Father Geek here with some reviews of the work of some of the best directors at this year's TIFF... What a grouping...

I'm a big fan of you and now I want to thank you for your web site by contributing some of the film reviews from TIFF. OK, cut the crap, let me go ahead and talk about the films I saw.

TALK TO HER (Directed by Pedro Almodovar from Spain)

While people have been talking about Neil Jordan's "A Good Thief" and Tom Tykwer's "Heaven," how come nobody talks about Pedro Almodovar's "Talk to Her?" Oh man, although today's just Day Three of Toronto Film Fest, I can much guarantee that this is gonna be the best film of the film festival. As you all movie geeks know, this Almodovar guy from Spain is a crazy film masters who make some wacko masterpieces about love, desire and sexuality, such as "Women on the Verge of Nervous Breakdown," "Live Flesh," and "All About My Mother." And let me tell you this: I think this director is even getting better and better, and what the heck, this latest movie "Talk to Her" is definitely his BEST WORK so far!

Let me brief the plot a little bit. "Talk to Her" tells a story about two men who find empathy for each other when their respective lovers end up in coma. However, their situations are much, much different. One guy is a writer but in a less "peculiar" situation (you'll know what I mean by "peculiar" when you compare his situation with another guy's): His lover is a bullfighter and suffers a serious brain trauma after getting hit by the bull. However, the guy sometimes still thinks of his previous girlfriend and his bullfighter girlfriend cannot really forget her ex-husband either. They really want to talk about their dilemma but too bad she got the accident and can no longer talk.

For the other guy, his so-called "love story" is just very much self-obsessed. He has no girlfriends, not even friends. Every day, he sits by the window and peers at a dance school close to his apartment - through the glass wall of the dance school, he can see his dream girl, a beautiful and talented dancer who dances every afternoon. But this introvert guy doesn't really know to show his love for the girl. While he's planning to approach her, she suffers a brain injury and falls into coma. Later, this guy becomes a nurse and takes care of her in the hospital, talks to her and shows his love and care every day and feels that he has been "dating" her for four years. One day, the hospital finds out the dancer's menstruation has stopped for two months. Obviously, somebody has "raped" her while she's in coma. Don't tell me you don't know who does it to her.

OK, you might find "Talk to Her" just a freaky film about two crazy, love-obsessed men who are insanely insistent for their comatose lovers. It's sort of like the old time "Jerry Springer's Show" material. But this is the exact Almodovar: He loves to make those characters like the passive chess pieces that are toyed around by the hands of their cruel fates and unfortunate personalities. Like his previous films, the characters in "Talk to Her" are colorful and likeable, all intensely emotional for love and their desires. For example, the nurse seems like a psychopath for what he does to the dancer. But in a way, he doesn't really do anything wrong for being stubbornly loyal for a girl he has been dreaming of. He's just unable to face the reality and indulgent in his one-sided fascination of love. He is more like a victim of his own character.

"Talk to Her" is not just about the characters and interesting stories, however. It is filled with uproarious funs and tremendous sadness and I found my emotion unconsciously driven up and down by the film in the entire two hours. More, the storytelling of the film is just fabulous - it's convoluted and goes back and forth but with such a great clarity. As the movie goes, it's like unwrapping a gift with lots of gift wraps - you keep unwrapping and unwrapping and when you finally got to the box and open the gift, wow, what a fantastic surprise! And the music, oh man , this movie soundtrack is the one I have to own. Although I don't know Spanish, the songs and the symphonies of the film are just deadly gorgeous and emotionally moving, and Almodovar is just excellent for playing the right music at the right moments. "Talk to Her" is definitely one of the year's best films.

DOLLS (Directed by Takeshi Kitano from Spain)

Oh, what a disappointment for me from the latest Takeshi Kitano's movie "Dolls." I know a great director should have the courage to diverse the type of films he or she makes, but I think Kitano is more appropriate to stick with his yakuza or cop films like "Fireworks" and "Brothers." Last year (was it last year or two years ago?), he tried a comedy called "Kikujiro," a story about a retired gangster button man trying to help a kid to find his mom, but I don't really like it. This time, he puts three sad love stories into one film called "Dolls."

However, the pace of this film is too slow and there're too many artsy still shorts. What destroy this film are the shallow stories and characters that cannot really connect with the audience. There are three stories:

Story One: A guy regrets for dumping his ex-girlfriend and marrying the rich daughter of his boss. He feels sorry because his ex becomes cuckoo and forgets all her memories, not even recognize her parents and he friends. Then this guy grabs her out from hospital, ties up himself and the girl together with a red string and they just keeps walking and walking like a pair of beggars.

Story Two: An old yakuza gangster regrets for dumping his old time lover because of his ambition. Now, after many years, he has become a great but retiring gangster boss and goes back to the park where he and his lover met. There he does meet a woman still sitting on the bench chair waiting for someone. Is the woman his old lover? But later on, he's shot dead anyway.

Story Three: A road construction worker is very obsessed of a beautiful singer. But after a car accident, the singer's face is disfigured and withdraws herself from her work and her fans. But that construction worker is so obsessed of her idol and still thinks of her every time he closes his eyes. So what does he do? He uses a cutter to cut his eyes out, so he wouldn't look at her photos from magazines and remember her again. Of course, it doesn't work and he becomes a blind man. But ironically, it gives him a chance to meet his dream singer because she's comfortable with this guy who cannot see her ruined face. Yes, they do have a good time but that guy later on got hit by a car and ends up death.

Do you think these stories are sad and moving? If you're crying right now, go ahead and see it and give it four-star recommendation. But sorry, NOT ME. The only virtue of this film is its cinematography. My favorite season is autumn and this movie does take place in autumn, with lots of beautiful red, brown and orange dried leaves drifting gracefully in the air. And yes, this film does show some sensitivity for some moments, like the moppet show in the beginning of the film is sort of like a reflection of the pair of lover in Story One. However, this film is too slow and focuses too much on Story One, which I find not really touching and compelling at all. (Stories Two and Three are more interesting but with not much focus and not much depth, and those guys end up death, what's the point?)

If the guy from Story One regrets for what he does to his ex, please take care of her while she is sick, OK? That guy just ties her up and drags her to walk aimlessly around the country in the cold autumn and the snowing winter (they should sign up for "Survivor" or something for keep walking in the countryside without many clothes to wear and much food to eat), it's not sacrifice but torture for her. He should send her back to hospital where there're nurses and doctors and food. This guy is just selfish and forces her to become a beggar with him although she's already a poor girl who has already suffered a lot. I think it's the guy who needs mental care more than the girl does (the girl at least got a reason to get crazy since she's got dumped and gone nuts but what's the guy doing, really?)

Anyway, "Dolls" is just dull and just unable to reach and touch my heart. I know Kitano is a great director but this movie just doesn't work for me.

TAKE CARE OF MY CAT (Directed by Jeong Jae-Eun from South Korea)

I can tell you, this Korean hidden gem is gonna be overlooked and got overshadowed by other high profile "women films" in this festival like "8 Femme/8 Women." But if you're into "women films," or what the heck, if you're just into films, "Take Care of My Cat" is a very interesting piece of work that you should go check out. It's about the friendship of five Korean girls after they have graduated from high school. And while most people think of women films, they must be thinking of their love stories and the female characters' connection with guys and some tiring stuff like that. But "Take Care of My Cat" is not about that. It's about how their friendship slowly dissolves when those girls got separated by their different social experiences when they've graduated.

Although there're five girls but the movie basically focuses on three of them. One girl is the most beautiful of the five, who is also arrogant and doesn't care about what others think. She got a secretary job in a brokerage firm but not satisfied for her career aspect there. But she's already the luckiest compared to others. On the other hand, her best friend in high school isn't that lucky. She lives in the poor squatters and cannot find a good job. Her parents are dead and she has to take care of her sick grandparents. She is good at drawing pictures but her potential is never discovered. There's another girl, who is the most cheerful and lovable, often dreams of going elsewhere and wanders around the world. However, she's also the only one who has a lot of heart and care for their friendship.

What I love about this film is that it's so subtle with a lot of sensitivities for the characters. There're not really good and bad characters in the movie; in other words, they're just people. They misunderstand and start to abandon each other not because they're heartless but simply because they're constrained by their circumstances at that moment. More, this movie does show something that has happened to most of us: Your best friend right now may not be your best friend in future. On the other hand, to your surprise, you'll later in life find out that the friend who helps you the most is the one you never considered as your best friend in the past. Life is just full of irony.

"Take Care of My Cat" is a very good film that really cares about the characters and take the subject matter of female friendship seriously. And the film has something pretty creative too, such as the pop-up screens of those girls' cell phones that show the messages they page and email for each other. In addition, the film is realistic and brainier than most brainless teenage films and comedies in North America that are all about guys and girls looking for sex after they graduate from high school. "Take Care of My Cat" is about real people who have to find a job and worry about their life and future, and make tough decisions for making compromise between the hard reality and their wild dream.

"HEAVEN" (Directed by Tom Tykwer from Germany)

Since a lot of you have talked about this film. I don't wanna say much. The Story: An English teacher in Italy wants to revenge for her husband who is killed by a drug lord. She plants a bomb but too bad the bomb kills four innocent people. She's now a terrorist suspect but got an escape plan from a young translator during the interrogation. They somehow succeed and escape to the countryside and that young translator tries to get her heart while they're fleeing from the cops. However, I gotta say I do NOT dig "The Heaven" that much. I know a lot of people like this film; it's a disappointment for me again, however.

The story just doesn't make sense. I assume the story takes place in modern Italy, but how come they interrogate the female terrorist suspect (Cate Blanchette) in an ordinary room with no iron walls whatsoever? How come the room is not heavily armed with soldiers? The security is so light that I think Jackie Chan or Jet Li can easily escape and kick all the cops butts in a minute. Tom Tykwer likes to make films about coincidences, and yes, the female suspect turns out to be the translator's (Giovanni Ribisi) young brother's teacher, but I just cannot find any magic there. In other words, I just don't find this story "surreal" enough to convince me that the plot doesn't really matter.

And I cannot really find any chemistry, actually not supposed to have any chemistry, between Blanchette and Ribisi. And you can tell Blanchette is not in love with him. It's just that 24 year old boy (I do remember he said he's born in 1978, the year I was born) for some unconvincing reason falling in love with a 31 year old woman, trying to help her escape. However, there's not much depth and not much to explain how come that 31 year old woman, who is supposed to be more sensible, will simply fall for a young kid because he has helped her. I know she owes her a lot but loving him is another matter. In fact, she herself wants to be put in jail anyway for killing the four innocent people after she has killed the drug lord. My opinion: The script will be better off when Blanchette surrenders to Ribisi's father (who is also a soldier or a cop or something) and Ribisi has to accept the fact that she's not really in love with him. This ending will be more convincing and even more touching too.

A GOOD THIEF (Directed by Neil Jordan from Britain)

Again, a lot has already been discussed for this film and I'm not gonna say much. But hey, what an interesting observation: When Steven Soderburgh wants to relax a bit, he makes the cool, light "Ocean 11." Now, Neil Jordan is doing the same thing. It seems that he is taking this project lightly (not as "serious" as his previous works like "The Butcher Boy" and "The End of Affair?") and made this heist movie "A Good Thief," which is also about a bunch of crooks who want to rob a casino.

"A Good Thief" is about the low-life, junkie-gambler Nick Nolte who lives in France and wants to pull off a great casino heist. Again, I'm not gonna throw away the story but what I can say is "A Good Thief" is just brilliant for its witty dialogues, eminent actors' performances, suspenseful storyline and superb direction from Neil Jordan. Yes, there're lots of styles like jump cuts, fast editing and some frozen screens, but they don't distract me from focusing on the story and characters.

Watching this film, I know this Jordan guy was having a lot of fun when he was making this film; it's like he's making a film he likes and toys around it a little bit (jump cuts and fast editing etc.). He made this film with profession and confidence and he was just having a good time. "A Good Thief" is just a lot of fun and I felt like I was on a Caribbean cruise trip enjoying the sunbath while I was watching it.

OK, that's it for my film reviews. I'll send you more movie reviews and Harry please come to TIFF some time this year or next year. This is the place you'll love!

JAN CHIK