TIFF2010: Day 2

I may have been screening films for over 12 hours and may have not really eaten a proper meal all day and may be shaking while writing this, but I said that I would update daily.

Today my my first full day of screening. I got into the theaters for 5 films and watched one in the press/industry room. They were all very different kinds of films and not all of them were very good. I will only be giving a (brief) update and hope to be able to fill you in on what I really thought about them later (when I don't have to be up in 6 hours to start it all over again).

THE KING'S SPEECH (Tom Hopper): This was a brilliantly executed film starring Collin Firth as King George VI and how he got over his speech impediment. Firth gives an Oscar worthy performance (as always).

A-

YOU WILL MEET A TALL DARK STRANGER (Woody Allen): He has done it again and this time it is so fun and light. This movie is all about fate/relationships/life- wait, that's what all of his films are about. But YWMATDS is wonderfully executed and delightfully funny, I compare it to drinking champagne in the morning and the nice buzz you get after a glass.

A-

THE ILLUSIONIST (Sylvain Chomet): Based on a story by Jacques Tati and from the creator of THE TRIPLETS OF BELLEVILLE comes the next beautifully animated drama of a magician who takes in a young girl that still believes in magic. It is a sad story and beautiful to watch.

A-

LEAP YEAR (Michael Rowe): This Mexican film was hard to watch, in fact I turned it off after about an hour of watching it. It had won the Camera d'Or at this year's Cannes Film Festival and yet I could not find a reason to finish it*. After I found out the significance of February 29th, I could not stand the ambiguous sexual encounters, beatings and rape. It just didn't do anything for me.

*This is a perfect case that as a festival viewer I do not have to finish the film and often industry professionals will walk out if they do not like it. It's pretty great.

D

IT'S KIND OF A FUNNY STORY (Ryan Fleck, Anna Boden): I can see why some people will like this film, but it has so much potential to be better. Therefore instead of writing more about the film, it gives me the perfect platform to rant (only a little bit) on two things that I really didn't care for in the movie.

#1) When you are doing a movie about 16 year-old, coming-of-age, suicidal kids there should really be more dialogue and not so many long shots of blank facial expressions. These kind of quirky indie-comedies have not really captured "deep emotion" (example, JUNO) and should not rely on it.

#2) As a musician and lover of music, I really hate it when screenwriters have to put in favorite bands of the time, like "hey, wanna go to that Vampire Weekend show?". It puts a huge time stamp on the film and completely narrows the audience. If you don't know of the band, you might be too old and if you have heard of the band, they are probably not cool enough to have their name dropped. Just deal without it, let the soundtrack do what it is supposed to do, it does not need a formal introduction.

C

LIFE, ABOVE ALL (Oliver Schmitz): Probably a favorite of the night, this film was beautiful in so many ways. It tells the story of a young girl finding out that her mother has AIDS and what this could do to the community and her reputation in South Africa if she brings her home. It unfolds slowly and with such precision that this story of a small family resonates and paints a bigger picture of everyone's fear.

A



That's all for now! Back to more movies tomorrow!