Father Geek reporting in with more from TIFF. I've seen BAADASSSSS CINEMA about 5 or 6 times now (I show it to everyone I can get to sit down in one of our screening room's great vintage 1940's theater seats), and we've got the fun-tastic CD of the sound track out in The Geek Headquarter's Screening Room running more or less constantly as background music. This is an entertaining, and important piece of film making, I wish to Hell more Docos were this enjoyable. If you ever get the chance to view this... DO!!!

Now on to the not so tuff TIFF stuff...

Hi, few reviews for you on these three films that screened last night at the TIFF.

Heaven, Tom Tykwer (North American Premier)

This movie pace is set in it's opening scene where we watch a Helicopter simulation with opens with English woman, Philipa Paccard (Cate Blanchette) putting the final touches on a small bomb, packing it up and heading to it's destination in a skyscraper in what appears to be the only modern looking building in this small Italian city (shot on location, the name which escapes me now). After she delivers the bomb she goes to the telephone outside and calls the Police, she says she tried to tell them about him, and they ignored her, so now she's doing something about it. They ask her name... she gives it. She expects to be caught, in fact, she doesn't hide. Instead they catch her sleeping at home. She willfully surrenders.

Though fluent in Italian, back at the Police Station (or what I suspect is the Italian version of the FBI) she enacts her right to testify in her native language. This introduces us to Fillipo (Giovanni Ribisi) who acts as a translator and the interrogation begins. Here we learn that she is a Teacher and her target was a Drug Lord, this is also when Philipa learns her assassination attempt was unsuccessful. The film continues with Fillipo falling in love with Philipa and the life altering decisions he makes to help her.

The film later takes us out of the city and into to the rolling hills of Tuscany and the Italian people and scenery really lend itself perfectly to the subject matter at all times. Though a German director, with American producers, set in Italy, the film, as Tom explains during his introduction to it, as in real-life, has the Italian people speak Italian and the English, speak english. The film is shot on location and Tom explains to us that he wouldn't have considered, or rather couldn't imagine the film being shot anywhere else. After seeing the picture, I'm sure you will agree.

The script for the movie comes from Polish collaborators Krzysztof Kieslowski and Krzysztof Piesiewicz. Writers of the Red/White/Blue trilogy. Apparently they had attempted to write another trilogy here (Heaven, Hell and Purgatory), but Kieslowski (proclaimed the Godfather of Art Film by Tom Tykwer during the Q&A period) had died in 96 and it was my understanding that they only finished the screenplay to Heaven, a reasonable piece of Hell (which Tykwer has seen a draft of, but says he is NOT considering directing) and supposedly there is an idea for Purgatory. With Piesiewicz still alive, I suppose the trilogy will eventually be complete. Now, the path of this script and it's translations from Polish, to French, to English, To German and then back to English again is quite impressive as it feels as though the intended outcome of the original screenplay has transcended language (5 times!) without a hitch. Therefore illustrating the universal appeal this movie should have. With this film Tykwer shows us he isn't a German Filmmaker, but rather he is an International filmmaker.

Though considering the excitement the plot synopsis for this film has it is actually quite slow, it is, essentially, and art film, and though it has the equivalent running time of Run, Lola Run, anyone expecting that sort of pace can forget about it. But anyone looking for a beautiful film, with amazing direction by an exciting director, photography in a beautiful country and acting by extremely capable actors (picked by Tykwer's team and not Hollywood) will be delightfully pleased.

Gerry, Gus Van Sant (Canadian Premier)

Heaven, above, had dialog that probably fit on about 5 pages. Gerry would be lucky to fit it's dialog on 1 page. This film is part of the Visions programme at the festival, which was created this year to showcase innovative and groundbreaking films. Now while I believe I understand what Van Sant was trying to do with this film, not many people will appreciate it, and truth be told, I'm not sure I do myself. The plot is extremely simple, two friends (Matt Damon and Casey Affleck) both named Gerry are traveling through the desert by car, they stop off at a hiking trail site and in the middle of the desert walk off the beaten path to make their own, and get lost.

The film is full of very very long shots. The longest in the movie is 7 minutes, but as the movie progresses, they feel longer and longer. To it's credit, the photography can at many times be impressive and the dialog that is in the movie is extremely funny. But the movie, along with the on-screen characters are getting exhausted watching through the slow pans as they walk along the desert landscape. The project really reeks of boredom, and as we learn in the Q&A period how it came about, I'm not entirely surprised. In short, Van Sant lives next to Affleck. Affleck and Damon are Friends, since they're all in the same social circle, since they're all in the same business, they start talking about projects to do together. Damon has a little story, Van Sant has some money he got for some other project and they decide to make this film.

While it has enduring qualities and is definitely an interesting film. Be prepared that you are watching an experimentation. Unfortunately one that I don't think helps Van Sants career, in fact, this one just proves to me that Good Will Hunting was all Matt and Ben and Van Sant's output is really more a kin to what you see from watching his horrific remake of Psycho.

Spun, Jonas Akerlund (World? Premier)

Part of the Midnight Madness programme at the festival which is known for more cult-like films which essentially means this is where you find the Horror or low budget Hong Kong action films. This particular film, as described by the director is really just about Crystal Methamphetamine Freaks. Not much of a plot, but damned if it isn't a pretty darn good film. The directors roots are in Music Videos, mainly known for the controversial and subsequently banned video for Prodigy's "Smack my Bitch Up". And those roots are evident in the style used to build this movie. What's most amazing about the film is the cast that was put together for it, featuring Jason Schwartzman (Rushmore) as the main character who is a guy with only two things on his mind, getting his hit and keeping his women around. Brittany Murphy plays sidekick to Mickey Rourke who is The Cook, the guy who manufactures the local supply. John Leguizamo brilliantly plays the paranoid small time dealer, Spider Mike. Mena Suvari plays his 24-7 spun out girlfriend. The film also has Peter Stormare as one of a spun out NARC duo who go around with a Cops like camera crew in the neighborhood busting 18 year old kids and their fat moms in their trailer homes.

The film plays out by taking all those characters in intertwining them. Naturally with a bunch of paranoid kids on spiked pep-pills, hilarity will ensue. And it does. Unlike the similarly paced Requiem for a Dream, this film doesn't preach a good or bad, it just exists, and instead of being very sad and exhausting like coming off the drugs showcased in the film, it's very funny as we watch the lives of these pathetic characters play out in front of us at a pace and feeling that is likened to Crystal Meth (or so one would expect).

I believe this was the World Premier as Schwartzman said during Q&A he had never seen the film yet short of a initial video dub draft. He is very proud of the film and he should be. It's a total hit. This is not one to be missed. The cast is amazing. The effect of the film is amazing. One caution though...see this in a theatre you trust. The Bass effects were... well, very effective, much in the same way as Requiem used sound when the characters took a hit. I would think in a less than stellar theatre, with poor sound some of the effect may be lost. As for video, I wouldn't worry too much, though there is a high contract range and it is a stylistic image the whole thing was shot on 16mm and is full of grain.

So that it. just about to leave to take in The Good Theif, Dolls, Spirited Away, Laural Canyon and hopefully Bubba Ho-tep. Later Gator.

-Taylor

Father Geek back with another TIFF Report, this one from Ms. Buttercup...

Just moved into a new apartment tonight, so I'm gotta try and keep this short. If you think any of it is useful for the site, just call me Buttercup. I grabbed a friend and headed to a screening of One Night the Moon and Baadasssss Cinema.

One Night the Moon

One Night the Moon is fantastic. It's an Australian film, approximately an hour long. Basically, you have a family (Jim, Rose, and Emily) out in a fairly deserted area of Australia; Emily, the young daughter, disappears. The film revolves around what happens after she vanishes. Mainly, the film deals with the topic of race - interestingly, the beginning of the film states that it's based on events that happened in 1932, but it feels much more contemporary. A black tracker, Albert, is enlisted to help in the search, but Jim refuses to let him help, insisting that he leave the property.

Oh, and it's a musical. We're not talking Moulin Rouge here - there are no flashy dance numbers. The musical numbers blend quite seamlessly with the rest of the film. I suspect that it feels natural partly due to the fact that the characters in the film are dealing with strong emotions, and passion invoking song doesn't seem particularly out of place.

The title is taken from a lullaby which the family sings together, but the moon also plays a larger role in the movie. It is used quite nicely as a transition device, although the symbolism does get a touch blatant at times.

Overall, I would recommend this film. I wasn't totally blown away, but I was definitely impressed. The cinematography was nice too; you have great landscape shots, but also the use of colour is nice - vivid while Emily is there, then everything is more bleached when she's away, partly matching how the weather wears away the landscape/emotions are worn away, etc. As far as musicals go, it's great - instead of being a fluff piece for the music, One Night the Moon has something to offer both musically and thematically. Oh, and musically, the voices aren't perfect or operatic - they're just simple, regular voices, which helps integrate the music into the film, instead of jarring you out of it to ask "why the hell are they singing?!"

Baadasssss Cinema

Baadasssss Cinema has apparently already been aired in the States; in Canada, it's been picked up by the Independent Film Channel and will be broadcast on their station sometime in November, complemented by some badass films. This film intrigued me based on the film title itself.

Baadasssss Cinema was also about an hour long, but it felt much longer than One Night the Moon. I can see this being enjoyable on tv with commercial breaks but to be honest, it drags a bit. This is a film from Isaac Julien, who was on hand for a Q&A after the film. It's a documentary about Blaxploitation films; Quentin Tarantino is one of the interviewees and pops up throughout the doc.

I won't say much about Baadasssss Cinema, since many people may have already seen it. The segment with Melvin Van Peebles (Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song) is definitely the highlight of the film. His views about the genre, his film, and Poontang had the audience in stitches. Samuel L. Jackson also makes an appearance, as do Pam Grier, Fred Williamson, Gloria Hendry, Isaac Hayes, and some critics and historians.

Baadasssss Cinema is fun, but I didn't think it offered any particularly new revelations on the genre. It presents an even-handed view of Blaxploitation, giving fair time to both the pros and cons of it. I believe that Julien first began thinking of making a Blaxploitation documentary while he was teaching a course at Harvard about African-Americans and Film - and maybe this is why the film lacks that extra spark. It teaches you both sides of the argument, but Julien doesn't really take a stand either way in the film. It leaves you to decide for yourself, but the material in the film isn't really thought-provoking enough to spark heated debates after the credits roll - it was too much fun for that, really. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing.

These films are showing together again on Saturday, September 14, so I'm sure that tickets are still available - our screening had several empty seats. I would say that One Night the Moon is definitely worth a look, since I'm not sure whether they have distribution for it? Baadasssss Cinema has been/will be shown on tv, but if you don't have cable, it definitely has some great moments. The screening combination is a good one - One Night the Moon is dramatic and a bit heavy - following it with Baadasssss Cinema definitely lightens the mood and leaves you laughing out the door.

Buttercup