TIFF day 1

The first day of any major film fest will be a resoundingly exhausting experience. So much to see with so very little time. Albeit there are more than 10 days to The Toronto Film Festival but the sheer amount of quality directors to choose from is limitless. Trying to focus on one thing is tough here. The kinetic pace leaves you with the need to down espresso shot after espresso shot just to make it through to the very last screening of the day. It doesn’t help that to go from screening to screening you have to go through massive amounts of crowds that are waiting for the next celebrity to walk down the red carpet. This year there are big names coming; Brad Pitt, Julia Roberts, George Clooney and Sandra Bullock just to name a few.

 Me? I’m here for the movies. The next big thing we”ll be talking about come Oscar time. The next “Slumdog Millionaire” to come out of nowhere and wow audiences. If I’m too pummelled by the amount of serious, heavy dramas I have to see on a daily basis I will switch gears and watch something light like Jason Bateman’s directorial debut, the R rated comedy “Bad Words”, in which he plays a 40-year-old high school dropout who exploits a rules loophole in order to compete against 10-year-olds in a national spelling bee. Light stuff and not very impressive but needed when you see one heavy movie after another.

 My first day started with a screening of Denis Villeneuve’s “Prisoners” starring Hugh Jackman, Paul Dano, Terrence Howard, Octavia Spencer and Maria Bello. An incredible cast having a go at a screenplay that was on the “black list” for the longest time. The film will get many comparisons to David Fincher’s “Zodiac”. An understandable comparison since this is a 150 minute tale about missing kids and the obsessed people trying to solve the case. The obsessed are Jake Gyllenhaal as the lead detective and Hugh Jackman as the up-to-no-good father of one of the missing children. Unlike “Zodiac” Villeneuve’s film doesn’t manage to get you as obsessed about the case as its main characters. The screenplay is also nothing new, we’ve all seen this before but the twists and turns keep the story going. It helps that Director Villeneuve has a great visual flair, as he showcased in the Oscar nominated “Incendies” in 2010. Jackman, fresh off his “Les Miserables” nomination, could get a second nom for this one. He delivers a passionate, relentless performance, easily the best work he’s ever done. 

However, everyone here talking about “12 Years A Slave”. I have never seen this many men in their mid to late 50′s sobbing their eyes out of a screening. I also more than once heard someone refer to it as the “Schindler’s List of slavery”. Oy vey. Steve McQueen’s film is much more than that. It’s a film that gets you riled up and mad with none of the conventions that pegged Spielberg’s otherwise masterful film. Yes, “12 Years A Slave” is a Steve McQueen film through and through even with an ending that surprisingly tries to tug at your heartstrings. Then again that ending is what might spell Oscar for the movie. If anyone was as disappointed with “Shame” as I was, McQueen redeems himself here. Some scenes are as tough to watch as any from his brilliant directorial debut “Hunger”.

I’d go as far as to say this is probably the most realistic portrayal of slavery ever put on celluloid. Don’t go in expecting”The Color Purple” or “Beloved”, McQueen refuses to flinch at anything. He tries to depict exactly what happened. At the press conference the director was frustratingly peeved off when a reporter asked him and Fassbender if it was hard depicting such cruel people on screen, “The truth is the truth. we are just doing our job, showing what happened” the director replied. Fassbender is brilliant as Epps, the cruelest of slave owners with the sole intention to dehumanize his “assets”. A bible quoting man with a mean-spirited wife that jealously thinks he’s turned on by one of the female slaves Patsy. And what to make of Chiwetel Ejiofor, brilliant in films like “Dirty Pretty Things” and “Redbelt” but flat out phenomenal in this film. I thought the best actor Oscar was his until I saw Mcconaughey in “Dallas Buyer’s Club” (I’ll delve onto that one tomorrow).

 “12 Years To A Slave” is for now the IT movie everyone is talking about, a Best Picture Nomination is all but sealed. Comparisons will also be made to another much buzzed film “The Butler”. Let’s put it this way, if “The Butler” is a great pop song then “12 Years To A Slave” is a great symphony. It flows effortlessly from one scene to the next with the ability to have you feel like you’re eavesdropping on an important part of American history. Things can rapidly change here. The buzz can dwindle or accentuate. So is how it works down here in Toronto.

American Independent cinema is alive and well

This summer has not been very kind when it comes to top notch Hollywood films. Is it ever? I guess once in a while you'll get the odd summer movie season that has Studio films aim for high art, I can think of 2001 (Artificial Intelligence, Moulin Rouge, Shrek, The Others) or 2002 (Minority Report, Road To Perdition, About A Boy, Insomnia, The Bourne Identity) but otherwise Independent cinema is the way to go if you truly want a rewarding experience at the movies in the summer.

This summer movie season brought us great stuff (Before Midnight, Frances Ha, The East, The Way Way Back, The Hunt, The To Do List, Mud) and it isn't over yet. There's officially still 3 weeks left until we kick off the fall movie season with The Toronto Film Festival (I'll be there!) and until the summer movie season ends. Don't count on any of the studio stuff to make much buzz but American independent cinema has always been there to get us through the tough times.

Case in point; James Ponsoldt's The Spectacular Now one hell of a coming of age love story with a remarkable performance from its two main leads. In fact Miles Teller and Shaileen Woodley both shared the acting prize earlier this year at Sundance. Boy, did they deserve it. Especially Woodley who at me at hello. This is one of the best female performances of the year. She plays Aimee, a shy "Nice girl" with not much boyfriend experience and he plays Sutter, a party boy that's just broken up with his grilfriend. They seem to not match at all, yet they do. Director Ponsoldt creates magic by literally showing us how two people can fall in love before our very eyes. His movie falters at the end when he derives from the relationship stuff between Sutter and Aimee into more family-based problems. No matter, The Spectacular Now is invigorating stuff, especially Woodley. I hope awards come to her.

"In A World..", ever heard those words in a trailer before? Actress turned director Lake Bell knows you have and has aptly named her directing debut In A World.. which takes place in the world of voice over narration for movie trailers. Original idea. Original execution. Who'd a thought that Bell, a beautiful 34 year old actress known for being in TV shows and movies would be such a talent to watch. It helps that she casts the always great Fred Melamed as her dad, a legend in the voice industry. Daddy finally decides to kick out Bell's Carol out of his house, she is a struggling voice artist that is still trying to find the "voice part" of a lifetime. She ends up crashing at her sister and her husband's apartment whom themselves are struggling in their relationship. This film very much reminded me of the originality of fellow female director Miranda July's Me, You And Everyone We Know. Just like that film, Bell creates an original world never depicted before in celluloid. That's a good thing. Bell is an original voice in indie cinema that is worth looking out for

Fruitvale Station comes off the heels of a triumphant batch of Awards at this year's Sundance Film Festival. There it won the top Dramatic feature prize and got praised for its relevance to the recent Trayvon Martin shooting. Director Ryan Coogler based his film on the true story of Oscar Grant, an African American handcuffed and killed by a police officer at an Oakland subway station. The film takes place on the last day of this man's life as he struggles to get his life back on track. Grant (indelibly played by Michael B. Jordan) has a 4 year old daughter with his girlfriend Sophina (Melonie Diaz) and has to cope with the fact that he just got fired from his job at a grocery store. Even worse, he hasn't told Sophina and resorts to dealing weed - which doesn't please her very much. The fatal shooting happens on New Year's eve and has an impact of shocking gravity, too bad Coogler has stuffed his film with melodrama that numbs some of the effects the film tries to go far. Coogler overreaches and over sentimentalizes some of his film with amateur-like effects that -for some reason- worked with other critics. Nevertheless, Fruitvale Station is a movie that matters because it has a message and relevance that invigorates its story despite its flaws.

1999

✭✭✭ 1/2

American Beauty
Being John Malkovich
The Blair Witch Project
Boy's Don't Cry
Bringing Out The Dead
Election
Eyes Wide Shut
Fight Club
The Insider
The Limey
Magnolia
The Sixth Sense
Summer Of Sam
The Talented Mr. Ripley
Toy Story 2

✭✭✭

Go
Office Space
American Pie
Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me
Bowfinger
Dick
The Green Mile
The Iron Giant
Man On The Moon
The Matrix
Payback
Romance
The Dreamlife Of Angels
South Park: Bigger, Longer And Uncut
Three Kings
The Hurricane
All About My Mother
Rosetta
Arlington Road

✭✭ 1/2

Analyze This
Blast From the Past
Blue Streak
Deuce Bigalow Male Gigolo
Galaxy Quest
Double Jeopardy
Ghost Dog: Way Of The Samurai
Holy Smoke
Mystery Men
Run Lola Run
Never Been Kissed
True Crime

✭✭

Bicentennial Man
Big Daddy
Dogma
End Of Days
The Mummy
The Ninth Gate
Sleepy Hollow
Star Wars: Episode I
The Straight Story
The Out-Of-Towners
The Winslow Boy
Stir of Echoes
Following
The Boondock Saints

✭

Any Given Sunday
The Deep End Of The Ocean
The Story Of Us
Detroit Rock City
The World is Not Enough
She's All That