I have to take a pledge not to watch any more Atom Egoyan films. This movie is simply absurd, terrible, hugely disappointing, ridiculous, and did I mention stupid?? Furthermore this film is described as one of Egoyan’s more accessible films. This is true. At least you know what is going on but what is going on is hardly worth your time. The story is of an elderly and disabled holocaust survivor played by Martin Landau who recruits a fellow client of his nursing home (played by Christopher Plummer– who is also ostensibly a survivor) to kill the Nazi officer who killed their families. While Landau is physically disabled, Plummer’s character is suffering from dementia and needs careful guidance to achieve his goal. I do not want to give away the plot or the absolutely absurd ending but enough to say – avoid this film. When I saw the cast and that this film was a selection at Venice and TIFF I thought I really needed to see it and give Egoyan one last chance to impress me. Sadly I was disappointed. This film that aims to treat the holocaust and dementia, trivializes both. Many reviewers who were not happy with the movie praised Plummer’s performance and I will admit he is very good except that one wonders what form of dementia he supposedly suffers from. The portrayal is like nothing you have ever witnessed so I blame the writer and the director for getting it all horribly wrong.

The last film of the week for us at least. I hoped it would be good fun as it was promoted as a comedy in which a former resident of a small Australian town comes back from her travels to wreak revenge on the town citizens. Kate Winslet plays the heroine of the film. She was sent away for reasons unclear at the start of the film and travelled to England, Italy and France and became and accomplished seamstress and fashion designer. However her ghosts require her to return to her past, her mother and the town she clearly hates. In the course of the film there are some truly hilarious scenes as the movie slowly reveals the secret that drives Winslet’s character. There are some wonderful performances from the cast including the mother, the local police sergeant (who saves the film in many ways) and other townies. Still the film turns somewhat dark and upsetting while trying to resolve the whole story. Winslet falls in love with one of the guys in town who appears to be her only ally. Her mother is elderly, and as things begin to come together they suddenly all fall apart in a somewhat random and unnecessary way. One reviewer said the following: “The film can be funny and quirky but it comes from the silliness of the film. ‘The Dressmaker’ has woven confusion caused by too many things thrown into the fray. This has left many critics bewildered on where the film was really trying to go.” I think this sums it up perfectly. There was also the suggestion that you can enjoy the film if you just relax and ignore the random events thrown in. Unfortunately you really can’t ignore them and you leave a bit unsettled. Still it gets high ratings on the fan sites so I may be completely wrong but on the other hand I voted for the people’s choice award for most of the films I saw but not this one.

http://tiff.net/festivals/festival15/galapresentations/the-dressmaker

Second and final film of the day was Prisoners from Canadian director Denis Villeneuve who is perhaps best known for Incendies which was nominated for an Oscar as Best Foreign Language Film and Polytechnique, a dramatization of the 1989 massacre of female engineering students in Montreal. This time he is working in English with a couple of major acting names: Jake Gyllenhaal, Hugh Jackman and Paul Dano and making a very Hollywood thriller about a psychopath and two missing girls. Jackman plays the father of one of the girls and is a bit of a survivalist who decides to take a vigilante approach to the hunt for the perpetrator. Gyllenhaal plays the cop who takes the more measured approach, at least at first. Dano plays a really creepy guy who is a suspect but not the real villain. Dano also plays a totally creepy guy in 12 Years a Slave. He seemed typecast at the festival this year. So what did I think? Its okay, Gyllenhaal is very good as the cop but I was less impressed with the rest of the cast including Jackman who, as the vigilante, refused to use his Wolverine powers!! The movie is also way too long at 150 minutes and the tension is hard to maintain. I was also a little bit irritated that the director did not show up for the only showing of this film. Clearly this was a bit of a ruse to get some buzz going before the release. It’s okay I guess and if you like the lead actors and can stomach little girls being kidnapped by nasty homicidal maniacs well this is definitely your fare. Myself? Meh.

Second film of the day and the last of the day. To be honest I did not make to the end of this one. I chose this film because of the description which noted that it had been made in Damascus during the current insurrection and was about living with that reality. I have chosen a few movies this year about the Middle East and this fit that pattern as well. I wanted to learn about how film directors from that region looked on their current lives and state of affairs and what messages they might have for us all. This film at least depicts the lives of ordinary people trying to live their lives in a perpetual war zone. The violence is never far away but the film focuses on other themes somewhat to the detriment of what I wanted to learn. So a bit disappointing for me but that may very well be my own fault. If you understand Arabic and enjoy films from this region go for it but otherwise… well go see Palestine Stereo instead.