Day 10 - Sat Sep 18
- I'm in a state of the walking dead today. I visited with my mom in the morning and it was very tough seeing her on life support and in an artificially induced coma state. She's been heavily sedated and may be so for another 24-48 hours. I gave her a reiki treatment and towards the end I almost passed out. This is only the second time in 15 years of practicing the healing art that this has happened to me. As a reiki master, one is a channeller of energy, not the source of it, but I just hope my mom was absorbing the universe's good vibes.
- The drive back to Toronto was better than my drive into Hamilton, but when I got closer to the city and realized the Gardiner was closed this weekend, I just wanted to park the car and go crawl up in a hole somewhere.
- I thought that getting back to my movies would be some much needed escapism, but the choice of movies today was perhaps not the most therapeutic. They sent me further into zombie mode.
- Being the last days of the festival, most of the directors, actors, and industry people have gone home and there are no more Q&A's after the screenings for the films on this day and the last day of the festival.
Special Treatmenthttp://tiff.net/filmsandschedules/tiff/2010/specialtreatment
Jeanne Labrune, France/Luxembourg/Belgium A high class prostitute and an eminent psychoanalyst discover that they share many things in common. They are both unhappy with their professions, seeking a way out that involves unique contact with each other's worlds. | ContemplationsDid not attend.
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Mother of Rock: Lillian Roxonhttp://tiff.net/filmsandschedules/tiff/2010/motherofrocklillianr
Paul Clarke, Australia Witness to New York's infamous punk scene, Lillian Roxon chronicled the movement during the 1960s and 70s. Roxon mingled with the likes of John and Yoko, the Velvet Underground and Janis Joplin and was one of the first on the scene to champion the work of Bob Dylan, Jimi Hendrix and the Doors. | ContemplationsDid not attend.
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Little White Lieshttp://tiff.net/filmsandschedules/tiff/2010/littlewhitelies
Guillaume Canet, France Despite a traumatic event, a group of friends decides to go ahead with their annual beach vacation. Their relationships, convictions, sense of guilt and friendship are sorely tested. They are finally forced to own up to the little white lies they have been telling each other. | ContemplationsThe draw to this movie was the amazing Marion Cotillard whose performance as Edith Piaf in La Vie en Rose will go down as one of the most remarkable in my books. But she was just one actress in a fairly large ensemble cast in Little White Lies. She still stood out.
This movie can perhaps be described as an updated French version of The Big Chill. A group of 30- and 40-something friends go off on their annual vacation, while one of their group lies in the hospital back in Paris in critical condition after having been in an accident. They all have their issues, their secret or not-so-secret crushes on each other, and everything plays out in what feels like an artificially elevated sense of drama (i.e. did not ring true), with dashes of humour thrown in throughout. The story was a little too middle class for me (and as a member of this class, I feel I can make this comment), but it was entertaining enough. I forgot to check the credits at the end to see where the vacation location was because it looked absolutely glorious. But, at times the subject matter was just a little close to home to current events i.e. hospital scenes of someone on life support. |
127 Hourshttp://tiff.net/filmsandschedules/tiff/2010/127hours
Danny Boyle, USA 127 Hours is the true story of mountain climber Aron Ralston’s (James Franco) remarkable adventure to save himself after a fallen boulder crashes on his arm and traps him in an isolated canyon in Utah. Over the next five days Ralston examines his life and survives the elements to finally discover he has the courage and the wherewithal to extricate himself by any means necessary. | Contemplations127 Hours is a film I would not likely have chosen had it not been directed by Danny Boyle. Like Ang Lee, Boyle is not tied to any particular genre and everything he's done, from Shallow Grave and Trainspotting to Millions, Sunshine and Slumdog Millionaire is absolutely brilliant. So I took the risk of watching a movie based on a true story of a man who gets trapped for 127 hours in a canyon in Utah after a rock rolls onto his arm.
Like the movie Buried, the director is restricted by the action of the story taking place primarily in a single location. Boyle does make use of flashbacks and delirium sequences to bring visual interest to the movie, but it does not feel forced. And when you're not watching scenes where the protagonist is trying to use ingenious means to remove his lower arm so that he can escape, it's a gorgeous movie. This is definitely a very, very difficult film to watch at times and I had to turn away for large sections of the movie. Nonetheless, it is a life-affirming film and a testament to the human instinct for survival. It was interesting to compare the reaction of the character played by the amazing James Franco to the one played by Ryan Reynolds in Buried. Franco's character is much more cool, calm and reflective about his circumstances. He was sort of the yogic version of a character trying to fight for their life. Great flick! |
Black Swanhttp://tiff.net/filmsandschedules/tiff/2010/blackswan
Darren Aronofsky, USA A psychological thriller set in the world of New York City ballet, Black Swan stars Natalie Portman as Nina, a featured dancer who finds herself locked in a web of competitive intrigue with a new rival at the company. Black Swan takes a thrilling and at times terrifying journey through the psyche of a young ballerina whose starring role as the duplicitous swan queen turns out to be a part for which she becomes frighteningly perfect. | ContemplationsOne can always count on director Darren Aronofsky to tell a story of a different kind. He moves from the wrestling ring to the ballet stage in this edge-of-your-seat psychological thriller.
Natalie Portman plays a technically perfect ballerina, who after years of waiting in the wings for her big role, finally lands the lead in an updated version of Swan Lake. But her doubts torment her and it doesn't help that her artistic director is brutal and that a new ballerina has joined the company who oozes with the kind of free spirit, raw talent and sexuality that might be more appropriate for the role. Add to that a stage mom of the most dysfunctional kind and you have the recipe for a really, really twisted story. This is one of those screenings where you would have loved to have had a Q&A. I am dying to know if Portman did all her own dancing because she is brilliant both on and off the stage in this movie. Barbara Hershey's unsuccessful plastic surgery of recent years actually works in her favour in this role, because she looks so freaking scary (I actually couldn't figure out who she was for the first while). And That 70's Show cast member, Mila Kunis, who is turning out to be an incredible actress, gives a really admirable turn as Portman's frenemy. This film is haunting, but if you are just in it for the dance sequences, you won't be disappointed with the choreography. But someone sitting near me brought a young girl to the film and this movie is most definitely NOT appropriate for young aspiring ballerinas. |