Notes for
Toronto International Film Festival 2002

Thursday, September 5

MARIE-JO AND HER TWO LOVES (SPOT) [p]
Robert Guédiguian
B-

Not overtly political as Guédiguian's previous films but choosing a happily married middle-age female protagonist engaged in an equally satisfying extramarital affair strikes me as a political choice.

EVERY DAY GOD KISSES US ON THE MOUTH (CWC) [p]
Sinisa Dragin
D

An ex-con goes on revenge spree after failed attempts to rebuild his life. Unpleasant, like being with a dour, incoherent drunk. This movie features lots of spitting. Moments of magic realism make one hopeful but these fail to elevate.

TAKE CARE OF MY CAT (NC) [p]
Jeong Jae-eun
B-

Captures the giddiness of close teenage friends.

AT MY FINGERTIPS (CWC) [p]
Yves Angelo
B-

Piano teacher shelters daughter whose talents surpass her own. The psychology is transparent but both lead performances are compelling.

THE GOOD THIEF (GALA) [p]
Neil Jordan
C+

Jordan's most polished film yet almost renders its inspiration unrecognizeable. Succeeds in feeling so slight you may not care at all - I didn't. A diction coach would've been nice.

THE DEVILS (DISC)
Christophe Ruggia
D+

"My Sister is a Teenage Rainman" turns into something lurid - unbridled puberty wild like kudzu! Note to Harmony Korine: Buy the rights to remake this in English.

Friday, September 6

UNKNOWN PLEASURES (CWC) [p]
Jia Zhang-ke
C

Platform's lesser sibling. Jia's characters are still aimless, but also lost is the humour and the keen insight that elevated many of Platform's scenes beyond rigorousness.

THE HEART OF ME (CWC) [p]
Thaddeus O’Sullivan
C-

Unless it has heavily invested in facial prosthetics, any movie that casts Helena Bonham-Carter as "the ugly sister" is bound to raise an eyebrow. Be warned: characters die on cue after a long illness. An indigestible Masterpiece Theatre costume drama where two sisters - stereotypical polar opposites, of course - battle over a ball-less (metaphorically speaking), simpering wisp of a man.

RUSSIAN ARK (VIS)
Alexandr Sokurov
C+

You may quote this former art gallery docent: "This is the best choreographed museum tour ever!" Visually enthralling, sometimes intellectually stimulating but never emotionally involving. Historical figures and events take their turn like crests on a wave then leave the gaze.

THE SEA (CWC)
Baltasar Kormákur
DNF (fire alarm)

The first half had little of the electricity and local eccentricity that made Kormakur's debut, 101 Reykjavik fun. I admit I was mildly relieved when a fire alarm stopped the screening midway. Pity Kormákur, however - this was The Sea's world premiere.

JAPÓN (VIS)
Carlos Reygadas
D-

A film that gives arthouse a bad name. Aims for something soaring with shock and longueur but Reygadas' transparent crudity betrays his lofty aspirations.

Saturday, September 7

CITY OF GOD (VIS) [p]
Fernando Meirelles
B+

Epic amorality that drips with virtuosity - the film PT Anderson wanted Boogie Nights to be.

BAD GUY (NC)
Kim Ki-duk
D

In retrospect, I would rather have been watching a DV version of The Patty Hearst Story starring Carol Channing.

HAPPY HERE AND NOW (VIS)
Michael Almereyda
D

Something natural I could latch onto would've been nice, but all the characters in Happy Here and Now smack of artificiality (eye patches! former FBI agents! underground radio broadcasters!). It's like asking for a glass of water and getting a bucket of molasses.

DOLLS (VIS)
Takeshi Kitano
D

On the plus side: Dolls doesn't have Kitano onscreen doing his paper-thin cool gangster schtick to relieve himself of his mid-life crises on the audience. Takeshi - I am not your therapist.

On the minus side: Dolls is directed by Kitano and Kitano loves Silences. Unfortunately, there's just no grace to his handling of Silence. He advertises it - whoomp there it is Silence! - then makes time for the audience to [insert meaning here]. The frequency of Silence suggests laziness.

To compound that gracelessness Dolls features a BOLD RED ROPE TYING TWO LOVERS. Takeshi - love shouldn't feel like a test of your endurance.

THE LAST GREAT WILDERNESS (DISC)
David Mackenzie
C

An incompatible buddy road movie that does a 180 degree turn into therapeutic treacle. Neither side of the movie supports the supposed hoopla about Mackenzie.

24 HOURS IN THE LIFE OF A WOMAN (CWC)
Laurent Bouhnik
C

This is a movie where a recollection starts remembering something else. Agnès Jaoui seems miscast here: she's okay staid but the passionate generosity just didn't digest well for me.

BUBBA HO-TEP (MM)
Don Coscarelli
C

The funny first half coasts on Bruce Campbell's conviction that he is Elvis Presley stuck in an aging body. Falls flat after Bubba Ho-tep makes his appearance.

Sunday, September 8

TEN MINUTES OLDER: THE CELLO (MAST) [p]
Bernardo Bertolucci (C+), Mike Figgis (C-), Jirí Menzel (D), István Szabo (C), Claire Denis (C-), Volker Schlöndorff (C), Michael Radford (C-) and Jean-Luc Godard (C)

Dear Claire: Godard does not become you. Godard does a fine job caricaturing himself. Oh, and Jirí, we got the point... ten minutes ago.

THE CUCKOO (CWC) [p]
Alexander Rogozhkin
B-

Rogozhkin finds love amidst war and communication problems. The film would be much improved with a trim to both ends.

TURNING GATE (NC)
Hong Sang-soo
B+

The film version of the book Men are From Mars, Women are From Venus. Single guy becomes the pursued then the pursuer. In both instances the communications gap is comically apparent.

RABBIT-PROOF FENCE (SPEC)
Philip Noyce
C-

Prone to prolonged shots of aborigine vs. aborigine, both looking so very determined, their thoughts surely about how predator and prey (in this case tracker vs. escaped children) seek and evade each other. Noyce's casting of Walkabout actor David Gulpilil as the tracker seems a strategic attempt to milk audience recognition of film history instead of bothering with the details of the hunt. This Spy vs. Spy angle isn't delved into much - natch. By doing nothing differently in the end Rabbit-Proof Fence is unintentionally similar to those movies about the lost family pet crossing the country to find its way home.

Best moment: the audience hissing Kenneth Branagh's name in the credits after inexplicable applause for each of the child actors.

A NEW LIFE (VIS)
Phillipe Grandrieux
C

What first appears to be an immigrant smuggling drama becomes the story of a young man trying to lead a new life by escaping homosexual clutches. Grandrieux tries something new with every scene though frequently when the novelty wears off what we're left with, though visually striking, is often silly. This insistence on novelty is admirable but so would an eye to cutting off the useless bits.

Monday, September 9

RESPIRO (CWC)
Emanuele Crialese
C-

Mother chafes under familial routines and does a disappearing act with the help of her son. Nicely ambiguous end comes too late to save your run-of-the-mill lazy sunny days on my Mediterranean island drama.

MY TRUE LIFE IN ROUEN (CWC)
Olivier Ducastel and Jacques Martineau
C

A young man documents his life with a digital camera and the audience becomes privy to patterns of behaviour before the young man finds words to them.

RAISING VICTOR VARGAS (CWC)
Peter Sollett
B+

A last-minute pick winds up a pleasant surprise. Goes for the charm award like a pitbull. I would've pegged this to win the audience award were it not for its nascent sexuality and Whale Rider's potent combo of little girl plus whale. Post-9/11 suburbanites seeking reassurance that ethnics are into family values and aren't all terrorists should eat this up like My Big Fat Greek Wedding.

BLISSFULLY YOURS (VIS) [p]
Apichatpong Weeraseethakul
C

Other fest goers surrendered to the sunny exoticism of the forest picnic that occupies the bulk of this film; I faintly recalled intolerable humidity and a sudden biodiversity of hungry insects hell-bent on ruining such outings. The combination of picnics and peeling skin didn't heighten my interest.

LILYA 4-EVER (VIS)
Lukas Moodysson
C-

How a li'l girl earns her wings. Moodysson expertly shows off his knowledge of the heartstrings' whereabouts. Recalls the miserabilism of Dancer in the Dark without the choreography. Moodysson's recognizable direction and humanism make this semi-tolerable as opposed to Lars von Trier's sneering calculations. My festival disappointment.

THE LOVER (CWC)
Valeriy Todorovskiy
B



THE EYE (MM)
Oxide Pang and Danny Pang
C-

From the template of THE SIXTH SENSE comes THE EYE! (No, that was not meant to be a compliment.)

Tuesday, September 10

BLUE GATE CROSSING (CWC)
Yee Chi-yen
B+

A gentle, graceful love triangle involving teens. Every scene finely calibrated to show desire. Faithful to its teenage milieu and hopeful as it suggests how nascent, nervous desire can provoke sudden ascendance into adulthood.

ADOLPHE (SPEC)
Benoit Jacquot
C-

Suffer, wince, repeat. The oft-repeated music phrase transforms into a laughing track after a while.

THE SON (VIS) [p]
Jean-Pierre Dardenne and Luc Dardenne
B

The Dardennes manage to evade narrative expectations with this meditation on forgiveness. THE SON doesn't have the immediacy of ROSETTA but is perhaps a richer film.

THE WILD DOGS (PC)
Thom Fitzgerald
D

A weak and murky brew, like an unstrained tea, both story-wise and technically. The central metaphor is worked to death. A pornographer has a change of agenda after flying to Bucharest for cheap "talent." Sound sometimes muffled, out of sync. DV surpassed in ugliness only by Public Toilet.

MY LITTLE EYE (MM)
Marc Evans
C-

I spy with my little eye a movie where the production values - all those angles from the all-seeing cameras, the sound effects - used to generate scares were much more interesting than the movie itself, which is not very scary at all.

Wednesday, September 11

THE SECRET LIVES OF DENTISTS (SPEC)
Alan Rudolph
C+



THE MAN WITHOUT A PAST (MAST)
Aki Kaurismäki
B-

Repeats many of Kaurismaki's tics from previous films with a bit more slack.

PUBLIC TOILET (VIS) [p]
Fruit Chan
D-

The high point happens when an octopus battles it out with some crabs in an aquarium. The low point is everything else. A bad idea goes global, starting with the unfortunate title.

CAMEL(S) (NC)
Park Ki-yong
C-



TRILOGY: ON THE RUN (VIS)
Lucas Belvaux
B

Fine, gripping yarn on its own about an prison escapee whose out-of-fashion political convictions endure unlike those of his former colleagues whose help he extorts.

Thursday, September 12

FRIDAY NIGHT (VIS) [p]
Claire Denis
B+

Light on its feet, assured in her steps, Denis engages the viewer in a dance that at its end recalls the exhilaration after a tryst.

11'09"01 (GALA)
Ken Loach (C-), Claude Lelouch (C-), Danis Tanovic (C-), Sean Penn (F), Amos Gitaï (D), Shohei Imamura (C+), Samira Makhmalbaf (B-), Youssef Chahine (D), Idrissa Ouedraogo (C), Mira Nair (C-) and Alejandro Iñárritu (F)

Look elsewhere for the post-9/11 masterpiece. Most trigger the pain sensors from jawdroppingly maudlin (Penn), tastelessly, artlessly maudlin (Iñárritu) to shameful politicking (Chahine and Gitai).

8 WOMEN (SPEC)
François Ozon
B-

More time was spent getting the schedules of these eight actresses to mesh than on the songs they sing. It's a shame - they deserve better than the songs they're given, showstoppers in the worst sense. All lovely ladies yet Huppert still manages to shine - amazing.

TRILOGY: AN AMAZING COUPLE (VIS)
Lucas Belvaux
B+

The farce escalates inexhaustibly. Hugely enjoyable.

IRREVERSIBLE (VIS)
Gaspar Noé
B

My most anticipated movie for the festival. Technical and acting expertise undenied. Many scenes besides the harrowing ones astonishingly good. Kudos to Monica Bellucci - her underground scene is exhausting to watch. The chemistry between her and then-partner Vincent Cassel is evident. The subway and party scenes move with great ease and naturalism. I walked away not disappointed but still hungry for the uncomfortable catharsis I Stand Alone left behind. Noé clearly grasps for gravitas (see the title) but ends with a late revelation that seems cheap, a tacked-on magnification of loss. The technique is not dissimilar to tabloid headlines shouting GRUESOME MURDER! and MAD LOVER'S REVENGE! then mentioning some redeeming detail about the victim calculated to tug at the heartstrings.

Friday, September 13

SEX IS COMEDY (MAST)
Catherine Breillat
B

It's nice to see Breillat lighten up. Cutting observations about Anne Parillaud's director save Breillat from accusations of self-aggrandizing.

Stupid question of the festival: "How did they keep the prosthetic penis on?"

Surprising answer of the festival: The prosthetic penis costs as much as a small car.

SYMPATHY FOR MR VENGEANCE (NC)
Park Chan-wook
C



INTACTO (CWC)
Juan Carlos Fresnadillo
C

Nice conceit (luck as commodity) though only a race through a forest stirred my interest further.

TRILOGY: AFTER LIFE (VIS) [p]
Lucas Belvaux
C+

The third part seems largely a repeat of the the first two episodes. The couple at the centre of AFTER LIFE doesn't have much of a chance to distinguish itself.

A PIECE OF SKY (CWC)
Bénédicte Liénard
C

If Séverine Caneele (HUMANITÉ) didn't look so menacing, my heart rate would've been positively restful during this unsurprising chicks-behind-bars (not the COYOTE UGLY type of bar) flick.

A SNAKE OF JUNE (VIS)
Shinya Tsukamoto
C-

Dear masturbators: A reminder to do the deed where you can't be photographed, such as by an open window or, heaven forbid, out on the balcony where the June rains may add a most appealing sheen to your skin, else photos of you caught in the act may be used to force you to live out your deepest sexual desires.

Dear Skinemax: Male-male contact via dark tentacle/penis may trigger homosexual panic but otherwise this should fit in quite nicely into your programming. English dubbing may be required as subtitles may unnecessarily block the good parts.

Saturday, September 14

NOVO (VIS)
Jean-Pierre Limosin
C

Central conceit recalls Memento but more hopeful and with a preoccupation over sex instead of revenge. Gratuitous nudity should fit in quite nicely in the Skinemax schedule. See note on English dubbing above.

VOLCANO HIGH (MM)
Kim Tae-kyun
C+

Think school for X-Men without Professor Xavier's guiding hand. Lead actor charms with his instantaneous changes in facial expressions.

KEN PARK (VIS)
Larry Clark and Ed Lachman
C

Insists on showing teen sex as often as it insists on a cheap laugh, then feigns a documentarian's neutrality. Photography by Ed Lachman gives it a sheen of respectability. I really should be more offended by this.

10 (MAST)
Abbas Kiarostami
C+

Dear Mr Kiarostami: Please ignore Mr George Lucas and Dogme and stay away from DV. And don't even think about following Lucas' lead when it comes to actors.

Kiarostami goes ascetic in this series of car interior dialogues about power - a brave shift for Abbas though I'm uneasy about this turn. The actors' ease and the naturalistic dialogue make the minimalism tolerable.

GINOSTRA (VIS)
Manuel Pradal
D+

Borrowing Noah Cowan's description for Irreversible, this is "a masterpiece of narrative polemics." The first half has you thinking Ginostra is Italian for "island of bad acting." Then, ominously, someone intones, "When Ginostra blows, all hell breaks loose!" The latter half is a near-interesting mess wrought with miraculous coincidence upon coincidence, overwrought symbolism. The entire, sometimes unintentionally funny, mess is invested with shocking seriousness by Pradal. (Andie MacDowell must be thinking, "I bared my breasts for this?" Okay, maybe not.)

CABIN FEVER (MM)
Eli Roth
C+

"Dear Abby: My friend has some contagious flesh-eating disease so we put her out in the shed to die. If you have flesh-eating disease should you shave your legs with a single or double-blade razor? My boyfriend says he really, really hates ingrown hairs." This is that kind of a movie.

Potentially rewarding aside:

Dear Seville Pictures: I saw most of your films at TIFF 2002 - for awhile I considered renaming it "My Seville Film Festival 2002." I applaud your shopping spree involving difficult-to-market foreign films. May your distribution efforts reap large financial rewards to fund further sprees. Please send me DVDs of your entire catalogue. Thanks.