Day 3 - Sat Sep 11
- When I return at home in the evenings, generally around midnight or thereabouts, the rest of my waking hours are spent writing this blog. So real life tasks are left for the early morning - like yesterday, dealing with Rogers and my wireless account, and this morning brewing up a big batch of my lemon and ginger tea, hopefully enough to get me through the rest of the festival. It inevitably leads to me leaving home with insufficient travelling time to reach my screening on time. It's a fact of my TIFF life. Nevertheless, when it's 8:55 and I'm just crossing my threshold, and my screening is at 9 am, my adrenals kick in and my breath becomes short. Thanks to an adept cab driver, a lack of traffic and a slightly late start at the Isabel Bader Theatre, I arrived in time to still get a decent seat and be there for the introductions.
- Having at least one sit-down a meal a day, i.e. not out of a bag while sitting in a movie theatre, is always a treat during TIFF. Yesterday, I managed to chow down well at the vegetarian buffet staple, Le Commensal, and today I made it to Whole Foods. Unfortunately, both these places have great dessert selections and I could not resist.
- It was a glorious day today with radiant sunshine and the absolute perfect temp. So when I was coming home just before 11 (an early evening) and the TTC failed to cooperate, I ended up walking half-way home in the rain. Where the hell did that come from???
Poetryhttp://www.tiff.net/filmsandschedules/tiff/2010/poetry
Lee Changdong, South Korea Rhyme and crime intertwine in Poetry, the moving portrait of an elegant old lady pressured by incipient Alzheimer's as well as a lyrical take on creative discovery and an upsetting look at juvenile violence, by Korean master Lee Chang-dong. | ContemplationsPoetry is a quiet, but powerful contemplation on subjects as diverse as the lack of communication between generations, power roles in sexual relationships, juvenile crime, alienation, aging with dignity, poetry and divine inspiration. This movie won the award at Cannes for best screenplay and the accolades are deserving. But as a Korean film, its sensibility, structure and treatment of themes are not what we are necessarily accustomed to. So this film may not have mass appeal, but it was definitely a morning well spent.
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Little Sisterhttp://www.tiff.net/filmsandschedules/tiff/2010/littlesister
Richard Bowen, China/USA Based on one of the earliest versions of the beloved story of Cinderella comes a beautifully crafted film filled with wonder and magic that reveals the Chinese origins of this widely known fairy tale. | ContemplationsMore often than I would like to admit, when I am picking my movies, I pick pictures that happen to fit in between two other movies I really want to see. So I look at the options and think, yeah, this sounds interesting enough, and I go for it. And then the miraculous happens - the film turns out to be a gleaming gem that I could not have imagined missing. Such is the case with Little Sister.
One is tempted to describe this as an Asian reworking of the Cinderella story, but in fact, the story was created in China in the 8th century. There were a few times when I was confounded by the plot line, but it didn't matter. This film is so incredibly gorgeous, and I mean zoooooooooowie, that nothing else really mattered. Fortunately, the casting was also spot on and performances wonderful. Written and directed by an American living in China, Richard Bowen, the dialogue is in Mandarin, but the narration is in English. Honestly, I just can't get over how spectacularly beautiful this film was and it makes you wonder why all films can't be this stunning. The director and lead actress, Xiao Min (who was cute as a button) were on hand for the Q&A, which I, unfortunately had to leave early to get to my next screening. |
Marimbas from Hellhttp://www.tiff.net/filmsandschedules/tiff/2010/marimbasfromhell
Julio Hernandez Cordon, Guatemala/France/Mexico Don Alfonso loses his job playing the marimba, an indigenous, traditional Guatemalan instrument, at a hotel in Guatemala City. The marimba is considered old fashioned and there is little interest in hearing this type of music. He approaches musician Blacko and proposes that they fuse the sound of the marimba with heavy metal. | ContemplationsMarimbas from Hell was one of those movies that I just wasn't into. It was a second choice selection, I was cranky because I had to leave the Little Sister Q&A early to get to this film, I was starting to get mid-afternoon brain fatigue, and the whole concept of this movie was puzzling.
This film was originally pitched as a documentary, but due to complicated reasons, the doc idea was dropped and it was shot as a fake-doc instead. It was just mediocre. However, I'm glad that in my small way, I supported a film from Guatamala. Being a filmmaker in a developing country is such a huge challenge, not the least of which is procuring funding. So, I'm glad the film is getting a decent run on the film fest circuit. |
Nedshttp://www.tiff.net/filmsandschedules/tiff/2010/neds
Peter Mullan, UK/France/Italy Set in 1970s Glasgow, this film tells the story of a shy and intelligent young boy who, through a series of circumstances, turns into a NED - a non-educated delinquent. Attending a new school, he becomes increasingly violent and aggressive, all the while searching for a way out. | ContemplationsNeds turned out to be a bit of an enigma. It started off feeling like a somewhat humourous coming-of-age film, but the film takes a turn to the dark side as the lead character, a smart and ambitious lad, gets drawn into and lost in Glasgow's gang culture.
Director and writer Peter Mullan was not on hand for the Q&A, but apparently this was a world he knew well when growing up. He has a small role as the alcoholic father who systematically destroys the life of his whole family. Very grim and difficult to watch at times. Although Mullan was unable to make the screening (he was doing something with Spielberg in the UK), lead actress Marianna Palka was on hand. She was very articulate and did a grand stand-in job for Mullan, whom she has known for decades. But even she was a little overwhelmed by the movie, which she saw for the first time herself at this screening. |
Love Crimehttp://www.tiff.net/filmsandschedules/tiff/2010/lovecrime
Alain Corneau, France Dangerous Liaisons meets Working Girl in this deliciously caustic tale of office politics. Starring Kristin Scott Thomas and Ludivine Sagnier as mentor and ingénue, Love Crime is a remorseless clash of two competing egos. | ContemplationsIf Kristen Scott Thomas is in a movie, I'm in, especially if it's one of her French flicks because they don't always get released here. She, like Charlotte Rampling, is at ease working in either French or English, and frankly, her more interesting roles seem to be in the French offerings.
This film is an updated and far more brutal version of Working Girl or All About Eve. Director Alain Corneau has a Hitchcockian touch and the twists and turns of the cat-and-mouse game had the audience guffawing at its cleverness. This movie was a fun, but often uncomfortable ride. Regrettably, Corneau died just weeks ago of cancer. And Thomas was not on hand (though I did see her in person last year). But the main lead, Ludvine Sagnier (in the Anne Baxter or Melanie Griffith type role) graced the stage with both her extraordinary beauty, wisdom and intelligence. She reminded me a lot of Juliette Binoche and I think she did the director proud in representing him at this screening. And Sagnier did not look like she was starving herself to stay svelte. As a matter of a fact, she looked damn healthy. How refreshing. |