So what movies did you like?

So I go back to work tomorrow and will have to answer the inevitable question “so what was the best movie you saw?”

Here’s the thing about TIFF – while you do get your fair share of mainstream picks, you also get a lot of pedophilia, incest and tears. Not necessarily the types of movies that you would rec to the boss. So this posting is mostly to help remind me at a glance what I watched and liked – and also to help me when I am building my schedule during TIFF10.

When thinking about my approach for next year, I did have a moment of – why not just make it an all Jane/Thom/Colin festival – but then I wouldn’t have seen the totally awesome Cell 211.

So for now to help me remember what (and who) I liked, I’m going to list the movies I saw, separated by programmer with the ones I would watch again/recommend in bold.

Cameron Bailey

Fish Tank

Good Hair

Triage

Noah Cowan

The Informant!

Colin Geddes

Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans

Bitch Slap

Vengeance

Steve Gravestock

Year of the Carnivore

Valhalla Rising

Piers Handling

Nr. Nobody

Michèle Maheux

Cracks

Partir

Raymond Phathanavirangoon

Accident

Thom Powers

Waking Sleeping Beauty

Schmatta: Rags to Riches to Rags

Cleanflix

Diana Sanchez

Cell 211

Jane Schoettle

Beautiful Kate

Balibo

Tanner Hall

My Year Without Sex

Bunny & the Bull

The Vintner’s Luck

Jesse Wente

Defendor

P’s Choice Awards

I will probably post reviews for some of the others movies that I saw, but in some cases I either did not like or dislike the movie enough to spend any time writing about it afterwords.

Best stuff that I saw (I did not see Precious or the Topp Twins)

Best dramatic film – Balibo. It will make you cry unless you are totally dead inside. And even then you might squeeze out a tear or two.

Best documentary – Waking Sleeping Beauty. I still can’t believe that they might have cut ‘Part of your world’ out of The Little Mermaid.

Funniest Movie – Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans. Amoral is the new black. Watching this movie made me wish they had an Oscar category for dark comedies.

Breaking the curse of my bad French picks: Partir. I’m not sure if this really counts as breaking the streak of bad French movies I’ve seen at the festival, since the leads are Kristin Scott Thomas (Britain) and Sergi López (Catalan/Spain).

Sure thing that lived up to expectations – Up in the Air. Love Jason Reitman.

Fest-TIFF Special Episode 3

Talking about Johnnie To, Good Hair and violence in high schools. This podcast was not brought to you by Lululemon.

 

 est-TIFF Special - Episode 3 [15:04m]: Play Now | Download

Review: Waking Sleeping Beauty

No talking heads and no old men reminiscing was the mission statement behind the approach to using all archival footage for Waking Sleepimg Beauty. In doing so they totally achieve their goal of taking us back in time to the animation building on the Disney lot in the dark days before the rebirth and record-breaking revenue ushered in by Who Framed Roger Rabbit and The Little Mermaid.

The story of the fall and rise of animation at Disney, along with great details about the corporate tug-of-war between of Michael D. Eisner, Jeffrey Katzenberg and Roy Disney provides a dramatic story to keep you engaged throughout the film. That would have been more than enough for a good doc, but this one has the added magic of meeting the younger versions of legends like Don Bluth, John Lasseter and Tim Burton and getting more insight into how some of the upheaval may have influenced their career choices.

Add to all of that the music (I couldn’t stop myself from lip-synching along with everything) and you get the perfect combination of entertainment and education that you would expect from the best documentaries.

PN grade: A+

Review: Defendor

This one takes a while to get going, I think I was expecting more in the way of ‘funny ha ha’ and not a sweet and charming character study of a man who lets his only guide be his moral compass. Don’t get me wrong, there are a few laughs, but they are surpised out of you while you are slowly falling in love with Arthur (Woody Harrelson).

This is not your normal David vs Goliath story-actually this is not your normal anything story. All I can say is give it time. It takes until halfway into the final act for us to totally understand Defendor, as it does Kat Dennings’ hooker and Sandra Oh’s doctor. But once we do, it’s a lot like Arthur-simple and perfect.

PN grade: B

Fest-TIFF Special Episode 2

More random ramblings  with Jai about festival preparations, the movies I am excited to see, and why my age may be more suited to crashing for naptime than crashing parties.

 

 Fest-TIFF Special - Episode 2 [16:49m]: Play Now | Download

Bitch Slap Q & A

I realize I get more hits when there are pictures of attractive women. I guess Peggy was right when she told Don that sex sells.

Something Good

Today I’d like to thank my iPhone for saving me from weeping on the subway after Balibo. The first song that played after turning it on was Chaka Khan, Tell me Something Good.

The film was outstanding but I’m damn glad I have the Disney doc next. I must say I haven’t been this good to myself with counter-programming since the year I had Lake of Fire followed by Stranger Than Fiction.

Review: Cracks

After hearing about an alleged swarming/assault involving a group of boys from my old high school, I realized when questioning the friend that told me about it that I fully expected there to be a reason. Partially beacuse they were boys, and most of the gentlemen I know of from high school-like most I know now try to avoid drama. And usually if they start somthing, there is usually a cause (not that anything justifies violence) that is common knowledge to those involved.

I think if I had heard that it was a group of girls, I would not have expected the reason to be known already. Whether it’s a high school in Scarborough or a boarding school half a century ago in the UK, I think the common factor amongst all girls of a certain age is the propensity to hold on to grudges and secrets with equal ferocity.

Cracks takes us deeper into girl world than Mean Girls. Compared to present day the unofficial hierarchy in relationships is more strictly enforced based on rank within the school. The same factors can increase or decrease the power one might wield within the group, attractiveness, talent, personal wealth, and of course the most important, the desire for leadership.

In the film when a new girl arrives with an abundance of gifts in all areas except without the thirst for status and power, she throws the equilibrium of the entire group out of balance. Their diving coach, Miss G, played as a slightly left-of-sane Pygmalion by Eva Green is equal parts seductive, childlike and nuts.

However the most disturbing character to me when watching the film was the
mob. No one girl will ever be as powerful or potentially destructive as a group hell-bent on destruction.

A good effort by first-time director Jordan Scott, although the pacing was a bit slow in the first act, and a bit rushed in the end.

PN grade: B-

Review: Triage

I think for a couple of years there I forgot that Colin Farrell could act, then I saw In Bruges, and watched Minority Report again when it was on tv and remembered that he’s kind of great. Triage was initially a timeslot+director choice for me (fit in my schedule, directed by Danis Tancovic who did No Man’s Land. I’m really happy that I saw this film, and although it doesn’t have US distribution yet (someone buy it please) it will be released in Canada.

First off, this one gave me my first tears of the festival. Usually by this time at least two or three movies have had me crying like a Kanye at an awards show, but so far this year I have been more amused than weepy. I’m sure the  Scott Anderson novel is even more of an emotional journey into the most harrowing memories of war photographers, but the movie gave me more than a good taste at 9:00 AM on a Monday morning. The friendship between Mark (Farrell’s character) and David (Jamie Sives) in the middle of the carnage keeps the viewer grounded in the first act, and provides a welcome relief from some of the more heartbreaking scenes in the makeshift field hospital.

Branko Djuric (also from No Man’s Land) gives a fantastic performance as the cold, yet charismatic Dr. Talzani. Watching his character walk through the rows of men with this blue and yellow triage tags you find yourself holding your breath, while his character appears unbothered. You see moments where he reveals what the nature of his work has done to him – the way he asks Mark for a cigarette at one point is part of one of the best scenes in the performance – but for the most part the doctor has to just keep it moving.

Good performances from the entire supporting cast – great job by Christopher Lee as the best grandpa-in-law ever.

PN grade – A-