The 29th Toronto Film Festival

[arsaib4]

The festival will run from the 9th of September to the 18th. I plan to attend it for a third year in a row. In the past i've attended NY and Venice festivals but undoubtedly Toronto is most accessable for film fans.

Here are some of the films announced so far by the organizers:

Zhang Yimou's HOUSE OF FLYING DAGGERS

Jean-Luc Godard's NOTRE MUSIQUE

Benoit Jacquot's A TOUTE DE SUITE

Patricio Guzman's SALVADOR ALLENDE

Chantal Akerman's DEMAIN ON DEMENAGE

Lukas Moodyson's A HOLE IN MY HEART

Lisandro Alonso's THE DEAD

Taylor Hackfor's RAY

Jonathan Caouette's TARNATION

John Sayles's SILVER CITY

Dylan Kidd's P.S.

Todd Solondz PALINDROMES

Lucrecia Martel's THE HOLY GIRL

Olivier Assayas's CLEAN

...full list will be announced on the 24th of Aug. Has any one from here been to the festival and/or plans to go this year.

[oscar jubis]

Toronto's is the best film fest I've ever attended, mostly due to variety, ability to purchase tickets from out-of-town, and ability to walk from venue to venue. Not going this year. Saving for a trip to Spain before year's end. Please post comments regarding other films being shown and personal experiences therein.

[Johann]

I've been busy planning a trip to Toronto or New York for some time now.

I've settled on New York, and I'll be "on the ground" and "on-line" for the whole experience- it should be the biggest contribution I make to this website. I'm well prepared for a great festival and I plan on seeing everything I can.

October 1 is approaching fast and I can't wait. New York is second only to Cannes in terms of prestige in my view. It's my first "real" festival. Calgary and Vancouver were great, but New York? Fuggeddaboutit.

No brainer decision on my part.

[arsaib4]

It's good that you've been planning for a while especially when it comes to NYFF, there are only 25 or so films there and those tickets go mighty fast. This is where Toronto has a distinct advantage as there are always enough films to see.

[arsaib4]

few more additions.....

David Russel's I HEART HUCKABEES

John Duigan's HEAD IN THE CLOUDS

Alexander Payne's SIDEWAYS

and North American premiere of

Niels Mueller's THE ASSASSINATION OF RICHARD NIXON

[Johann]

arsaib4, you've only been on this site for a short time, but I already have great respect.

Please do post your thoughts on Toronto.
You're our eyes and ears, man!
You will provide a great service to film buffs if you give us an idea of what's going down. Since pmw posted Nathan Lee's writings on Cannes I've been thinking about how important having knowledgable film people comment on festivals really is.
I'll do my part for sure in New York.

These films have been announced for the 42nd annual NYFF:

Opening film: Agnes Jaoui's Look at Me

Closing film: Alexander Payne's Sideways

Centrepiece: Pedro Almodovar's Bad Education

[arsaib4]

Thanks Johann, i truly appreciate your kind words. I may not have responded to some of your posts but i feel the same way about you, especially about your passionate views on the current political situation and Micheal Moore.

I'll definetely post my views and thoughts on the festival and the films i end up seeing. Looking forward to reading yours. One reason i don't always read festival reports too carefully is because some of our critics end up watching anywhere between 3-5 films per day for about 2 weeks or so and their initial reaction to a certain film usually end up being a response to all the films they saw that day and the most they get to write is a sentence or two about the film itself, not enough. Later on when they write a proper review, they may not totally change their postion but they get more of an opportunily to discuss the postives or the negatives, whatever the case might be.

[Johann]

Great stuff man. Looking very forward to your comments and it's so true about those festival critics. They seem to be chickens with their heads cut off and I will definitely try to avoid that (Although if I happen to see Martin Scorsese I might get hysterical).

Looking forward to your reports from T.O.

[arsaib4]

Some interesting films from the 'visions' section of the festival were announced today, the films in this sections are described as ones using "unconventional approaches to storytelling, or employing new technologies in distinctive ways," among them:

Michael Winterbottom's higly controversial, NINE SONGS

Catherine Breillat's latest, ANATOMY OF HELL

Claire Denis' L' INTRIUS

Apichatpong Weerasethakul's Prix de Jury winning TROPICAL MALADY

and

David Gordon Green's UNDERTOW.

[pmw]

Very much looking forward to the Weerasethakul movie. As several users of the site know, Blissfully Yours blew me away. I think this one is coming to NYFF as well...
P

[arsaib4]

'Blissfully Yours' is one of my favorites also (it topped the Village Voice poll for the best undistributed film of 2002). Joe's debut 'Mysterious Objects at Noon' is just as challenging and is available from plexifilm.

[Chris Knipp]

It'll be great to read all your comments on New York and Toronto. I can't be either place but it's something to think about for future times. I second Johann, arsaib4, your're making a great contribution to FilmWurld. Welcome.

[arsaib4]

Johann, you'll be glad to hear that this year NYFF isn't just recycling old Cannes and Berlin films, but they have gone after some films looked over by both (some i mentioned in the Venice lineup). I'll let you start your thread but i want to mention that the lineup includes films by Ingmar Bergman, David Gordon Green, Hou Hsiao Hsien, Jia Zhangke, Pablo Trapero, Mike Leigh, just to mention a few who weren't part of Cannes, but offcourse the best films from Cannes are also there, it's a strong lineup.

[Johann]

Well, that's great but unfortunately I won't be attending the festival.

My employer won't grant me a 3-week leave of absence so I can't go until next year. Too bad, really.

But on the upside, Brice and I are making a 22 min. short in Oct. which just might win an oscar.... :)

[arsaib4]

Sorry to hear that Johann, I was looking forward to reading about it but definetely work comes first. Also, like you said it'll give you some more time on you project, goodluck!

[pmw]

Speaking of NYFF, I'm posting a complete lineup in another thread.
P

[arsaib4]

sorry, i guess i didn't read this in time.

...also i think you missed my post so i am gonna delete mine.

[arsaib4]

Toronto International Film Festival co-director Noah Cowan and managing director Michele Maheux announced the complete lineup of 328 films that will screen during the festival. A total of 253 are features and 207 of those are having their World, International or N.American premieres at Toronto. Festival organizers indicated that they received more than 3,300 submissions this year from 61 countries.

here's the amazing lineup:

http://www.e.bell.ca/filmfest/2004/filmsschedules/filmlist.asp

[Chris Knipp]

How can you choose what to go to?

[arsaib4]

Like last year, i've gone with a coupon book which i had to purchase in advance. Then the programmers hold a rafle to see who gets what but i'm not bound to the films i get, it's easy to find people who want to see a certain film i don't and vice-versa or you just turn the ticket in to the box-office. This year advance single tickets are available online until the night before the screening and i plan to use this option the most.

[arsaib4]

I know you guys were happy to see me gone but I'm back after spending a few days in Toronto, 4 1/2 to be exact and I managed to see 11 films during that time. Had chances to see a few more but World Cup of Hockey (the second reason I went there) took some time away as I ended up going to the Semi-final match and then watched the Final last night at a local establishment there. I am sure some of our Canadian contributers relate to this much more, even though I was cheering for my European compatriots. I will post my thoughts on the films I saw and the ones I didn't see in the upcoming days whenever I get the time as I'm catching up with school work at this point.

[pmw]

Look forward to reading about it and welcome back!
P

[oscar jubis]

Originally posted by arsaib4
The film is produced by the likes of Alfonso Curazon (El DEseo films) and Guillrmo Del toro so the budget and the cast proper for an Equadorian film. In the final act, more genre elements rear their ugly head but overall this is very well made film.

Your comment that "genre elements rear their ugly head" is very telling. Ratas, Ratones, Rateros was nicely edited and featured credible performances, but it was just another shallow, run-of-the-mill crime flick. Cheap thrills at the expense of the underclass. I have to admit the casting is interesting: Colombian-American Leguizamo, Mexican vet Damian Alcazar, Spanish babe Leonor Watling and Brit of Spanish descent Alfred Molina.

[arsaib4]

I think Leguizamo is a very talented actor/comedian who is usually reduced to played a thug or a best friend like most other latino actors (what else is new) but it's nice to see him taking on some challenging and different type of roles recently, he was great in Summer of Sam and i've always enjoyed his one man stage shows.

It is refreshing to see a 'Sundance lab' approved script to be this savvy. Cordero avoids the pitfalls (for the most part) and actually delivers a critique of the sensationalistic media (and perhaps of other directors) who like you said, take advantage or polish their skills at the expense of the underclass.

[Chris Knipp]

Welcome back, arsaib4 and I look forward to hearing further reports. I've been staging a mini-film festival for myself here in Paris and am listing the things I've seen. Today I will see Gianni Amelio's Le chiave di casa with Charlotte Rampling. Do you know that one?

[arsaib4]

I believe Amelio's Le Chiavi di casa premiered at Venice last month, it was also at Toronto but couple of so-so reviews deterred me from pursuing it. However, it seems like the kind of film which will more popular with the general public than the critics. Let us know about it.

[arsaib4]

Every festival has atleast one film that creates some kind of a controversy mostly due to it's subject matter. Only at times the director or it's distributers try to create a buzz for their own films but that usually turns out to be hollow. The film which mosty had every one talking about this year was Lukas Moodysson's
A Hole In My Heart. It screened on the first day of the festival and by the time I was there (on the third day), it was talk of the town. A friend (the person I was staying with) who saw the film was one of the lucky ones because as soon as the word got out about the subject matter, hundreds of people started gathering outside the theatre for a look including some industry execs who had to wait just like everyone else. Later on the festival organizers had to schedule a special screening for the buyers and the press. The film deals with shooting of a porno in an apartment which spirals out of control while the shy son of the director is unable to do anything about it. The film according to the friend produced many walkouts as it involves explicit sex, constant male and female nudity, penetrated plastic vaginas, numerous shots of a young girl's labia being sliced off and ends with a man vomiting into her mouth. Still I'm told that Moodysson is a humanist and is not just out to provoke in the tradition of Gasper Noe. The film after a bidding war naturally was purchased by NewMarket (The Passion), to be fair they also released Moodysson's last Lilja-4-Ever, lets hope they put that out on video first because it's been almost two years since it's release.

One of the highlights of the festival for me was not just a film but to be able to meet someone I highly admire. Through an old colleague of my mom I was able to get into a party organized by chum/city tv and it was attended by the stars and the director of Clean. Assayas was also there as I was told but I didn't see him, however I got couple of minutes to say hi to Maggie Cheung which was awesome. The sad part was that I ended up praising her for the film I didn't get to see. Hopefully my performance was good enough for her. I'm not into celebrity watching for various reason (I am told it's partly due to my ego) but that's not true. It's the fact that If given a chance I'd prefer to meet a director or someone else associated with the film who actually cares and is much more knowledgable but it was a treat to see the classy Cheung.

[Chris Knipp]

About Amelio's new film: there's plenty of positive press as well as press that says it's manipulative and that putting a handicapped kid in a starring role was a gimmick to gain the jury's affection. These discussions are interesting, and I want to peruse them in the Italian press as shown online, but I haven't quite got the time to do that in detail now since I'm at a pay-by-the-minute internet cafe and I leave Paris tomorrow. All I can say is that Le chiave di casa is going to stay in my mind. The boy, Andrea, Paolo in the film, as Amelio himself said in an interview (http://film.spettacolo.virgilio.it/cinema/speciale.php?id=100&pagina=319), had the capacity to be incredibly open with people, and yet to maintain an ironic distance at the same time. He's a complex, fascinating personality, and Amelio built a fascinating and mysterious portrait improvisationally out of that personality. I found it not so much a tear-jerker as extremely intriguing and fresh, an experience, as another Italian article also said, of life moment-to-moment, not for the past or the future, but in the now.

About Maggie Cheung: I know a young Chinese-American guy in San Francisco who used to talk about how he was madly in love with her, and I can't watch her without being aware of her heartbreaker capacity. The emotional Clean makes a wonderful antidote to the cold Demonlover.

[pmw]

Wow, the Moodysson film sounds provcative. My guess is that NewMarket won't release it if it's half as racey as you describe.

>chum/city tv

Long live the new flesh. Apparentally, City TV which I've only seen a tiny bit of was the inspiration for Civic TV in Cronenberg's Videodrome. City TV sounds like it was quite revolutionary, although what I saw a few months ago seemed to be an MTV equivalent with some bawdier shows in the wee hours. The description of the orginal station sounds really really great.

Maggie Chung / Assayas - what could be better. Sounds like a great experience. Two of the more admirable celebrities.
Thanks for passing on some of the Toronto flavor.

P

[arsaib4]

Clean is one of the films i'm looking forward to the most and it's shocking that it's still hasn't found a distributer. One more thing that has left me scratching my head is it's absence in the NYFF lineup. Assayas i consider one of the best young directors in the world and 'Demonlover' one of the best films of this decade.

[Chris Knipp]

Don't agree on Demonlover (see my review) but certainly Clean is a worthwhile film.

[pmw]

I totally agree with you on Demonlover. I thought it was a misunderstood masterpiece (thus, not too suprising that it doesn't have a distributor). I think the reason that it's not at NY Film Fest is that its been in three festivals leading up to the fest. Not that they don't recycle certain titles but... It could also end up in Film Comment Selects (where Demonlover was shown) early in 2005. In any case, look forward to seeing it as Assayas is a favorite.

P

[arsaib4]

Indeed, Demonlover was neglected and as you said misunderstood upon it's release at Cannes couple of years ago. It's value has grown since then and it was generally well recieved by U.S critics last year. No doubt that few years from now it'll become even more relevant.

Yeah, I think you're right about Clean, it has already played in a few festivals. It'll definetely play in Film Comment Select unless it gets picked up and then hopefully it'll be part of French Rendezvous next year. Assayas' films are blind buys for me so if the french dvd is out before then, i'm going for it.

[Chris Knipp]

Le chiave di casa is the no. 3 box office hit in Rome this week, after Farenheit 9-11. Yesterday I saw a new Iranian film, Little Thieves, dubben in Italian.

[arsaib4]

The only Iranian film I see in the Top 20 is Marzieh Meshkini's Stray Dogs, may be you're talking about a different one but I couldn't find it. Another film which opened well recently in Italy is L'Amore Ritrovato with Stefano Accorsi and Maya Sansa.

[pmw]

Have we talked about this yet? Demonlover and Videodrome - fast becoming one of my favorite topics. Assayas clearly tipping his hat to Cronenberg. Demonlover is great on so many levels.

By the way (this probably belongs in another thread) just saw Agnes Jaoui's Look At Me. A crowd pleaser to say the least, but still a tougher, better film than Taste of Others. Not sure why that popped up...oh, its the opening night film of this year's NY Film Fest. It will be well liked I think...not as many stars as the culture class would like but...

Great reviews from Toronto. Enjoying them quite a bit.
P

[arsaib4]

Thanks for the kind words, P. As detail conscious as I am, I wasn't sure if I was going to write about the films in such manner but even though it's taking some time to discuss all of them, I am trying by best.

Videodrome is one film I really want to see as I've heard a lot about it. It's hard to keep up with what's going on now and still be able to watch the great films from the past (in my case) and but i've seen pretty much all that's required. Where do you see the 'inspiration' for the lack of a better word, in Demonlover? I knew Videodrome was coming out from 'Criterion' but wasn't sure it was so soon and thanks for your reminder.

[Chris Knipp]

The only Iranian film I see in the Top 20 is Marzieh Meshkini's Stray Dogs, may be you're talking about a different one but I couldn't find it. Another film which opened well recently in Italy is L'Amore Ritrovato with Stefano Accorsi and Maya Sansa.

Stray Dogs indeed is what I saw, but they titled the dubbed Italian version Piccoli Ladri, little thieves. i quite liked it, and I'm not a great fan of Iranian films, to put it mildly. Having the children speaking Italian may have sweetened the pill. And it was relevant to Italy, since it overtly refers in a semi-ironic way to De Sica's classic, Ladri di biciclette, bicycle thieves--hence perhaps the Italian title. It's a coincidence that the Italian film you saw listed is L'amore ritrovato, love refound, or perhaps one should translate it like the Proust title that it echoes, Love Recaptured. But unfortunately despite being a pretty film with a nice period feeling, I found it really very lacking in merit. I'm sorry, circumstances haven't been as favorable lately to my writing entries here and I can't go into much more detail. At this place they seem to take the term "internet cafe" too literally. This is cafe, with all the ambient sound and coming and going and secondhand smoke that that implies. Nice for people-watching, pehraps, but not for thinking. Maybe later when I'm with friends who have an Internet connection at home in another city, I can expand what Italian film notes I have to offer -- and I'll write reviews later of all that i've seen as reported earlier from Paris. Rome isn't quite such a breeze to get around in and the films aren't either as numerous or as accessible, but it's far from hopeless and I'm going to see another one today, Io lo vedo negli occhi I think It's called, I see it in your eyes. It was produced by Nanni Moretti and is at his theater, the Nuovo Sacher, in Trastevere.

My guess would be that the most interesting current Italian film as well as the most talked about is Le chiave di casa. I'm curious to see it again.

[arsaib4]

I am quite surprised to hear that from you regarding Iranian Cinema, maybe you were referring to a certain type of films with your 'Children speaking italian' remark. But I'll let you get back to comment on that further. Btw, Moretti is a big supporter of Iranian films, especially from Kiarostami.

It's safe to say that you liked Le Chiave di Casa very much. Hopefully we'll get to see it here soon.

[Chris Knipp]

Apologies if some of the following is repetitous: travelling from place without much time to work on entries here, i tend to get a bit confused about what i've said or not said.

I don't know if you understood what i meant by 'children speaking Italian.' Stray Dogs (assuming that's what it is) was dubbed in italian where I saw it at the Cinema Metropolitan on the Via del Corso in Rome. It is hard to find any movies shown in the original language in Italy; they're mostly dubbed into Italian. Italians say that's too bad, but always add that they have 'the best dubbers in the world.' i don't know why they say that, or what difference it would make. Surely there are excellent dubbers in France, since so many American TV dramas are dubbed in French too. As it happens i have not seen many Iranian films and tend to find those i have seen too unremittingly grim and deterministic. There was a certain irony, and beauty, in seeing Stray Dogs, with its overt references to De Sica's Ladri di bicicletta, post-dubbed in Italian, as the neorealist classics were.

Yes, Gianni Amelio's Keys to the House (Le chiavi di casa), which has had a very positive reception in Italy, made a strong impression on me when I saw it in Paris -- in the original Italian, of course, with French subtitles, helpful to me since the handicapped boy's Italian wasn't the clearest, and this was I think the most human of the 11 movies I saw in Paris recently. i certainly would like to see more of Amelio's work, including the much-praised Stolen Children, which Oscar has spoken highly of.

[oscar jubis]

Il Ladro di Bambini remains unavailable here, but two others have been released on dvd in 2004: The Way We Laughed, which I like less than Ladro, and Lamerica, my favorite Italian film of the past two decades (with the possible exception of Michelangelo Antonioni's Beyond The Clouds). I hope your rental source has it. Lamerica was released by New Yorker Video in anamorphic widescreen and contains deleted scenes and an alternate ending. I find the list price of $34.95 too high. This film is an absolute MUST-see. If you watch it, please share your opinion.

[arsaib4]

Actually you said "children speaking Italian may have sweetened the pill" which I took as a reference to Majid Majidi's films and the possiblity that you perhaps find him annoying with his child-like fantasy approach to filmmaking but since you generally find Iranian films (atleast the ones you've seen) grim, you might actually prefer his films.

I might have agreed with you couple of years ago but some new and emerging Iranain filmmakers have brought new ideas and their handling of familiar subject matters also deserves praise. Someone who has slipped under the radar of most critics is Babak Payami. His style is more gentle and his films more symbolic in a sense that they don't necessarily present religious and social undertones. His first film One More Day involves a shop owner selling illegal prescription drugs and a woman who may or may not have had a relationship with him in the past. It's a quite, meditative film much like his second Secret Ballot which to me is one of best Iranian films from recent years. It's a story of a soldier guarding a post seaside near the border who hesitantly drives around a voting booth clerk collecting votes from far-out places. The bickering between the two has a sexual element to it not seen in previous Iranian films not to mention the beautifully shot landscape, neither harsh nor haunting like the way Kiarostami presented to us in Taste of Cherry. The slow yet eloquent pacing and some clever use of symbolism (politicial) has more in common with a European film than an Iranain one. I'm not all wrong, as Payami was trained in Canada.

Even Kiarostami who was maligned in some circles with Ten and the film and the filmmaker was deemed to be more concerned about his new toy, a DV camera than the subject at hand and what most failed to realize was this was his way of presenting and discussing the often talked about social problems involving women. It shouldn't be a prerequisite for an Iranian director to make a film about social issues but most of them have. Kiarostami brilliantly uses the camera to isolate the young boy in the beginning, not even catching the glimpse of the mother driving the car. Later on his camera barely catches the prostitute entering another car (a first for an Iranian film). What some people might have a question about is that the film isn't didactic unlike some others made on a now very familiar issue but the conclusion of his episodic narrative is all the same, she is not in control. This doesn't mean a woman has to be a ranting and raving creature whenever she is shown in an Iranian film, actually she is clever enough to behave differently at various part of her journey in Ten. After watching his documentary on Ten, called 10 on 10, it's clear what his intentions were and this was a well thought out project, although some might still find his affection for his DV, somewhat annoying.

Even Jafar Panahi's Crimson Gold which I talked about elsewhere on this site has film-noir and other 'thriller' elements to it, which is a something new but Panahi deftly handles the situation at hand while still commenting on the class structure that exists in contemporary Tehran.

I didn't mean to make this a discussion of Iranian Cinema but I just wanted to point out a few things. Hopefully this helps. Btw, the director of Stray Dogs, Marzieh Meshkini is the wife of Iranian master Mohsen Makhmalbaf. Her first feature was The Day I Became a Woman.

[Chris Knipp]

No, I was not making a reference to Majid Majidi's films, of which I know little or nothing. Yes, I did know that Meshkini was the wife of Makhmalbaf; I think he produced. As I've said, I'm woefully lacking in knowledge of Iranian films and did mean to see the Panahi one and catch up on Kiarostami, but the Iranian films I've seen have been unremittingly grim and have put me off bec ause they have seem unbalanced that way and overly deterministic. Meshkini's is not exactly a lot of laughs, but it has a kind of charm and it really does remind one of De Sica and the Italian neorealist tradition, apart from the overt reference to Ladri di biciclette. I didn't know about Babak Payami. Thank you for your help.

[Chris Knipp]

To pick up something you said earlier in this thread, I did see L'amore ritrovato in Rome with an American friend who lives there. We tended to find it somewhat lackluster, its pace and setting dreary, the characterizations unconvincing. But its star, Stefano Accorsi, is really emerging as the big new Italian film actor. He's in a lot of things, and good in them, especially in Ozpotek's Le fate ignoranti in a gay role and The Last Kiss, and now I discover he was one of the two leads in Santo Maradona, Marco Ponti's first film which was a big hit in Italy. Last night I saw Ponti's new one, A/R Andata + Ritorno (Round Trip) which is hilarious and brilliant. Sure, it owes a lot to various English language slacker and heist movies, but it's completely Italian. You'd love it. At least I hope so. The only reason everybody didn't love it in Italy is that they so adored Ponti's first film, the aforementioned Santo Maradona, they wanted more of the same, and it wasn't. Santa Maradona was in the first New Italian Cinema series and A/R is in the second.

Why haven't we seen either? One reason is probably Miramax. Another is that Ponti is too modest a man. The other may be that the Italian cinema scene is dominated by dubbed American movies. But Italian moviemaking is coming back to life and so is Turin as a place to make them.

[arsaib4]

I've combined some of our exchanges on Italian Cinema in one thread. They were spread out all over the site. Now we can easily refer to what we wrote earlier, so hopefully can continue there.

[Chris Knipp]

Thanks! I'll go there.