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!

TIFF2010: Day 1

Here she is, the big beautiful program of over 300 films and over 400 pages long. It is like carrying around the September issue of Vogue, but this festival has it down, there are two smaller (much smaller) schedules that we can tote around for a much lighter load.




Today started early, checking in at the Industry Lounge for our credentials and familiarizing ourselves with the area. I even squeezed in three films. Three films that I really wanted to see. Not all of them great, but I am glad that I watched them.

As I am sitting down to write some reviews, I am really too tired to get everything out that I want to say. So I hope that you enjoy my abridged reviews, they will hopefully give you a taste of what I am able to get my eyes on at this fest.

THE TOWN (Ben Affleck) USA

This movie is most simply a good time; not the upbeat, happy-go-lucky sort but the action/drama kind of fun. Set in Charlestown, Boston THE TOWN is about the slums and those that grow up in a world of crime, where bank-robbing and car jacking are common practice. Doug (Affleck) and his three accomplices hold up a bank and take Claire (Rebecca Hall) as a hostage. When Doug gets romantically involved with Claire after the job and his crew start feeling heat from the FBI, things quickly get serious as they try to pull off one last heist.

Affleck has proved that he can direct an intriguing action film. His use of small streets for car chases and brutal violence give the film the grittiness that it needs. This is no DEPARTED although by its title, it should be more about Boston and not its leads. It is filled with cliches but it is a thrilling ride that works because of its great, seasoned actors. If there is one reason to see this film: Jeremy Renner's performance, he is perfect.

I'M STILL HERE (Casey Affleck) USA

Even with excessive drug use, prostitutes, male nudity, feces on the face and tears I'M STILL HERE resonates as a haunting portrayal of what the spotlight, or really any failed dream can become.

Yes, this is the documentary that follows Joaquin Phoenix on his journey from retired actor to rapper. Spanning over a year, Casey Affleck has made a triumphant directorial debut that dares to capture the "feelings" (if you can even call it that) of an apathetic generation, with Phoenix as the focal point.

The film is hard to describe, being that the viewer must just follow the journey. Phoenix rambles about why he wants to quit acting, saying that it was always false and never what he truly wanted to do, often cursing the media and what is the "perceived" version of Joaquin. Calling himself JP, he is mostly stoned, irate, contradictory and confused. But that is what is so funny. One conversation is Phoenix asking Affleck if winged creatures only use their wings to fly, he is thoroughly impressed when he finds out bees communicate with their wings. There are moments where I burst out laughing, unable to control how absurd and ridiculous he is and yet it was also so heartbreaking- you really want him to succeed.

But there are wonderfully poignant moments when Joaquin talks about the media, what it means to be a celebrity and why he is so important. He is the product of our own machine. Scary, but true. At the end of the film, when he dives underwater (finally washing his hair- you will want to personally buy a hairbrush and mail it to him by the end of this film) you are left thinking that if this crazy world can produce and crack the soul of human beings, then there is also hope for repair.

BAD FAITH (Kristian Petri) Sweden

Unfortunately, not all films that you see at a festival are going to be good. This film was so flawed in so many ways. It was "supposed" to be about a woman that is present in a series of serial killings and she takes it upon herself to solve the crimes. In reality, it played as a beautifully looking but drawn out, uneventful and uninteresting character piece that never developed its characters.



...and for tomorrow, I start screening at 9am. Goodnight!

TIFF2010: fly away

I love flying, but I hate airports. There is something overwhelmingly exhausting about airports; everyone coming, going and uncomfortable. I realize that I am probably alone on this one, but I don't like waiting and airports are giant waiting rooms without walls. But once on the plane, I am a happy camper. The flight to Toronto was a smooth one, only a little over 4 hours. When the check-in associate told us that the flight would be light with passengers, I didn't expect it to have only 25 passengers, so I got a whole row to myself. As my boss says, I'm lanky, so I need that kind of room. Our room is cozy and we begin tomorrow at 7am. Time to get used to this three hour time difference and force myself to get some sleep. Until tomorrow.

Toronto International Film Festival (Oh, the places I'll Go)

Two years ago it was to Sundance. It was a major dream of mine to go, now an item removed from my personal bucket list. Up next—Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF). I fly away tomorrow for a ten-day trip in Canada visually soaking in all the films that I can. It is almost so unreal, that I have to keep telling myself that I am really going, trying to capture all of this excitement into something that I can process.

Personal enthusiasm aside, the line-up this year has some of the most anticipated films in the festival circuit. Celebrating its 35^th anniversary, Toronto has never failed to reveal the best in American and International cinema. I will go as far to say that this is the best festival in North America.

This is my first time with Industry Credentials. In non-festival speak, that means that I have a pass that will get me into the industry screenings of TIFF. To back up, TIFF is a market festival. This means that industry professionals, buyers, festival organizers and studio folks come to purchase the films that screen here that do not already have studio distribution. But these people do not screen the films with the general public; there is an entirely different screening schedule and set of theaters for us.

I have no idea what to expect, but I am as prepared as I can be. I have done my research on what is playing and what I really want to see. There are 300 films screening and my tentative schedule has me viewing between 35 and 40 films in 9 days, averaging about 5 films a day. There are so many good ones to choose from!

I know that I will not be able to see them all and for the sake of the Newport Beach Film Festival, I have to choose my films carefully, being that films with release dates already set are really no use to me. I am also heading into the screening room with our CEO and former Director of Submissions, so there are three of us with eyes on the screen; divide and conquer.

After splitting up the schedule, I am a giddy child with my wish-list. Even if I am unable to catch all the films that I want, I am just excited to be a part of the discussion, among film lovers like me. Here are just a handful of the titles, in no particular order, that I am excited about at this years TIFF (whether or not I get to see all of them):

BIUTIFUL (Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu)

YOU WILL MEET A TALL DARK STRANGER (Woody Allen)

THE ILLUSIONIST (Sylvain Chomet)

THE CONSPIRATOR (Robert Redford)

WHAT”S WRONG WITH VIRGINIA (Dustin Lance Black)

THE DEBT (John Madden)

THE PROMISE: THE MAKING OF DARKNESS ON THE EDGE OF TOWN (Thom Zimny)

ROUTE IRISH (Ken Loach)

ANOTHER YEAR (Mike Leigh)

CAVE OF FORGOTTEN DREAMS (Werner Herzog)

JOHN CARPENTER’S THE WARD (John Carpenter)

BLACK SWAN (Darren Aronofsky)

THE KING’S SPEECH (Tom Hopper)

127 HOURS (Danny Boyle)

BEGINNERS (Mike Mills)

EVERYTHING MUST GO (Dan Rush)

…the list goes on.

If you dare to follow what I will be watching, I will be updating as often as I can. And now, time for the next wild ride.

DVD Munch: $5 A Day

$5 A Day refers to how much someone can get by on a day; this includes food, shelter and transportation, accompanied with a great con. If you know how to work the system, then the system will work for you. Much like the title of this film, $5 A Day can get by on its charming low-budget mentality, although flawed it comes together in an unexpected way that becomes satisfying.

This film, directed by Nigel Cole, toured the festival circuit for a year, playing at Toronto International Film Festival and Palm Springs, to name a few, before having a limited release in Los Angeles and New York. If you were unable to catch this film, you can now.

Flynn (Alessandro Nivola) has just lost his job and his girlfriend of two years (Amanda Peet). When he is confronted with news that his father is dying, he decides to make a trip to Atlantic City to see if he really is on his deathbed. Christopher Walken play’s Flynn’s father, Nat Parker, who is a small-time conman; scamming radio shows and phone deals so that he never has to pay for anything and has lied about almost everything. After convincing Flynn to take him on a road trip across the county, they slowly mend a relationship that was built on lies and start a relationship that they never really had.

Walken is truly dynamic in this film. As long as the camera stays on him you can believe that he is lying about everything and at the same time he is doing it for the love of his son. The director has given Walken room to be nimble, dance and even the time to pause and reflect, which is so rare and often missed in father/son films. The whole film Nat is looking to be accepted by his son and you believe in his genuine goal.

The film unpretentiously combines comedy and drama in a way that seems so simple, but really is quite difficult to execute. The little nuances of driving an obnoxious pink “Sweet n Low” car and eating at Ihop restaurants are familiar and funny in their tackiness.

There is not much time spent on back-stories of the characters, which is both a good and bad thing for the film. It is not fully understood when and why Nat and Flynn had such a bad relationship. But the film is consistent, always moving forward. They are more often seen arriving somewhere then driving to that destination. They become closer out of proximity and when they run into different people along the way and spend time together, Flynn pieces together a different story about his father.

$5 A Day is really a film about relationships and what it means to be a family, however flawed that it may be. Nat has been living by his own rules for so long and when you find out how flawed the relationship with his son really is, you cannot help but feel for the sincere bond between father and son.

The most worthy extras on the DVD are the Interviews with the cast/crew. There are multiple interviews, most notably with the Director, Nigel Cole and actress Sharon Stone. Unfortunately, there is no interview with Christopher Walken, but there are many informative and interesting interviews that are broken up in a way that give a great insight into how the film was made.

DVD Munch: When in Rome

When in Rome, do as the Romans do, right? In an attempt to take part of a catch phrase and make it a suitable title for a film, “When in Rome”, the movie, becomes more a cliché than a decent film. On the surface, the film is fun, fresh and fast-paced but on a closer look there is not much more than that.

Beth (Kristen Bell) is an aspiring curator who is handling an important art benefit in a few days. When she gets word that her younger sister is getting married in Rome, she flies off to Italy for a few days for the wedding, but warned by her boss (Angelica Houston) that her job depends on this show. At the wedding she meets Nick (Josh Duhamel) but is soon disappointed when she assumes that he is not interested in her. That night, she taunts all believers of love when she steals five coins from La Fontana de Amore before heading home. The myth goes that if you take someone’s coin from the fountain, they will fall in love with you. On her return to New York, she is obsessively stalked by the men whose coins she took. With only a few days until her big show, she struggles to find the difference between a love spell and love, while trying to keep her job.

With a few lines of dialogue we find out that Beth is a workaholic and cannot date a man because of her job, also that she does not believe in love. When five strangers that unconditionally love her chase her around the city, both her and her closest friends begin to rethink what this means. There is the street painter, played by Will Arnett, the sausage manufacturer (Danny DeVito), the street magician (Jon Heder), the male model (Dax Shepard) and the sports columnist Nick, who used to be a star football player before he was struck by lightning. These characters provide the most entertainment throughout the film. They all only have small roles but they bring their comedic, lighthearted energy to their bit parts.

With such a star cast, it is a shame that none of the characters are given time to develop; every scene is split between Beth, a suitor and an awkward situation and there are not very many of these scenes. Even the relationship between Beth and Nick is given so little time that it becomes forced and unbelievable. We are to understand that the film only spans a few days and when she “falls in love” with Nick, it is as trite and overplayed as throwing a coin in a fountain—we don’t believe it either.

More unbelievable than Beth falling in love, is that anyone could fall in love with Beth. She is neurotic, insecure and often mean to those around her. Her courtship with Nick always leaves him chasing her through restaurants, rainstorms and even out of the chapel at their wedding. He has had one descent conversation with her and yet still seems to be chasing Beth with thoughts of love—making the other guys under the spell look saner then him.

But in they end we are to believe in true love in this fast paced environment. You can fall in love quickly and awkwardly, if you are open to it. “When in Rome” has many great moments that keep the film moving and the viewer guessing what will happen next; just don’t look too hard for much more, the fountain in this film has very shallow waters.

The DVD extras for “When in Rome” include deleted scenes, bloopers and music videos from some of the bands that have songs in the film. Take a look at both of the deleted scenes and bloopers, there are some very funny takes and ideas that did not make it into the film.

A Problem.

Film and I haven’t been talking lately. I mean we dialogue occasionally but it never really turns into anything significant.

When we do make time for a conversation, it is always the same back and forth; I can’t give enough time and he wants so much more of it. Film presents me with three-hour long classics and makes me feel bad for skipping over them to a film with a shorter running time. So what if I am in the mood for THIS IS SPINAL TAP instead of another Kubrick film? It may not be broadening my film knowledge, but it is only 82 minutes long.

And then there is Television. I’m not cheating or anything, it is just that it is that time of year with basketball finals and World Cup soccer games. Film thinks I am spending too much time with TV but it only happens once a year. Promise. Besides, I am wholeheartedly dedicated to Film.

I think it’s because Film is one of those night-owl types and I simply don’t have time to get into a dialogue that late. I work a lot. Doesn’t he understand? I am dealing with the same withdrawals, but no one cares what I think.

I know that I miss Film. Too often I have hung my head guiltily with my lack of viewing. I get stomach pains for the experience of a movie theater, I just try and ignore it. Film is trying to help- taunting me with emails of upcoming movies and suggestions for my Netflix queue. I just sigh and think of the old days when I would watch three films in a row and have to make a second trip to the video store.

So perhaps I need to change. I know that I am up for the challenge, if Film will have me. More than ever, I am ready for late nights with Bergman, Carpenter and Wong Kar-Wai. We have to compromise-like in any good relationship. I will find a way to balance all of the things in my life to screen the new films and I will make fond visits to my favorites when I can.

Relationships are tough. Out of the blue they change so quickly, challenging even the most devoted couples. They demand a lot of care and attention and other times they move smoothly, almost effortlessly. So Film and I may of hit a bump in the road, but not to worry, this love isn’t going anywhere.