Daily Archives: September 16, 2018

TIFF 2018 – Summing up the week.

Commentary, TIFF 2018, Uncategorized

The week is over and another excellent week of films. The best film of the week was Green Book which happily won the People’s Choice Award. I suspect this means some major Oscar nominations and wins are in the book for Viggo and Farelly. The big disappointment of the week was First Man, a look at Neil Armstrong and the moon landing. Could have been good but fell way short. I really liked most of the films I managed to see and of course like every year disappointed that I missed out on some good films that will be out in the coming months. Besides the ones I have reviewed positively I would urge you to see If Beale Street Could Talk, Widows, Sisters. Brothers and well… many others. One of the best aspects of TIFF is the chance to hear the film makers and actors in the Q and A’s. This year I was lucky to get several great ones including Green Book’s cast and director Farelly, Michael Moore, Denys Arcand and the directors of some smaller films like What is Democracy. You gain insight into the decisions around the creation of the film, the motivations of the actors and the relationship between the director and cast.

The most exciting moment of the week was the extended standing ovation we gave to Viggo Mortensen and his supporting cast and director at the Elgin. The most disappointing was having to leave early from one the Wavelength films, What are you Going to Do when the World’s on Fire. I guess a film festival needs to be open to experimental filmmakers, but I would urge my followers to avoid these films at all costs. As always it is great to be downtown while the crowds are out on the street and the general buzz of the city. Of course one of the downsides is that one’s diet is totally destroyed including what you eat and when you eat and if you eat. I guess one of the sacrifices for getting to see some great movies. Next year will be my 25th anniversary at the festival. Kind of hard to believe.

First Man – Director, Damien Chazelle

Drama, Meh!, Oscar 2019, TIFF 2018, Uncategorized

First Man, the story of Neil Armstrong’s landing on the moon, has been touted as one of the best films at the festival this year and worthy of the People’s Choice Award. It was the last film of the week for me and to be honest one of the most disappointing. In what could have been a celebration of one of the great engineering and scientific achievements of the 20th Century was instead one of the most pedantic overly long tedious films of the year. Ryan Gosling was the draw having been a big star of Chazelle’s big hit La La Land. (another film I thought was overrated). The film is two and half hours long and I would guess that at least 30 minutes of the film was spent with a closeup of Gosling’s face in a helmet shaking as he entered or left the atmosphere in a high-altitude jet, Gemini flight, training flight or ultimately the Apollo mission. Boring and not necessary. The film attempts to help us understand not only the challenges of the Apollo mission but also the human side of Armstrong and his family as he applies for the astronaut program, through the Gemini series of flights, to his ultimate recruitment to captain Apollo 11. Gosling is wooden in the role. Although this may be true of Armstrong himself, it does not make for drama or tension. I did not find the family tension real, or the relationship among the astronauts themselves which is another focus. My guess is that Chazelle just tried to do too much and should have been more focussed. I was bored throughout and was greatly relieved when the moon landing proved to be the end of the film. I feared we would be submitted to several more scenes of Gosling’s shaking face as the lander took off from the moon, docked with the Apollo capsule, re-entered the earth’s atmosphere and landed in the ocean. Thank God we were spared all that.

I will confess that my reaction may be due in part to the fact that I watched these events happen in real time in the 60’s and many in the audience were too young or not born when all this happened. The other aspect of the film is that it is supposedly about a great event in human history. While I must agree that it was a major scientific achievement it was really all about politics. The US was humiliated that the USSR was way ahead in the space race and so they decided to fund the effort. I would remind everyone that since the moon landings 50 years ago there has been no further human outreach into space except for the international space station. Going to Mars is still decades off. So much for the human desire for exploration. If you want to watch films about the US Space program that have something more to offer I would suggest you avoid First Man and instead watch Hidden Figures or Apollo 13 both of which are far far superior to this one.

Peterloo – Director, Mike Leigh

Drama, Loved it, TIFF 2018, Uncategorized

Mike Leigh’s last film – Mr. Turner – about English landscape painter J. M. W. Turner, played by Timothy Spall was a spectacular visual experience without the use of animation or CGI and Peterloo continues and I think goes one better than Mr. Turner. Peterloo is a dramatic look at one of the most important events in the establishment of labour rights, women’s suffrage and democratic reform in English history. In 1819 a gathering of workers, women and commoners met in Manchester at St. Peter’s Field. Nearly 100,000 people came to hear a speech from a parliamentary reformer and start a movement to address the repression of the time. The landowners and factory owners were terrified and called in the army. The result was a horrendous massacre. The press of the time named the event Peterloo after the recent battle of Waterloo. Although the immediate outcome was greater repression, ultimately major reforms came forward to address the demands of the people. Apparently, the Manchester Guardian, still a left-wing newspaper was founded as a result of the massacre.

The movie is a stunning portrayal of the repression of the time and the attitudes of those who were the oppressors. The tension of the film evolves slowly as we await the inevitable outcome. Some of the scenes reminded me of Dutch Master paintings with exquisite lighting and staging. Throughout the film Leigh’s brilliant visual sense is exhibited. The script and acting is also excellent. If I had a complaint it was length at 2.5 hours but to determine which scenes might be cut would be hard to be honest. While watching the film I felt that this was not just an historical record but a statement about today. One of the most disturbing scenes in the film is a textile factory where workers attend to automated weaving machines. As we learn more about how Amazon warehouse workers are treated or how underpaid Walmart workers are, or how Uber drivers are treated as contract workers to save having to provide health benefits or job security it was hard not see the similarities. The violent repression is not so far away should these workers decide to revolt. Definitely one of the best films of my week with a message for our modern times.