Category Archives: Loved it

Hell or High Water – Director, David Mackenzie

Drama, Loved it, Oscar 2017, Uncategorized

I was a bit surprised that this film made it to the list of Best Pictures, not because it doesn’t deserve recognition but because it is a low budget film ($12 Million) It also grossed less than $30 million so while it made money it was not exactly a box office hit. Still to be fair the Academy nominated a number or small budget films this year of excellent quality. Hell or High Water is a superb film, beautifully filmed and acted with star turns by Chris Pine and Jeff Bridges who managed a Best Supporting Actor nomination. It also managed a nomination for Best Screenplay as well. The film is set in rural Texas. Chris Pine owns a farm on which oil has been found but on which the bank holds a mortgage and who are keen to foreclose. To avoid this and take some revenge Pine recruits his ex-con brother to rob a series of the bank’s branches to pull together the money needed to pay off the mortgage with the bank’s own money. Jeff Bridges is the cop who is out to track them down. Of course you are rooting for the brothers but Bridge’s character is also worthy of sympathy for reasons that will be revealed to those of you who see this film. No spoilers here. I really enjoyed this movie and highly recommend it. It will not win Best Picture but is definitely worth the nominations it received.

LBJ, Director — Rob Reiner

Drama, Loved it, Oscar Stuff, TIFF 2016, Uncategorized

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I was not sure what to expect from this movie and it really surprised me. Woody Harrelson plays Lyndon Johnson and its an academy award performance. He sure has come a long way from the days of Cheers. The film I am not Your Negro was critical of the white leadership of the day including JFK and Johnson and with some justification. Still it was Kennedy who conceived of the Civil Rights bill and it was Johnson (previously opposed to any civil rights legislation) who pushed it through congress and who introduced the voting rights act and medicare and other similar legislation. Reiner’s film paints a picture of a complex time and a complex person. For all his positive acts he was also the president who took the US into the Vietnam War and left it to others to resolve. The film is however very fair while sympathetic to the man. It covers his time from losing the Democratic nomination to JFK, becoming a reluctant and not very popular VP and then tragically president when Kennedy is assassinated. It focuses on the successful passing of the Civil Rights act as his first act and ends in 1964 prior to his running for president and his defeat of Barry Goldwater. Harrelson is perfect in the role, evoking the very human side of Johnson, his frailties, his strengths and his sense of humour. A very moving portrait of a very interesting leader. Reiner’s Q and A was great. He noted his age and that he opposed Johnson as a young man when he might well have been drafted and sent to fight a war he disagreed with. Still after all these years he has come to recognize both the good and bad sides of the man. The film will not be released until next year, long after the horrendous election in the US is over. This is too bad because the film might well remind American voters of some of its more intelligent and sophisticated leaders.

Chasing Trane: The John Coltrane Documentary — John Scheinfeld

Documentary, Loved it, TIFF 2016, Uncategorized

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Loved this movie. It is a straight forward documentary about one of the greatest jazz musicians of all time. The story takes us from birth to his very untimely death of cancer at the age of only 40. In the course of this brief life he took jazz in new directions and played with and inspired and was inspired by the best including Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davis and Thelonius Monk. Using old film footage and a great sound track the story is enhanced with interviews with Sonny Rollins, Wynton Marsalis, Bill Clinton and Carlos Santana among others. They gave a great perspective. Not much to be said about the movie. As one of the interviewers said when asked to describe the music “words fail me you just have to listen.” If you like jazz and like Coltrane this is a must see.

I Am Not Your Negro, Director – Raoul Peck

Documentary, Loved it, Oscar 2017, Oscar Stuff, TIFF 2016, Uncategorized

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I saw this film on the same day that I saw Denial so I had a day of films about racism and how it is dealt with in our society. Both received well deserved long standing ovations from large audiences. I Am Not Your Negro however was a documentary based on the work of James Baldwin his contribution to the civil rights movement in the 60’s and his relationship with Medgar Evers, Malcolm X and Martin Luther King. It documents his reaction to their murders, and describes how he perceived his own role in the battles of the time. The director also explores the themes of the 60’s struggles with the current struggles and looks in depth at the ongoing racial struggles in the US. It is a complex film that deserves much reflection. I am not as familiar as I should be with James Baldwin’s writing and thinking and need to correct that deficit. I also want and need to see this film several more times to be sure I get a full understanding of the complexities. We had a chance for a Q and A with the director who is Haitian born. He took ten years to put this film together as he delved into archival footage and Baldwin’s own rich writing. Baldwin had proposed writing a book about the three leaders of the civil rights movement, their conflicts and friendships and their sacrifices. He never was able to complete this project himself but Peck decided his film could be the book Baldwin never wrote. I think he has succeeded and we should all see this film and come to grips with the racism of our society.

Denial, Director – Mick Jackson

Drama, Loved it, Oscar Stuff, TIFF 2016, Uncategorized

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In 1993 Deborah Lipstadt, a Jewish Holocaust historian published a book Denying the Holocaust and in that book took aim at one particularly obnoxious and vociferous UK based denier named David Irving. To gain some attention Irving sued her and her publisher, Penguin Books. This film is a dramatization of that trial which dragged out over several weeks and about which the judgement was in doubt. Under UK law it was incumbent on Lipstadt to prove she had not libelled Irving and not on Irving to prove he was libelled. It made a challenging situation. Lipstadt could have settled out of court but she wanted to confront this challenge head on. If she lost, then Holocaust denial would be lent legitimacy it did not deserve and her own historical work put in doubt. Although the story was true and the outcome was known (I will keep that to myself for now) the drama is tense and the themes of dealing with holocaust deniers are emotionally packed and explored. The cast is great including Tom Wilkinson (the barrister), Timothy Spall (David Irving), Rachel Weisz (Lipstadt) and Andrew Scott(the solicitor). Andrew Scott may be known to more of you for his very scary and creepy portrayal of Moriarty in the Sherlock series. I had trouble separating him from that role which actually made his role in this film even more effective. You are never sure where he stands or what he is up to. Spall puts in another incredible acting performance as the evil Irving and you really want to reach into the screen and throttle him. Wilkinson is the supreme brilliant understated performance. I did not look at my watch once in the two hours.

So bottom line: this is a very very good movie and deserves large audiences and awards. The theme is important and presented powerfully. I saw this at the Winter Garden and the director got a standing ovation from the whole crowd. It was very much deserved.

nirvanna the band the show, Directors — Matt Johnson and Jay McCarrol

Comedy, Great Trash, Loved it, Uncategorized

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There are some things that you can only experience at TIFF and this was one of them. Matt Johnson and Jay McCarrol made their names if we can call it that with a web tv show called “nirvanna the band the show” that you can all find on YouTube if you like. The views for the web tv show are in the 1K to 4K level so it was not an international hit by any means. The guys are high school buddies who may have been the class clowns and the episodes on YouTube are funny in the high school humour kind of way but the fans are super fans. They were lucky however and managed to get the attention of more polished producers and have managed to snag a series on CTV this fall called: nirvanna the band the show. (By the way nirvanna is spelled with 2 “n’s”) Then to promote the show they managed to get three episodes strung together at TIFF. I saw this at Hot Docs and from what I can tell all the fans of the web tv show were there. Enthusiastic would not be sufficient to describe their love. They cheered the introduction, the pre-screening commercials and then laughed continuously all through the show. And… to be fair it was pretty funny. The guys have upped their game and are in the Kids in the Hall category now. The premise of the show is two guys with a band who want to get a gig at The Rivoli in Toronto. To get attention they try several different strategies not connected to music at all. The three episodes that were screened were very funny but production quality is not the greatest. The guys are funny and may well improve with experience. There is some real talent here although polishing will be needed. Nonetheless the fans are clearly there.. or at least the few hundred at Hot Docs. I will watch the series this fall although the real fun today was the audience. Oh right – I should mention, I felt very old since the average age of the audience had to be under 30.

The Journey, Director – Nick Hamm

Drama, Loved it, TIFF 2016, Uncategorized

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This is the best film I have seen so far and likely the best for the rest of the week. It is a dramatic recreation of an encounter between Ian Paisley played by Timothy Spall and Martin McGuinness of Sinn Fein played by Colm Meaney. The encounter happens during the 2007 meeting that brought The Troubles in Northern Ireland to the end with a dramatic peace treaty between Catholics and Protestants. The two men literally hated one another and had both been committed to the struggle for nearly two decades. The director is Irish as is Meaney and they have a great deal invested in the story. The film focusses on the two men who are compelled to travel together in a van on the way to the airport. The meeting or situation has been set up by British and Irish politicians who had a great deal invested in having a peace accord completed. The situation is entirely fictional but it is not entirely unimaginable. It was not uncommon for representatives of the two sides to travel together to discourage assassination attempts by agents of either side. No one would attack the plane or train for fear of killing their own people. Also, after the treaty was signed, these two men became close friends from being sworn enemies. They came to be called the Chuckle Brothers for their obvious friendship and good humour. How this could have happened is imagined by the director and the writers and recreated brilliantly by these two gifted actors. The film is funny, moving, and carries an important message. The Troubles are complex and deeply emotional. A violent time that many cannot forgive or forget. The film has been criticized by some for over simplifying the situation and making light of a serious period in history or trivializing it. This is unfair and I think is done from the perspective of those who will never be satisfied with any attempt to describe the time or the issues. We had the virtue of a Q and A with the Director and Colm Meaney. While focussing on the Irish situation and this significant time in history they told us that the film is really about the need for politicians and us all to find our way to compromise as these two enemies were able to do. We need to understand each other as persons and reach for solutions rather than stay rooted in our own perspectives and ideologies. They see quite rightly that the inability to do this in our current times lies at the root of the failure of our democracies. I think the film is brilliant, well written with a critical message and beautifully acted. It was two hours long but I did not notice the time nor did I want it to end. I found the characters entirely absorbing. Try to see this film when it is released.

The Sixth Beatle, Director – Tony Guma and John Rose

Documentary, Loved it, TIFF 2016, Uncategorized

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I was uncertain about this film but it turned out to be hugely entertaining. The directors are two Americans who had a band in the 80’s that never really amounted to much but in the course of trying to make it they encountered Steve Leach, a Liverpool based band promoter who told them he was the one to discover and originally promote the Beatles. While they took all this with a grain of salt at the time, they decided to revisit the story many years later. As they started to track down Leach and do some research they realized they were on to a real story. The title of the film comes from the often used “fifth beatle” that has been applied to Pete Best – the first drummer for the group, Brian Epstein – the first major promoter, or George Martin – their record producer. Steve Leach turns out to be a major Liverpool promoter who was behind many of the Mersey Beat bands like the Searchers, the Swinging Blue Jeans etc. He and another promoter Allan Williams booked the band into local clubs but did not have the connections to take them to London and beyond. Brian Epstein took the band away from Leach in the early 60’s and had the money to give them the opportunities they needed to become the huge success they became. Nonetheless it all might have fallen apart without the support and work that Leach and Williams and Pete Best’s mother gave them at the very start. The charm of the film is the interviews with all these ageing Liverpool characters and Liverpool itself. Leach and Williams were funny and not at all bitter about losing out on the huge success. Another surprise is Pete Best who contributed so much to the film and the early success of the band but who was unceremoniously dumped by Epstein in favour of Ringo, another local drummer who was not nearly as talented. Best is also over the bitterness so the film is not angry at all but rather an interesting and charming story of the early days of the Beatles and the Mersey Beat.

Zimbelism – Directors, Matt Zimbel Jean-François Gratton

Documentary, Hot Docs 2016, Loved it, Uncategorized

Last film of the week and one of the best. This tells the story of George Zimbel, one of the best known and talented street photographers of our time. The image here is of the classic series he did of Marilyn Monroe but he also known for pictures of John Kennedy and many other iconic images of the 20th century. We meet the photographer himself and his very strong opinions of his work and his efforts to protect it. He still uses film not digital photography and lives in his dark room perfecting his work. He has strong opinions about what he calls the digital diarrhea of the new cameras that takes away the latent talent of the photographer’s eye. He is a street photographer and few of his images are ever posed. Many do not know they are being photographed and that occasionally has created issues for him around privacy laws. The film also traces his conflict with the New York Times over ownership of his Kennedy pictures which he licensed the Times to print but not own. The exchange of correspondence between him and the New York Times lawyer are classic. I could not help thinking of another film: Finding Vivian Maier. In 2012 at TIFF this documentary traced the work of Vivian Maier who was also a street photographer but who remained totally anonymous until long after her death. She did not work in the dark room and her film developed in local shops and put it away so no one ever saw it until is was accidently discovered after her death. It brings to mind Zimbel’s comment that the art of photography is very much in the eye of the photographer and also that I like street photography very much. Both films are very good and should be seen together I think.

Tower – Director, Keith Maitland

Documentary, Hot Docs 2016, Loved it, Uncategorized

Again this is film I attended sort of at random. I had vague memories of the events covered but only after getting into the film did I see this as one of the first and worst mass shootings in recent US history. It occurred in 1966 at the University of Texas at Austin in which a single sniper took a high powered rifle to the top of the highest tower on campus and began indiscriminately targeting students and others on campus. In just over and hour and a half he killed 16 and wounded 36. The film uses animation to reenact the events, film footage from the time and interviews with some survivors and police who intervened. No one was ready for this kind of situation and those who acted to take down the killer were brave and somewhat foolhardy but successful in the end. The story is dramatic and makes no overt comment about gun control or ties to mass murders in more recent times but it doesn’t really need to. Taking us into the situation and reaction of the participants and victims is all that is necessary. A very interesting film that takes you into the heart of the first tragedy of its kind.