to catch my breath, think about what I saw and to also see a few of the post-mortem articles in various publications.
One of the common themes in the post-TIFF media has been that "Hollywood" has been holding films back from festivals like TIFF and, as a result, that TIFF was smaller and less glitzy than previous years.
It reminded me that the festival I experience is quite different from the one that the media reports. While they do try to cover the breadth of the festival, their focus tends to be on the galas and high-profile "Special Presentation" screenings.
My focus was, needless to say, highly personal and in many cases, given a choice between a commercial film and something that wasn't, I went with the latter. As a result, I saw very good films like "33 Scenes from Life" and "http://tiff08.ca/filmsandschedules/films/threemonkeys" rather than "Appaloosa" or "Burn After Reading" (both of which are in theatres now and which have received only fair to middling reviews).
In thinking about TIFF 2008, I wouldn't say that there were any transcendent experiences in the theatre this year, but most of the films were technically accomplished, well acted and interesting. I only saw two films which weren't very good --> "Vinyan" and "Cooper's Camera".
One of the highlights at TIFF were the post-film Q&As. Generally the best Q&As come from the directors, rather than actors, but the post-film Q&A for "Zack and Miri Make a Porno" was incredibly rude and great fun. I was in the audience for appearances by Led Zeppelin's Jimmy Page, U2's The Edge and The White Stripes Jack White at "It Might Get Loud" and visual artists Chuck Close and Julian Schnabel at "Picasso and Braque Go to the Movies", an interesting documentary which suggests that the earlier films of Melies were major influences on the cubist work of Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque.
Of the 43 screenings, that I attended, there were several very good films I saw. Besides some of the titles I've already mentioned, I would put "Ashes of Time Redux" and "Chocolate" at the top of the list. As it turns out, both are martial arts films, but the former is a beautifully poetic, mythic film while the latter is an explosion of stunningly rendered fight scenes. Both are highly recommended.
In previous years, I haven't necessarily had a "best" film. This year, though, "Hunger" was that film. I had commented on the film earlier, but the debate between Bobby Sands and a Catholic priest in the middle section and the final section detailing his slow deterioration as a result of his hunger strike made the film what it was.
The official list of prizes for the 2008 edition of TIFF can be found here.
One of the common themes in the post-TIFF media has been that "Hollywood" has been holding films back from festivals like TIFF and, as a result, that TIFF was smaller and less glitzy than previous years.
It reminded me that the festival I experience is quite different from the one that the media reports. While they do try to cover the breadth of the festival, their focus tends to be on the galas and high-profile "Special Presentation" screenings.
My focus was, needless to say, highly personal and in many cases, given a choice between a commercial film and something that wasn't, I went with the latter. As a result, I saw very good films like "33 Scenes from Life" and "http://tiff08.ca/filmsandschedules/films/threemonkeys" rather than "Appaloosa" or "Burn After Reading" (both of which are in theatres now and which have received only fair to middling reviews).
In thinking about TIFF 2008, I wouldn't say that there were any transcendent experiences in the theatre this year, but most of the films were technically accomplished, well acted and interesting. I only saw two films which weren't very good --> "Vinyan" and "Cooper's Camera".
One of the highlights at TIFF were the post-film Q&As. Generally the best Q&As come from the directors, rather than actors, but the post-film Q&A for "Zack and Miri Make a Porno" was incredibly rude and great fun. I was in the audience for appearances by Led Zeppelin's Jimmy Page, U2's The Edge and The White Stripes Jack White at "It Might Get Loud" and visual artists Chuck Close and Julian Schnabel at "Picasso and Braque Go to the Movies", an interesting documentary which suggests that the earlier films of Melies were major influences on the cubist work of Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque.
Of the 43 screenings, that I attended, there were several very good films I saw. Besides some of the titles I've already mentioned, I would put "Ashes of Time Redux" and "Chocolate" at the top of the list. As it turns out, both are martial arts films, but the former is a beautifully poetic, mythic film while the latter is an explosion of stunningly rendered fight scenes. Both are highly recommended.
In previous years, I haven't necessarily had a "best" film. This year, though, "Hunger" was that film. I had commented on the film earlier, but the debate between Bobby Sands and a Catholic priest in the middle section and the final section detailing his slow deterioration as a result of his hunger strike made the film what it was.
The official list of prizes for the 2008 edition of TIFF can be found here.
2008/09/13
It's a Wrap
A little obvious as a title line, but what the hell.
The 2008 edition of TIFF ended with a little bit of craziness called "Eden Log", yet another Midnight Madness programme offering.
Visually quite inventive (they made a virtue of necessity by maximizing their miniscule budget through finding some terrific locations and shooting the entire film with minimal lighting), the movie concerns an amnesiac hero trying to find his way through a mysterious underground complex while battling strange, feral mutants. The journey ends with the discovery of the role of a giant tree connected to the complex.
Not exactly Shakespeare (:->). The narrative is structured like a video game, with the player moving through different levels of the complex. It's also very reminiscent of the type of stories featured in the 70's era comic "Heavy Metal" ("Metal Hurlant" in France) and both were cited by the director in his Q&A.
Music for the film was provided by Seppuku Paradigm, a French industrial music group.
Distribution for the North American market has been sold, so this should become available at some point.
With the end of the festival, I'll be reworking some of the earlier blog posts to add hyperlinks, correct typos and grammatical errors. I'll also be putting together some post-mortem material, once I've had a chance to think a bit more about the past 10 days.
The 2008 edition of TIFF ended with a little bit of craziness called "Eden Log", yet another Midnight Madness programme offering.
Visually quite inventive (they made a virtue of necessity by maximizing their miniscule budget through finding some terrific locations and shooting the entire film with minimal lighting), the movie concerns an amnesiac hero trying to find his way through a mysterious underground complex while battling strange, feral mutants. The journey ends with the discovery of the role of a giant tree connected to the complex.
Not exactly Shakespeare (:->). The narrative is structured like a video game, with the player moving through different levels of the complex. It's also very reminiscent of the type of stories featured in the 70's era comic "Heavy Metal" ("Metal Hurlant" in France) and both were cited by the director in his Q&A.
Music for the film was provided by Seppuku Paradigm, a French industrial music group.
Distribution for the North American market has been sold, so this should become available at some point.
With the end of the festival, I'll be reworking some of the earlier blog posts to add hyperlinks, correct typos and grammatical errors. I'll also be putting together some post-mortem material, once I've had a chance to think a bit more about the past 10 days.
Chocolate
Set in Bangkok, it's a heart-warming tale of a young special-needs girl who teams up with her happy-go-lucky friend to raise the money to pay for her mother's cancer treatments.
As two elections grind on, it's somewhat appropriate that the above description is completely true. But it doesn't tell the whole story.
"Chocolate" is a true popcorn movie, a fast-paced chain of muay thai kick-boxing set pieces by #
Prachya Pinkaew, the same director who did "Ong-Bak". It's the closing night film for this year's Midnight Madness programme and a fine way to close out the 2008 edition.
Unbelievably silly and highly recommended. I don't believe that it has distribution yet, but that is likely to come. I saw it at an afternoon screening and the audience roared and cheered with every foot to a groin or kneecap to ahead.
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As two elections grind on, it's somewhat appropriate that the above description is completely true. But it doesn't tell the whole story.
- The mother, Zin, was involved with Thai organized crime and has made many enemies.
- The daughter has made up for her stunted intellectual growth by developing her physical abilities dar beyond the norm.
"Chocolate" is a true popcorn movie, a fast-paced chain of muay thai kick-boxing set pieces by #
Prachya Pinkaew, the same director who did "Ong-Bak". It's the closing night film for this year's Midnight Madness programme and a fine way to close out the 2008 edition.
Unbelievably silly and highly recommended. I don't believe that it has distribution yet, but that is likely to come. I saw it at an afternoon screening and the audience roared and cheered with every foot to a groin or kneecap to ahead.
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Je veux voir
The premise of this documentary is very simple -- take one famous actress (Catherine Deneuve) and take her on a road trip from Beirut to just north of the Israeli border and back again, talk and film her reactions to the landscape.
Perhaps a little too simplistic. While the countryside is beautiful and the devastation shocking, there isn't enough drama in the movie to sustain its feature length.
During a Q&A with one of the co-directors, he tried to make the case that the film could only work with Deneuve as the observer. That struck me as a bit of a rationalization -- she was in Beirut for a festival so the opportunity presented itself.
Except for the scenery, it was a journey not really worth taking.
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Perhaps a little too simplistic. While the countryside is beautiful and the devastation shocking, there isn't enough drama in the movie to sustain its feature length.
During a Q&A with one of the co-directors, he tried to make the case that the film could only work with Deneuve as the observer. That struck me as a bit of a rationalization -- she was in Beirut for a festival so the opportunity presented itself.
Except for the scenery, it was a journey not really worth taking.
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The Ghost
Saturday morning. I'm finishing up 2008 with three action films, a bit of. a switch from the quietly intense fare earlier in the week.
It was breakfast with "The Ghost" this morning, a Russian thriller about a writer who is drawn into the orbit of a hitman. Though it's quite predictable, the film is shot with a lot of style by the director, ...
No word on a distributor but this struck me as a film that could easily be picked up by an American studio and remade with a pair of Hollywood stars as the leads.
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It was breakfast with "The Ghost" this morning, a Russian thriller about a writer who is drawn into the orbit of a hitman. Though it's quite predictable, the film is shot with a lot of style by the director, ...
No word on a distributor but this struck me as a film that could easily be picked up by an American studio and remade with a pair of Hollywood stars as the leads.
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Days of TIFFs Past
Seems to be a bit of a flurry out in media-land about a piece that Rex Reed wrote in the NY Observer this week [I'll add the link when I get a chance] bemoaning the fact that TIFF has become too big, too loud and too "populist" for its own good.
The piece generated a fair bit of knee-jerk rebuttal (as is somewhat typical, I learned about the piece through the responses to it). I had a bit of time this morning and was able to give it a read.
Although it's full of bile, some of what he wrote are sentiments that I've heard from people "on the ground" over the past few years.
Certainly there are frustrations with a festival that has grown over the years, although the growth is more a geographic shift than an increase in the number of films. As I wrote earlier, TIFF used to be a creature of the Bloor-Yorkville neighbourhood and now stretches from there to Roy Thomson Hall in the south.
Although Reed makes a remark about "unwashed masses with empty wallets" in reference to the folks who took advantage of free outdoor screenings at Yonge-Dundas Square, the complaint most often heard in lines is not that the festival is going down-market, but that the increasing cost and number of restricted access venues are threatening to eliminate the character of TIFF as a festival for the public. The change this year of the Elgin Theatre to a pseudo-Gala location (ie removing the Elgin from the list of theatres which are accessible to passholders and increasing the single ticket price there to $40) is a sign for many of the creeping elitism of the event.
On the plus side, many films now have three screenings, rather than two. And the addition of many free public events like the outdoor screenings is a great way to connect the city to the festival that shares its name.
Perhaps the days of chatting with Clint Eastwood at Bistro 990 are gone (I wouldn't know, he never returns my calls), but TIFF still provides a wealth of opportunities to see great films that would otherwise not be available. It's been a regular feature of my fall for over 20 years now and I see no reason to end the ritual.
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The piece generated a fair bit of knee-jerk rebuttal (as is somewhat typical, I learned about the piece through the responses to it). I had a bit of time this morning and was able to give it a read.
Although it's full of bile, some of what he wrote are sentiments that I've heard from people "on the ground" over the past few years.
Certainly there are frustrations with a festival that has grown over the years, although the growth is more a geographic shift than an increase in the number of films. As I wrote earlier, TIFF used to be a creature of the Bloor-Yorkville neighbourhood and now stretches from there to Roy Thomson Hall in the south.
Although Reed makes a remark about "unwashed masses with empty wallets" in reference to the folks who took advantage of free outdoor screenings at Yonge-Dundas Square, the complaint most often heard in lines is not that the festival is going down-market, but that the increasing cost and number of restricted access venues are threatening to eliminate the character of TIFF as a festival for the public. The change this year of the Elgin Theatre to a pseudo-Gala location (ie removing the Elgin from the list of theatres which are accessible to passholders and increasing the single ticket price there to $40) is a sign for many of the creeping elitism of the event.
On the plus side, many films now have three screenings, rather than two. And the addition of many free public events like the outdoor screenings is a great way to connect the city to the festival that shares its name.
Perhaps the days of chatting with Clint Eastwood at Bistro 990 are gone (I wouldn't know, he never returns my calls), but TIFF still provides a wealth of opportunities to see great films that would otherwise not be available. It's been a regular feature of my fall for over 20 years now and I see no reason to end the ritual.
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2008/09/12
A Difference of Opinion
An earlier post of mine about "Cooper's Camera" called it shrill and unfunny. Sitting in the theatre this morning, I saw a review by Jennie Punter in the Globe giving it 3.5 stars out of 4, suggesting it was destined to "become a Christmas classic".
I wonder if we saw the same film...
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I wonder if we saw the same film...
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Short Cuts
A significant number of Canadian films are represented in a series of short programmes, each one offering about 90 minutes of film.
It's a good opportunity to check out student work as well as work by established filmmakers.
I caught one programme on Thursday afternoon. Of the seven films I saw, three were very good, one wasn't and the rest were enjoyable.
The three that I liked the most were "106", a comedy about revenge and the second-oldest woman in Ontario, "Notes on a Boreal", a pen-and-ink animation on the boreal forest and "Machine from Wishbone", a quite lovely series of mechanical animations.
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It's a good opportunity to check out student work as well as work by established filmmakers.
I caught one programme on Thursday afternoon. Of the seven films I saw, three were very good, one wasn't and the rest were enjoyable.
The three that I liked the most were "106", a comedy about revenge and the second-oldest woman in Ontario, "Notes on a Boreal", a pen-and-ink animation on the boreal forest and "Machine from Wishbone", a quite lovely series of mechanical animations.
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Tokyo Sonata
There are directors who seem quite comfortable with shifting gears with each film. Howard Hawks is a classic example of this, while contemporary equivalents would be folks like Jonathan Demme or Michael Winterbotham.
And then there are the directors who have found a niche, whether it be quiet comedies (Mike Leigh) or cinema verité (Abbas Kiarostami).
It can be quite exciting when a director moves beyond their niche into something different. David Cronenberg is an example of someone who has moved from horror films to drama with great success.
Kiyoshi Kurosawa is a Japanese director. He cut his teeth on a series of atmsopheric horror films ("Cure" and "Pulse" are two particularly good examples of his work). I've been following his work since TIFF did a spotlight on him several years ago,
With "Tokyo Sonata", he moves to a Japanese version of a kitchen-sink drama. A salariman in modern Japan is let go when his company outsources his job to Dalian, China. Unable to tell his wife and two young sons about his change in fortune, he maintains an elaborate facade to hide the truth.
This indirectly sets in motion a series of acts which threaten to take the family apart.
The film succeeds in showing a vision of Japan quite different from its usual depiction in film. Kurowsawa gets good performances from his cast. The only criticism I'd have is that there is a section about 3/4 of the way in where several things happen which shift the film abruptly, but which didn't make sense to me dramatically.
Overall, it was a good film but not nearly as powerful as some of his previous films.
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And then there are the directors who have found a niche, whether it be quiet comedies (Mike Leigh) or cinema verité (Abbas Kiarostami).
It can be quite exciting when a director moves beyond their niche into something different. David Cronenberg is an example of someone who has moved from horror films to drama with great success.
Kiyoshi Kurosawa is a Japanese director. He cut his teeth on a series of atmsopheric horror films ("Cure" and "Pulse" are two particularly good examples of his work). I've been following his work since TIFF did a spotlight on him several years ago,
With "Tokyo Sonata", he moves to a Japanese version of a kitchen-sink drama. A salariman in modern Japan is let go when his company outsources his job to Dalian, China. Unable to tell his wife and two young sons about his change in fortune, he maintains an elaborate facade to hide the truth.
This indirectly sets in motion a series of acts which threaten to take the family apart.
The film succeeds in showing a vision of Japan quite different from its usual depiction in film. Kurowsawa gets good performances from his cast. The only criticism I'd have is that there is a section about 3/4 of the way in where several things happen which shift the film abruptly, but which didn't make sense to me dramatically.
Overall, it was a good film but not nearly as powerful as some of his previous films.
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Clowning and the Holocaust
It seems like a strange combination, but the notion of clowns and the Holocaust is practically a mini-genre on its own.
There's the story of a Jerry Lewis project on this subject and a few years back Roberto Beningi had great success with "Life is Beautiful".
Balancing the comic and tragic (if not horrific is a challebge that several have tried and few have succeeded at. Although "Life is Beautiful" was well-received, I thought it was horrendous.
Latest in the string is "Adam Resurrected", directed by Paul Schrader and starring Jeff Goldblum as the clown and Willam Dafoe as his nemesis, a commandant at the Strelling camp.
The timeline is split between the period leading up to and through WWII and recent history, where Adam Stein (Goldblum) is an inmate at a sanitorium for Holocaust survivors in the Israeli desert. The arrival of a young feral boy awakens memories in Stein that must be confronted for the last time.
I've liked both Goldblum's and Dafoe's work in the past (along with Derek Jacobi as the sanitorium director), but this movie escaped them. It's one of those movies where accents shift like the sands outside the sanitorium. The actors try their best (Dafoe, I think, most successfully), but they are ultimately defeated by a screenplay that feels awkward.
Despite the pedigree of the folks involved, this film does not appear to have distribution.
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There's the story of a Jerry Lewis project on this subject and a few years back Roberto Beningi had great success with "Life is Beautiful".
Balancing the comic and tragic (if not horrific is a challebge that several have tried and few have succeeded at. Although "Life is Beautiful" was well-received, I thought it was horrendous.
Latest in the string is "Adam Resurrected", directed by Paul Schrader and starring Jeff Goldblum as the clown and Willam Dafoe as his nemesis, a commandant at the Strelling camp.
The timeline is split between the period leading up to and through WWII and recent history, where Adam Stein (Goldblum) is an inmate at a sanitorium for Holocaust survivors in the Israeli desert. The arrival of a young feral boy awakens memories in Stein that must be confronted for the last time.
I've liked both Goldblum's and Dafoe's work in the past (along with Derek Jacobi as the sanitorium director), but this movie escaped them. It's one of those movies where accents shift like the sands outside the sanitorium. The actors try their best (Dafoe, I think, most successfully), but they are ultimately defeated by a screenplay that feels awkward.
Despite the pedigree of the folks involved, this film does not appear to have distribution.
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2008/09/11
Finding the Right Tone
I saw "The Brothers Bloom" this afternoon, a film that I suspect will get a fair bit of promotion when its theatrical release comes up. Written and directed by Rian Johnston, it's the tale of two brothers (Mark Ruffalo & Adrien Brody) who have had a successful career as con men and are planning one last job, with a young, very eccentric woman (Rachel Weisz) as the "mark".
The film has a very distinctive visual style, full of odd details (floating inter-titles, a one-legged cat, to name a couple). The visuals, music and most of the performances are pitched towards light, whimsical comedy, except for Brody, an actor who doesn't seem wired for happiness.
This was one of those films where the overall consensus was positive, at least based on the laughter I heard during the screening. For me, though, the plot felt a bit too predictable.
A footnote:
After the screening, I walked through the quadrangle to the south of the Ryerson Theatre (a lovely oasis in the middle of the campus). As I walked, I heard a couple discuss this film. He felt it was in his top three; she was inclined to put it in her worst three for the festival.
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The film has a very distinctive visual style, full of odd details (floating inter-titles, a one-legged cat, to name a couple). The visuals, music and most of the performances are pitched towards light, whimsical comedy, except for Brody, an actor who doesn't seem wired for happiness.
This was one of those films where the overall consensus was positive, at least based on the laughter I heard during the screening. For me, though, the plot felt a bit too predictable.
A footnote:
After the screening, I walked through the quadrangle to the south of the Ryerson Theatre (a lovely oasis in the middle of the campus). As I walked, I heard a couple discuss this film. He felt it was in his top three; she was inclined to put it in her worst three for the festival.
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2008/09/10
Indelible Images II -- Ashes of Time Redux
One of Wong Kar Wai's first films, "Ashes of Time Redux" is a reconstruction of his martial arts fable from 1994 (the film has appeared in multiple versions over the years; "Redux" features a reworking of the narrative arc, reprocessing of the cinematography and a new score, including cello solos by Yo Yo Ma.
It's easily the most impressive film visually that I've seen this year and deserves to be seen on a large screen. The cinematography of Christopher Doyle is stunning and beautifully complements the story.
It's easily the most impressive film visually that I've seen this year and deserves to be seen on a large screen. The cinematography of Christopher Doyle is stunning and beautifully complements the story.
It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas
I've mentioned this following previous TIFFs, but sometimes little thematic groupings appear out of the schedule for a given year.
Earlier, I'd talked about "Three Wise Men". Turns out I saw the second and third Christmas films of the year back-to-back and they were truly a study in contrast.
"Un Conte de Noel" is an accomplished film about a French family brought together by both the holidays and the urgent need to find a bone marrow donor for the family's matriarch, played by Catherine Deneuve. A large cast do a great job of creating three-dimensional characters. The direction is by Arnaud Desplechin. I'm not familiar with his work, but his film "Rois et Reine (Kings and Queen)" got great reviews when it came out a few years ago. A DVD I'll definitely want to hunt for.
In contrast, "Cooper's Camera" is a shrill, woeful attempt at farce, starring Jason Jones and Samantha Bee from "The Daily Show". The Coopers celebrate the arrival of a new video camera (it's set in 1985, so the camera is the size of a medium-sized microwave) by showing all the skeletons (past and present) in the family closet.
This mini-genre of families getting together for a holiday celebration normally includes lots of tears; secrets revealed; grudges maintained and, eventually (hopefully) resolved; and some laughter. Both films follow this trajectory, but "Un Conte de Noel" does it in a way that respected its family rather than used them for target practice.
Not sure if either film has distribution yet. I'd recommend the former without hesitation; the latter should be avoided like the 80s fashions it so gleefully displays.
Earlier, I'd talked about "Three Wise Men". Turns out I saw the second and third Christmas films of the year back-to-back and they were truly a study in contrast.
"Un Conte de Noel" is an accomplished film about a French family brought together by both the holidays and the urgent need to find a bone marrow donor for the family's matriarch, played by Catherine Deneuve. A large cast do a great job of creating three-dimensional characters. The direction is by Arnaud Desplechin. I'm not familiar with his work, but his film "Rois et Reine (Kings and Queen)" got great reviews when it came out a few years ago. A DVD I'll definitely want to hunt for.
In contrast, "Cooper's Camera" is a shrill, woeful attempt at farce, starring Jason Jones and Samantha Bee from "The Daily Show". The Coopers celebrate the arrival of a new video camera (it's set in 1985, so the camera is the size of a medium-sized microwave) by showing all the skeletons (past and present) in the family closet.
This mini-genre of families getting together for a holiday celebration normally includes lots of tears; secrets revealed; grudges maintained and, eventually (hopefully) resolved; and some laughter. Both films follow this trajectory, but "Un Conte de Noel" does it in a way that respected its family rather than used them for target practice.
Not sure if either film has distribution yet. I'd recommend the former without hesitation; the latter should be avoided like the 80s fashions it so gleefully displays.
Breaking the Fourth Wall
Finished last night with a mindfuck of a movie -- Charlie Kaufman's "Synecdoche, New York".
Kaufman has a well-deserved reputation as an intelligent, playful screenwriter. If you've seen "Being John Malkovich", "Adaptation" or "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind", you'll have a strong sense of his style.
Synecdoche is his directorial debut (he also wrote the screenplay). It features an A-list cast (Philip Seymour Hoffman, Samantha Morton, Catherine Keener, Hope Davis, Jennifer Jason Leigh) and crew (Fred Elmes was the DOP; Jon Brion provided the music) to tell a story of a theatre director (Hoffman) who combines a MacArthur "genius" grant and a severe mid-life crisis into a simulcra of his life.
In the process of creating this play, the "fourth wall" becomes entirely porous. The scripted life starts to intrude and interact with the real one. Characters are doubled and tripled. Wordplay and visual games abound.
This may be a factor of seeing the film at the end of a long, full day, but it seemed full of detail but a little light on substance. Given the strength of the cast, it's not really an actor's film. There's lots of business that's fun to watch, but overall I left filling a bit unfulfilled.
That said, I'm curious enough about it to give it a second chance, once I've had a chance to get some sleep (:->).
Note: Here's a definition of synecdoche.
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Kaufman has a well-deserved reputation as an intelligent, playful screenwriter. If you've seen "Being John Malkovich", "Adaptation" or "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind", you'll have a strong sense of his style.
Synecdoche is his directorial debut (he also wrote the screenplay). It features an A-list cast (Philip Seymour Hoffman, Samantha Morton, Catherine Keener, Hope Davis, Jennifer Jason Leigh) and crew (Fred Elmes was the DOP; Jon Brion provided the music) to tell a story of a theatre director (Hoffman) who combines a MacArthur "genius" grant and a severe mid-life crisis into a simulcra of his life.
In the process of creating this play, the "fourth wall" becomes entirely porous. The scripted life starts to intrude and interact with the real one. Characters are doubled and tripled. Wordplay and visual games abound.
This may be a factor of seeing the film at the end of a long, full day, but it seemed full of detail but a little light on substance. Given the strength of the cast, it's not really an actor's film. There's lots of business that's fun to watch, but overall I left filling a bit unfulfilled.
That said, I'm curious enough about it to give it a second chance, once I've had a chance to get some sleep (:->).
Note: Here's a definition of synecdoche.
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2008/09/09
Southern Cross
As it turns out, I saw two Aussie films today, representing the present and past of their cinema.
"Three Blind Mice" is a new film about three Australian sailors on their last night before shipping out to Iraq. It's a smart, low-budget, indie effort with very strong performances by the entire cast. It doesn't look like they have distribution yet, but I wouldn't be surprised if they get it by the end of the week.
By way of contrast, "Not Quite Hollywood" is a history of Australian genre films, mostly from the 70s and 80s. There are about 100 clips of the best and trashiest films that the Aussies produced during this time, with interviews with many of the folks who put them together. Quentin Tarantino plays a huge role in the doc as a cheerleader for these flicks.
An argument presented during the film is that these films helped to create an industry that is exemplified in most people's minds by films such as "Picnic at Hanging Rock", "Breaker Morant" and others. It's not an unreasonable argument, certainly so from the perspective of building technically competent crews.
Interestingly enough, the Australian film industry evolved in a way that is similar to ours. They had periods of questionable tax credit policies on the part of the government as well as a period when C-list American actors were imported to boost the box office potential of films. 'Course, we don't have equivalents to "The Howling III: The Marsupials" or "Razorback".
This is a film probably best appreciated on DVD, with copies of the companion book or the web site (http://www.notquitehollywood.com.au) close at hand.
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"Three Blind Mice" is a new film about three Australian sailors on their last night before shipping out to Iraq. It's a smart, low-budget, indie effort with very strong performances by the entire cast. It doesn't look like they have distribution yet, but I wouldn't be surprised if they get it by the end of the week.
By way of contrast, "Not Quite Hollywood" is a history of Australian genre films, mostly from the 70s and 80s. There are about 100 clips of the best and trashiest films that the Aussies produced during this time, with interviews with many of the folks who put them together. Quentin Tarantino plays a huge role in the doc as a cheerleader for these flicks.
An argument presented during the film is that these films helped to create an industry that is exemplified in most people's minds by films such as "Picnic at Hanging Rock", "Breaker Morant" and others. It's not an unreasonable argument, certainly so from the perspective of building technically competent crews.
Interestingly enough, the Australian film industry evolved in a way that is similar to ours. They had periods of questionable tax credit policies on the part of the government as well as a period when C-list American actors were imported to boost the box office potential of films. 'Course, we don't have equivalents to "The Howling III: The Marsupials" or "Razorback".
This is a film probably best appreciated on DVD, with copies of the companion book or the web site (http://www.notquitehollywood.com.au) close at hand.
--------------------------
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Raise the Jolly Roger
As a community that exists for a short time, TIFF goers adopt strange little rituals.
Before each screening, there are a number of small ads for the Festival, sponsors, awards, etc. These are kept failrly short, as the ads which don't work become the targets of audience comments.
For the past two or three years, one of the ads has been a single screen image laying out a prohibition against recording screenings in any manner. These "anti-piracy" ads have become one of the most popular targets.
As soon as any reference to anti-piracy measures is shown or spoken, a chorus of "Arrrrr"'s erupts in each audience. I suspect this started during the Midnight Madness screenings (there is an entirely different audience for these films) and then moved out to the other programmes.
As a side-note, it's been amazing to see the large number of iPhones in use in the audience (esp being used as cameras before and after screenings). If Rogers has any brains, they'd get involved in TIFF. They've got a significant customer-base here.
--------------------------
Sent from my BlackBerry Wireless Handheld
Before each screening, there are a number of small ads for the Festival, sponsors, awards, etc. These are kept failrly short, as the ads which don't work become the targets of audience comments.
For the past two or three years, one of the ads has been a single screen image laying out a prohibition against recording screenings in any manner. These "anti-piracy" ads have become one of the most popular targets.
As soon as any reference to anti-piracy measures is shown or spoken, a chorus of "Arrrrr"'s erupts in each audience. I suspect this started during the Midnight Madness screenings (there is an entirely different audience for these films) and then moved out to the other programmes.
As a side-note, it's been amazing to see the large number of iPhones in use in the audience (esp being used as cameras before and after screenings). If Rogers has any brains, they'd get involved in TIFF. They've got a significant customer-base here.
--------------------------
Sent from my BlackBerry Wireless Handheld
Art and Commerce
TIFF (indeed any film festival) is a sometimes uneasy tango between art and commerce. The medium is inherently expensive to produce, so the objective of many of the productions here during these 10 days is to sell a product.
At times the balance tips too far in one direction. An interesting example of this is a documentary called "Paris Not France".
A "study" of all that is Paris Hilton, the doc was originally scheduled to be shown three times during TIFF (most features have two or three screenings). It didn't interest me, so it didn't make my long list of films.
Over the weekend, there were reports that Hilton was trying to have the doc cancelled due to a dispute with the director over the content (I heard this from a friend who has scheduled it).
Interestingly enough, two of the three screenings were shelved, but the third remained. It seemed an odd result to me and I wondered if there was more to the story than was available. It struck me that there might be a strategy in place, ie reduce the supply of screenings -> increase the demand of the remaining one -> boost the potential buzz!
Two interesting e-mails appeared in my inbox this morning. Each night, TIFF issues a list of "Best Bets", which are films that have a significant number of tickets still available. On the list of films for today was PNF (it's in the Ryerson Theatre, which can seat 1200 people. One of the bigger halls in the system).
The second e-mail was a specific promotion for PNF, indicating that "Paris Hilton would be in attendance".
It will be interesting to see how the rest of this story plays out, later today.
--------------------------
Sent from my BlackBerry Wireless Handheld
At times the balance tips too far in one direction. An interesting example of this is a documentary called "Paris Not France".
A "study" of all that is Paris Hilton, the doc was originally scheduled to be shown three times during TIFF (most features have two or three screenings). It didn't interest me, so it didn't make my long list of films.
Over the weekend, there were reports that Hilton was trying to have the doc cancelled due to a dispute with the director over the content (I heard this from a friend who has scheduled it).
Interestingly enough, two of the three screenings were shelved, but the third remained. It seemed an odd result to me and I wondered if there was more to the story than was available. It struck me that there might be a strategy in place, ie reduce the supply of screenings -> increase the demand of the remaining one -> boost the potential buzz!
Two interesting e-mails appeared in my inbox this morning. Each night, TIFF issues a list of "Best Bets", which are films that have a significant number of tickets still available. On the list of films for today was PNF (it's in the Ryerson Theatre, which can seat 1200 people. One of the bigger halls in the system).
The second e-mail was a specific promotion for PNF, indicating that "Paris Hilton would be in attendance".
It will be interesting to see how the rest of this story plays out, later today.
--------------------------
Sent from my BlackBerry Wireless Handheld
2008/09/08
Reflections
Most of the comments I've been providing on films this week have been written fairly quickly -- I've liked "x" for these reasons; didn't care for "y" because ...
Yesterday I saw a film called "Yes Madam Sir" which defies easy categorization.
The film is a documentary on Kiran Bedi, shot by a first-time film-maker (Margaret Doneman) from Australia.
Bedi is notorious in her native India. The first female police officer in Delhi, she has accomplished much in the face of an openly obstructive police, legal and legislative bureaucracy. She has been denied promotions, been given "suicide mission" assignments and, through it all has succeeded beyond all reasonable expectation.
In some respects, this is a "triumph over adversity" doc where the film-maker has been given extra-ordinary access to Bedi's public and private life. It's inspirational, shot from the point-of-view of someone prepared to fight the status quo.
And yet...
While the film itself is well put-together, blending interviews, news segments and footage of Bedi at work, it's her character that raised questions for me.
In a world that is positioned somewhere between the past of feudal or colonial India and a modern, democratic state (or, at least, a state in transition to a fully democratic system), she added a further dimension of using the media to illuminate the things others tried to keep hidden. In doing so, she has created a public persona that seems to exist, if not in opposition, but in a somewhat uncomfortable relationship with the things she is trying to achieve.
One of the principal interview subjects is her daughter Saina, who frequently refers to her as the persona "Kiran Bedi", rather than as her mother. That separation between the public and personal worlds comes up several times.
If there's a fault in the documentary, it focuses so much on the public persona that any kind of objective analysis of the impact of the changes she wrought are not addressed. What remains is a slight tone of bitterness in that there is a repeated cycle of "Kiran Bedi went to 'x' and made the following changes. After a time, she was transferred/dumped/left and her successor proceeded to unravel all the things she'd done". We have to take it on faith that this was a bad thing.
As a first-time film director, Doneman may have made the mistake of getting too close to her subject and losing the benefit of distance.
Following the screening, Ms Bedi emerged with the director and participated in the Q&A. That same tone of bitterness persisted. She talked about being passed over as the Delhi Police Commissioner, a position she felt was rightly hers. Ironically, her sense of entitlement was a reflection of the same status quo that the documentary had tried to challenge over the previous 90 minutes.
Bedi has an international reputation, so I suspect that this film will find a distributor, if only for viewing on Newsworld, TVO or the Documentary Channel.
--------------------------
Sent from my BlackBerry Wireless Handheld
Yesterday I saw a film called "Yes Madam Sir" which defies easy categorization.
The film is a documentary on Kiran Bedi, shot by a first-time film-maker (Margaret Doneman) from Australia.
Bedi is notorious in her native India. The first female police officer in Delhi, she has accomplished much in the face of an openly obstructive police, legal and legislative bureaucracy. She has been denied promotions, been given "suicide mission" assignments and, through it all has succeeded beyond all reasonable expectation.
In some respects, this is a "triumph over adversity" doc where the film-maker has been given extra-ordinary access to Bedi's public and private life. It's inspirational, shot from the point-of-view of someone prepared to fight the status quo.
And yet...
While the film itself is well put-together, blending interviews, news segments and footage of Bedi at work, it's her character that raised questions for me.
In a world that is positioned somewhere between the past of feudal or colonial India and a modern, democratic state (or, at least, a state in transition to a fully democratic system), she added a further dimension of using the media to illuminate the things others tried to keep hidden. In doing so, she has created a public persona that seems to exist, if not in opposition, but in a somewhat uncomfortable relationship with the things she is trying to achieve.
One of the principal interview subjects is her daughter Saina, who frequently refers to her as the persona "Kiran Bedi", rather than as her mother. That separation between the public and personal worlds comes up several times.
If there's a fault in the documentary, it focuses so much on the public persona that any kind of objective analysis of the impact of the changes she wrought are not addressed. What remains is a slight tone of bitterness in that there is a repeated cycle of "Kiran Bedi went to 'x' and made the following changes. After a time, she was transferred/dumped/left and her successor proceeded to unravel all the things she'd done". We have to take it on faith that this was a bad thing.
As a first-time film director, Doneman may have made the mistake of getting too close to her subject and losing the benefit of distance.
Following the screening, Ms Bedi emerged with the director and participated in the Q&A. That same tone of bitterness persisted. She talked about being passed over as the Delhi Police Commissioner, a position she felt was rightly hers. Ironically, her sense of entitlement was a reflection of the same status quo that the documentary had tried to challenge over the previous 90 minutes.
Bedi has an international reputation, so I suspect that this film will find a distributor, if only for viewing on Newsworld, TVO or the Documentary Channel.
--------------------------
Sent from my BlackBerry Wireless Handheld
Audiences shift
Monday morning usually shows a fairly dramatic shift in the size of audiences. As the workweek starts, they shrink a little bit to a core of industry types, retirees, students and folks like me.
This year is no exception. Screenings were quite full over the weekend. There was a more relaxed vibe as the day started today and, whereas tickets for weekend screenings were rarer than hen's teeth, there seems to be a good number available for screenings.
This is the best part of the festival for me. I'm not rushing around as much, it's easier to get decent seats and it's generally much easier to concentrate on what is being shown.
--------------------------
Sent from my BlackBerry Wireless Handheld
This year is no exception. Screenings were quite full over the weekend. There was a more relaxed vibe as the day started today and, whereas tickets for weekend screenings were rarer than hen's teeth, there seems to be a good number available for screenings.
This is the best part of the festival for me. I'm not rushing around as much, it's easier to get decent seats and it's generally much easier to concentrate on what is being shown.
--------------------------
Sent from my BlackBerry Wireless Handheld
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