The Last Kiss

I am quite surprised that The Last Kiss didn’t do better in the box office. It has a young and attractive cast and the studio market this as a romantic drama. It has a great soundtrack, but it did really bad business. Maybe that’s because The Last Kiss isn’t really a romantic movie, it’s more like St Elmo’s Fire than Love Actually. It has a lot to do with Gen Xers, all of whom are now approaching 30, looks at life a little differently. It’s like mid life crisis, but 10 years earlier.

Movie centers around Michael and his friends. Michael has a good job, and a beautiful newly pregnant girlfriend Jenna. Michael, however is scared that there is no more surprises in his life. His best friend Chris is unhappy with his marriage, but he has a young son, and he doesn’t want to abandon him. Jenna’s parents are facing troubles of their own as well.

The film is based on an Italian film of the same name and written by Paul Haggis, who won an Oscar for Crash. Haggis is a master of juggling different storylines, and he does a good job here weaving between different stories. The performances are strong as well, Zach Braff does a credible job with his potrayal of Michael; Michael is a flaw character, but Braff finds a way to give the character some sympathy. Casey Affleck is very good as Chris, this is probably his best role. Tom Wilkenson and Blythe Danner are always dependable and Jacinda Barrett has a tricky role of Jenna, and she handled it well.

Grade B+

Quick Review: The Black Dahlia

The Black Dahlia reminds me of a film studies 101 text book, in which it would show pictures of what’s a close up, what’s a medium shot and etc. That’s the problem with Dahlia, a movie that looks so good and everything is technically sound, but there is nothing more in the movie. The movie has several problems: 1) They used the wrong actors; casting a film noir is very difficult, not everyone can play the hero of the film noir. I liked Josh Harnett as an actor, but he doesn’t have that look of a noir hero. He is just not ‘hard’ enough. Same with Scarlett Johansson, I loved her in Match Point and Lost In Translation, but she seems to be a little stiff in the Black Dahlia. (Kim Basinger had a similar role in LA Confidential, and she nailed it, not because she is a better actress, but she is a better fit) 2) The third act is a mess. Brian DePalma knows how to make a film look good, but sometimes he doesn’t pay attention to the plot. The last 20 minutes ends up very campy, and confusing, which isn’t consistent with the rest of the film. This is a mild disappointment. Grade C

TIFF Summary

Well, it's all over. I have the same feeling every year when the festival ends. On one hand, I was relieved, no more running around to catch a film, or stay in a lineup for more than an hour. On the other hand, I missed it. I missed the atmosphere, the excitment of not knowing what I am going to see, the people in the film festival, the Q&A with the filmmakers.

I didn't get a great draw this year, but I end up seeing pretty much everything I want to see. I guess luck is with me at the end. For example: If the projector didn't break for the Borat Screening, I wouldn't have caught the Friday night screening of the film. I end up seeing 22 films this year, and by my count, I enjoyed watching 14 of them. That's a 63% approval rate. I watched some hollywood films, but also some films that did not get a distribution deal as of yet. Like every year, there are films that I wished I would have seen, but I can't complain.

I am going to do a quick list here. Starting with top 5 films.

5) 10 items or less. A low budget film with a very basic premise. Morgan Freeman stranded and spend the entire with a supermarket cashier. The script has some excellent dialogue in it, reminds me a bit of Before Sunset, without the romance. It is an example that all you need to make a good film is a good script and very good actors with great chemistry.

4) Stranger Than Fiction. Will Farrell is trying to do what Jim Carrey did with the Truman Show. I think he did well for the most part, playing a quiet man without having to streak in public. The movie is funny at times, but also very charming and surprisingly touching. I don't think it's an Oscar contender (that's not a knock on the movie, it's just not the type of film that will get nominated), but will definitely find an audience and worth watching.

3) Little Children. Todd Field's Little Children is a better film than In The Bedroom. It dealt with Suburban Angst better than most American movies. Based on Tom Perrota's book, it captured the mood perfectly, even though it can be unsettling at times. It also shows that Kate Winslet is probably the best actress working today.

2) Pan's Labyrinth. Easily the best work done by Guilermo Del Toro. Del Toro used his usual visual mastery and the script strikes a balance between fantasy and reality. This reminds me of Spirited Away (though Labyrinth is not really for kids), it has the same magical element that's missing in a lot of Hollywood fairy tales (including Harry Potter). Normally, this would not only be the best film in the film festival but also the entire year. This year is a little different...

1) Borat. I am not sure if I can do justice to this masterpiece (yes, I am calling it a masterpiece). Probably the funniest film I have seen in a long time. I won't spoil anything here, it's best to watch it yourself. Just want to add a couple of notes here.
A) I am surprised that all the reviews are very positive for this film, we are talking about major critics here, and I didn't expect many of them would like this. In fact, I haven't heard a negative thing about it yet. Very surprising considering the movie can be very offensive to some.
B) Would Sasha Cohen be nominated for Best Actor? I mean it's a great performance. Usually, the Academy doesn't respect comedians, but if the word of mouth is this strong, would it make a difference? It would be hilarious to see Borat giving an acceptance speech. (I could see him riding a donkey to the ceramony)

Other stuff.

Worst/most disappointing film: The Fountain
Movies I wished I have seen: Suburban Mayhem, Babel, DOAP, Bella, Venus, Volver, 7ans
I can't believe I actually enjoy this: El Cantante.
I can't believe that other people enjoy this: All the Boys loved Mandy Lane
Coolest Celeb seen: Morgan Freeman

Till next year...

Day 8 TIFF

Today’s theme = Jobs

Severance

A bunch of employees for a defense company (aka weapons) goes to Hungary for a team-building trip. Since it’s a horror movie, they went into the wrong route and terrible things starts to happen and people starts to get killed. While the concept was not original, and the movie is not very engaging in the first 30 minutes or so. The ending certainly more than made up for it. Director Chris Smith invented some interesting ways to kill people, and there is some good humor in there. Grade B

Outsourced

A friend of mine used to work in an American company; his entire department was outsourced to India, so some of his co-workers traveled to India to train their replacements. Their training basically consists of learning American Accents and Slang.

The stories I heard are very similar to Outsourced. The culture between the two countries cannot be more different. The movie did a good job in exploring that fact and found a lot of humor in it. I especially like the ones that involve American Slings (the American said to the Indian to ‘Break a Leg’ and the Indian was mortified but then the American explained to him that ‘Break a Leg’ is an expression, it means good luck. So the Indian smiled and said ‘Sir, may two legs be broken’). The movie doesn’t have a distribution deal yet, and I think it would play well in North America. It’s pretty mainstream comedy with a slice of truth in it. I don’t think there are any fiction movies that used outsourcing as a topic, even though it is a reality now. Hopefully, it can find distribution, because this movie is probably better than 90% of what’s out there in the multiplex today. Grade B+

TIFF Day 7

Day 7

The theme for Day 7: Aussie films

Jindabyne

Ray Lawrence follow up to Lantana. Jindabyne starts off slowly and then it builds its momentum. The movie takes a storyline from Short Cut: 4 man went fishing and find a dead body, instead of reporting to the police right away, they stay to fish. This is not a whodunit, it's how this event affects the life of a family. I like the subtle nature of the film, as it never overplays its hand. Laura Linney and Gabriel Byrne deliver strong performances here. Grade B

The Silence:

This was actually shown as a 2 part TV series in Austrailia. It's nothing too special, and I am too tired to write anything about it. It's not bad, but nothing you haven't seen before. Grade C+

TIFF Day 6

Two Sci Fi movies to start Day 6

Renaissance

Christian Volckman Sci Fi Animation is set in Paris. A young woman searches for her kidnapped sister with the help of a cop. The visual look of the movie is stunning and it's something that you don't see everyday. However, the story is just regular thriller with a touch of Sci Fi in it. The main flaw is that we don't really connect with any of the main characters and thus we are feeling kind of empty after watching it. Still, the visual make it worthwhile to watch it on a big screen.
Grade B

The Fountain

Wow, where do I start?

This is a bigger bomb then I could have imagine. I am a big fan of PI and absolutely loved Requiem For A Dream, but this is bad. Aronofsky needs to rewrite the entire script, the story is incoherent and the characters are not well drawn. The plot interweaves with 3 stories in 3 different time frames, the Past, The Present and The Future. The past consists of a Spanish soldier finding the Tree of Life of his queen. It turns out that this is a story written by the present storyline by Izzi (Rachel Weisz) who is dying of cancer. Her husband is trying to find a cure for her, and then in the future story line, a bald Jackman living in clear bubble and the only company he has is a tree. My head is hurting as I tried to describe this story. I can see what Aronofsky tries to do here, but weaving timeline to tell a love story is a very difficult thing to do and it's definitely not possible to tell a coherent story in 96 minutes. I have a feeling that there is a longer cut somewhere. However, I am not sure I want to see that, as the 96 minute cut is already too tedious to watch (talk about catch 22). Anyway, like Lady In The Water, this is a film that will have a hard time finding its audience. Grade C-

Exiled

It reminds me of a 80s Hong Kong Gangster movie, that's not necessary good news. While the theme of friendship and honor rings pretty strong throughout the movie, it's not exactly great cinema. I consider this a minor Johnny To movie; Election and Election 2 have a much stronger storyline than Exiled. The shootout scenes are ok, nothing I haven't seen before. Grade C+

Day 5 TIFF

Fay Grim

I remember watching Parker Posey in The Party Girl. The movie doesn’t work but she is wonderful in it, same thing in House of Yes. She survived those movies with her energy and I am sure she will survive Fay Grim as well. The movie is a mess from the get go, Hal Hartley is definitely an acquired taste, and I am not sure I am one of his intended audience. The problem with the film is that it’s that the plot is too complicated and it tries to play like a slapstick comedy. I laughed a few times in the first 30 minutes and then things start to get tedious in the next 30 and then I completely lose interest for the remaining hour. Fans of Hal Hartley might enjoy this more than me. Grade C-

Starters for Ten

People asked me the same question about TIFF every year: Do they only show art films in the festival? The answer is an obvious no. Many commercial films plays here, in fact that’s the beauty of the festival. You can watch any type of films you want, art films, horror films, and foreign films and yes even mainstream commercial films.

Starters For Ten is an example. A coming of age film made in the UK. Something you can see in your multiplex every year. The movie is simple enough, Brian Jackson has always dream of going to university and compete in a TV Show called University Challenge (think Jeopardy). He finally has the chance to do so and he met Alice and fell deeply in love with her, but there is also Rebecca who he cared about as well. What will happen in the University Challenge? Which girl will he kiss in the end?

Anyway, it’s fairly predictable, but also enjoyable. The soundtracks help and the cast is very likable. I can envision this in theaters soon, and making a tiny profit. But definitely not an art film. Grade B

Day 4 TIFF

Another day = Another Thai dinner.

Catch a Fire

Directed by Phillp Noyce, Catch a Fire is the story of Patrick Chamusso whose family lived in South Africa during the 80s. Patrick was a man who does not have any ambition in terms of politics. However, one day he was arrested for being part of the South Africa terrorist movement. He and his wife was tortured during this oreal. After he was released, he decided to join the movement, and get revenge of the people who tortured his wife. This movie is not as good as the Quiet American, it doesn't have as many layers to it. But it's still quite engaging and a story worth telling. Grade B

Few Days in September

A mess. The director tries to weave several genres together (spy thriller, family drama, road movie, conspiracy theory), and none of it worked very well. I think if the director just focus on a couple of these elements, the movie could work. I don't mind a conspiracy thriller about Sept 11, and I don't mind that it's anti-american but parts just don't fit together. Especially, John Tuturro's poet spewing assasin, he is so over the top that I thought I was watching a comedy. Grade C

El Cantante

I was not looking forward to watch this film. I am not exactly a Salsa fan nor a J Lo fan, but my girlfriend insists that we should watch this. To my surprise, I enjoyed it.

El Cantante is about the rise and fall of Salsa Legend, Hector Lavoe. Hector came from Puerto Rico, went to New York in the 60s, where he met his future wife Pucci. Hector has talent, and he has success almost immediately. However, he also got hooked on drugs and his behavior gotten worse as he gained more sucess.

This is not a ground breaking story. It's your standard biopic, an artist drown by his own sucess. However, the performance here is very convincing. Marc Anthony and Jennifer Lopez do have good chemistry. Also, Anthony can sing, and since this is a movie about a salsa singer, that's very important. Grade B+

Day 4 TIFF

3 brilliant films = the best day for the film festival experience.

Stranger than Fiction

Lots of people have seen the trailer for this, so I will not describe the plot here. Needless to say, this movie is belongs to a genre called Kauffmanesque (Yes, Charlie Kauffman deserves his own genre). I am always a sucker for this type of film. The story is very inventive, and I honestly cannot predict what's going to happen next (even though I have seen every Charlie Kauffman film). Will Farrell is very effecitve in a much quieter performance (yep, he didn't go streaking). Emma Thompson and Maggie Gyallenhall did fine work here as well. It's funny at times, but surprisingly touching as well.
Grade A-

10 Items or Less

This movie is a little treasure. Morgan Freeman is stranded in a rundown supermarket while he is researching a role (which he has not committed yet). He meets Scarlett, the cashier, who is a straightshooter. She agrees to take him home after she goes to a job interview. And they end up spending the day together.

This is basically a road/buddy movie. But I found it very enjoyable to watch. Chemistry is very important with this type of movie and Morgan Freeman and Paz Vega has something wonderful here. Paz Vega's performance as the cashier is wonderful, hopefully she can get even more roles based on this. While some might find it self indulging, I found it very funny and endearing. Grade A-

Little Children

Saving the best for last. I am a big fan of Tom Perrota's book, and the movie did a nice job in getting the mood right. It's definitely the best movie about suburban angst since American Beauty. Little Children is much darker and very unsettling. Watching Kate Winslet in this movie reminds me that she is the very best actress working today. I don't think I have seen her in a bad performance. She should earn another nomination here for her work as a bored suburban mom who has an affair with a suburban dad. I didn't like Todd Field's first feature In The Bedroom, but characters in Little Children are better realized and the story is better paced. This will be nominated for best picture in Oscar time. Grade A

Day 3 TIFF

Two more films to end the weekend.

Pan’s Labyrinth.

Guillermo Del Toro can make a visually stunning film, but he has some trouble putting a coherent story together. Pan’s Labyrinth is probably his best work to date, combining strong special effects with a very good script. The movie strikes a balance between being a fantasy and a war thriller.

Sets in Spanish Civil War, Ofelia followed her pregnant mother to live in an outpost with her future husband, a fascist Captain Vidal. The girl has strong imagination and loves fairy tales, and one day she actually sees a fairy, which led her to a labyrinth of sorts, where she discovered that she is actually a princess from the underground and if she can complete three tasks, she can go back to her kingdom.

The wonderful thing about this movie is that it’s not a pure fantasy/fairy tale. In fact, you really don’t know if the fairy tale is real or not. This is a very dark movie, and definitely not for kids. The visual is stunning as usual for Del Toro, and the performance by the little girl as a Ofelia is just perfect. I can’t praise this film enough. Hopefully, it will be a major contender in the Academy Awards next year. Grade: A

Monkey’s Warfare

Dan and Linda is a hippie couple living in Toronto, they don’t usually go for a ‘day job’, but instead they buy peculiar things on yard sales so they can sell it online. They don’t have a phone or a car, so they travel by bikes. One day, Don meets Susan, a young pot dealer. Don likes her, and needs the pot, so he let her hang out with her. It turns out Susan is angry young rebel, who wants to rebel against society and ask Linda and Dan for help. Meanwhile, Dan and Linda don’t want any part of this, but they need her weeds.

Monkey’s Warfare is your typical Canadian film. Very quirky and offbeat. While it’s not a profound film, nor was it stunning visually, it did hold my interest and it has a good soundtrack. If the movie is 5 minutes longer, then I will not recommend it, but as it stands right now, it’s not bad. Grade B-

Day 2 TIFF

Three different films, all in the same theater. What are the odds?

First film is Love and Other Disasters. A chick flick, major chick flick. I don’t mind these movies at all, I actually enjoy quite a number of them. But this one is too light, even for a chick flick. The movie is like Emma meets Bridget Jones’ Diary with a touch of Breakfast at Tiffany’s. Jacks (Brittany Murphy) works in a Vogue UK (though you never really see her at work), she is always busy trying to setup his gay roommate Peter for blind dates, meanwhile she keeps seeing James even though she doesn’t love him nor like him for that matter. One day, she meets Paulo, an assistant to a Vogue photographer, and she thinks he is gay so she wants to setup Paulo with Peter, but Paulo is secretly in love with her…

The movie is not unpleasant, and it has a lot of snappy dialogues. But that’s all it is, the movie is string together with snappy dialogues and sitcom situations. Maybe this is not my type of movie, or I would enjoy it better in a second viewing, but I am going thumbs down on this one (actually the ending almost saved the film). Grade C+

Rescue Dawn

This was not supposed to be a world premier, but due to a lot of production/editing/lap issues, this film was not shown in Tellrude, so here it’s. The story is about Deiter Dengler’s escape from a Vietnam POW camp back in 1965. Not only did Deiter has to escape the camp, but he also has to survive the jungle. This is simply a remarkable film.

The movie is half about escape, and half about men battling nature. Great performances from Steve Zahn, Jeremy Davies and Christian Bale. Bale in particular got the swagger of a man even though he is captured, has the wits and the courage to escape.

I haven’t watched the Documentry Little Dieter needs to Fly, directed by Werner Herzog, but I am going to seek it out. Simply put, Dieter is a fascinating character. Grade B+

All The Boys Love Mandy Lane

Everyone is school loves Mandy Lane, not just the boys. And what’s not to like, she is beautiful (I think she looks like Anna Kournikova), doesn’t do anything bad, and not acting like a bitch to the boys. Boys wants to have her, and girls wants to be friends with her. The boys want her so bad, they go to the extreme to impress her. One day, she decides to accept an invitation to go to a ranch with a bunch of people, and then, if you have seen Friday the 13^th, you know what’s going to happen.

The premise starts off pretty promising, but then it turns into another generic slasher movie where each character get killed off one by one. Didn't they see Friday the 13th, Scream, I know what you did last summer, and all other so called horror films? Grade C

Day 1 TIFF

Two movies: Retrieval, Borat

Funny story about Borat. As many of you know Borat was rescheduled due to projector broke down, and so they reschedule this screening to Friday at the Elgin. Since I was not at the Thurs screening, I was busy trying to score tickets. I called the festival box office around 11 or so, and they say there is no additional tickets and then around 2 or so, someone said that they will be limited additional tickets. I called back and was on hold forever, and I can't find tickets online. Wait I finally spoke to someone, she told me it's all sold out.

So I was pretty bummed out, for missing a chance to see Borat. I go back on line an hour later just to see if they have anything there, and Borat 11:59 showing at the Elgin was on screen and so I clicked to buy two tickets and somehow got it.

Anyway, on to the movies:

1) Retrieval.
Very familiar story. A young man Wojtek is desperate for cash, he quit his job in the concrete factory after seeing a coworker falling from the well. He loved his girlfriend Katja, who is an illegal immigrant from Ukraine, with a son named Andriy. Wojtek is a boxer and somehow got recruited as a bouncer/mobster/security guard for a mob boss named Gazda.

Wojtek doesn't have the stomach for this kind of job even though he is pretty good at it. Also, the money is so good that he can't turn it down until Katja found out and wants him to stop.

Even though the movie treads familiar territory, it can still be engaging and the performances are very strong especially from Antoni Pawlicki, who played Wojtek. However, the entire third act needs a rewrite, and in fact there is no ending here. I don't mind unconventional endings and stuff, but this one feels unfinished. The first reaction I have was that the director didn't have enough money to finish the film. I can't quite recommend this film, even though there is good stuff here. Grade: C

2) Borat
When Borat comes out in Nov, go and see it. It's the best movie of the year and the best of the festival (I know it's only two days, but I will declare it anyways, until some other film can top this).

There is not much story here. Borat is a journalist for a state run television station for Kazakhstan, and he is being sent to the US to report on the greatest country in the world. While he was in New York, Borat watched Baywatch on TV and become smitten with Pamela Anderson, so he journeys all the way from New York to LA.

This film is definitely not for everyone. It can be very offensive and sometimes pretty gross. But I didn't stop laughing. I don't remember the last time I laugh this hard. I was laughing so hard, that my throat hurts and I have problems breathing. I am not going to spoil the jokes here, you have to go see it yourself.

Sometimes we don't give comedy its due, especially something like Borat. It doesn't pretend to have a romance or an important lesson, it just try to make us laugh, and it did so sucessfully. David Poland was right, this is a masterpiece. Grade: A+

TIFF Tickets

Well, I guess this time luck is not with me this year

Didn’t get a lot of first choices. So here is the list:

Fri
Retrieval

Sat
Fido, Love and Other disasters, Rescue Dawn

Sun
Pan’s Labyrinth, Monkey’s Warfare

Mon
Stranger Than Fiction, 10 items or Less, The Dog Problem

Tuesday

Catch A Fire
Quel Jours en Septembre
El Cantante

Wed

Fay Grim
Starters for Ten

Thursday
Renaissance
The Fountain
Exiled

Friday

The Silence
Jindabyne

Sat

Severance
Outsourced

Didn’t get but really wanted: Borat, Last Kiss, Little Children.

Really excited about: Fountain, Stranger than Fiction, Catch A Fire, Monkey Warfare

There are lots of films here without distribution, so we might not see them in theaters anytime soon. I will post reviews as things go along.

One more thing: I am looking for Borat tickets, even though it will come out in theaters soon, still want to see it in a midnight screenings.