After light and airy I hit serious and intense. Rebellion is a fictionalized account of real events about a French commando team charged with negotiating the release of hostages in an uprising in the jungles of the French colony of New Caledonia in 1988. It is election time in France and the politics have an impact on everything the lead negotiator tries to do. It is a fast-paced, action-filled but thoughtful film about the reality of war and revolution. Ten years in the making because of the still very sensitive nature of the situation and politicians who are mostly all alive and active, it took great courage to do but manages to present the story as accurately and unromantically as possible. Mathieu Kassovitz is the director, writer and lead actor in what is truly a tour de force of film making. He was there for the Q and A and we learned a great deal about the struggle to create the movie. They got absolutely no help from the French armed forces who did not want the story told. The man about whom the film is made did help since he had left the army largely over the outcome of this event. It is a hard story of trust and betrayal and while the hero of the film did his job and followed orders, his conscience would not let him continue. One of the things that totally surprized me was that throughout the film helicopters are used to transport men and supplies but in fact they had no access to any helicopters. The used wooden and cardboard models and CGI to do the scenes. You cannot tell at all which is what makes this one of the most remarkable aspects of the movie. Rather than using CGI to create dinosaurs and robots and other fantastical effects, this film used the technology to a truly artistic end. Fantastic. This is French film with subtitles and while I have dismissed French cinema in the past – I highly recommend this movie.
Monthly Archives: September 2011
Damsels in Distress – September 14
Watch for the Sambola – a new dance craze to seize the nation!! Well maybe not. It is one of the very funny scenes in this whimsical film about four young women attending Seven Oaks College – a small liberal arts college clearly based in the northeastern US. The new film from Whit Stillman, who last made a movie 13 years ago (Last Days of Disco), is a small cinematic gem. With a very unusual script and totally offbeat plot line it follows the four protagonists through a school term led by Greta Gerwig as Violet the alpha girl. The four work through how to dress, who to date, why dumb guys are best (also known as doufi) and the ups and downs of relationships. Some very funny sequences including a guy named Thor who has never learned his colours (you have to see this to believe it) and some great dance scenes. The movie ends with homage to Fred Astaire and the introduction to the Sambola dance craze, a mix of the Charleston, Tango, Waltz and Tap. Just classic. This is definitely not The Dead Poet’s Society for girls but a light and intelligent movie to savour over popcorn sometime this winter.
Killer Joe – September 13
I had a really difficult time deciding what to say about this movie and I am not sure I know even now, but here goes. This is film by William Friedkin who has done some great films in the past including The Exorcist which is arguably one of the best ever horror movies ever made, Sorcerer (little known but great thriller), The Night they Raided Minsky’s and of course The French Connection. He has also done some really bad movies and I am not sure into which category this fits. It is based on a play by Tracy Letts that ran off-Broadway for nine months. On stage it might very well have been better. The story is of another sad set of family and friends from, where else? Texas. Poor, uneducated, alcohol and drug addicted, the son, daughter and former husband plot to hire a killer to do in their mother for the insurance money. Mathew McConaughey plays Killer Joe – the man they hire. He demands to be paid up front but since they need the insurance money to pay him he accepts a retainer instead – the daughter. The film is able to enhance the sex and violence really to the point of being near pornographic in both cases. Of course everything goes horribly wrong and the ending is a huge question mark – literally. I can’t reveal the story because it has several surprise twists and to know ahead what happens would be to spoil the movie for you. Needless to say, however, this is not a movie for the faint of heart, or for anyone at all squeamish about graphic violence. McConaughey is very good at playing total, menacing evil. So if that is at all attractive to you then you are in for treat. Although I can assure you, you won’t be bored, I am still not sure if this is a good movie so if you see it, perhaps you can tell me. McConaughey is actually a very good actor – if you have not seen The Lincoln Lawyer yet and you want to see McConaughey act and avoid the violence, it’s a good alternative.
The Lady – September 13
Simply the best movie I have seen this week and maybe the best movie at the Festival and maybe the best movie of the year. I loved this film as you can see. It is a dramatization of the story of Burmese political activist and leader Aung San Suu Kyi over 15 years of her life struggling to bring democracy to Burma. It is also about her love for her English husband and children who support her throughout her isolation and house arrest in Burma. Separated for years from her family she hangs on to their love and her love of her country. It is brilliantly acted by Michelle Yeoh and David Thewlis (who is also in Anonymous) both of whom deserve Oscars for their work. The director and writer did not know the woman whose story they were telling but they researched it thoroughly and clearly did a great job. They filmed it in Thailand primarily but many shots were from Burma where members of the crew travelled incognito as tourists and shot film with their Nikon cameras. They reconstructed the home in which she was under arrest off and on for nearly 15 years to perfection and filmed in the actual home the family shared in Oxford.
The director and writer were there for a Q and A and were congratulated by members of the audience who knew The Lady herself and remarked how perfectly Yeoh played her, how true to the story the film was and how evocative of the struggle and ongoing struggle to bring democracy to Burma. The plea of Aung San Suu Kyi at the end of the film is to the audience to use their liberty to bring the same to the people of Burma. The audience gave a rare standing ovation at the end of the film.
Yes we should work to free the people of Burma and encourage our government to lead this struggle but there is also a message to all the bored and jaded voters of our own country not to take their right to vote for granted and exercise it every chance they have. When one sees a film like this and watches the sacrifices people make to exercise the right to vote there is simply no excuse for any of us to remain unengaged in our own democracy.
Anonymous – September 12
This was the first costume drama of the week and really a lot of fun. It is a tale of Elizabethan court intrigue layered over the theory that Shakespeare’s plays were really written by the Earl of Oxford – Edward De Vere. Ben Johnson is the go between carrying the plays to the Globe theatre where a rather poor but wily actor William Shakespeare took all the credit. The movie is directed by Robert Emmerich who has done such classics 😛 as 2012, 10,000 B.C., The Day After Tomorrow and Independence Day. The latter is classic trash but the others are not so great. So this movie is bit a of a change for him although he plays fast and loose with the history and even the “Shakespeare didn’t really write those plays” theories. Nonetheless he creates a great atmosphere and has some good actors to work with including Vanessa Redgrave and Elizabeth, Rhys Ifans as the Earl and Sebastian Armesto as Ben Jonson. Although it doesn’t have any aliens seeking to destroy the world or other cataclysmic events and it’s a bit long and over dramatic, basically I liked it. If it’s a cold night out this winter and you have nothing else to do then definitely do up some popcorn and enjoy this bit of fluff.
Anniversary of 9/11
A quick observation. On September 11th, TIFF decided they needed to acknowledge the events of ten years ago. I was at the Festival myself that year and actually watching a movie when the planes hit the Twin Towers. They did not stop the movie but afterwards the staff came out to say somewhat mysteriously that ” due to events this morning, the Q and A was cancelled”. That was it. All they said. No one in the audience had any idea what they were talking about and assumed it related to some incident involving the director. After all we were all in a movie all morning. So happily I went off to my next movie. Standing in line I was expecting my daughter to join me for a showing of the classic Rollerball to be introduced and discussed by Norman Jewison the director. She arrived to tell me what had happened. I was stunned and then they cancelled the showing and we went home to watch the news. The Festival carried on that week with just the films and all the parties cancelled.
So …. I remember, at the time, thinking this was the only thing they could do or they would be ruined economically and there was really no reason not to continue. Obviously it was a difficult communications and PR issue but basically only that for the Festival directors and staff. However…… this year they did a 2 minute short that they showed before each film on the 11th and then cancelled all the repetitive and now pretty annoying ads and promotions they run before each film. The short they ran starred Piers Handling the TIFF co-director and other staff being interviewed about events 10 years ago. Phenomenally it was not about the people who died or the impact on the world or anything moderately selfless. It was all about them!! How devastating it was for them. How difficult it was to decide whether to continue or not. How selfless and courageous it was of them to carry on. I couldn’t believe it and I had to watch it three times I think. The only good part was that they cancelled all the other dumb pre movie stuff and got right on with showing the movies.
Sarah Palin, You Betcha – September 12
A documentary by a BBC director Nick Broomfield. A UK film about America’s scariest politician. He states in the film that he wants to do an objective 360 story about Sarah Palin’s startling ride to prominence. He traces her career from her high school career to her current plans to challenge for the presidency. While he does get to interview her parents he really can’t find anyone else who knew her to talk to, including Palin herself, who was willing to say anything positive about her. There is some amazing archival footage including her playing high school basketball, placing third in the Miss Alaska competition (apparently she won Miss Congeniality). The stories are very scary. She talked the mayor of Wasilla (her home town) to help her run for her first political office as councillor and at the next election she ran a nasty attack campaign against her mentor and took his job as mayor. This backstabbing, throw them under the bus approach to climbing to the top is clearly her style. One of the pastors in the town told the camera that Sarah is a born again Christian who believes we are living in the end times. She has no conscience about doing harm to those who might oppose her. He said that if she could kill her opponents she would with no regret and if she had access to nuclear arms she would not hesitate to use it to achieve her goals. It was very scary to hear as he painted a picture of a sociopath. The “thrown them under the bus” theme came up time and again with different people. One woman was going to write a book about her called “Under the bus”. As they run the credits they also play the phony call when a local radio station in Quebec called her purporting to be President Sarcozy. Very funny.
A really good, witty, scary documentary – Sarah does not smoke by the way.
Rampart – September 12
Okay the first really violent downer movie of the week. This one stars Woody Harrelson and if none of his previous films has driven Cheers from your mind, this one will. He plays a really mean, racist, sexist, misogynist, violent, sociopathic, need I go on? Cop. It is set in 1999 in Los Angeles and Rampart is the district that came under investigation for a police force that was racist, sexist, misogynist, violent, sociopathic etc. It focuses on one cop who becomes a scapegoat for the force which is unfair on one level but not unfair on another. He is guilty. Harrelson is basically the major focus and is in every scene in a virtuoso performance. He may get a nomination for this and likely deserves it but this movie is ugly in lots of ways and gritty in story and film style. This may lose it the credit it deserves. At any rate it’s not just Harrelson. There is a great supporting cast including Sigourney Weaver, Harrelson’s character’s two ex-wives (Anne Heche and Cynthia Nixon) and two daughters are also wonderful as is Steve Buscemi. This movie is written by James Ellroy a very noir mystery writer and Clarke Peters of Treme and The Wire. Tough stuff. – watching this movie was like being a voyeur of a nasty nasty scene.
Side note: Everyone in this movie smokes. Actually everyone in almost every movie I have been to this year smokes. This is really a change and mostly completely unnecessary to the plot or the characters. I have started to wonder if in fact this is subtle product placement. No brand names or anything but hey! Everyone smokes! If you have seen Thank you for Not Smoking from a few years back you would definitely share my paranoid perception here.
Breakaway – September 11
Another hockey movie. It’s like a trend. This one is basically The Mighty Ducks for Sikhs – The Mighty Sikhs? Director Robert Leiberman actually directed The Mighty Ducks. Basically this is the story of a group of Sikh kids who play pick up hockey and have one player who is really good. They are victims of a local team of bullies and decide to take a chance at skilling up to challenge the bullies for a championship. The story is about breakaways in hockey but also breakaways from traditional Sikh values. The star of the team is rebelling against his rigid traditionalist father who forbids him to play this white Canadian game. Of course at the end they are reconciled. (oops a spoiler)This is a Canadian movie with some big Bollywood stars but also starring Russell Peters, Rob Lowe and a cameo by Ludacris. Predictable but fun the kids find a Canadian coach and make it to the finals which they win in dramatic fashion (oops – another spoiler). The fun is in the Bollywood dance scenes on top of the traditional North American story line. Some funny scenes and charming performances so go see it and enjoy.
Interestingly there is another perspective on this film from a friend of my son who suggested that such films are a bit racist (well he felt they are very racist). Why he argues is it okay to replace traditional values with new Canadian ones and why are the traditionalists like the boy’s father portrayed so negatively? All good points and while I think the movie is respectful in the end of Sikh culture the comment lingers with me nonetheless. Others may be better judges of this than a 7th generation Canadian blogger.
Final remark. The director and several of the stars including Russell Peters were there to introduce the film. I wore a blue collarless shirt that looked a bit like a Nehru shirt. As Peters walked past me he looked down and remarked: “Hey – nice shirt” I am so happy to be dissed by a movie star.
Last Call at the Oasis – September 11
The first film this morning was a documentary about the threat to our water supply in the US and around the world. Unlike many documentaries this one had a decent budget and a great director. It was very easy on the eyes, beautiful cinematography and a great script. The message however is very frightening. Basically large parts of the US will be without water in the next very few years. There is an increasing population that is totally dependent on the Colorado River Valley for water and the snowpack in the High Sierra mountains. Both are in severe decline as the result of climate change and there is no real alternative source of water. There are similar threats in the US Southeast and Midwest. The worst places are not the US however. The worst are in South Asia dependent on the Himalaya snowpack also in decline and billions of people dependent on it. There are some possible solutions and sources including recycling waste water. The problem with this is the “yuck” factor. No one wants to drink toilet water. So the film makers went to the people who successfully got to pay for filtered tap water and asked them to sell recycled water. This was a very funny part of the film as they came up with possible names for the new product and got Jack Black to help them sell it. The winning name? Porcelain Springs. Funny but serious because we will have to be taking our water from Porcelain Springs before very long. Our water availability is not only declining but we are also polluting what little we have. Erin Brockovitch is still an activist working to save our water and she has a big part in this movie. We were lucky enough to have Erin there at the film for the Q and A and interestingly she looks just like Julia Roberts who plays her in the movie of her name. Great movie with an important message. Everyone needs to see this as we complacently rely that when we turn on our taps we will get as much hot and cold running water as we want. It won’t be like that for much longer.
Movies: Rants and Raves 