I really like Art Snob’s festival coverage, and here’s the second half of his annual look at the Toronto line-up:
Hi, I’m finally back with part 2 of my TIFF report. Sorry for the delay, but there’s really no rush since nobody can see any of the movies for a while anyway.
My ninth straight trip to the festival was marred by one factor: My Toshiba laptop died after five years of loyal service through very heavy use. So I was forced to stay in touch with my operations home base using web cafes and a friend’s laptop. I have to say that the city has certainly come a long way on the availability of broadband – it was just six years ago that I had to take a subway well out of the festival district to get web access of any kind. The following year, a place on Yonge Street not far from the now-history Uptown Theater opened, offering solid access in a generic setting for a fair price. More such establishments came about in the years that followed, including one right across the street from the high-rise where I usually stay. But now there are two GREAT places very convenient to the festival district that offer settings and service a cut above the hole-in-the-wall establishments. A short hop south of the Bloor-Yonge subway station is NET EFFECT on Isabella Street. It features 24/7 service and prides itself on having ultra-comfortable ergonomically-designed seating. And if you have a laptop with you and want to experience a bona-fide web CAFÉ, there’s KINDRED SPIRIT just a block south of the Wellesley subway station. It charges five dollars for a day/night pass to the wifi-equipped rooftop patio, with a great view of the skyline and a superb selection of reasonably-priced coffees, pastries and other “edibles” available (with taxes included on the menu – an EXTREMELY rare practice in Toronto). I plan to return to both of these establishments regularly … provided they don’t get closed, as seems to be the case with EVERY Toronto spot that I patronize regularly for any period of time.
Okay, okay, on to the movies. Nothing on my second trip came close to dislodging PAN’S LABYRINTH as my festival choice. But there was still plenty of decent stuff to see, and the blessed absence of anything remotely close to any of the WORST movies I’ve seen here over the years. Once again, I’m applying my “would I see it again” (WISIA) litmus test to each
BLACK BOOK
Paul Verhoeven takes another large step away from SHOWGIRLS by returning to what got him noticed by Hollywood in the first place: the WW2 epic territory that he first mined in his Dutch classic, SOLDIER OF ORANGE. In place of Ruger Hauer this time around we have Carice van Houten, playing a young Jewish woman who joins the Dutch resistance after narrowly escaping an ambush that wiped out her family and many other Jewish refugees who were trying to flee to Allied-controlled territory. Her greatest value is as a seductress to Nazi officers, so the first order of the day is becoming completely non-Jewish in appearance – a blonde in a VERY complete sense. The main target officer is well-played by Sebastian Koch, who also impressed me during this festival with his performance in THE LIVES OF OTHERS.
It’s a pretty wild roller coaster ride van Houtten’s character goes on, with many unexpected turns as what began as a straightforward assignment keeps forcing her to improvise around a new twist. It’s not dull, but it strains credulity that one person could survive all that she goes through. The movie is bookended by scenes of her working as a schoolteacher in an Israeli kibbutz ten years after the War with a memorable closing shot. WISIA: Maybe. I wouldn’t recommend this movie to someone who hasn’t seen SOLIDER OF ORANGE, but I definitely would to someone who’s seen it and liked it. And I think it would be interesting to see the two films back-to-back sometime. (Or better still, as an intercut mini-series!)
THE FOUNTAIN
The heads-up from Venice on this film put my expectations in check. I was CRAZY over Darren Aronofsky’s REQUIEM FOR A DREAM, but if there’s one truism I’ve learned over the years at this fest, it’s “Just because a director CAN make a great movie, doesn’t mean that his CURRENT one is anywhere CLOSE to his best.” (TIFF cases in point: REVOLVER, TIDELAND, and A HOLE IN MY HEART,)
These lowered expectations enabled me to dispassionately analyze it. The story IS a mess on first viewing, but a cohesive story is no more a necessity for a film with visuals like this one than it was with 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY. There is going to be much discussion of this film (it’s already started at the IMDB message boards), and I feel confident that some interesting perspectives will emerge. It isn’t often that I say that a film is worth seeing for its visuals alone, but this is one of those occasions. No booing at my show … just rapt attention and polite applause at the end. WISIA: Yes, I’ll watch the DVD if it includes a commentary track by Aronofsky. And I’ll SURE buy the screensaver!
SEVERANCE
After seeing Christopher Smith’s CREEP at Midnight Madness two years ago, I wasn’t exactly eagerly anticipating his next feature. But I kept getting the word that SEVERANCE was a major improvement over that earlier effort. This turned out to be the case – my fifth straight Midnight Madness “winner,” following SAW, BANLIEUE 13, S.P.L, and THE HOST.
Know going in that the “Deliverance Meets The Office” tagline is legit, however tongue-in-cheek. A bunch of office types are being bused to what they think will be an office-bonding session at a deluxe corporate retreat that turns out instead to be a decrepit half-done lodge. A paintball competition suddenly turns lethal due to unseen assailants, and the black humor violence competition is underway! (Best: a scene involving a bear trap that you just have to see to believe.) This is the rare hack-and-slash film where victimization, heroism, and comedy are nearly-evenly split between the genders without it feeling like affirmative action. And the babes get undressed for legitimate, plot-specific reasons rather than just for cheap titillation. I predict that a lot more women are going to enjoy this film than is the norm for pictures of this genre. WISIA: Definitely. It’s a perfect comedy to watch with your fellow movie geek pals.
TIME
The long and the short of it: Kim Ki-Duk’s follow-up to the excellent 3-IRON isn’t up to the high standards that picture set. But it’s certainly watchable, with a Twilight Zone concept stretched perhaps a bit too far: A woman who feels herself becoming less desirable to her wandering-eyes husband decides to completely disappear, have a complete body and face makeover, and then seduce her husband all over again. It doesn’t take a lot of imagination to predict unforeseen consequences and ramifications, par for the course in these “be careful what you wish for”-type movies. The production values are excellent, and it has the feel of a major Korean film (e.g., IL MARE) destined for a big-budget American remake. WISIA: No … and that goes DOUBLE for any remake that DOES come to pass.
THE BOOK OF REVELATION
Is it torture if most guys would pay for the experience? That’s a fascinating question indirectly posed by one of the three female assailants in this kidnapping/revenge drama from down under. A dashing, handsome dancer is kidnapped right on the night of a big show and held captive for eleven days by the masked trio. Among the surprises they have in store for him: a “gang blow” and rape via an attachable metallic appendage. When they finally release him after eleven days of these treats, he’s SURE not the same guy he was going in, unable to dance and with trouble communicating. The rest of the film is about his quest to find the women who did this to him. Tom Long is excellent in a role that requires him to display a LOT of emotions, and he gets solid support from vets Gretta Scacchi and Colin Friels (although it’s kind of sad to see the ravages of time on Scacchi, good as she is playing the dance company choreographer). WISIA: Probably not, but I’d certainly be game to re-watch certain parts of it.
I AM THE OTHER WOMAN
For fans of CHINATOWN and FESTEN (“The Celebration”) comes another “father knows best” movie, this one from Germany. It’s in the Hitchcock vein … the story centers around a yuppie seemingly headed for marriage to a perfect mate who’s suddenly smitten by a slutty older woman. She disappears after their initial tryst, but he soon finds her again, an impeccably-dressed financial analyst who has no knowledge of her other self. He then embarks on a mission to discover how her multiple-personality disorder originated, which takes him to her family’s home, presided over by her autocratic, wheelchair-bound vintner father, brilliantly played by Armin Mueller-Stahl. It’s a peel-away-the-layers movie with a revelation that’s in a league with the two aforementioned movies, but not similar enough to where mentioning them constitutes a spoiler. The denouement is memorable and justifies the setup. WISIA: Maybe. I would definitely like to listen to some of Mueller-Stahl’s colorful worldviews again …he reminded me a lot of Max Von Sydow’s character in Woody Allen’s HANNAH AND HER SISTERS.
WHITE PALMS
The most delightful surprise of my return visit was this little athletic gem from Hungary. In an era of ultra-bogus PG-rated Disney sports movies (THE ROOKIE, REMEMBER THE TITANS, INVINCIBLE, etc.), this one has a refreshing ring of authenticity to it. It’s about – and starring – a Hungarian athlete named Miklós Hajdu and written and directed by his brother Szabolcs. But please don’t let knee-jerk “nepotism” or “Bruce Jenner 2” reactions turn you off to this film – it doesn’t over-romanticize Miklós at all, and he’s far more naturally camera-friendly than his pampered and micromanaged American counterparts.
The film keeps shifting between Miklós’ dark childhood, and the present day, where he’s a recent émigré to Canada with designs on becoming a gymnastics coach. The childhood – where he’s played by two talented young actors – is harrowing: pushy parents who want him to be successful so that they can have it easy, and a tyrannical coach who makes Lee Ermey in FULL METAL JACKET look like a softie. To the amazement of the adult Mikló, even discipline 1/100th of what he experienced as a child is strictly verboeten in North America, and instead of coaching a team, he’s assigned to be the personal coach to a moody gymnast with Olympic aspirations (real-life Gold Medalist Kyle Shewfelt, who Mikló really coached in the 2004 Olympics). With his hands tied and his young charge knowing that this is the case, he has to come up with a new motivational strategy. This he does, which leads to a tense, exciting climax that doesn’t feel pat or sappy in the slightest. WISIA: Definitely.
THE BANQUET
Hamlet + Movie = Abridged. Whether it’s Laurence Olivier, Mel Gibson, or Kenneth Brannaugh, one thing is certain about a theatrical production of Hamlet: whole parts of the original play will be gutted, because the play lasts 3-1/2 hours. This adapted-for-China production is no exception. There are no Chinese counterparts for the ghost of Hamlet’s father, Horatio or Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. The Gertrude character (played by Zhang Ziyi) is the Hamlet character’s STEPmother (conveniently about the same age as him) and the Shakespearean character she seems most drawn from is Lady Macbeth.
The sets and costumes are spectacular, but the action sequences seem too theatrical to have any real punch. If you don’t know Hamlet, you might be intrigued somewhat with the story, but if you do, you’ll find yourself preoccupied with the differences. WISIA: No. I’d much rather see the unabridged 1980 BBC production again, with Derek Jacobi in the title role and Jean-Luc Picard as Claudius. It’s too great a play by too major a playwright to be tampered with by lesser talents trying to shoehorn it into a cineplex-friendly time block.
* * *
Well, that wraps up another year … 18 films and not a bad (as in BAD) one in the lot, with plenty of stuff to recommend. I hope that I can make it ten straight years in 2007, but a large assessment from my homeowner’s association is going to make this a challenge. If I can get priority ticketing again, I should be able to take in at least ONE weekend. If I can’t, well … it’s been a fun nine years.
