Movies: Toronto International Film Festival (and any other Film Fest for that matter)

Puck

Ninja
Jun 10, 2003
10,770
415
Ottawa
So it looks like Sheikh Jackson was better in my imagination than it is in reality. I was hoping for that one. Sounded like it could have been a good one, like it had some possibilities. Too bad.
 

nameless1

Registered User
Apr 29, 2009
18,202
1,019
It is interesting that this year's VIFF seems to have a completely different selection than TIFF. Many of the movies that have been reviewed thus far are not available this year.

I will really try to review all the movies that I will see, because I think it will be a very interesting comparison, but like in years past, I cannot make any promises. Usually, I am just exhausted, and by the time I am recovered, I am deep into the sports season.
 

nameless1

Registered User
Apr 29, 2009
18,202
1,019
Also, is anyone interested in Lucky? I already have that one on my radar, but with Stanton's recent passing, I will definitely go to see it. Coincidentally, it is also about a man's contemplation of the end of life, so it will definitely be an interesting experience.
 

Jevo

Registered User
Oct 3, 2010
3,485
363
Also, is anyone interested in Lucky? I already have that one on my radar, but with Stanton's recent passing, I will definitely go to see it. Coincidentally, it is also about a man's contemplation of the end of life, so it will definitely be an interesting experience.

It's been on my radar even before he died. I'm not expecting a world beater, but a good character study with Stanton delivering a good performance. Also it stars David Lynch, which is just an extra little bonus.
 

kihei

McEnroe: The older I get, the better I used to be.
Jun 14, 2006
42,551
10,140
Toronto
It is interesting that this year's VIFF seems to have a completely different selection than TIFF. Many of the movies that have been reviewed thus far are not available this year.

I will really try to review all the movies that I will see, because I think it will be a very interesting comparison, but like in years past, I cannot make any promises. Usually, I am just exhausted, and by the time I am recovered, I am deep into the sports season.
I figure I have to pound out the reviews right away, or I would get tsunamied by them. It will be interesting to see what your festival is like with all the differences between it and TIFF. I'd give TIFF an "A" this year. So many good films from so many places and four or five extraordinary ones. I haven't seen anything that knocked me on my ass the way in past years that Amour, The Assassin, Gravity, and Once upon a Time in Anatolia did, though Loveless is really beginning to look like one of those movies. But the depth has been astonishing.

Also at my screenings it has been an exceptionally fine year for female directors:

Faces Places: Agnes Varda
The Seen and the Unseen: Kamila Andini
Killing Jesus: Laura Mora Ortega
Zama: Lucrecia Martel
If You Saw His Heart: Joan Chen
On Body and Soul: Ildikó Enyedi (still to see)

....and I haven't even seen any of the ones on this list:

https://nowtoronto.com/movies/tiff2017/10-must-see-women-directed-films-at-tiff-2017/

More women getting involved; more countries getting involve; it all bodes well for international cinema.

....and as always, Nameless1, I will be looking forward to however many you get around to doing.
 

kihei

McEnroe: The older I get, the better I used to be.
Jun 14, 2006
42,551
10,140
Toronto
It's been on my radar even before he died. I'm not expecting a world beater, but a good character study with Stanton delivering a good performance. Also it stars David Lynch, which is just an extra little bonus.
Jevo, what festivals do you have in your neck of the woods? Just curious.
 

Five Alarm Fire

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Jun 17, 2009
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Saw I, Tonya last night, was not disappointed. For what is a fairly dark story, the film was very funny, and I suspect Margot Robbie may get a nomination out of this.
 

Ralph Spoilsport

Registered User
Jun 4, 2011
1,234
426
The male lead of Good Favour has the same hapless expression on his face throughout the movie, it really gets annoying after awhile. Fortunately it doesn't sink the picture, the supporting cast picks up the slack and the story is interesting and well-told: a lost teenager wanders out of the woods and into an isolated community of Christian fundamentalists. They welcome him into the community--because it's the Christian thing to do--but it puts their piety to the test as community members respond to the newcomer (with apparent mystical powers) in different ways. A modern-day Ordet? B

The Battle of the Sexes: went into this with low expectations--could they have picked a weaker title?--but after a week of heavy **** it was good fun. Steve Carell is a laff. Barely scratches the surface of the central characters' inner torments, which I guess should be good for box office. C+

Zama: The director says it's ok to take a nap during the movie. Now there's a flag… I just couldn't get into it, although it is still percolating with me. Something operatic about Zama, but without songs or music. Tentative grade: C
 

Jevo

Registered User
Oct 3, 2010
3,485
363
Jevo, what festivals do you have in your neck of the woods? Just curious.

Sadly none. Copenhagen has CPH: PIX and CPH: DOX, which are decently sized festivals. DOX is one of the biggest documentary film festivals in the world. But I live 4 hours away from Copenhagen by car. So with transport, accomodation and festival tickets, it's not really economically feasible for me to go at the moment.
 

BonMorrison

Registered User
Jun 17, 2011
33,611
9,296
Toronto, ON
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri wins People's Choice. I, Tonya was first runner up.

People's Choice at TIFF has shown to be a really good indicator for films going into awards season so that's some heavy buzz right there.
 

kihei

McEnroe: The older I get, the better I used to be.
Jun 14, 2006
42,551
10,140
Toronto
Part "B"

In the Fade--a woman's husband and son are killed by neo-Nazis; competent but too slick and generic for its own good. Germany/subtitles 4A
A Fantastic Woman--a transgender woman copes with loss and humiliation after the sudden death of her lover; never heavy handed and always entertaining thanks largely to a great performance by Danila Vega. Chile/subtitles 7A
Manhunt--awful generic action flick; easily the worst movie I have seen at TIFF this year. China/subtitles and English 3A
The Third Murder--a brilliantly directed and riveting mystery that calls into question the very nature of truth. Japan/subtitles 8A
Zama--17th century Spanish magistrate stuck in South America. Basically a "slow cinema" character study of an unfortunate man. Very good if you enjoy this sort of thing. Argentina/subtitles 7D
Killing Jesus--daughter seeks revenge on the person who may have assassinated her father in front of her. Very good genre piece by a rookie director. Columbia/subtitles 7A
Faces Places--Hybrid documentary of director Agnes Varda and cohort roaming around France putting pictures of people up on walls, buildings, boxcars, etc. Absolutely lovely film. France/subtitles 8A
Omerta--biopic of the terrorist who beheaded an American reporter starts off strong and then goes south rapidly. India/subtitles 4A
Sheikh Jackson--an Iman has a personal crisis when he hears of Michael Jackson's death. Confusing message. Egypt/subtitles 4A
April's Daughter--a mother takes a strange approach to helping raise her daughter's baby. Fun suspense movie with too many holes. Mexico/subtitles 6A
Downrange--six young people in a car on a deserted road run into a sniper. Meh. US/English 3B
On Body and Soul--two co-workers discover they have exactly the same dream every night. Lovely film. Hungary/subtitles 7A
The Summit--there's this politician...forget it. At least a third of the movie seems missing. Argentina/subtitles 2A
 
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kihei

McEnroe: The older I get, the better I used to be.
Jun 14, 2006
42,551
10,140
Toronto
My 25 films in order:

Loveless
The Killing of a Sacred Deer
The Third Murder
Faces Places
A Fantastic Woman
Valley of Shadows
On Body and Soul
The Seen and the Unseen
Killing Jesus
Zama
Thelma
Happy End
The Square
April's Daughter
The Journey
Dark Is the Night
The Other Side of Hope
If You Could See His Heart
In the Fade
The Mountain Between Us
Shiekh Jackson
Omerta
Downrange
Manhunt
The Summit
 

Ralph Spoilsport

Registered User
Jun 4, 2011
1,234
426
Pretty strong weekend to finish the festival, but before I begin I want to acknowledge the Mississaugas of the New Credit, the Huadenosaunee (had to Google that one) and the Huron-Wendat for being such good sports. :handclap::handclap::handclap:

Hands down the most striking, memorable leading performance that I saw at Tiff is Véro Tshanda Beya Mputu (a non-actor making her debut no less) in the title role of Félicité. It's a love story, but calling it a "romance" may be a stretch…maybe because she's too tough of a cookie, a back-alley diva, or maybe because all that lovey-dovey tenderness is more of a first-world frill. In Kinshasa love is as much a survival strategy. A-

Short Cuts Program #6 was a disappointment. Was expecting to see new talent showing off their chops, new ideas getting test runs, got passable displays of competence instead. A few highlights though: The Tesla World Light...eye-popping National Film Board animation in the style of Norman McLaren...the Quebec mini-drama Crème de Menthe, and Jodilerks Delacruz, Employee of the Month, which took me back to the real-life nightmare world of Dark Is The Night. The Philippines are looking pretty grim these days. C

Short Cuts Program #8: Now we're talking! Do the Short Cuts programmers save the cream of the crop for the last show? Seems like it. I dare anyone to watch these seven mini-masterpieces and tell me there's a full-length feature at TIFF which runs the gamut of emotions and styles as deftly as these. Must it really take two hours to break your heart? Waiting For Hassana, which confronts Boko Haram, will do that in ten minutes. They're all gold but my faves were Death: Dad & Son, the funniest thing I saw at TIFF, a kind of netherworld Wallace & Grommit; Shadow Nettes could a worthy opener for an Eraserhead showing, and Bonboné which celebrates the optimism--and resourcefulness--of Palestinians behind Israeli bars. A

Faces Places: was expecting to be wowed, settled for charmed and delighted instead; and after a week of mainly pessimistic and bleak visions of a modern world backsliding into the medieval, "charmed and delighted" is probably what I needed most. Funny, warm and optimistic…make this an ongoing reality TV series! A-
 

kihei

McEnroe: The older I get, the better I used to be.
Jun 14, 2006
42,551
10,140
Toronto
Pretty strong weekend to finish the festival, but before I begin I want to acknowledge the Mississaugas of the New Credit, the Huadenosaunee (had to Google that one) and the Huron-Wendat for being such good sports. :handclap::handclap::handclap:
:laugh: Damn, I wish I had thought of that.
 

kihei

McEnroe: The older I get, the better I used to be.
Jun 14, 2006
42,551
10,140
Toronto
Cannes looks potentially great this year with films by:

Godard
Zhangke
Koreeda
Ceylan
Von Trier (out of competition)
Wenders (out of competition)
Gilliam (out of competition)
Farhardi
Pawlikowski
Panahi
Noe (out of competition)

The always happy-go-lucky Von Trier describes his film, The House That Jack Built, about a serial killer over a 12 year period, as a demonstration of "the idea that life is evil and soulless."

Noe's entry is entitled Climax. No further comment necessary. :naughty:
 
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BonMorrison

Registered User
Jun 17, 2011
33,611
9,296
Toronto, ON
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Jevo

Registered User
Oct 3, 2010
3,485
363
Just giving the list a quick glance, there's a lot of very interesting movies on that list already.
 

kihei

McEnroe: The older I get, the better I used to be.
Jun 14, 2006
42,551
10,140
Toronto
This year is very stacked and also the year I'm only seeing 6-ish movies because $$$. Breaks my heart.
I have two ten-packs, but at the moment I have 38 movies I want to see. Massive year--it's going to be hard to narrow down to my usual 20-22. Obviously there are worse problems to have, though. Among your six-ish, any interest in Diamantino?
 

BonMorrison

Registered User
Jun 17, 2011
33,611
9,296
Toronto, ON
I have two ten-packs, but at the moment I have 38 movies I want to see. Massive year--it's going to be hard to narrow down to my usual 20-22. Obviously there are worse problems to have, though. Among your six-ish, any interest in Diamantino?

Definitely on my list but I think it's going to get cut. :(

Gonna be a tough year.
 

BonMorrison

Registered User
Jun 17, 2011
33,611
9,296
Toronto, ON
Schedule out today. Had a really hard time weeding my list down especially with how few films I get to see this year.

Shadow, Burning, Wildlife, Shoplifters, Mid90s, If Beale Street Could Talk, and Climax are all on my must-sees.

My back-up movies if I fail to get any of the above are: High Life, Giant Little Ones, Freaks, Jessica Forever, The Hate U Give, and Hidden Man.
 

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