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Anton Sirius' DAY ONE at the Toronto Film Festival: Gregg Araki's SPLENDOR and Antonio Hernandez's LISBON!!!
Hey folks, Harry here. And all you folks up in Toronto... let's examine the bejeesus out of the films and cool stuff a going on up there. A lot of the major 'prestige' films are getting their kickstart there... and in New York soon. So let's get them reports in so we (the folks not so lucky to be attending) can hear about the jewels and the dirt. As for Anton.... Well... Just watch him go. There is nothing so beautiful as a highly motivated cool geek in action. Kick ass my friend. While I haven't seen LISBON, I have seen Gregg Araki's SPLENDOR at this year's SOUTH BY SOUTHWEST, and it did indeed kick much ass.
Thursday the 9th
I stare out over the lake, the morning sun glinting cheerfully on the poisoned waves- welcome back you potzer, it seems to say. Ah, Toronto, you old hag, it's good to see you too.
I turn away and look at the place Magdalena found for me- open, spartan, high white walls. Reminds me a little of home. Not that I care, really, since I'd be shocked if I spend more than three hours a day in here, but certain things are a comfort. I actually flew in Tuesday for the Tori/Alanis concert- poor Alanis, no way she should have been headlining that gig. Downed a couple with Tori, and she's as much a blast as ever- marriage hasn't dulled her edges at all.
Wednesday was spent acclimating myself to Toronto the Good once again- but I've seen beneath her petticoats, and her act doesn't fool me any more. Once plugged back in I was ready to party- oh, and see a film or two, of course.
The first day of the fest is traditionally a half-day, just so people can dip their toes in. Ran into Sarah Polley at the hotel- poor Sarah, she already looks miffed at all the fuss surrounding her. Then got on the phone with Miramax- Hayao Miyazaki is coming after all. Can't remember the last time I saw him, but I do remember that night in Kyoto… well, maybe I'll save that one for the memoirs. The big happening was of course the Opening Night Gala, Atom Egoyan's Felicia's Journey. The crème de la crème of Canadian Cinema were out in full force- and Robert Lantos too (sorry, big guy, couldn't resist.) But I'd seen it at Cannes (it's not as good as Exotica, but not the disappointment everyone over there thought it was) so I went elsewhere to feed my eyes.
Splendor was first- I'll try to squeeze in an interview with Gregg and/or Kathleen on the weekend, but no time to chat tonight! On to Lisbon, or more accurately the theater where its playing. Walking down the hall in the Varsity I bumped into all sorts of familiar faces, from Toronto fests past. We hard-core Toronto fest folk have an unspoken bond between us, and even though we may never have met we still know our brethren on sight (and, later in the week, on smell.) Then home to zip this off to Harry, and the night beckons! Maybe swing by Delux to start, then over to System, and Fluid- see who's up for dancing…
Lisbon (Spain/Argentina 1999, directed by Antonio Hernandez)
See, there I go, I durn went 'n' forgot one of the cardinal rules of European cinema- Spain can't produce noir. There's a lot of things they do very well- horror, sex romps etc. But noir? Fugeddabowdit.
You figure out where Lisbon is going (which is nowhere) pretty quick. Joao is Portuguese but works in Spain, selling porn videos to roadside bars (I will give the prop person props for slipping Mouse Hunt into Joao's stock.) He encounters a woman in peril (Carmen Maura, who gives the part more oomph than it deserves) who gradually entangles him in her troubles.
Lisbon is one of those films that is less than the sum of its parts. The performances are all decent or better (Laia Marull is a knockout in at least two senses), the dialogue is natural, and yet somehow it doesn't click. Part of the problem is in the details that the film gets, well, flat out wrong. There's no true femme fatale, for instance (both Berta and Veronica- Maura and Marull, respectively- share elements, but neither could be called Stanwyckian). Even the score is obtrusive and distracting in the beginning, before disappearing entirely a third of the way in. But most importantly, the film never puts Joao's soul, much less his life, in any real jeopardy. And when working in a genre like noir, a film must either respect the formula or purposefully shatter it (a la Bound.) It can't just drift away from it, which is what Lisbon ends up doing.
Moral of the story- Giving rides to strangers is a nuisance, and the Spanish can't do noir.
Splendor (US 1999, directed by Gregg Araki)
Which of these titles just doesn't belong here- Totally Fucked Up, Doom Generation, Nowhere, Splendor?
If you said Splendor you are WRONG, man. It's as much an Araki original as the others- same in-your-face art direction, same giddy interpretation of 'normal'. So what if it's (gasp) happy?
The plot seems vaguely familiar (but I can't quite put my finger on it) and revolves around a girl and two guys (one of whom is Jonathan Schaech) having lots of sex. But unlike Doom Generation there's no looming destruction fueling their hormones- both Abel and Zed genuinely love Veronica (big day for Veronicas at the fest- see Lisbon), and she genuinely loves them both back. Their courtship(s) make for some very funny stuff, and for a while everyone is (gasp) happy- that is, until Veronica comes down with a case of pregnancy. Then their idyllic little world comes apart at the seams.
Araki's trademark oddities are more subdued in Splendor, but they're still there, present in everything from V's best friend Mike (a lesbian artist who works in a junkyard) to RED and GREEN martinis in a BLUE restaurant. The difference is in the tone- Splendor is gentler than his previous films, and hearkens back to the comedies of the '30s, with a dash of Truffault thrown into the mix. It's not an out and out screwball, but Araki certainly takes some cues from that style of filmmaking, most notably in Kathleen Robertson's look throughout the film. She is shot, make-upped and dressed as though she were Merle Oberon, Greta Garbo and Vivian Leigh all rolled into one- and she gives a performance nearly to match. Her Veronica is far more three-dimensional than previous Araki heroines, insecure and brave and responsible and nutty and she is very plausibly someone two nominally straight guys would share.
No review of an Araki film would be complete without mentioning the kick-ass soundtrack- remixes of artists like the Cocteau Twins and Spiritualized by the likes of Moby and the Chemical Brothers. (There's the free plug I promised the Virgin folk I was sitting with.)
Don't be upset because nobody dies- Splendor rocks just as much as Araki's other films. And is it just me, or is his career arc starting to resemble that of an Angelino, MTV-generation John Waters?
Meanwhile....
Bonjorno, starkinder! Some more interviews are
falling into place, so feel free to e-mail me
questions for these fine folk at
robbie_dogstar@yahoo.com
{CONFIRMED} Natasha Lyonne (HARRY NOTE: Say 'Hi' to Clea DuVall if you get a chance, and see BUT I'M A CHEERLEADER, Anton)
{TENTATIVE} George Romero
{TENTATIVE} Gregg Araki & Kathleen Robertson
{VERY TENTATIVE} Oh, whazzizname, that anime guy, you
know, has that thing coming out, um, that genius, oh yeah HAYAO
MIYAZAKI!!!!!!!!!
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... but his films always have crappy distribution in the UK (if they come out at all). Still thanks Anton, I'll look out for this one - does anyone know who plays the other guy in it?
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...Honestly, how does this guy keep finding work? Who is footing the bills to these productions?! Okay, I'll admit I enjoyed the production design of "The Doom Generation", but that's the only shining star in Araki's films that I've ever seen. And to even compare Araki to John Waters is a crime... very naughty of you ;-) John Waters is 1,000 times the filmmaker Araki will ever be... no matter how many films of his have two guys screwin' a girl.
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Gregg Araki is like the twisted bizarro world version of Kevin Williamson and that last film of his was a welcome antidote from all the torrents of bland teen crap that we have had to put up with lately. Having him direct a Jean Claude film would be a stroke of genius......
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Nice little report there on the Gala evening. But, I think a mention should be made of the protest outside the doors to the gala. Seems a bunch of anti poverty people thought the film festival was a good place to make their ideas known.
And good for them. I for one am in no way in the poverty class but I don't have the money to go to the festival and I live in Toronto.
What's my point? Nothing except I hope there was more of an effect on the stars than just having to listen to a bunch of regular citizens. Sometimes I am sure they forget that they are only human too.
Andrew Powell
the GATE
http://www.go.to/theGATE -
Split decision here. He reminded me too much of David Lynch -- not in terms of his style, but in terms of how he would sabotage his own work with forced mannerisms. Maybe he's actually pulled himself out of the hole, but in the meantime I've got stuff that's more personally important to me clamoring for my attention (coughMONONOKEcough).
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Sorry dude, Splendor was *not* a good movie. It was dull, uninspired, the only interesting 'twist' that elevated this movie above any number of "Who Should I choose - dependable boring guy or loser hunky guy" movies was the idea that "loser hunky guy" was in fact two guys: "loser" and "hunky". (Thats right, its a choice between 2 guys at once, or a *third* guy, and I dont think thats too much of a spoiler because its only really the set up)
And everytime I hear somthing pitched as a "screwball comedy", I moan because that usually means "goofy recycled plots and humor". Boy was I right.
Didnt even get to see any nekkid, either! -
Uh.....he turned into a freakin' alien...he exploded and turned into an alien.....I just don't get it....
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araki's production work(MEANING WHOEVER DID IT,CUASE I'M SURE THAT HALF-A-FAG DIDN'T)is good,but
his movies do indeed suck.who want's to see young rich whitefolks runnin around LA -
I hafta agree with Sheriff Buck - *uninspired* sums up Splendor best. Araki's earlier films are flawed, but at least they have kitsch value and balls. This film is a eunuch's wet dream, which means it ain't happening. The best friend character played by Kelly MacDonald who's so hot, was just soooo wrong. The cutesy-pie script and especially the annoyingly cutesy-pie poser Kathleen Robertson was just frickin annoying. When a hack filmmaker with a goth/raver aesthetic sells out, the cheese pop result is downright embarassing. And whaddarya talking about Spanish can't do noir? What about Almodovar's MATADOR... among others?
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I just hadda jump in here and say I dug Araki's last couple of movie's DOOM GENERATION and NOWHERE -- he really hit a fuckin' stride with these two flicks (Ihated Totally Fucked Up and The Living End). DOOM and Nowhere are like suburban American Almodovar. Nowehere even reminded me visually of the mind blowing HOLY MOUNTAIN by Jodorowsky. I'll see noweher e on the strength of those last two mind fucks he made but now what I really wanna see is an ARAKI movie starring VAN DAMME -- whoever above suggested this has inadvertently hit upon an AMAZING idea. Can you imagine of UNIVERSAL SOLDIER:THE RETURN had been directed by him?!?!? UNIVERSAL SOLDIER: OUT OF THE CLOSET - - I'd buy that for a dollar.
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C'mon Anton, please, I saw this movie in the same damn theatre yesterday (the Varsity 8 for those who are scoring at home) and what I saw was just about as good as "Julia Has Two Lovers". Which ain't saying much. Duchovny fans forgive me.
Kathleen Robertson was surprisingly very good. But Araki loaded it with UPN-sitcom grade gags, cliche and yet another "Graduate" take-off. Yick! Myers's spoof of it in Wayne's World should have been the last.
You know I love ya' Anton. But this so-called "screwball comedy" played out as well as Pong on my Araki 2600. -
Everyone I know (including myself) who saw this at SXSW this year enjoyed it - some, more so than others, of course. SXSW had a lot of these quirky Gen-X romantic comedies, but Splendor stood out for me, and I believe I said such in my review here on the site... http://www.aint-it-cool-news.com/display.cgi?id=3332 I personally didn';t care much for Doom Generation or Nowhere (the only other Araki films I've seen), but damn if this little ditty didn't have me smilin' by the end. It's getting a limited theatrical release late this month in LA and NY and the rest of the country mid November. I highly recommend it.
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I went to the screening of Kadosh at the Festival last night. This somewhat slow moving, but well done Israeli/French coproduction tells the story of two Orthodox Jewish sisters in Israel, and their lack of freedom, especially in the area of personal relationship. It is both sad and frustrating to watch their pain. My only disappointment was that the director was down with the flu (imagine coming to all the way to Toronto and being too ill to attend your film) and that there was no q&a, one aspect of festival films I particularly enjoy. All in all, a very good start to my festival week.
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I woke up next to Cameron Diaz. I then met up with Tom Cruise in the kitchen for coffee. On the subway my good friend Jennifer Lopez introduced me to Nicholas Cage, who was having lunch with Bruce Willis. Then at lunch I ran into my old chum Jim Carrey, and we...
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*******By the way: if you didn't see what I was saying above, jeez this Sirius guy is a name-dropper! Fucking slow down, ego boy. *********You know what Ebert is always writing about Lynch films - that despite recognising some quality in them and knowing how good they're supposed to be, he simply cannot appreciate them? Well I feel that way doubly about Araki. Why was the Asian convenience store ('Kwik E Mart' - har) who was killed (and screamed in the relish - ???) called Kok Suk? Is that funny? Is that intelligent? Is that satire? He shits me.
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