Toronto International Film Festival 2005 (8/9 - 17/9)

[hengcs]

The official website is here ...
http://www.e.bell.ca/filmfest/2005/home.asp

It runs from 8 Sep to 17 Sep.

The selection is VERY excellent!
;)

http://www.e.bell.ca/filmfest/2005/films_filmList.asp

Can someone sponsor me? ha ha ha

[arsaib4]

I guess you already made a thread for me, hengcs. ;)

Here's the final press release from a couple of weeks ago:

Toronto International Film Festival Announces Complete Line-Up Including 109 World Premieres.

Toronto – At a press conference at Nathan Phillips Square this morning, Director & CEO Piers Handling, Festival Co-Director Noah Cowan, and Managing Director Michèle Maheux announced the final programme details for the 30th Toronto International Film Festival. This year, the Festival showcases 335 films from 52 countries, including 256 features, of which 84 per cent are world, international, or North American premieres, and 67 features are directorial debuts.

Today's announcement includes six Gala Presentations, including: the North American premiere of David J. Burke's EDISON, starring Kevin Spacey, Morgan Freeman, Justin Timberlake, LL Cool J, and Dylan McDermott, as the Closing Night film; Stephen Frears' MRS. HENDERSON PRESENTS, a world premiere starring Judi Dench and Bob Hoskins; the world premiere of Guy Ritchie's REVOLVER, starring Jason Statham, Ray Liotta, Vinnie Pastore, and André Benjamin (Andre 3000); Stanley Tong's THE MYTH, a world premiere, starring Jackie Chan, Kim Hee Seon, Tony Leung Ka Fai, Mallika Sherawat, with special appearances by Choi Min Soo and Tam Yiu Man; the North American premiere of Tommy Lee Jones' directorial debut, THE THREE BURIALS OF MELQUIADES ESTRADA, starring Jones, Barry Pepper, Dwight Yoakam, January Jones, and Julio César Cedillo; and the Canadian premiere of Richard Shepard's THE MATADOR, starring Pierce Brosnan, Greg Kinnear, Hope Davis, Phillip Baker Hall, Dylan Baker, and Adam Scott.

The complete Masters line-up showcases 16 films from 19 countries. The world premiere of Martin Scorsese's highly-anticipated feature documentary NO DIRECTION HOME: BOB DYLAN and the North American premiere of Amos Gitaï's FREE ZONE have both been added to Masters today.

Fifteen films have been added to Visions for a complete line-up of 27 films from 22 countries, including: Larry Clark's WASSUP ROCKERS, Dorota Kędzierzawska's I AM, Beto Brant's DELICATE CRIME, Philippe Faucon's LA TRAHISON, Diane Bertrand's L'ANNULAIRE, Matthew Barney's DRAWING RESTRAINT 9, the Quay Brothers' THE PIANOTUNER OF

EARTHQUAKES, Kirill Serebrennikov's BED STORIES, Victoria Gamburg's TWILIGHT, Péter Gárdos' THE PORCELAIN DOLL, Luis Ortega's MONOBLOC, Nobuhiro Suwa's UN COUPLE PARFAIT, Fred Kelemen's FALLEN, Rashid Masharawi's ATTENTE, and Fabienne Berthaud's FRANKIE.

The complete Special Presentations line-up offers 41 films from 17 countries. The final 12 titles announced today are: Michel Gondry's DAVE CHAPPELLE'S BLOCK PARTY; Bennett Miller's CAPOTE; Bart Freundlich's TRUST THE MAN; Baltasar Kormákur's A LITTLE TRIP TO HEAVEN; Ol Parker's IMAGINE ME AND YOU; Roman Polanski's OLIVER TWIST; Josef Fares' ZOZO; Park Chan-wook's SYMPATHY FOR LADY VENGEANCE; Philippe Garrel's LES AMANTS RÉGULIERS; Lajos Koltai's FATELESS; ALL THE INVISIBLE CHILDREN, from Mehdi Charef, Emir Kusturica, Spike Lee, Katia Lund, Jordan and Ridley Scott, Stefano Veneruso, and John Woo; and a screening of Robert Flaherty's classic NANOOK OF THE NORTH featuring a new score by acclaimed Montreal composer Gabriel Thibaudeau, which will be performed by a nine-piece orchestra featuring Inuit throat singers.The Festival releases the 28 remaining Contemporary World Cinema titles, resulting in a total of 63 titles in the programme. Today's announcement includes the late Theo van Gogh's final film 06/05, THE SIXTH OF MAY; Nicolas Winding Refn's PUSHER trilogy; François Ozon's LE TEMPS QUI RESTE; Jim McKay's ANGEL; Im Sangsoo's THE PRESIDENT'S LAST BANG; Radu Mihaileanu's VA, VIS ET DEVIENS; and Aric Avelino's AMERICAN GUN.

Fourteen films have been added to the Discovery line-up, which features a total of 24 films at this year's Festival: Hamid Rahmanian's DAY BREAK; Yi-kwan Kang's SA-KWA; Dionysius Zervos' THE SHORE; Francisca Schweitzer and Pablo Solís' TIME OFF; Joseph Castelo's THE WAR WITHIN; Barlen Pyamootoo's BENARES; Yorgos Lanthimos's KINETTA; Bae Youn Suk's DO U CRY 4 ME ARGENTINA?; Annie Griffin's FESTIVAL; Stephen Woolley's STONED; Li Yu's DAM STREET; Brillante Mendoza's THE MASSEUR; Maria Procházková's SHARK IN THE HEAD; and Tom Zuber's LITTLE ATHENS. Wavelengths features 24 films and videos from eight countries in five programmes. This year's line-up includes: solo spotlights featuring Ute Aurand and Ernie Gehr; a restored print of Manoel de Oliveira's first film, DOURO, FAINA FLUVIAL (1931) with live piano accompaniment; and Michael Snow's latest work, SSHTOORRTY, with his 1967 masterpiece, WAVELENGTH. Wavelengths also showcases new works by Kenneth Anger, Peter Tscherkassky, Matthias Müller, Julia Meltzer, and David Thorne, among others.

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It is quite astonishing for a festival this late in the year to accumulate that many World and/or North American premieres. TIFF has grown in just about every way imaginable in the last few years, and it's ready to challenge Berlin and Venice as long as it establishes an Official Competition.

The festival started a couple of hours ago. My first day there will be tomorrow with 2 scheduled screenings.

[arsaib4]

L'ENFER (http://a69.g.akamai.net/n/69/10688/v1/img5.allocine.fr/acmedia/medias/nmedia/18/35/58/38/18445136.jpg)

Programme: GALA (World Premiere)
Country: France - Ita/Jpn/Bel

[trevor826]

arsaib4, your excellent review certainly whets the appetite especially since I've been a fan of Kieslowski's work for a long time.

Strange and slightly confusing though, two films called L'enfer starring Emmanuelle Beart, although this is obviously very different from the older film.

Cheers Trev.

[arsaib4]

Thanks, Trev. I was gonna write something short but then I realized that there were quite a few areas to discuss. Sign of a good film, I guess. I think you'll like it.

Yeah, you're right about the title. Chabrol's 1994 film with Béart was also called L'Enfer. Her husband was jealous of her in that film, and it's the other way around here, but yes, overall they're quite different.

[Chris Knipp]

Michael Almareyda: William Eggleston in the Real World Documentary about the great American color photographer. More on this later.

Gael Morel: Three Dancing Slaves/Le Clan More on this later too.

Re-saw: Jim Jarmusch: Broken Flowers. For me, it held up very well.

[arsaib4]

GABRIELLE (http://a69.g.akamai.net/n/69/10688/v1/img5.allocine.fr/acmedia/medias/nmedia/18/35/98/50/18441372.jpg)

Programme: VISIONS (N. American Premiere)
Country: France - Ita

[Chris Knipp]

arsaib, I'm not going to read Gabrielle yet because I'm going to see it here in NYC.... I will exchange comments with you later, i hope.

[arsaib4]

I look forward to discussing it with you. I also saw L'Enfant, a film I'm sure we'll get into sooner or later.

[Chris Knipp]

Have you posted a comment on L'Enfant?
My NYFF capsule reviews will be going up very soon. You may find them a bit tight-lipped, but limitations of space and time required that they be that way. We can have lengthier discussions of the films with US release dates when they come out, beginning with the American ones out or about to come out, Capote; Good Night, and Good Luck; Soderbergh's Bubble, and The Squid and the Whale.

[arsaib4]

It's good to hear from you again. No, I haven't posted on L'Enfant yet. Still have a few more to go since I decided to talk about the films in detail.

Capote was a big hit at Toronto. Didn't get to watch it but everyone was raving about the lead performance. The Squid and the Whale sounds promising. Noah Baumbach also wrote The Life Aquatic, I think. I've been reading your short takes so I'm pretty much upto date. Looking forward to discussing the films with you after you get back. Enjoy your trip!

[Chris Knipp]

Also, it happens to be his best film since Bad Lieutenant (1992) even though I realize that’s not saying much. Could you reconsider that last statement? Bad Lieutenant is powerful stuff; I wouldn't be so quick to dismiss it.
It's good to read that Hou's THREE TIMES is attracting some interest. Yes, it won't be a big hit, probably, but it's certainly worth more than 99% of the stuff out there. I agree with most of your comments on it. I actually have yet to see Millenium Mambo, but I will when I get a chane to get a DVD of it.

[arsaib4]

I was referring to his other work since Bad Lieutenant: films like Body Snatchers, Dangerous Game, The Blackout, New Rose Hotel, 'R Xmas etc. Some of them are simply awful.

As for Hou's film, it probably won't be a "hit," but I hope it gets a theatrical release here. Btw, his previous film, Cafe Lumiere, is going straight-to-DVD in December.

[arsaib4]

L'ENFANT (http://a69.g.akamai.net/n/69/10688/v1/img5.allocine.fr/acmedia/medias/nmedia/18/35/79/89/18425518.jpg)

Programme: MASTERS (N. American Premiere)
Country: Belgium - Fra
________________________

[Chris Knipp]

You're not alone. There were those at the NY press screening that didn't buy it. They felt that Bruno's "redemption" (a word used in at least one review) was far too easy. But in my view this is a misreading because he is not really redeemed. The ending, of the main character meeting his girlfriend and helplessly weeping in detention, isn't really upbeat, though it may be cathartic. He may be acknowledging that he did wrong, or he may merely be unhappy, an impulsive child who has wrecked his life. I would differ with you in considering this as a "pat resolution," but I understand how you could see it that way, as others also have done. You're on solid enough ground in making that claim. I don't think you're quite as irrefutable when you say that the action is not compelling. The action is both compelling, and frenetic, and the energy of the actor, his successful involvement in his role, contribute majorly to that.

When a team make a series of very similar films, the educated audience is going to cherry pick retroactively, preferring the earlier films when the preoccupations and methods were all fresher and newer to them, and in time will perhaps tend to lose interest in the whole project. In fact the Dardennes' work -- as you agree -- is extremely consistent in quality in both senses. Audience-friendliness, if that is really what L'Enfant has -- and the heavy poster campaign for it in Paris might indicate that expectation for the francophone audience -- isn't a minus at all.

So I don't agree with your evaluation, but there are others as discerning as you who agree on your reservations.

I think the most interesting thing you say is that Bruno is "not as interesting a character, emotionally or psychologically, as one would like him to be." I think that's quite right, but I don't see that as a fault, but a part of the film's truth. These lives are not interesting, they are sad and wasteful. The trick -- a good trick -- on the Dardennes' part is to draw us into the lives of their people even though they and their lives are not "interesting" in conventional storytelling or cinematic senses. This is arguably true of the people in Bruno Dumont's two powerful films too. The action, though, is "interesting," because it has a hysterical edge, even an edge of tragedy. All in all, your remark that Bruno is uninteresting is a very interesting one.

(I didn't get a chance to hear the Dardennes speak either.)

[arsaib4]

Besides the harrowing sequence late in the film, I felt that the action was quite static compared to their other efforts. For long stretches, Bruno is stationary, simply waiting to complete a deal; even when him and Sonia are seen fooling around on a few occasions, everything else comes to a standstill. And as I mentioned, I didn’t quite see much chemistry between the two.

When a team make a series of very similar films, the educated audience is going to cherry pick retroactively, preferring the earlier films when the preoccupations and methods were all fresher and newer to them, and in time will perhaps tend to lose interest in the whole project.

That’s a valid point. But to use one example, Taiwanese master Tsai Ming-Liang has not only made more features than the Dardennes, but in most aspects he’s been even more consistent so far. And every one of his films has felt fresh to me.

Film Comment's Kent Jones made a point similar to yours in mentioning that, "The complaints about their new film began the moment the closing credits started to roll: it’s too formulaic, it’s too much like their other films, every film has been a little less good, etc. All this talk of repetition is intriguing. Whenever a modern filmmaker revisits the same territory, whether moral (Goodfellas/Casino) or textural (Rushmore/The Royal Tenenbaums), they get clubbed over the head. Yet when we look back at Hitchcock, Hawks, Ford, Mizoguchi, we celebrate such repetition. Why?" Later adding "Twenty years from now, we’re all going to look back on what will certainly be one of the strongest bodies of work in cinema and wonder why we were so harshly judgmental."

I don't have a problem with the aesthetic employed by the Dardennes -- I, in fact, love consistency and repetition. But my problem with L'Enfant is with the narrative itself.

Bresson's Pickpocket has been brought up by a few, and it's easy to see why. But unlike this film, the Bresson's earns its final moments because nothing prepares you for them. And that's why they leave you in a state of admiration.

[arsaib4]

ADAM'S ÆBLER (http://a69.g.akamai.net/n/69/10688/v1/img5.allocine.fr/acmedia/medias/nmedia/18/36/03/27/18446962.jpg)

Programme: CONTEMPORARY WORLD CINEMA (N. American Premiere)
Country: Denmark
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[trevor826]

So does "Adams Apples" get your recommendation?

Only asking because it's screening at the Cardiff Screen Festival.

Cheers Trev.

[arsaib4]

Overall, yes, for sure. The film isn't for all tastes, but I think someone like yourself would definitely find it worthwhile. Sorry, I should've been clearer.

[trevor826]

arsaib4, there was nothing wrong with your comments but when I write any it's purely from my perspective which could be totally different to yours or anyones.

You have a rough idea of what appeals to me, certainly not films like "Sahara", "The Brothers Grimm" or "Sleepy Hollow" so I was asking purely on a selfish level.

It certainly sounds more interesting than described in the brochure for the festival and will almost certainly go on my list.

Cheers Trev.

[arsaib4]

No, you're right, one should only attempt to speak for him/herself.

The 33-year-old Anders Thomas Jensen has made two other films: Flickering Lights (2000) and The Green Butchers (2003). I haven't seen either of 'em, maybe you have. He's written quite a few, however, including a couple of dogme films.

[trevor826]

Just checked out his credentials, a little hit and miss as far as the writing goes, I thought "Open Hearts" was very well written, especially considering how honest it felt, but found "Wilbur Wants to Kill Himself" a bit dreary, I still have "Brothers" waiting in my "to watch " queue.

Thanks for the info.

Cheers Trev.

[arsaib4]

THE WAYWARD CLOUD (http://a69.g.akamai.net/n/69/10688/v1/img5.allocine.fr/acmedia/medias/nmedia/18/35/61/61/18413073.jpg)

Programme: VISIONS (N. American Premiere)
Country: Taiwan - Fra
_________________________

[arsaib4]

This is a little late so I won’t detail how poorly organized I was for this festival, especially considering that this year I went from Buffalo, which is much closer to Toronto, instead of NYC. Anyway, I regret that I missed films like U-Carmen eKhayelitsha (2005 Golden Bear winner), Memories in the Mist (from Indian auteur Buddhadeb Dasgupta), Workingman's Death (by Austrian giant Michael Glawogger), Les Amants Réguliers (directed by little known French master Philippe Garrel), Wassup Rockers (the latest from our own "enfant terrible" Larry Clark), among others, that may not find distribution anytime soon.

Having said that, I still managed to watch a few exemplary efforts: Danis Tanovic's L’Enfer, Patrice Chéreau's Gabrielle, Hou's Three Times, and Tsai's The Wayward Cloud were the 4 best among the 16 films seen at the fest. Unfortunately, only Gabrielle has U.S. distribution (Wellspring) at this point.

Among other key films Thank You for Smoking is a crowd pleaser which should do well when it opens here in a couple of months; I truly hope that Abel Ferrara’s Mary gets distributed; Wang Xiaoshuai’s Shanghai Dreams is an agreeable effort which should get picked up; I wish all the best to L’Enfant, a film bound to make a few lists in 2006; New Yorker Films will release Free Zone starring Natalie Portman; it's too bad that both The President’s Last Bang and Where the Truth Lies (Atom Egoyan) came and went without a whimper.

Can’t wait for TIFF 2006, which is only 9 months away!


*Thanks to Trevor and Chris for their contributions.

[Chris Knipp]

*Thanks to Trevor and Chris for their contributions. And greater thanks for your greater ones. I'll hope to see L'Enfer and The Wayward Cloud. To avoid my own confusion, I may put some of these that I saw this year on my lists for 2005 even if they haven't been released yet, e.g., L'Enfant. I mean my lists to be ones for other people to watch for, and in that sense so much the better if they're coming rather than (Like the Egoyan or The President's Big Bang) come and gone. (I always hope people can see theatrical presentations of the really outstanding stuff. Sometimes a video or DVD seems like just a Cliff Notes version.) Of course if you read my NYFF comments you know I did see Les amants réguliers and I hope it gets some US distribution, though its length may be an issue.

[trevor826]

Thanks for the thanks arsaib4 although I have no idea (for myself) why there's any reason for the thanks!

I suggest we swap for 2006, you can go to the Cardiff Festival and I'll cover Toronto, how does that sound to you?

I have enjoyed reading your reviews from the festival and certainly a few of the films have joined my must see list, so thank you.

Cheers Trev.