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.
Category Archives: Loved it
Ides of March – September
I still have to see Descendants which is the real George Clooney movie at the Festival. This one does actually have George as a supporting actor but he also directs this one which really stars Ryan Gosling. It is a tightly scripted film about the backroom political action as a Governor (Clooney) runs for the Democratic primary. Gosling is the media guy on Clooney’s team led by Philip Seymour Hoffman and the competition is led by Paul Giamatti both in good supporting roles. There is also a really good performance by Marisa Tomei as the NYTimes reporter covering the race. I would not say this is Oscar material but it does point to how messed up the US political system is and how little it has to do with issues. As a result it is rather depressing but it is smart and tight and over in under 90 minutes. I should note that Woody Allen is of the opinion that no movie can really be sustained beyond 90 minutes and there is some truth to that. There are exceptions, Lawrence of Arabia being one, but there is something magic about 90. This movie is good so I recommend it and if you are a Ryan Gosling fan then I really recommend it. It will not win Oscars however.
Goon – September 10
After taking a break from hockey to see The Ides of March – directed by George Clooney and starring Ryan Gosling (more about this below) I next saw Goon, a comedic take on The Last Gladiators that I feared would be in really bad taste but which turned out to be insightful and oddly powerful in light of having just been through the Chris Nilan story. This movie is directed by Michael Dowse (FUBAR and FUBAR 2) and written by and starring Jay Baruchel (The Trotsky and Tropic Thunder) promised to be very funny and off centre and it lived up to its promises. The story is actually based on a real life minor league enforcer so it actually has some depth of character and plot (not too deep mind you). I decided to hold it to the standard of Slap Shot – the classic Paul Newman hockey flick and it more than met the challenge. It is now my favourite hockey movie. It will be in theatres shortly and I urge those who loved The Trotsky and Tropic Thunder to go see it. A warning, however, it does not hold back on the violence of the fighting scenes or our baser appetite for fights in hockey and the beer drinking that follows. Oh… if you have not seen The Trotsky or Tropic Thunder – see them as well. Baruchel is crazy brilliant in that order.
The Last Gladiators – September 10
The first movie of the day and likely the best I would see. This film is about the hockey enforcers of the 80’s NHL and in particular about Chris Nilan who played this role for the Montreal Canadiens. This is a great movie and you don’t need to be a hockey fan to enjoy it although if you of my generation and remember the Bruins and the Broad Street Bullies you will get a lot out of it. Although the film centres on the career of Chris Nilan and long interviews with him and images of his career, it also looks at and interviews many of his fellow goons and enforcers. Marty McSorley, Bob Probert, and Donald Brashear feature prominently. One is retired, one is dead and one is playing out his career in the minor leagues and is dabbling in mixed martial arts. If you have seen the movie The Wrestler you will understand the depressing truth. Nilan himself who is the centre of the story is in his 50’s now and still battles addiction and injury. The sad thing is that they were required to fight, to defend the skill players on their teams but themselves often had nothing in the way of education or skill themselves to fall back on once they retired or were too injured to continue to play. The movie pulls no punches so to speak. I highly recommend it. The nice thing was that Chris Nilan was there for the Q and A and received a standing ovation for his simply eloquence and his dedication to the game and his loyalty to the Habs and his team mates. His description of his struggles after retirement is powerful and deeply emotional. For his openness he deserved the applause he got.
Urbanized – Second movie September 9
Puff Puff – just got to my seat as they were introducing the director Gary Hustwit of this great documentary. This was the third film in a series of movies about design. I had seen one before – Helvetica. Yes a whole movie about a font. It was brilliant and this one was even more brilliant and about urban design. It hit on every element of city living and design that Toronto is currently looking at and that Rob Ford is trying to corrupt. The movie had us all cheering as he visited designers and planners in cities around the world, Cape Town, Brighton, Rio, New York, and Bogota. It spoke to the increasing populations of cities the need to address the infrastructure needs, the need to get away from a dependence on cars and build the kinds of neighbourhoods and human size living spaces. The film spent a while with the current mayor of Bogota, one of the most enlightened, funny, intelligent people I have ever seen interviewed. The city of Bogota has been changed, revitalized and has done all the things and protected all the things that Toronto is about to lose or mess up. The audience cheered and applauded throughout this part of the movie. At the end there was a standing ovation and during the Q and A, the first questioner asked Mayor Ford to please stand up and be recognized. Funny thing was – he wasn’t there. The director knew about Rob and Doug which surprised and delighted the crowd especially when he pointed out that what this city really needs is a giant Ferris wheel.
Le Havre – September 9
This was the premiere of a lovely French comedy. It came with a bit of an annoying element however. A side note for those who do not do the Festival – most crazy fans like me have our schedule. It is often timed to the second. Movie 1 is 93 minutes and it is 21 minutes to the next theatre and the next movie. Movie 1 starts at 1PM and ends at 2:33PM. Movie 2 starts at 3PM and I have 21 minutes to get there. I will arrive at 2:54PM just in time to make movie 2. Now what is really annoying to fans like me is when Movie 1 starts late, even five minutes late. Le Havre started 15 minutes late!!! About 20 percent of my fellow queuers (is this a word?) were very cranky and would have to leave Le Havre early. This was my situation. Sigh.
Anyway I managed to settle down and stayed until about 10 minutes before the end but I had to leave early. I did manage to stay long enough to see how the movie would end. The charming thing that calmed me down was the presence of the star of the film, a wonderful French actor Andre Wilms. The film speaks to the increasing presence of illegal immigrants in Europe. The protagonist, Marcel Marx is an aging and poor but happy shoe shine man who has about him a loving wife and collection of friends who see him as a bumbling charming member of their community. While we learn about him and his circle of friends a group of illegal immigrants is discovered in a shipping container on a wharf in the harbour. They are going to be sent back to North Africa where they were smuggled from but one, a young boy, escapes. He and Marcel connect and Marcel decides to rescue him, hide him from the police and find a way to get him to London where his mother is waiting for him. He manages this while we learn that his wife is discovered to be terminally ill. While all this sounds pretty depressing, somehow it ends up being charming, witty and fun. Must be the French. At any rate I highly recommend this movie to everyone and I suspect it will show up in Toronto sometime in the near future. However at the end, or rather near the end, I leapt up with 20 minutes to get to my next movie. I walked from the Jackman Theatre at the AGO to the Ryerson Theartre at Church and Gerrard. Got there with 5 minutes to go.
Movies: Rants and Raves 