Day 11 - Sun Sep 19
- I was a little spacey this morning, but at times like this, when you don't receive a phone call in the middle of the night, you consider it a great day. And I actually made it to my first movie this morning with a few minutes to spare.
The Sleeping Beautyhttp://tiff.net/filmsandschedules/tiff/2010/sleepingbeauty
Catherine Breillat, France An epic fantasia of a young girl's coming-of-age, featuring Catherine Breillat's signature take on gender relations and breathtaking cinematography. | ContemplationsCatherine Breillat has a reputation as a controversial filmmaker and she has even been called a "porno auteriste." So, I was expecting something a tad more explicit this morning. Instead, what was served up was her interpretation of The Sleeping Beauty story. I wish I could share that vision with you, but I have no idea what her message was. And I am not the only one as this was the first screening this festival after which there was absolutely no applause.
The film is described as having "breathtaking cinematography" and there were moments, but not enough to compel me to recommend this movie to anyone. I just didn't get it. |
L'amour Fouhttp://tiff.net/filmsandschedules/tiff/2010/amourfou
Pierre Thoretton, France Yves Saint Laurent built one of fashion's most celebrated empires. This moving documentary chronicles his rise, his lifelong partnership with Pierre Bergé and their decision to auction off a lifetime of precious art and objects. | ContemplationsBack in the day, I was a huge, huge fashion fan and, at one time, was trying to find a job in the industry. I'm glad that I did not land there, but I still am interested in what is going on in the fashion world. As a matter of fact, the celebrity death that has affected me the most since the passing of Elliott Smith a few years ago (and I hope there is someone, somewhere doing a documentary on this highly underrated singer/songwriter whose lyrics are of the most supreme genius), was that of Alexander McQueen. I was shattered, especially when I discovered it was the result of a suicide. This fashion artist (because he was just that) was so off-the-scale brilliant that it was a tragedy that his work was cut short at such a young age. Anyway, the short story is that I was really looking forward to this doc on Yves St. Laurent, who passed away a couple of years ago.
First of all, just let me say that this film won TIFF's FIPRESCI prize, the prize of the international critics. But, as we all know film is an art and the love of art is very subjective. So here's my take. First of all, I thought the opening title sequence was the ugliest I have seen in a long time. More importantly, I would argue that this documentary is all about YSL's business and life partner, Pierre Bergé, a man with an incredible ego. I learned nothing new about YSL, well except for the fact that I somehow managed to live all these years thinking that Bergé was just YSL's business partner. I did not realize they were lovers too. Doh! I must have fallen asleep during those Fashion Television segments. But the persepective on YSL is totally from Bergé's point of view and so is clearly biased and clearly very controlled. He did not spill the beans on anything that was not already publicly known. So I was totally puzzled to learn that this film was a prize winner. Huh???? And BTW, and this piece of info is noticeably absent from the film, the Christie's art auction at which the YSL/Bergé art collection was sold off after YSL's death, and which serves as the backdrop for this film, garnered $477M Euros. No wonder everyone wants to be a fashion designer! |
Amigohttp://tiff.net/filmsandschedules/tiff/2010/amigo
John Sayles, USA The US occupation of the Philippines in 1900 provides the backdrop to this story of squad of American soldiers who occupy a village and learn how to live and negotiate with the natives. They focus on the local head man who finds himself torn between loyalty to his family and the Americans. | ContemplationsJohn Sayles, like Ken Loach, is another one of those hero directors making films about social injustices. Sayles is a great screenwriter and makes his living writing screenplays and trailers for other directors so that he can make his own movies. So I was very excited to see he had a new film this year - not so excited about the subject matter. However, knowing Sayles, I knew I would learn something, and I did.
I knew absolutely nothing about the US occupation of the Philippines at the turn of the last century and Sayles does a good job questioning the US's motives and demonstrating that once again, the US was out of line. Unfortunately, I felt this film had a more MOW (movie of the week) feel to it. The script was good and the acting was really good, but overall, this film just felt "okay." But I'm not giving up on Sayles. I know he has lots of greatness left in him. |
Red Nightshttp://tiff.net/filmsandschedules/tiff/2010/rednights
Julien Carbon & Laurent Courtiaud, Hong Kong/China/France This shocking debut by director duo Carbon and Courtiaud is a seductive cat-and-mouse thriller set in Hong Kong, about a woman's obsessive desire to own a rare object that hides a deadly and perverse secret. | ContemplationsWhat a way to end TIFF this year - with an offering from the Midnight Madness program which, generally, means lots of gore. And the gore was in great abundance in this film. I actually was unable to stomach watching the last 20 minutes or so of the movie. But even the sounds from the film and from the groaning audience were making me nauseous. So were there any redeeming features about this movie? Absolutely.
This movie was probably one of the slickest films I saw at TIFF this year. It is super duper gorgeous and there are some interesting, yet bizarre effects used. But the attention to detail is phenomenal, and had there not been so many torture scenes in this flick, my eyes would have been glued to the screen. So, if you can take the gore, go for it. I just have not yet been able to get my brain to accept that movies are not real - and they're not, right? |