Hey folks, Harry here with our commentator... MeTheHead and his looks at two Larry Charles films... AN EVENING WITH MICHAEL MOORE and BORAT. Two films that I think we're all wanting to see. Except for you pesky Moore haters. Here ya go...

Hiya Harry! You (or Quint, I guess it was) posted a review of Oliver Twist that I sent in last year from Toronto under the name "Whiteula". Apparently you have also been in contact with- at some point or other- some friends of mine who are putting together a sci-fi/fantasy/horror themed cookbook. I am the lucky guy who gets to illustrate that book, which is due to come out early in '07.




I am now writing under "MeTheHead" and have some stuff on both "An Evening With Michael Moore" and "Borat". If you have the time or inclination, please check out my brand new baby website at methehead.com. The reviews I write from the T.O. Film Fest will also be posted there.





Tonight was a bit of a Larry Charles double feature at the fest, with Charles acting as the interviewer for An Evening With Michael Moore, followed by Borat: Cultural Learnings Of America For Make Benifit For Glorious Nation Kazakhstan, which he directed. Larry Charles has an impressive resume as a writer and/or director of comedy, whose body of work- for those who don't recognize the name- includes episodes of Seinfeld and Curb Your Enthusiasm.




The first part of the evening consisted mainly of the interview, with Moore offering up a lot of fluffy anecdotes about his anti-authoritarian childhood and teen years, as well as tidbits about moviemaking and pedicure.




Some highlights were: hearing that Moore shot a chunk of Roger & Me without a slate, not knowing that they were used to help sinc up sound and picture, which meant that he had to search for instances where someone would pop a "p" for points of reference; a late-teens theatrical production including a scene where actors posing as audience members storm the stage, beating up Jesus Christ and then nailing him back up onto the cross he has just climbed down from, and; Moore comparing sitting next to a girl in orchestra rehearsal in his early teens to being tempted by a bag of Tostitos.




Moore's stories were mostly interesting enough, and Charles did a good job of setting him up and keeping him on track, but I couldn't help thinking that it was mainly a P.R. event for Moore to cultivate- or reinforce- certain aspects of his image as a shy, unassuming everyman/reluctant folk-hero; to influence the way he is perceived. He is, after all, more of a propagandist than a documentarian (something that the movement against the Bush administration and its policies actually needs more of if they ever hope to fight fire with fire). One of the best points he made was that the Republicans have a history of putting movie stars (Reagan, Schwarzeneggar) into office, which seems to go a long way with the public, and that it might be wise for the Democrats to adopt a similar tactic (although I didn't agree with either of his personal nominees: Tom Hanks or Oprah).




Moore made a remark at one point about audience reaction to a story he'd just told about being a fella getting a pedicure, basically suggesting that his anecdote of awkward embarrassment would've played better and elicited more empathy from a Sudbury audience (Sudbury is a Nickel mining town in North Ontario). I think this was a revealing moment, because it brought home the fact that these are the people he connects best with: the overworked, underappreciated, small town blue collar folk who don't go to the big city for high-fallutin' film festivals and the like. That's what makes him an important filmmaker: he reaches people that most in his line of work never even have a hope of getting through to. It's not that I consider myself or anyone else in that audience too smart or worldly or whatever for what Moore has to offer (in fact, most of the audience- including myself- reacted excitedly to those patented MIchael Moore moments of cheer-baiting and low blows). I just think that he is a little ill at ease in that sort of setting. I think- ultimately- that he would prefer to be talking to people who haven't heard of him; who need to hear what he has to say. Doing a night like this with this kind of audience is mainly just preaching to the converted, and Moore is a man on a mission, whom I really believe wants to enlighten people who get the shit-end of the stick so that they can turn that stick around and start to give the shitters a taste of their own...erm...finish that for yourself...




Speaking of finishing, I was not able to stay until the end of the presentation and had to miss the only piece of footage they showed that didn't have to be stopped due to sound issues (earlier, clips from his upcoming piece about his participation in the 2004 presidential elections- The Great Slacker Uprising of '04, I think it's called- had to be stopped because it was nearly impossible to understand any of the dialogue). That last clip was from Sicko, his expose on the American healthcare system, which will be released in June '07, apparently. That- as I gathered from a friend who did stick around 'til the end - was accompanied by some discussion of differences between U.S. and Canadian healthcare, which is where Moore often goes (the "Yay, Canada/Boo U.S." thing in general, that is), both in his films and public appearances. In fact, although he apparently claimed that Sicko would not be mining Canada for Points of comparison to discredit the American way of doing things, he ended up showing clips from the film that had some connection to this country anyway. It's a habit of Moore's that I'm not particularly fond of, because I think that he has a bit of an idealized, naive view of his country's northern neighbours, and it just seems to me to be turning into this prolonged "Wassup Canada!?".




Anyway, overall I just didn't find myself engaged enough with Mr. Moore and his stories and clips to stick around and risk not getting back into the theatre later for...





...Borat...is one of the most uproarious experiences I have ever had in a movie theatre. There was laughter and chanting and screaming and groans of sometimes shocked disapproval at some of the most hilariously inflammatory behaviour and language ever put in a movie, and all of it a polished mirror of a human comedy, sometimes in its darkest forms.




Larry Charles gave a heartfelt, boisterous introduction to his film in that vaguely Frank Zappa way that he has, and it was all hoots and hollers from there on in.




I don't really want to go into much detail, except to say that- as I believe has been said by others already- a lot of people are really really going to hate this movie. I'm not even sure that I feel entirely good liking it, but I had this weird tear thing going on in one eye through the whole movie- from a combination of laughter and fatigue, I think- and I heard a guy afterwards saying that the sides of his head were hurting, and Dustin Hoffman- two rows in front of me during the screening- just kept slouching lower and lower in his seat through the course of the movie (I know: maybe he's just a sloucher, or he was sleeping, but it sounds good).




The crowd was amazing (what do you expect from a Midnight Madness audience?) , chanting "Borat! Borat!" as the movie started up, and drowning out chunks of dialogue with massive waves of laughter in that way where it's actually kind of fun to be missing bits of the movie, given the circumstances. It really felt like everyone had been waiting for this movie, and were thrilled to bits to actually be there.




I need to single out Ken Davitian as Azamat Bagatov (the producer of the fictional Khazakhstani documentary being made) for the bravest, most balls to the (moustache) wall performance in the entire movie. You'll know what I'm talking about when you see it (or read some of the other reviews that talk more explicitly about it). Of course, Borat himself- Sacha Baron Cohen- was great, being incredibly subtle in many aspects of his performance in a way that tends to often nicely counteract the less than subtle goings-on. I- for one- suggest that this man immediately replace Steve Martin in the role of Inspector Clouseau for any subsequent Pink Panther movies.




So there you go: as much as I'm going to say about a movie that needs to be watched with as little foreknowledge as possible, except maybe for a warning to those easily offended to stay well away, or to go ahead and see it anyway and tell me if there isn't a little more at work here than just guilty-pleasure, lowest-common-denominator, bigotted blowing off of steam (even if it is just that, it's equal opportunity bigotry, with a lot of different preconceptions on the part of a lot of different people in regards to a lot of different people being aired).




For the most part, I think that when Borat hits theatres in November, hardcore fans of the edgiest kind of comedy will be saying "Wah-wah-wee-wah!!"...



Once again- if you do end up using this- I am MeTheHead (formerly known as "Whiteula")