Eternal Sunshine Of The Logical Mind

Blind Spot #1 - "City Lights" & "Safety Last"

2012-01-31T09:55:00.000-05:00

My first thought when I was tasked to join the Blind Spot challenge (to watch and write about classic films you hadn't yet seen on a monthly basis) was "Can I really say anything worthwhile or of interest at this point about these classic films?". My second thought was "I highly doubt it...". Granted, this is a blog and it really comes down to how I express my personal opinion about film. Since I'm coming at these classics for the first time decades after they were made, totally out of their context and with my own personal baggage, I should at least be able to get across my own perspective - but I'm not sure I can add a lot to the conversation.

To quell my concerns a bit, I decided to approach things a bit differently and expand my task to watch two Blind Spot films per post and to try to make them at least somewhat related. Perhaps those comparisons might allow for some additional discussion, since I really did want to join the list of bloggers participating. Like most film buffs, I have a rather daunting list of "must see" movies ahead of me including numerous "obvious" titles. Since my typical method for choosing the next title that goes into the DVD player or streams through NetFlix is somewhat random, I don't have a methodical way of trimming that "must see" list down. I'll typically lean towards a genre pick or maybe some Noir or perhaps a lesser known impulse choice. So now I've got something to - at least occasionally - focus my attention on the films that have been left by the wayside...

My first choice was a somewhat obvious one and probably one of the biggest gaps I had remaining. Though I've seen a bunch of Chaplin's work - The Gold Rush, Modern Times, The Circus, The Kid, Monsieur Verdoux, The Great Dictator - I've let City Lights slip by me all these years. Yes, I had not seen the film that has long been regarded by many to be one of the all-time greatest motion pictures and was famously submitted by Robert Bresson as both his first and second choices to Sight & Sound's poll of the greatest films (with The Gold Rush his third and the rest of his list blank). It was simply another one of those cases where I felt I had seen the movie already due to its place in the cultural fabric and the number of times I've seen different clips and sections of the film - particularly the end of it. Fortunately, now that I've seen it, I no longer have to fake my way through conversations with other film bloggers...

OK, that's not true. I've never actually lied about seeing it. The thing is, I probably could have since the story of the blind girl and the bum she thinks is a millionaire was already very familiar to me. Though Chaplin's story has what you might say is "a lot of heart", it's also an example of where he takes a bit of a backseat to Buster Keaton for me. I'm in the camp that prefers Keaton's stone face which never pleads for sympathy as opposed to Chaplin's rather shameless appeal to the audience. That's not necessarily a criticism of Chaplin, but simply a preference on my part. He prefers to go for pathos and the big scene (his separation from the boy in The Kid for example) whereas I'll take the subtler approach. It also felt like Chaplin couldn't wait to get to his big ending and rushed through the climactic build-up, therefore cutting the tension leading to the resolution. But really, I'm niggling at details here - the film is truly wonderful. Chaplin's little tramp has never (at least from what I've seen) been sweeter and the film is packed with gags and funny bits - far more than I expected. And it's not just the set piece gags (like the street elevator that the tramp repeatedly barely misses falling into), but it's all the little bits of business thrown in between them that make Chaplin a genius. A hand gesture here, a cane twirl there, a drunken shuffle across a dance floor...And then while you're still smiling and laughing at all that small stuff, he hits you with ceiling hung confetti getting mixed in with spaghetti. So yeah, genius is pretty apropos.

Harold Lloyd's Safety Last stands as a bit of a contrast - not because it isn't brilliant (it is), but because I came into it knowing nothing at all about its story. The stunts, however, were the known quantity this time - in particular, the iconic image of him dangling from a clock face over a busy downtown city street. Lloyd seems to have found an interesting middle ground between Keaton and Chaplin since he mugs far more to the camera than the former, but doesn't quite play the emotions across the board like the latter. He uses a strong story line to build towards (with smaller comedic moments along the way) the big set piece at the end. And what a marvelous piece it is too...If the plot of a young man hiding his real job as a department store clerk from his girlfriend (in order to make her think he has a managerial position at the store) doesn't sound overly original even for 1923, the film keeps it moving forward without lagging or overdoing any particular gag. And then Lloyd gets to his own climactic scene which, in further contrast to Chaplin, he stretches for a full 15-20 minutes as he climbs the outside of the store's building as a publicity stunt and uses that single concept as a creative wellspring for all manner of athletic comedy. His smaller moments of subtle humor feel a notch below his contemporaries, but when it comes to a major crafted piece of funny business, Harold Lloyd ranks right up there with them. The following year's Girl Shy has its own long climax that is also a wonder to behold as Lloyd races the clock to prevent a marriage and touches just about every possible mode of transportation.

As with City Lights and Chaplin, I already had a few of Lloyd's other films under my belt before tackling his most famous. It turns out there's a reason why both these films are as exhalted as they are in their respective director's careers - for me, each one comes across as the most fully formed and complete pieces of art they ever made. In the end, if I lean a bit more towards Modern Times as my favourite Chaplin, it doesn't mean that I don't see Bresson's point of view.

Warping the Conventions

2012-01-29T00:01:00.000-05:00

If you haven't explored "The Warped World of Koreyoshi Kurahara" (the 5-disc set released by Eclipse last year), it really is time you do yourself a favour and take a closer look. The 1960s were a fertile period of movie-making in Japan and Kurahara was right at the front lines with the likes of Seijun Suzuki, Masahiro Shinoda, Shohei Imamura, Nagisa Oshima and Hiroshi Teshigahara who were all considered part of the Japanese New Wave. Essentially, there were a number of filmmakers who were simply tired of the same-old, same-old style of filmmaking and decided to blast open the doors of conventionality.

I've enjoyed diving headlong into Kurahara's work and over the past few months I've posted reviews on J-Film Pow-Wow of each of the 5 films in the box set that spans his career between 1960-67 (he had about double that output in that period). What follows are edited versions of all five:

Intimidation

I can't help but feel that the cracking opening of "Intimidation" is Kurahara's attempt to throw down in front of his peer directors - "So you think you can make a noirish crime thriller? Well look at this!" The blast of a train whistle kick starts the fast paced affair as the camera rides the back of a locomotive through a wintry country side and mountain tunnels while the blaring soundtrack accompanies the ride. As the train pulls into the station (and delivers a character that will begin the film's chain of events), you know you're in for your own ride. It's a short one (the film is a mere 65 minutes long), but there won't be many stopovers or delays before getting to the final destination. In fact, the train is also where our main characters meet their fates at the end of the movie and, in the greatest tradition of noir, they are appropriate to their actions.

One of those main characters is named Takita who is an assistant manager at a district bank and has just received a promotion to head office. The promotion may be a bit questionable since he's married to the president's daughter, but that doesn't stop him from puffing out his chest and smirking just a little bit more than he normally would. On the flip side is his old friend Nakaike - a man who would rather hide in the back room during Takita's farewell party and help heat the sake. He's slightly nebbish, unsure of himself and comes across as someone who is perhaps a bit too scared to "make a move" and get what he wants out of life. Takita stole his woman (and therefore his chances of upward mobility) and his sister won't forgive him since she was actually with Takita at the time and now has to make do with simply being his mistress. Takita makes it seem as if he is doing Nakaike a favour by still addressing him in friendly terms and offers to drink with him like they were old friends. Nakaike can't help but remain in deference to his superior and when he's reminded by another superior that they are supposed to be drinking as friends, Takita gives a wonderful backhanded compliment to Nakaike: "I hate to call him slow, but I actually I like that about him."

Takita's confidence gets knocked down a few notches when he meets up with the passenger brought in earlier by the train. The shifty individual claims he has proof of some very illegal loans Takita has made and he will expose him unless he gets paid 3 million yen. Takita believes his only recourse is to rob his bank before he leaves for the head office and it's at this stage that the film jumps into its higher gear - it becomes a heist film with numerous small and big twists. Particularly when Takita needs to work around Nakaike who just happens to have inherited the role of night guard on the evening the theft is planned. The story shifts around as the role of intimidator moves between the characters: blackmailer over Takita; Takita over Nakaike's sister; sister over Nakaike ("you're a spineless fool"), etc. Kurahara seems to have complete control over the pace of the plot and the switching of roles. Though he doesn't overdo the genre conventions or pile on an overabundance of style, he does bring a great deal of energy to the proceedings by using quick cuts and close framings. If it sounds like the film might be pared down to the bone at 65 minutes, it isn't. But it certainly is efficient as hell.

Though the characters of "Intimidation" don't have much personality - Kurahara is using archetypes and playing them broad - the film still flies by with such speed and is, simply put, a great deal of fun. Whether Kurahara's cutting extra close on Takita's eyes or using the camera to make yet another encircling move, there's always something of note happening. His rebellious youth film "The Warped Ones" (also released in 1960) goes several steps beyond in regards to playing with style, but "Intimidation" uses it to craft its story with all the right beats. In all likelihood, Kurahara had no intention of intimidating other filmmakers via this film - given how he treats his intimidators in the film, one would expect he would know better - but it doesn't mean that we can't still be impressed by a young artist's use of his medium.

The Warped Ones

The obvious comparison point for Koreyoshi Kurahara's frantic 1960 film "The Warped Ones" is Jean-Luc Godard's own little burst of energy "Breathless". The central characters of both films are rebelling against society at large and have no concern for law and order while the filmmakers throw you into their worlds via a slash and burn style of editing. Though Godard may have influenced a greater swath of future filmmakers, in my opinion Kurahara made a far more satisfying and consistently interesting piece of work. The energy of "The Warped Ones" never flags, it never wavers from its callous "heroes" straight line sprint away from societal conventions and it never feels overly stylized. It feels like a genuine account of the disaffected which uses the visual medium to reinforce how their world must have felt.

Chuck Stephens in his liner notes on the Eclipse edition of the film states that it is "filmed....just as its central character....feels". It doesn't take long to figure out that Akira - the leader of the gang of three disillusioned youngsters - is angry. Angry at anyone who talks over his beloved jazz music, angry at society's rules and simply angry at the world in general. When we meet his partner Fumiko at the start of the film, she's his co-conspirator in cons they run. While she flirts and comes on to wealthy businessmen, Akira seizes the opportunity to relieve them of their wallets. He gets caught in one such instance and, because he is still under 18, gets sent to juvenile detention. Fumiko turns to prostitution in order to bring in money and by the time Akira serves his time, she has what seems to be a stable of regular customers and approaches her job with an odd sense of detachment and amusement. Everything is a joke to her. The third member of this callous lot is Masaru, a typical short-sighted, act-on-impulse, wanna-be gang member that Akira meets during his incarceration. He immediately falls for Fumiko who initially spurns his advances but soon caves in since he actually pays her some attention. A quick stop for a car theft and the trio is off and running.

After heading out to the beach, their first task becomes clear - spotting Kashiwagi (a conservative follow-the-rules reporter who set up Akira's capture), they run him down and kidnap his girlfriend. The entirety of this opening sequence - from the introduction of the characters through their reformatory days to their sun-drenched, sweat-soaked day in the sun - lasts about twenty minutes and there's barely a moment to pause except for the freeze frames during the titles (and even those have blurred stills due to the fighting and roughhousing in the jail cells). It's a perfect representation of how these three live their lives as they careen from one moment to the next with barely a thought for the consequences (no matter how serious) to anyone around them or to themselves. Fumiko and Masaru talk about building a future together, but their plan consists of Masaru joining the local Yakuza. She sees the immediate possibility of monetary gain and he sees the chance to be in a tough gang, but there's no consideration paid to the inherent danger.

The blown-out white of the bright sun beating down on Akira is stifling for him. It may indicate possible escape (as do the trains running past the small room shared by the three of them and the occasional loud airplane), but he doesn't seem to care to make an effort. His only respite (aside from jazz music in the car or at his favorite club) is breaking societal rules (from minor infractions like stealing people's daily milk bottles all the way to rape) and provoking the members of that society - particularly those who benefit from it. There's a great, unbroken 2-minute scene of Akira loping through an art gallery and showing contempt for the people and the art at every chance. It ends with him trying to cool himself off by tearing into an ice cream cone after having just forced his beloved jazz onto the jukebox. It's a perfect summation of the film as it focuses on one of the alienated youth (born likely around the start of WW II) showing mocking contempt towards his elders and what they hold dear until his frustrations boil over and he seeks refuge. That constant strain is bound to warp someone.

I Hate But Love

Who knew Koreyoshi Kurahara could make a rom-com? Well, OK, not your typical Hollywood romantic comedy, but a quick look at its plot and structure could easily lead you to believe the resulting film was being targeted at a multiplex crowd. That is, if you also assumed that mainstream fare had a crashing jazz score, in your face handheld cameras and a dynamic editing style that you could never really anticipate. And that it was acceptable to mostly abandon its initial rom-com feel half way through so it could turn into a road movie, bring in melodrama and tackle the subject of media manipulation while examining the idea of true love. Not your average date movie to be sure.

Kurahara's only colour feature included in the box set is a great deal of fun for that first half as we get to know famous DJ and television host Daisaku and his manager Noriko (played by two of Japan's biggest stars at the time - Yujiro Ishihara and the gorgeous Ruriko Asaoko). She's scheduled just about every move of his life for the last two years and, even though they are attracted to each other, has laid down the rule that they will not have intimate physical contact in order to focus all their energies on his career. For Daisaku, this is beginning to be a distraction all of its own as he is getting burned out by the jam-packed itinerary of daily meetings and events while also wrestling with how women fit into his life. He's not in a very happy place and hates the thought of yet another late night of making club appearances when he'd rather just sleep. Noriko keeps him on schedule, though, as she is efficient, very confident and approaches challenges in a positive way. She even keeps track of their "relationship" via a whiteboard - incrementing each day how long it has lasted in different coloured markers. At the 730th day, she outlines the number in a heart to mark the two year anniversary and it's characteristics like this that make her pretty lovable during this first section. Daisaku's sad sack demeanour wears thin, but she delights in things like waking him in the morning and tricking him into a cold shower. Doris Day and Rock Hudson would slot quite nicely into this framework.

That style and pace stays clicking along and rarely lags on either the story or visual fronts. If it isn't laugh out loud funny, it's enjoyably silly and with Kurahara's shot selections and strong use of colour (focusing on the pop of different hues from objects like car seats, blouses and markers), it easily keeps you engaged. At the halfway mark, Daisaku ignores all advice and decides to help a young woman by driving a jeep to the remote area of Kyushu (900 miles away) so that the doctors can make use of it to help the injured and sick. The main doctor in Kyushu and the woman have fallen in love via their correspondence and Daisaku is fascinated by this version of "true love". The road movie idea can fit nicely into the broader realm of the light romantic comedy, but this is where Kurahara veers off route. As Daisaku's determination to finish the task of delivering the jeep on his own becomes stronger, so does Noriko's need to gain control of him and his career. As she chases after him in his Jaguar, it becomes less of a fun-filled excuse to bring the lovers together as it does a heightened melodrama used to explore aspects of how the media exploits the masses and how the concept of "love" is misunderstood.

It handles both of these in reasonably interesting ways, but it becomes difficult to stay as engaged with the characters during most of this journey. Noriko's frantic need to gain the upper hand on Daisaku and make sure that his career (and her well-being) does not suffer begins to wear down the good will she built up with the viewer initially. When she can't physically stop him, she starts to turn his trip into a media circus as if he had planned it that way. When that too fails to dissuade him, she starts to break down emotionally. Daisaku doesn't gain many points either - his single-minded focus on the trip is incredibly selfish as he ignores the impact it has on the many people who depend on him and isn't even doing it for those who will benefit. All he wants to get out of this is a deeper understanding of "humanism". Some of that is achieved by the end (with both couples coming to interesting conclusions about their relationships), but doesn't add much as it goes along. Were it not for the barbed attacks on Daisaku's media image, the effect the reporters and fans have in slowing down his progress (every day the jeep is not available in Kyushu means more people may die) and some very lovely scenery as they wind through a big chunk of Japan, the long journey would become somewhat tiresome. By its end, Kurahara has smashed some oddly disparate genres into an overall entertaining and even illuminating work. Though he loses some of the charm of the characters along the way, it's an interesting and well-crafted enterprise.

Black Sun

"Black Sun" is an odd beast...While it has all of Kurahara's typical chaotic energy and style and it reaches for a grander message about the disenfranchised, it struggles to keep its characters interesting and stretches some scenes to their breaking point. It focuses on two outcasts from society - a homeless thief and a black American G.I. - who are at odds with each other for the majority of the film due to language barriers and various misunderstandings. Akira tries to shelter Gil in his ramshackle abode (a half bombed out church where he squats) while Gil nurses a bullet wound to his leg. As their predicament worsens, their relationship grows not only more volatile, but closer as well. You could easily be forgiven for sensing a bit of a "The Defiant Ones" feel in spots as they begin to understand each other and realize they need to stop their in-fighting, but will you care anywhere near as much about these two characters as the ones from that classic 1958 film? It's doubtful.

When we meet Akira at the beginning of the film, he appears in a desolate junkyard of a field that could easily be a freshly bombed out city bulldozed to the ground. He steals some of the few possessions that belong to the bums who scavenge there and sells them off to get money to buy a jazz album. He's a huge fan of the music (his dog is even named after Thelonious Monk) and considers any black man to be his friend. On the way out of the store, he almost gets run over by a rich man and woman who barely even notice his presence. The woman crushes his album and when the man half absent-mindedly waves some money to pay for it, Akira becomes enraged. He demands that they apologize to the respected black man on the album cover (drummer Max Roach - performer of the film's music) and will not stand to be ignored by them. He has a highly emotional disposition that can be quick to anger, but is also typically bright and happy-go-lucky - especially as he listens to his beloved jazz music in a freshly stolen car. After driving by the scene of a murder, he realizes when he gets home that the suspect has hitched a ride in the back of his jalopy. Though the wounded G.I. brandishes his machine gun at Akira, all he can think about is that a black man stands before him and therefore he must be a great man too.

Gil has been accused of killing a fellow G.I., but the only additional piece of information we ever get about it is that the victim was white. No details as to whether there was prior intent or whether it was justified - just that Gil is desperate, in pain from the bullet in his leg and feels everyone is against him. Unfortunately - and this is a big problem - Gil is portrayed with zero subtlety and is all bluster, anguish and breathless statements. Since he speaks English, none of what he says is translated via subtitles and so it's very difficult to understand him the entire film. As it turns out, most of what he says can be deciphered from context or it simply isn't relevant, but it's frankly still a very annoying aspect of the film and combined with Akira's constant highly melodramatic mood swings ("I love you!", "I hope the G.I.'s find you and kill you!"), it's a bit straining to spend any time with these characters at all. And there lies the problem - the film stays almost entirely with the two of them. There are excursions into the real world - Akira's favourite jazz bar, a few driving expeditions and a final, wonderfully filmed chase sequence - but there's a lot of time spent between just the two of them.

Granted there are valid points to be made here - both men have felt isolated from their environments and typically are judged quickly by others due to their outward appearances (even Akira assumes Gil can play and sing jazz music simply because he is black). Kurahara uses some flashbacks in Gil's head to bring these points to the fore while allowing the visuals to do the rest (the film is beautifully lensed). He brings such a dynamic feel to their world using handheld cameras, attaching them to moving vehicles and using a few timely freeze frames that there really does seem to be a high level of chaos in their lives. Particularly when the score crashes in with Roach's thundering drums and vocal/horn sounds that feel as cathartic for the musicians as they are for the listeners. A blues tune called "Six-bit Blues" plays several times and contains lyrics that Gil can certainly understand as he contemplates any form of escape: "Gimme six bits worth o'tickets, on a train that runs somewhere". Kurahara also uses the same names (and same actors) for his characters as the ones in "The Warped Ones". Since Akira and Gil knew each other in the previous film, this obviously isn't a direct sequel, but it sure has that feeling sometimes due to the style and where Akira's life is currently headed (a direct line from the previous film). Even his prostitute friend Yuki feels like a perfect map to her character in "The Warped Ones" (again, played by the same actress). The jazz bar is the same set as their hangout from 4 years previous too, but it also is not the "same". Many of these touches add a great deal to the "world askew" feeling of the film, but even Kurahara's stylistic choices can't quite pull enough of an entertaining yarn out of this message movie. He certainly grabs your attention at times though.

Thirst For Love

You're not even a minute into "Thirst For Love" when your senses have been jarred. As a woman pauses while shaving an elderly man, we suddenly catch flashes of a chicken thrashing in (one can only guess) its last dying gasps while its sharp piercing squawks fill the soundtrack. Those images and sounds quickly convey some important information: the woman with the blade in her hands is not in a good headspace and she likely has some issues with that old man. It also signifies that director Koreyoshi Kurahara is going to tell his story with more than just conventional narrative techniques. As it turns out, it must have been deemed very unconventional since Nikkatsu delayed the film's release because they felt it was too "arty". In the same year that Seijun Suzuki got fired from Nikkatsu for delivering "Branded To Kill", Kurahara decided to quit the studio over their decision.

Call it arty if you want, but I call it effective. Rapid cuts, long takes, a restless camera, freeze frames, still photos and daydreams all combine with the layered sound field (and occasionally no sound at all) to tell us the story of Etsuko - the woman in question above. She is the daughter-in-law of wealthy Sugimoto (the old man) and lives in his rather crowded household. He counts ten people in the house: himself, Etsuko, his son Kensuke and his wife, his divorced daughter Asako and her two children as well as the two servants. If you're paying attention you'll notice the sum only comes to nine. Etsuko's husband (Sugimoto's youngest son) has passed away, but it appears that his father still counts him in the family and retains a seat for him at the family dinner table. This despite the fact that Etsuko has become his mistress. Apart from the servant Saburo, the old man has little use for the rest of the household and considers them all to be lazy and leeching off his good will.

While the rest of the family don't seem to want to let go of Sugimoto (Kensuke admits freely that he and his wife love their carefree loafing existence), Etsuko appears to feel somewhat trapped. Her marriage was initially wonderful, but then she learned the truth about the man she married: the first flashback shows still photos of a fun-loving, mischievous and very happy couple, but the second flashback (telling its story through the same technique of multiple still photos) shows a cheating, self-satisfied scoundrel who couldn't care less about her feelings. The remaining male members of the family - her father-in-law (though she has become his mistress, she still insists on calling him "father") and Kensuke - are both quite smitten with her, but offer nothing more than their desire. None of the men in this family seem to have the ability to truly love her. This leaves Etsuko's attentions on the young and strong Saburo.

The film is filled with close-ups of Etsuko - staring at Saburo's sweaty neck or his glistening back or just lost in a daydream of the two of them skipping along the road to Osaka in a heavenly white glow - and she appears to be a tightly coiled spring ready to unravel. She's constantly noticing physical ways of leaving - that road to Osaka, a helicopter, the train, etc. - but they simply aren't available to her. So she focuses on Saburo and her own desires increase to the breaking point. Her torment isn't reserved just for herself, though, and as the dynamics change within the family, she ensures she doesn't remain alone in that state. Ruriko Asaoko (star of "I Hate But Love") uses her big eyes to wonderful effect throughout the film - though her physical actions don't always show what she is thinking, her eyes give away every lustful thought and every internal struggle. Based on Yukio Mishima's novel, the film keeps the viewer unsettled with its sudden bursts of sound and has a willingness to do whatever it takes to pull you into how Etsuko feels. Meanwhile it doesn't skimp on pulling in side issues like class distinctions and the impotence of the rich while also providing some gorgeous imagery and precise framing of its characters. The Eclipse boxed set "The Warped World of Koreyoshi Kurahara" has been quite the revelation and you couldn't have picked a better way to close it off.

One Of Those Scenes - "Tuesday, After Christmas"

2012-01-19T00:24:00.000-05:00

Radu Muntean’s 2011 film Tuesday, After Christmas shares many similar stylistic attributes with its recent Romanian brethren – it proceeds at a leisurely pace (depending on your point of view, this could be termed “unhurried” or “glacial” – I prefer the former), contains very naturalistic performances, uses very little extraneous music and incorporates very long takes. Other then the tension-filled dinner scene in 4 Months, 3 Weeks & 2 Days, rarely have I seen all these qualities used as exquisitely as in this film’s central scene: the 12-minute long sequence of a wife gaining her strength and resolve to assert control over her husband – after having just learned from him of his infidelity and his love for a younger woman – and to decide how things will be from now on.

The film’s plot is razor thin: Cristi’s wife Adriana accidentally meets his mistress Raluca (but doesn’t learn about the affair) and it makes him realize that he needs to come clean and make his choice. He still loves his wife, but for him it’s a familiar, comfortable relationship and not quite the passionate affair he’s having with Raluca. We get an intimate glimpse in the film’s long opening scene (single shot of course) of them lounging in a naked, post-coital bliss as she playfully nips at his chin and they engage in the chit-chat of lovers. Later, as contrast, we see Adriana shaving Cristi’s sideburns while he stands naked at the bathroom mirror. It’s not that he doesn’t love his wife – there’s a tenderness with which he rubs her feet on the couch while they have a routine conversation – but he feels the pull towards his younger, less self-sufficient and more vulnerable mistress. So when Adriana decides to meet Cristi at the dentist, she also meets Raluca who is the hygienist that has been working on her daughter’s teeth for the last few visits. After the extremely tense meeting (for two of them at least – Adriana is unaware of anything), Cristi realizes what he has to do.

At the kitchen sink in their home, almost midstream in one of their conversations, Cristi tells Adriana he has fallen in love with another woman. She doesn’t explode, she doesn’t wail – she lets it sit with her for a bit. And that’s where the scene in question begins. As she rummages in the back of the room doing a menial task, it’s like she’s trying to hold things together and prevent her marriage, her home and her entire life from crumbling. But she can’t – the deed is done, the trust is broken. After she vents her anger and Cristi has to restrain her, she steadies herself and lights a cigarette right in the middle of the living room. Previously, when Cristi wants to smoke in the house he’s forced to do it by a cracked open window, but here Adriana defiantly puts her stamp on the house. Gaining confidence, she grills him about the relationship and making it very clear that the marriage is over, that he will move out and that their daughter stays with her. She is also very clear on another point – HE will have to break the news to their little girl on his own. It’s his decision to leave her after all.

Cristi agrees with all her statements as he’s not looking to gain anything from the split and is genuinely sad about the harm he is causing his wife. But Muntean is careful not to make Cristi overly sympathetic. Short of him being smitten by someone who he feels needs him, he comes across as a middle aged guy who worries that “he’s missing out”. So he’s not an evil person, but certainly a jerk. Adriana makes it very clear that this is HIS fault and that HE is to blame for destroying what they had. She finishes the scene dignified and poised but crushed. It’s a hell of a thing to watch this extended, unblinking look at the dissipation of a long relationship. At the end of the movie, a final door closes on a decorated Christmas tree and its bounty of gifts reinforcing to Cristi the consequences of his actions.

Previously published on RowThree.

CASTing a Final Net over the Year - 2011 in Review (Part 4)

2012-01-05T23:06:00.000-05:00

Good friend James McNally (and first blogger I actually met face to face) from Toronto Screen Shots had the idea last year to put together the CAST Awards - a list of the top rated films of the year from the Toronto Film blogging community. Though it's about as representative of the group as much as any other consolidation of opinion is, the list was still an interesting counter to the Toronto Film Critics Association and a great way to further bring the blogging crowd together. The small set of bloggers who used to meet at film festivals and occasionally go for a pint has grown leaps and bounds over the past few years and 2011 has seen a large array of new (and seriously fantastic) people join the group. James is a key reason why our monthly film blogger pub nights are large, raucous and more fun than a block full of aliens attacking.

This year, the set of voters for the Cinema Appreciation Society of Toronto (CAST) Awards increased to 40 (many more were asked, but only 40 submitted by the deadline). The results are listed below but are also found at James' site with loads more stats and links to many of the participants. In addition, this year we also did a full roundtable podcast about the results (a CASTcast if you will - hey blame James, it was his joke). The panel included myself, James, Kurt Halfyard (from Rowthree and Twitch), Joe Belanger (Black Sheep Reviews), Ryan McNeil (The Matinee and who graciously hosted the event for us) and the duo of Matt Brown and Matt Price from the Mamo podcast (who acted as moderators and organized the group). I did my best to keep up with what I think is a terribly interesting and astute set of folks and had a great time chatting, laughing and sharing a bottle of Port.

The full roundtable podcast can be found and listened to here or downloaded directly from here.

The top 25 from the final CAST ballots are as follows (hope you don't mind me stealing the table from your site James...):

FILM TITLE	POINTS	MENTIONS	SEEN
1. Drive	548	31	36
2.The Artist	479	26	29
3. The Tree of Life	460	24	27
4. Attack the Block	386	25	36
5. Take Shelter	376	20	21
6. Midnight in Paris	330	24	31
7. Melancholia	306	19	26
8. Shame	284	19	28
9. Beginners	281	19	24
10. Martha Marcy May Marlene	279	20	24
11. Hanna	235	18	28
12. Café de Flore	207	9	13
13.The Raid	205	12	15
14. Blue Valentine	192	11	30
15. Bridesmaids	185	18	31
16.The Muppets	179	14	25
17. The Illusionist	174	11	22
18. The Descendants	172	11	16
19. Super 8	167	16	31
20. Contagion	167	14	22
21. The Interrupters	167	10	12
22. Tabloid	165	12	20
23. Hugo	162	10	23
24. The Trip	159	14	24
25. Meek’s Cutoff	159	10	18

A few notes:

My favourite of the year Cafe De Flore finished 12th which was pretty remarkable for a festival film that had a small end of year release in town. It had the highest average point total from the voting, so you can see that there's a high degree of love from those who saw it.
My favourite film of 2010 The Illusionist made this year's list too (due to a wider release in 2011). That's how great that film was...
The most widely seen films were top scorer Drive and insane-amount-of-free-screenings-per-capita Attack The Block. I expect the latter had the wider disparity in individual rankings. The former didn't make my Top 25 though I liked it well enough.
I've seen 19 of the Top 25, but only 6 of the Top 10.

The Year's Favourites - 2011 in Review (Part 3)

2012-01-03T23:36:00.000-05:00

Although I still haven't seen some major players from the typical 2011 "Best Of" lists (A Separation, Carnage, The Descendants, Hugo, Martha Marcy May Marlene, Melancholia, Shame, The Skin I Live In, Take Shelter, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, We Need To Talk About Kevin - I hang my head in disgrace...), I still easily found 20 titles (well, actually 23 with a few cheats) to list as my favourites of the year. Since even the honourable mentions that didn't make the top echelons were all solid films that I enjoyed quite a bit, 2011 has had a fine share of quality films for my taste.

I'm often unsure as to whether I should include film festival screenings in my favourites list since they typically won't be available to wider audiences until the following year. Over half of my top 20 are from TIFF, Hot Docs or Toronto After Dark, but I can't help it that these were the films whose flickering on the screen meshed with my own frequency.

1. Cafe De Flore

A technical and stylistic marvel from Jean-Marc Vallee that is also deeply touching, delicate in its character portraits and personally resonates for me clear off the scale. I won't see a better film next year. Full review.

2. I Wish

Several critics labelled this "Kore-eda Lite" and I think every single one of them is off their rocker. This is top notch Kore-eda - profoundly humanistic, gentle, charming and a delight from start to finish. Minor characters have complexities that allow them to linger on in your mind along with numerous bittersweet, life-affirming moments. Full review.

3. Beauty Day

The best documentaries use their subject matter as a springboard to bring you closer to fascinating and interesting people. In Jay Cheel's case, he followed the attempt to launch a 20th anniversary special for an old cable TV show of pre-Jackass stunts, found the man behind Cap'n Video (Ralph Zavadil) and gave us this wonderful, detailed character-based story. Full review.

4. Tree Of Life

I wouldn't know where to begin to describe what I think Malick is trying to do here - I can only state what I get out of this gorgeous film. And that's the ability to not only be transported back to my childhood, but to reflect upon it and get lost in the wonder of those years. A very spiritual film (though not specifically religious).

5. The Raid

I can't wait for this to have a wider North American release then attend a screening to watch as everyone's jaw unhinges and crashes to the ground like one of the many losers of the hundreds of astonishing fights in the film. Then I'll know what I looked like the first time I saw it. Full review.

6. Win Win

I know it probably shouldn't have a bearing on my enjoyment of the film, but I really liked the characters in Thomas McCarthy's latest film. It's not just that they feel like "real" people, but they are people I would want to meet and stay in touch with for the long haul.

7. Wetlands (aka Marecages)

A quite remarkable first feature film from Quebec director Guy Edoin anchored by an incredibly tough performance (my favourite of the year) by Pascale Bussieres.

8. Dreileben

Last year I started my TIFF marathon with an existential Italian film called The Four Times (Le Quattro Volte). This year, I decided to kick things off with the 4 and a half hour, 3-part, 3 different director-led, German experiment Dreileben. I'm 2 for 2.

9. Attack The Block

Working within the limitations of not only budget, but also the confines of a single apartment complex, Joe Cornish has put together an incredibly fun and surprising action film. The characters aren't overly likable, but they are consistent and you might actually achieve some semblance of an understanding of them by the end.

10. The Muppets

I'm in the Muppets-can-do-no-wrong camp on this one. Critical facilities be damned. Apart from the rap song by Chris Cooper, I smiled the entire length of this movie.

11. The Artist

I'm perfectly happy if The Artist wins Best Picture at The Oscars - it's not my pick, but a film that has put so many people into such a good mood deserves the recognition. I look forward to re-experiencing that.

12. Beginners

Built around the filmmaker's own personal story, Beginners managed to tell a pretty universal story of making the most of the life you have. Even if you can't relate directly to the specific lives of these characters, you should be able to appreciate the character arcs and how the story is told with humour, warmth and style.

13. Midnight In Paris

Yes, I wish Woody had spent more time on development of the present time characters (Rachel McAdams "Inez" is so awful that you almost hate Owen Wilson's "Gil" for even talking to her), but as soon as they transport back to the past the film becomes completely charming without wallowing in nostalgia for even a second.

14. The Interrupters

Why does the Academy not like Steve James? He seems like a pleasant sort, cares about people and makes astonishingly great documentaries (count this right up there with both Hoop Dreams and Stevie) that provide windows on larger social issues.

15. ALPS

Though Giorgos Lanthimos' films border on quirky-weird for the sake of being quirky-weird, it would be a mistake to not look past that to the central themes and well-constructed stories. I enjoyed Dogtooth, but ALPS was a step up for me as it examines how each of us risk getting lost in the different roles we act out for others.

16. The Guantanamo Trap / Wiebo's War

Or are the best documentaries the ones that make you reconsider a point of view? These two Canadian docs didn't force their opinions down your throat - they just effectively placed information in front of you and made it very difficult to dismiss. The Guantanamo Trap full review. Wiebo's War full review.

17. The Story Of Film: An Odyssey

15 hours just wasn't enough. I wanted more of Mark Cousins providing his unique personal perspective on the history of film and even more new entries to my "must watch" list (along with the hundreds I already got from this film).

18. Super 8

A kid's adventure tale told with energy, excitement and humour and which doesn't overly pander to either the kids or the adults. I could do without the lens flares, but I was supremely entertained and so was my 11 year-old.

19. Himizu

I think I've become a Sion Sono fanboy. I totally understand many of the negative comments towards the film and how its incredibly high volume pitch and intensity wore people down, but I'm still fascinated by Sono's approach to filmmaking and here he conveys an emotional plea to his fellow countrymen after the devastating year they went through.

20. Midnight Son / The Innkeepers / Father's Day

Three fantastic "horror" films from this year's Toronto After Dark festival - each approaching the genre in a different manner. Midnight Son (Full review) gave a real-world scenario for a vampire, The Innkeepers brought character-based humour and a smart script to an old-fashioned ghost story and Father's Day (Full review) was essentially the perfect grindhouse exploitation movie. Don't ever tell me there isn't variety within the genre.

Honourable Mentions

The Guard, Samsara, Pearl Jam Twenty, Contagion, Margin Call, Moneyball, Warrior, Sons Of Norway, These Amazing Shadows, The Adjustment Bureau, Bridesmaids, Absentia, The Woman, Monsieur Lazhar, Crazy, Stupid, Love, Tabloid, Our Idiot Brother, Certified Copy, The Adventures Of Tintin

Movie Moments of The Year - 2011 in Review (Part 2)

2011-12-31T01:19:00.000-05:00

Stealing the ideas of hundreds of bloggers before me, here's my list of movie moments from this year that will stick with me:

2011 movies

The beautiful beach scenes in Beauty Day.
The image of the still born baby from the documentary Wiebo's War - truly gut wrenching.
The closeup shot of the baby looking straight into the camera in The Tree Of Life. The perfect representation of a new parent gazing at their child.
Any of the moments of the boys playing together in the fields and around town in The Tree Of Life.
The on screen chemistry between Matt Damon and Emily Blunt in The Adjustment Bureau. They made it so easy to believe in love at first meeting.
Alison Pill's playful turn as Zelda Fitzgerald in Midnight In Paris.
Marion Cotillard's smoldering turn in Midnight In Paris.
Each and every one of the brilliantly choreographer sustained (and very brutal) fight scenes in The Raid.
The bookends of The Artist - the wonderful opening with the premiere of George Valentin's latest film (including his appearance on stage thanking the crowd afterwards) and the giddy joy of the closing moments.
The farewell from the kindly old folks in Hirokazu's Kore-eda's I Wish. Certainly one of the sweetest moments of the year.
The perverted fun of Astron 6's Father's Day.
The slow zoom into darkness in the Indie horror Absentia.
Emma Stone being Emma Stone in Crazy Stupid Love (or at least what I like to believe Emma Stone is really like).
The moments in Super 8 when The Boy (sitting next to me on the couch) made exclamations out loud.
The mother of the kids who were traumatized by a young man's robbery ("I'll kill you") gives the robber a hug several years later when he is out of jail in The Interrupters.
Any time Beaker is on screen in The Muppets. And pretty much any reference to the old Muppet Show.

And my very favourite moment of the year which has made me tear up twice and will no doubt do it again when I see the film for a third time in a few weeks:

The first meeting between Laurent and Vero (the two Down's Syndrome kids) in Cafe De Flore.

Older movies

Peter Ustinov and Charles Laughton sharing the screen in Spartacus. Just delightful.
The miles away view of a distant figure popping out of the horizon's wavy texture in Lawrence Of Arabia. A mirage? Nope. In 70 mm, you could see it from its very first flicker.
The end of The Discarnates (directed by Nobuhiko Obayashi who also did the great House) which was one big eyes widening moment.
The caves of glinting sparkles on rocks in Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives which looked like stars in the sky. It could very well have been a complete open view of the night sky up until the flashlight's beam changes direction and shows that it is indeed the wall of a cave.
The cinematography of Five Easy Pieces. I did not expect that level of gorgeousness in the film.
The use of red, blue, green and yellow in Wild Grass. Truly marvelous.
The dueling Michael Caines in The Trip.
The single shot chase through a crowded football stadium in The Secret In Their Eyes.
The single shot escape driving backwards and crashing in Let Me In.
The locusts, the train, the "magic hour" and every other beautiful image in Days Of Heaven.
Werner Herzog in My Best Fiend talking about the natives' reactions to Klaus Kinski (I'm paraphrasing the line): "They were going to kill him for me, but I said 'No, I still have shooting to do...'".
The punch straight into the camera in Caliber 9.
The gazillion mirrors in World On A Wire.
How gorgeous Cybill Shepherd was in The Last Picture Show.
The classroom scene in Kes.
Seeing Black Narcissus on the big screen. Loved it already, but this was revelatory.
The final very physical fight scene in Allan King's documentary A Married Couple.
The anger I felt watching The Pat Tillman Story and Waiting For Superman.
Dean's triumphant rendition of "More Than A Feeling" in FUBAR II.
The opening single shot in the original 1932 version of Scarface.
The appearance of the "ghost" in Fine Totally Fine.
All the women of Alan Zweig's Lovable who talk about being single at their stage of life.
The hot coffee burns on the woman who sued MacDonalds for their coffee being too hot in (wait for it) Hot Coffee.
Charlie Chaplin rapidly counting money in Monsieur Verdoux.
Watching Chaplin's The Great Dictator and then realizing it was the inspiration for several scenes from the Looney Tune "Rabbit of Seville".
The exhausting non-stop pace of Zazie Dans Le Metro.
The huge burning silver shoe in Passion Of Darkly Noon.
The absolute charm of Radio Days. I can't wait to watch it with my Dad.
The subtle interracial relationships in Shadows (my first Cassavetes).
The last 30 minutes of 13 Assassins. The lead up was great, but the battle was fantastic.
The music in The Music Room.
The switching between intimidators in Intimidation.
The highly enjoyable insanity of the end of Phantom Of The Paradise combined with the surprisingly solid music.
The colours of Amer.
Leningrad Cowboys Go America managing to make me like "Born To Be Wild".
The car chase in The Seven-Ups.
Fellini's "Toby Dammit" segment in Spirits Of The Dead, in particular the airport scene with the cutout images of old presidents and movie stars.

The End of Year Catch Up - 2011 in Review (Part 1)

2011-12-29T23:41:00.000-05:00

As someone who likes films from a variety of genres, countries and styles, I tend to bounce from one type to another quite frequently during the year and never really stay within one category for more than 3-4 movies in a row. Short of film festivals, there are two periods during the calendar year where this doesn't apply: the entire month of October when I delve deeper into Horror (one of my favourite genres) and then the last two months of the year where I focus on "catching up" with as much of the year's films as I possibly can.

So pretty much as soon as the teenage boys are smashing jack-o-lanterns on the street, I pull up my sleeves and start digging into the movies that many of my more regular theatre going friends have been debating about for months. Most of these films tend to be of the Hollywood variety, but I definitely pull in as many of the independent and foreign ones as I can in order to give me a clearer picture of 2011. I have no intention of watching everything - e.g. I simply have no interest in seeing The Help at this stage or many of the superhero films (though I may try to sneak Captain America in before the dawn of 2012) - but look forward to finally seeing some of the Summer blockbusters I missed as well as the first wave of serious Oscar contenders (OK, so I do try to hit the theatres a little bit during this stage). I usually start by getting up to speed on all the interesting non-horror stuff that was released in October and once that's done, the May releases start filtering through and we're off to the races. I'll still have missed some of the biggies by end of year, though, like A Separation, The Descendants, Hugo, Melancholia, Shame, Take Shelter, etc., but the first few months of 2012 should help rectify that.

One thing I did see in the theatres (again) during these last two months was my hands down favourite film of the year - Jean-Marc Vallee's outstanding Cafe De Flore. Of course, I had already proclaimed this my film of the year when I saw it back in September at TIFF, but I needed to see it again. And it was equally as enveloping and marvelous. I very much need to see it a third time and will indeed take care of that come January when it plays the Lightbox as part of Canada's Top Ten series. The 2nd visit certainly allowed me to pull together my interpretation of the film a bit better and since this was the theatrical run of the film, a few other people who missed it at the festival managed to see it and also had high praise. As a matter of fact, three of us had a long conversation documented on RowThree about it (spoilers abound, but if you've seen it we'd love you to read the back and forth - it was a lot of fun to do).

Other theatrical screenings were Moneyball, The Ides Of March and 50/50 - all of which I enjoyed more than I expected, but none of which really bowled me over. Moneyball had numerous great scenes (particularly that one trade completed within a few minutes via several back and forth phone calls) and provided some insight into maneuvers off the field, but it never quite gave me a cohesive whole. I didn't walk away from the movie fully understanding or embracing anything about the characters or the concepts of the film. I suppose that's partially to do with the real story, but if you can't quite generate much excitement via the all-time baseball winning streak, then you have a bit of a problem. However, both Brad Pitt and Jonah Hill gave what felt to be spot-on performances. The Ides Of March built slowly for me - not in a bad way, but in a very calculating standard political drama fashion. I was enjoying it, but was worried that it was simply hitting every single mark expected of it. Fortunately, it managed to change things up on me. Yes, it decided to go ahead with the "scandal with an intern" plot point, but the game playing of back room dealings and compromised campaign strategies was somewhat fascinating in the context of the story. Even though I was happy with the way things played out, I still felt a bit let down at the end though - as with Moneyball, I had nothing left to hang on to by the end. No characters and no ideology. Granted, that's likely part of the point (it's politics after all), but it made it difficult to embrace the film. 50/50 took its own unique arc for me - it didn't start well, but then slowly built it's way to a pretty satisfying and even emotional resolution. It wasn't until the Bryce Dallas Howard "bitchy girlfriend" was dispensed (did they really even need her character in the film at all?) that the relationship between the two best friends really started to build and once the Anna Kendrick character was introduced it started to gel and I became invested. All three of these ended up being overall solid movies, but with flaws that prevented them from being anything more than that.

So there was a short period of being uninspired by some 2011 offerings - until, that is, I saw The Interrupters. A full 6 months after the Hot Docs film festival was over, I came across the film in a pile of abandoned screeners on my shelf. At the time of the festival I wasn't overly aware of the film (though how a new Steve James documentary escaped my attention is beyond me), but it became apparent in the months that followed that it was making some big waves with a wide swath of people. I sadly missed a few theatrical screening opportunities and thought it might be awhile before I could see it, but then suddenly I had the damn thing in my hands. Even at a good chunk over 2 hours, I watched it that very night. As a result, I found I was in complete and utter agreement that the mechanism for creating the Best Documentary nominees for the Oscars is thoroughly broken. How could they possibly not even get this film to the short list? Through its three main protagonists (ie. Interrupters), we get both the personal stories and the broad scope of the issue. No easy answers are provided and all the story lines are left as various states of unfinished business, but I've rarely seen a clearer line drawn underscoring (at least some of) the root causes of inner city issues. And few scenes this year were more affecting than the one of the woman forgiving a young man for the terror he put her and her children through during a robbery. She pulls no punches regarding the danger to which he exposed her kids and has a ferocious look in her eye and sound to her voice as she reminds him of this, but then offers a hug in the end as she sees that he is trying to make amends. One of my favourite people on film all year.

If other recently viewed documentaries didn't quite reach those heights, they didn't exactly disappoint either. Errol Morris' Tabloid was as surprising, funny and deeply insightful as he's ever been. It didn't take long to figure out that I wasn't going to get the full truth to the story, but how could I pull myself away when each different version started to spin down separate rabbit holes? Werner Herzog's Into The Abyss was the least Herzog-ian thing I've seen from him in awhile and was probably more powerful (considering its subject matter of capital punishment) because of it. And Conan O'Brien's road show documentary (Conan O'Brien Can't Stop) was just plain fun - there was plenty of interesting behind the scenes stuff and insight into what it takes to be a "personality", but the biggest enjoyment was watching O'Brien do his best to entertain everyone around him (whether you think he's got issues or not is a separate point).

A variety of action movies also grabbed my attention. Super 8 and Attack The Block hit every action beat I wanted and then proceeded to fill in between them like Keith Moon. Super 8 will rank higher on my list at the end of the year than it likely deserves, but I can't deny the initial experience of seeing it on the couch with my 11 year-old and having him crouch, perch and lean into the screen. The French Point Blank was also top notch and wasted no time getting to the crux of its plot to drive the action - there's a full 70 minutes or so of constant thrust. It missed a beat here and there (some head-scratching decisions by a few characters pulled me out several times), but it far outpaces the generic thriller coming from the studios. You know, like Fast Five. Not a film I hated, but certainly one that eludes me. I keep hearing how they "finally got it right" with this one, but if that's the case I guess I can safely ignore the first 4 films (this was my first excursion into the "Fast" series). It provided several visceral thrills through its reasonable CGI, solid stunt work and descent into a universe that has no knowledge of Newton's Laws of Motion, but the characters are so blandly rendered that I couldn't care less who beat who and for what reason. Vin Diesel, Paul Walker and The Rock do not a compelling cast make. And were there other people in this movie? If so, give me one good reason to ask a single question about any of them. The flip side (and a film I initially shunted aside until hearing a few voices praise it) is Warrior. Though it runs too long, it invests you very strongly into its characters and THEN it throws you into the action - smoothly rendered, well-choreographed, non-CGI action. And I was fine with every "Rocky" rhythm the film used.

Normally I don't spend much effort on the standard romcoms - not because they're "chick flicks" (a terrible term I hope to see put to pasture one day), but because they seem not to stray more than a few millimeters from their prescribed paths and end up as truly forgettable. However, I found a few that made the hike pretty entertaining and even occasionally surprising. Crazy Stupid Love is far from perfect, but contains so many winning moments (and Emma Stone) that you can almost forgive the ones that flop. Friends With Benefits has some solid chemistry and some strong moments too, though it couldn't quite get past its far too obvious conclusion (not the mention the two flash mob scenes - yes, I said two). For my money, the most charming and surprising of the lot was Our Idiot Brother. Probably because it wasn't actually a romcom, but simply a sweet tale of a man who doesn't want to give up on the idea that he can put trust into humanity. Another winning example is Quebec's Starbuck (it shared runner-up spot - with A Separation - in the People's Choice Award voting at this year's TIFF). It resolves it's rather goofy premise of a man trying to get to know as many of the ~500 children his donated sperm have fathered far too neatly, but you end up being completely fine and happy with that. It's a unique skill that allows you to pull that off and apparently director Ken Scott possesses it. And then you have a film like One Day...Featuring naturally charismatic Anne Hathaway, handsome and charming Jim Sturgess (who was fantastic in last year's Heartless - reviewed here from Toronto After Dark 2010) and my lifetime crush Patricia Clarkson, it fails in every way at establishing a relationship between its two central characters. The film checks in on them once a year on the same day and never once did it feel like these two people should even be friends, let alone anything else. The ball was dropped early and then often. The emotional gut punch it tries to deliver towards the end therefore falls flat. Director Lone Scherfig seems to have lost a feel for the subtlety of character interaction since her wonderful Italian For Beginners a decade ago.

A few of the "smaller" movies I saw went after big ideas. A fine example is a set of films that use the "personal as apocalypse" (I've seen this phrase bandied about in several spots and I like how it nicely sums up some of these films). The finest example of the bunch for me was Another Earth which used the sci-fi premise of a duplicate Earth. It's been hidden all this time and has followed essentially the exact same path as the first Earth until it one day shows itself and severs that link - in particular how one young woman's life charts a very different course after she sees it. It's a wonderful example of taking a pure science fiction idea and using it for a far more personal redemption story. It goes without saying that you want more (because there's so much you can do with that concept), but certainly not if it would have sacrificed any of what we got. More difficult for me to consider was Bellflower. It has some of the flattest moments and line readings of the year, unlikeable characters and a strange mean streak about it that never settled well, but it also has a unique blown-out visual look, some solid scenes and a central idea that a single relationship breakup can feel like the end of the world. In the end, it couldn't get around its major flaws or shake some ugly attributes, but it left a bit of an impression. And then you have Miranda July's The Future. No doubt that its inherent quirk will be its most divisive attribute - many will see it as charming and honest while others will note a grating tweeness to it. And boy was that narrating cat grating (even if it did provide the emotional core of the film) - not because of the concept, but simply due to July's need to voice it in a high-pitched cutesy fashion that annoyed the begeezus out of me within seconds. But once again, its saving grace is a set of interesting concepts about waiting and planning for the future, but forgetting to live in the present. In particular the usage of one character's perceived ability to stop time which came into play once he had realized that not only was time slipping away from him, but so was what he had right in front of him. Taken at face value, though, the two central characters are rather pathetic.

More successful was Aaron Katz's Cold Weather - yet another personal character study hidden within a different genre (this time a crime mystery). The central character of Doug is perhaps not the most relatable guy in the world as he is somewhat adrift after giving up on his career/studies in forensic science and happily taking a menial job in an ice factory, but he's strangely likeable in his laid-back even keel approach. Though there are more than a few awkward pauses during conversations there are also plenty of obviously improvised character moments that flesh out realistic people trying to expand their fairly small worlds. For Doug, it takes a mystery surrounding his ex-girlfriend to light some fire under him and become more actively involved in the world and people around him. Another exceedingly strong relationship movie was Weekend - a film that has slowly but surely been making the rounds and gaining attention. It chronicles the weekend following what starts as a one night stand between Russ and Glen, but develops slowly into something bigger than either expect. What's terrific about the film is how it allows the conversations and moments between these two to build without any enforced plot points or grand emotional revelations. They get to their back stories and discuss some of their history (Russ not feeling completely at ease with being openly gay and Glen having lost a great deal of trust through a difficult previous relationship), but - even given the short amount of time the film covers - it feels like they did so very naturally. Not to mention engagingly. I'm not sure the amount of drug use in the film was really necessary, but it doesn't detract from where the characters end up.

Moving from small Indie to big Indie, the logical place to start is Beginners, the latest feature from Mike Mills. This time around it comes complete with a fantastic star cast who are - in a word - fantastic. Christopher Plummer is getting the lion's share of praise and it's well-deserved as he plays a man in his 70s who is just ready to begin his life anew when he finds out he won't have the time. His efforts to make the most of it seem to rub off on his son (played nicely by Ewan McGregor) as he courts the lovely Melanie Laurent. Many complaints stated that they wished Plummer's story had more to it, but as much as I enjoyed his section of the movie and understand the basic premise of that argument, I wouldn't actually want to miss out on any of the McGregor-Laurent relationship story. So I'm quite happy with the entirety of what Mills gave us. I was also reasonably happy with what we saw from Kevin Smith this year. Partially, that's due to very low expectations (I've never found his dialogue particularly fascinating), but I was surprised that Red State not only wasn't the easy-pickings, totally one-sided slam against Tea Party ideology that I expected, but managed some excitement, tension, surprises and even allowed shreds of, if not sympathy, at least humanity to pop-up among the religious zealots at the centre of its standoff. I'm no Kevin Smith expert, but it's easily one of my favourites of his films along with Zack And Miri Make A Porno. Kelly Reichardt also surprised me with Meek's Cutoff - not because of its wisp of a story, the totally convincing performance by Michelle Williams or its total immersion into the world of these settlers (all things I kind of figured I would get), but because of the beauty of the film. Granted, it's probably not hard to make some of that landscape pop like that on screen, but there were definitely several "Wow!" moments. It also provided beauty in its perfect ending. Though not quite perfect, J.C. Chandor's first foray into the world of feature filmmaking (Margin Call) certainly was an incredibly solid way to come out of the gates. Even though it's main plot thrust is a financial institution's concern over what a set of predictions means to its future viability, the film was still strangely fast-paced and nimble at getting the salient points across. Now let's see if next time out he can take real characters and flesh them out.

Of course, characters don't have to be human to still capture their audience's imagination. Say, for example, you were to use a bit of green felt to create a frog...OK, I have to admit that I'm very much a prime target for a movie like The Muppets. I watched Sesame Street during my early school years and transitioned easily to The Muppet Show, so was the movie simply a matter of pure nostalgia? I'm going to say No since it provides genuine feeling, laughs, several very good musical numbers and a whole whack of fun. And I'm pretty sure whether you're familiar with Beaker from the old TV show or not, any occurrence of him saying "Miii! Miii, miii, miii!" is still very funny. I'll grant every nit you can pick with the film (a story that fizzles somewhat, a few things that go nowhere and - oh dear lord - Chris Cooper's rap song), but there's just too much joy going on here. I refer you to my friend Corey's extraordinarily short yet on the nose review to sum up my case for the film. A less compelling film with non-human characters was Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes, though through no fault of the apes. The animal scenes were quite well staged and yes, Andy Serkis brought empathy to Caesar. Unfortunately, I didn't like the approach of the plot (too many coincidences and stupid decisions by people who we're told aren't stupid) and really didn't care a bit about any human character. Actually, character is the wrong word. Shell might be better. And let's face it, I simply wanted more of the apes running amuck (I was surprised at how long it took that to take place given the raves for the film and the paucity of anything else of interest in the early going). Fright Night, on the other hand, spread out its action pretty well and gave its central non-human (Colin Farrell obviously having a grand old time in his vampire role) plenty of chances to cause havoc. David Tennant also seems to be having a whale of a time as a Las Vegas magician and vampire hunter, though he doesn't quite get enough of a chance in the script to get totally invested in the story. The film is fun and never really lagged, but it was always just a step behind for me. Part of it was the overuse of CGI that stilted most of the attacks, but it just didn't quite have a consistent sense of what it was. That's one thing Final Destination 5 didn't have to worry about since it's obvious what kind of movie it's meant to be. Unfortunately, it couldn't get anywhere near it. With its set of non-human humans (I know the series isn't about characters, but these were anti-characters - I couldn't even be happy when they died), the film saps the fun out of the "how is the next character going to die?" conceit. When they actually managed to build up some tension and the possibility of a real Rube Goldberg death trap (the gymnast scene), they flub it with a ridiculous end (the best you could do was to have her fall from 10 feet in the air and have that crush every bone in her body?). It also contained some of the worst CGI blood I've seen this side of goofy Japanese splatter films (which are supposed to have bad CGI blood). Small credit to a callback to the original Final Destination film, but I should have trusted my initial avoidance response.

Next up, some of my favourite moments of the year on film (from 2011 films as well as older).

Blind Spot Series 2012

2011-12-04T21:15:00.001-05:00

A common game many film bloggers like to play is "Who has the biggest hole in their film viewing?" In other words, what is the film that you have not seen that any "self-respecting" film buff really should have seen.

It's a silly game (especially when you're with a group and each revelation is greeted with feigned shock followed by taunting jeers), but it goes to show a couple of things: 1) we film geeks sure know how to party! and 2) we all have this immense desire (as misguided as it may be) to see "everything". In reality, none of us actually believes they can do this nor do we really want to. There are many "classic" films we all know about that simply (for whatever reason) don't have any major pull. The thought of watching them is similar to the feeling you might have had while putting off doing a particularly dull essay assignment in school. If watching a film feels like homework, then it may not be the best use of your time...

However, there are far more of the important films that are on all of our lists that have somehow simply eluded us over the years. Like many other folks, I have a list of movies I want to see, but it's so big now that I subdivide it up into the ones I REALLY want to see along with those that I not only want to see, but feel I NEED to see. From this latter list, I've chosen 12 that I will commit to viewing during 2012 and about which I will hopefully write. I expect to cross even more than just these 12 off my list next year, but let's start with a one a month commitment.

There are two distinct driving forces behind doing this...The first being Edgar Wright's recent request to his blog followers to help him pick his next screening series - a set of movies he's never seen and is quite "embarrassed" that he hasn't. Though his initial post occurred months ago, the screening series at the New Beverly Cinema in Los Angeles is now primed and ready to go (Dennis Cozzalio has all the scoop on it here). However, it was during his initial open request that I started seriously compiling my own list of top "I can't believe I haven't seen these yet" films.

Fast Forward a month or so and my good friend James McNally of Toronto Screen Shots challenges several of his local film blogging friends to join him in the Blind Spot Series - a commitment to view and write about 12 films over the course of next year that we feel are classics that we've never seen before. Fellow Toronto blogger (and inspiration for the #ryaniswrong hashtag) Ryan McNeil at The Matinee has already posted his own set of 12 (beating James to the punch even), so I throw my own hat into the ring with the following list:

*Amadeus (Milos Forman, 1984)
*Barry Lyndon (Stanley Kubrick, 1975)
City Lights (Charles Chaplin, 1931)
Day Of Wrath (Carl Theodore Dreyer, 1943)
Kramer vs Kramer (Robert Benton, 1979)
*La Dolce Vita (Federico Fellini, 1960)
*Our Hospitality (Buster Keaton, 1923)
Pather Panchali (Satyajit Ray, 1955)
Stagecoach (John Ford, 1939)
The Tin Drum (Volker Schlondorff, 1979)
*White Heat (Raoul Walsh, 1949)
*Yankee Doodle Dandy (Michael Curtiz, 1942)

Whether I'll have anything interesting to say about movies that have been dissected a thousand times is yet to be seen. I expect I'll simply stick to personal reactions and avoid any in depth "analysis". By the way, films with an asterisk have been in my possession (ie. owned) for years. Yes, I meant to make "years" plural.

The Little Film Festival That Can (with a little additional help...)

2011-12-01T22:50:00.000-05:00

The short version: please donate here.

And now for the somewhat longer version...Four or five years ago - just around the time I was getting into blogging - I met a fine young man named Chris MaGee online. He convinced me to write for his burgeoning Facebook group called the "Toronto J-Film Pow-Wow" and contribute short reviews of Japanese films. Shortly after I agreed, I had the chance to meet him briefly at a screening of the fan-damn-tastic "Survive Style 5+". We only chatted for a short time and then met again as I was rushing out of a Cinematheque showing of the classic "Kwaidan". It wasn't until Chris unveiled his grander plan to turn the group into a full-fledged blog and web site that we finally got to know each other - ie. quaff a few beers and argue about movies (he's still totally wrong about Takeshi Kitano's "Achilles And The Tortoise").

As the web site grew and a few of us contributed film reviews on an almost weekly basis, Chris started to roll out phase 2. By being on top of Japanese film news and making a name for himself as an authority, Chris started to build up his contacts and worked his way onto a panel at the Nippon Connection Film Festival in Frankfurt. That was all pretty impressive to us all - until, that is, he came back and announced that not only had he met noted Japanese film writer Jasper Sharp (also co-editor of Midnight Eye), but that he was going to start a new film festival with him...here in Toronto.

The Shinsedai Cinema Festival has grown every year since - just finishing up its third year this past Summer - and has been a springboard for several young filmmakers. The name of the fest literally means "New Generation" and was conceived to be (as the web site states) "an annual showcase of the best in new, independent and rarely seen Japanese films." It would have been easy to fold to financial pressure and bring in the bigger mainstream crowd-pleasers or gory, cyber-splatter genre flicks (neither of which are bad by definition), but the programmers have stuck to their original concept and are being embraced by the independent film community in Japan.

For the 4th go-around next year (July 12-15), a few changes are coming...The entire festival is moving to a more easily accessible downtown location - away from the classy spacious surroundings of the Japanese Canadian Cultural Centre and to the Revue Cinema (400 Roncesvalles Ave. - near the Dundas West subway). Though the festival did well in its more northern Toronto digs, it will likely have a wider reach now that it is moving to the thick of things. The downside is that new sponsors need to be discovered. Chris has been beating the bushes and certainly finding some support, but the time is now to cast a wider net to ask for financial support from film lovers of all stripes. The festival has set up a donation page through IndieGoGo where you can contribute whatever amount you wish - the drive is towards $7000 and this money would help pay for numerous costs not the least of which would enable filmmakers to attend in person.

If you love the passion of young filmmakers - whether they continue the traditions of the past or attempt to break new ground - the Shinsedai Cinema Festival is right there with you and is eager to continue to support the art form. If you can find a way to support the festival in return, it would be greatly appreciated. And you also get a visit from the spectre of Toshiro Mifune as he pays his respects to you. Uh, I think you might have to invest in one of the higher sponsorship levels for that little perk though...

TIFF 2011 - Oslo, August 31st

2011-11-15T09:22:00.004-05:00

Chip Lary from Tips From Chip is doing a series of reviews of films with numbers in their titles - starting at zero and working his way up. When I suggested Joachim Trier's latest film "Oslo, August 31st" as a possibility he asked if I could review it for his site. Given that it was one of the many strong films I saw at TIFF this year that I had yet to review, I agreed - sometimes I simply need a kick in the butt and a deadline to get moving on overdue reviews (my wife might want to generalize that statement somewhat...). So here's the review I wrote for his site (which he just published yesterday):

Though I don't completely subscribe to the "Auteur" theory in all its finer points, I do tend to look at films as having directorial stamps on them - not just from common stylistic points of view or as vehicles that cover similar themes, but as works that have a certain quality about them. For example, when I see a movie like Joachim Trier's debut film "Reprise", I take note of the name of the helmer because there's a certain something about the film that appeals to me and an attention to detail that shows the person "in charge" cares about the entirety of the work. So when I noticed that Trier's second film "Oslo, August 31st" was to screen at this year's TIFF, it immediately made my short list. It's a very different film than its predecessor as it was shot quickly, for little money and eschews the many flourishes and stylistic touches of his first film. However, it still fits nicely next to "Reprise" because there is not only a deft touch with its characters and a strong sense of place, but also an overall confidence about its story.

Based loosely on the French novel "Le Feu Follet" (which Louis Malle turned into the 1963 film of the same name - better known to English speakers as "The Fire Within"), the film shows a day in the life of one particular troubled person, but it also illuminates an entire city at the same time. The very beginning of the film shows home movies of a still smallish Oslo, but in the present day the city seems to be growing quite nicely as many cranes litter the streets signifying new construction. As Anders wanders from friend to job interview to his family's old house, we get to see a large chunk of a lovely, restful city - a stark contrast to Anders himself. You know that friend you have that just can't seem to get it together? While everyone has their ups and downs, this one particular person always seems to be in the worst shape (or at least that's what they tell you)? That's Anders. He can't pull himself together and has already tried to kill himself once while in rehab. "I've always thought happy people must be morons" is one of Anders philosophies and gives a good indication where most conversations with him will likely lead.

Those conversations are key to the success of the film - each one feels natural, genuine and very real. Particularly those between Anders and his best friend who listens to him intently and tries to engage him, but is at his own crossroad. Anders is not the only one struggling to find his place in life, but he just can't see past his own current problems or even allow anyone else to. He scuttles a job interview that was going well as soon as his drug history arises. The interviewer seems sympathetic, but Anders can't even consider that he might catch a break. Instead of suffering rejection, he slams the door shut himself (a tactic he seems to use extensively across all relationships). Throughout the day, there are also kernels of optimism and hope - a young girl in a cafe makes a "bucket list" with her boyfriend, a late night swim with laughter, watching and listening to different people go about their day - there's plenty of opportunity and promise in these lives. But Anders has lost that ability to find any of it. He can hang on to memories and images from his past, but that's all they are now and they provided no solace, nor encouragement.

At a Q&A after the film, Trier talked a bit about the idea behind the production process which was to do it simple and fast. As other plans were taking their time to get off the ground, he and his creative team decided they just needed to get out and start filming with a shooting ethic that used as many locations and their natural environment as possible. Also, they needed to work with actors that could take scripted dialogue and turn it into realistic moments of conversation. It's exceptionally effective as it keeps you close to Anders, makes you want to point out all the possibilities around him and frustrates you as he turns away from every single one of them. I can't wait to see what Trier does next.

A Short Video Summation of an October of Horror

2011-11-05T22:58:00.006-05:00

As a final wrap-up of my October horror viewing spree, here's a short compilation of scenes from each movie I watched (2 clips from each film not including the bonus snippets at the end):

A Single Image #20

2011-11-04T14:33:00.006-05:00

The Highest (1973 - Arthur Penn)
from the anthology film Visions Of Eight

Now that's some good spam!

2011-11-04T14:32:00.005-05:00

The lovely and talented Jandy - one of my co-writers at RowThree where I occasionally also post - emailed a few us the following comment that was left in pending status on the site. It's spam, so I have no qualms about re-posting it here (it contained the same link dropped in at random about 4-5 times in the content).

It's obviously been jammed through some kind of translation bot, but feels like it may have actually come from some person's actual top 6 list of mermaid movies. Parsing out any of their thoughts will be challenge though...However, since this translated version (which was posted with their spam site links included - I won't include them here, but have highlighted where they were in the comment in blue - to a RowThree post about a pair of disaster movies) is filled with enough wonderfully surreal catch phrases to keep me going for a year, I thought it might be fun to share. Feel free to re-share at will.

And maybe one day you too will memorialize how delighted you were when this first came unconfined...

Most people have seen Disney’s “The Little Mermaid” animated movie. But there are not too others which are absolutely magic – classics. Here they are:

1. My lid pick exchange for a mermaid film is “Smudge”. Not alone is it comic and the cabal wonderful, but there is quite a hint of breathtaking footage of Daryl Hannah mermaiding in the ocean. We can’t grow sufficiently of that! Preserve continue in haul that this is not a children’s movie. It was made in the ’80s, and in spite of the most quarter it is okay because the progeny to watch. But there is a little moment of nudity (when the mermaid is walking into New York discernible of teaserthe ocean with nothing but her great whisker to cover her) and there is some implication of what she and the Tom Hanks characteristic untypical are doing in the elevator, but nothing is shown. The flicks is wonderful, with a leading excuse and formidable mermaid footage and lots of laughs, as fount as a capacious romance.

2. My second top ideal is “The Arcane of Roan Inish”. This is a safe, tranquillize flicks the entire family can enjoy. It was made in Ireland, and as such is slower and quieter than most American movies. It is beside a lilliputian Irish lass who moves to busy with her grandparents. While there she unwittingly stumbles upon the obscurity circumambient the key the dearest adapted to to existent on, called “Roan Inish” (Island of the Seals). As she slowly solves the puzzle, she brings movie trailershealing and concordance without hope to the family. In this film the untrue myths non-spiritual luxuries is a selkie, not a mermaid. The selkie lives in the aspect of a seal. On advantage she climbs up on a poverty-stricken and removes her seal scrape, revealing a pleasing woman. So this film is a trifling tittle special, and you desire at no time look at a seal the despite the fact mo = ‘modus operandi’ again.

3. My third favorite mermaid movie is “Aquamarine.” This equal is geared to the teen crowd. It has nothing lascivious, so the whole parentage can take to it. It’s a delightfully another rendering of the classic Tiny Mermaid story, with a wonderful shock ending. The mermaid in this big is unusual, more like a regular teen girl. There are a sprinkling suitable shots of her in the water. The messages in this silent picture are elevated quality, such as loyalty, friendship, exclusive conviction, selflessness and courage. And it is also sheer funny.

4. Handful four of my top mermaid movies is an familiar black and drained deathless called “Mr. Peabody and the Mermaid.” You intent should prefer to a object to finding this silver screen to watch, but VHS versions are ready for mark-down on Amazon.com. All of the underwater footage was filmed in the venerable Weeki Wachee Springs in Weeki Wachee, Florida, no more than a year after this underwater theater opened. Made in 1948, this moving picture is nearly a married span charming a vacation in the trailersCaribbean. The humankind is almost 50 and is having a mid-life crisis. While on vacation he accidentally fishes up a live mermaid from the sea! Ann Blyth plays the entrancing mermaid and you transfer enjoyment this wonderful film. The no greater than objections a parent might include is the exercise of extramarital flirting, and some laughable scenes with a guy disquieting to give up smoking.

5. United that is a dab dissimilar, and which only recently came out, is a Japanese anime Miyazaki talking picture called “Ponyo on the Cliff alongside the Sea”, or sparely “Ponyo”. In this whole the fish-girl is depicted as a goldfish with a generous gall, which is rather strange. But in an singular contort, this five-year-old fish-girl has to engage the teeny five-year-old somebody little shaver to fondness her faithfully, or she will turn into sea sparkle and be no more. It is such a sweet interpretation, these inconsequential children knowledge to love and trust each other in such an undefiled way. It is a story of wonder and daring and should not be missed.

6. My pick for the duration of handful six is Disney’s “The Petite Mermaid”. It was the talking picture that got Disney backside into the in favour film business again in the 1980s. The music and white are a delight. I memorialize how delighted I was when it first came unconfined – it is a diverting mermaid movie, high jinks for the whole family.

October Horror 2011 - Chapter #8

2011-11-02T21:03:00.013-05:00

Yeah, I'm surprised October's over too. 32 horror films in the month is my final count - a 33% drop from last year's total. I blame Toronto After Dark for keeping me busy...

The last four for the month:

The Shiver Of The Vampires (1971 - Jean Rollin) - It's quite surprising that it's taken me so long to get around to seeing one of Jean Rollin's art-horror films - you'd think this stuff would've been right up my alley. And indeed, it most certainly is. For whatever reason, I just never thought to dive into his output until one of his titles pretty much randomly came up in my lengthy list of items to investigate. In this case, the horror derives almost strictly from images - not sound, not story, not character and not slow builds of tension. It's all about the visuals. The bright colours mixed with neutral tones, the bits of bright blood red dotting the frame, the creepy statues and artifacts littering the castle, the faces of the undead vampires and the surprising places they can be found. The camera plays its own part occasionally as when it spins around inside a circle of all the characters or becomes the POV of the doomed central character. The nominal story has a newlywed couple visiting the bride's favorite cousins in their castle. Unbeknownst to her, these vampire hunters became the hunted and now must put up with eternity. The main female vampire (who converted the cousins) slowly pulls the bride over to "her side" as the hapless husband can do nothing. Throw in a large portion of nudity, gothic outfits and a psychy soundtrack (a slightly twangy low rent version of Goblin - the great band who did the soundtrack to "Suspiria", "Deep Red" and other Argento films) and you've got yourself a memorable picture.

Two Thousand Maniacs (1964 - Herschell Gordon Lewis) - As a director, Lewis wasn't exactly known for his specific style, storytelling ability or his way with actors. I think even he would say that he wasn't so much a filmmaker as he was a businessman. By pretty much any account, "Two Thousand Maniacs" is a terrible, terrible movie - the acting is atrocious, useless dialogue scenes go on and on and the whole thing looks completely drab. Except for the blood (primarily what Lewis is known for via both this film and "Blood Feast") which was bright and vivid. The idea was to shock with scenes of dismemberments and other such gore-filled activities and in this movie's case, they certainly had a structure that leant itself to such requirements. One hundred years after an entire Southern town has been wiped out by the North during the Civil War, it suddenly reappears and their "centennial" celebration is focused on finding some sacrificial Northerners to kill at their festival. It's a different spin on Brigadoon and as an idea certainly isn't the worst one for a gorefest. The odd thing is that it isn't filled with as much chopped up flesh as you would expect (of course, in 1964 it was rather infamous for a few scenes of severed limbs). It's not that I necessarily wanted or needed to see more gushing blood, but when that's all your movie has going for it, that's all you can hope for.

Doctor X (1932 - Michael Curtiz) - After seeing this two-strip technicolour film, I can't help but wish that someone would revive this old technology and make some new films with it. The green and yellow colour palette in this case worked tremendously well for the tale of a group of scientists who are under suspicion for a recent string of murders. Specifically, any scene in one of the wonderful laboratory sets - rife with flashing lights, liquids flowing in tubes and bizarre electrical contraptions - looked fantastic with that mix of two tones and all the shadows they could find. Doctor X is the head of the school where the scientists do their research and he convinces the police to let him conduct his own investigation with his own experiments to clear his fellow professors' names. The mystery is well handled, there are several good scenes that build up suspense and it's overall quite fun, but sadly it's marred by the comic relief of the newspaper reporter. Every line and every word has to be said with smarm or as a "zinger". It completely takes the steam out of anything built up previously. Overall it's good - averaging between fantastic and annoying.

The Return (2006 - Asif Kapadia) - I don't remember much about the response to the Sarah Michelle Gellar vehicle "The Return" from 5 years ago, but I'm pretty sure it wasn't overly positive. That's a bit of a shame since this was a pretty effective supernatural thriller. Oh sure, the story doesn't really go anywhere overly different than any other "why am I having these visions of someone else's past?" movie, but it does it with (for the most part) striking visuals and a very patient approach. There are several long moments of silence and a mostly tempered soundtrack that helps keep you concerned for Gellar's character as she feels a strong pull to return to her native Texas. There's a car crash in her past, but she is also increasingly disturbed by images intruding on her reality from a place she's never been. It falls into a few of the standard traps, but resists going for too many easy scares by relying on the audience's empathy with the central character. One major issue with the film, though, is its use of the sudden zoom effect - you know the one where for no reason at all the camera seems to lurch forward like there's some auto-correcting zoom feature? It's used enough in the film to be extremely distracting and somewhat infuriating. It makes sense (to a certain extent) when being used in faux-documentaries to ape a cameraman trying to figure out the right shot and framing for something happening in front of them, but it's completely nonsensical to use in a film like this. Sometimes a single bad choice like that can ruin an entire experience, but fortunately there's enough in the rest of this film that allows me to overlook that glaring misstep.

October Horror 2011 - Chapter #7

2011-10-30T20:02:00.005-05:00

Here's a sneak peek at the last batch of horror films from my month long bender (which will fall far short of last year's number due to Toronto After Dark switching back to October):

The Deaths Of Ian Stone (2007 - Dario Piana) - Though I haven't seen many of the "8 Films To Die For" series (otherwise known as the "After Dark Horrorfest" which shows its independent films over an eight day span in nationwide theatres), I haven't heard a whole lot of positive response to any of the films even though last year's fest was the fifth one. However, the concept for "The Deaths Of Ian Stone" sounded too good to pass up: the titular character dies every night only to wake up in a completely different life. Promising stuff that could go one of any number of directions. Unfortunately it chose one that abandons its premise early on for life sucking ghostly monsters that can take human form. Worse than that though, its main character is just simply unlikeable. Even worse, he's just boring. As is the set of CGI-heavy effects of people turning into these black death spirit thingies. When he suddenly wakes up in a new life, Ian Stone has no recollection of his previous one so it just changes the situations within which this bland unsympathetic character exists. How exciting is that? Whatever rules the story had are shuffled to the side and it becomes generic in its rush to redeem Stone. If this is representative of the "8 Films to Die For" series, I can see why I haven't seen overwhelming response to it (though you'll see shortly, it isn't completely representative).

The Mask Of Fu Manchu (1932 - Charles Brabin) - Now here's an interesting artifact of the early 30s...Filled with great set design, interesting shot selections and a whole lot more torture than you might expect, the film also engages in some of the worst casual racism that side of "Breakfast At Tiffany's". It's not just the indiscriminate references to "the yellow man" (after all, Fu Manchu throws it right back at them with his hopes to eradicate "the white man"), but the thought that Asians think of nothing else but to rule the world. While the British wish only to find Genghis Khan's old artifacts to preserve them in a museum (even though they break into his old chambers with nary a thought to its preservation), Fu Manchu and his "hordes" want them so that they can convince the rest of Asia to follow them into world domination. When the Brits discover that this is the plan, they double their efforts to get there first. They do, but Fu Manchu has several devious plans up his sleeve to get them back. Possibly the worst moment of all was the patronizing comment from the wealthy English archaeologist to a Chinese waiter congratulating him for not aspiring to anything more than what he was and avoiding the fields of medicine, science and exploration. Perhaps I was reading the film wrong, but aside from some of the great visuals the story didn't have much else to hold it together, so I had to focus on something...

Private Parts (1972 - Paul Bartel) - This randomly selected title was quite the fine little surprise. Directed by Bartel (probably best known for "Eating Raoul"), it focuses on horrors of a more psychological nature - specifically those that arise from one's sexual urges. Young Cheryl is a runaway and ends up at her Aunt Martha's hotel looking to bum room and board for as long as she can. Her combination of naivete and curiosity about using her sex appeal is a concern to Martha (played by the great Lucille Benson - look her up, you'll know her) who will not stand for any of those "painted women" in her hotel. She also likes to frequent funerals in order to see the spirits of the dead rising heavenward. As much as Cheryl tells Martha not to worry, she can't help flirting with handymen until her attention focuses on George the photographer. He's a rather strange bird who has his own ideas about sex (confused as they may be) and one hell of an interesting photo studio. Cheryl works herself into rather dangerous predicaments while Martha attempts to keep her building pure. Battle lines become drawn and the final confrontation gets set. Like many of the horror films from the 70s, though, the curve balls are always ready to be thrown. Not just at the end either - you never quite know where things are headed at any point in the story. Bartel does a great job of pacing things out and keeping you always a bit off centre. If the acting is slightly dodgy at times, it's never overly distracting and doesn't take away from one of the more interesting horrors of the early 70s.

The Abandoned (2006 - Nacho Cerda) - While at the Toronto After Dark festival this year, the title of this film came up a couple of times - mostly due to the fact that one of its writers (Karim Hussain) was quite involved in the anthology "The Theatre Bizarre" that played the fest. By sheer coincidence (or was it...), I happened to stumble across the DVD of it at a charity sale in our office building a few days after hearing about its underrated status. So I snagged it for a couple of bucks and tossed it in the player. It was only then that I discovered that it was another of the "8 Films To Die For" series (though from a different year than the aforementioned "The Deaths Of Ian Stone"). The disillusionment set in, but I decided to press forward. Fortunately, it didn't take long to assuage my nervousness. First, it's a gorgeous looking film whose predominant greens and blues still cover a broad spectrum. Secondly, it is creepy as all get out. It centres around Marie - a 40-ish successful business woman who has returned to Russia to learn more of her roots after being abandoned by her parents as a baby. She travels to the old house of her parents and finds that not only can she not leave, but that her twin brother has also come to the same spot. As they encounter ghostly presences of themselves and piece together what happened years ago, they wonder if they have been summoned back in order to be finished off in the manner they should have been years ago. Even though there are few characters here, it is highly effective in pulling you deeper into Marie's predicament and dreading each new entry into a darkly lit place with a flashlight. After remembering that the "8 Films To Die For" also ran "Reincarnation" (the terrific film by "Ju-On: The Grudge" director Takashi Shimizu) and discovering that "The Broken" (a rather spiffy little thriller by Sean Ellis) was also part of it, I may just be turned around on the idea. But then I think of "The Deaths Of Ian Stone" and I reconsider all over again...

Toronto After Dark 2011 - "Father's Day"

2011-10-30T19:26:00.005-05:00

"Father's Day" is pretty much the perfect exploitation film. It will offend many with its graphic images and content (both bloody and sexual) while it embraces the anything-goes aesthetics of many of the films from the 1970s that range from impressively realistic gore to ridiculous use of stock footage. Its plot begins with a search for a serial killer and from there mutates with a speed and force rarely seen outside the viruses found in bad sci-fi movies. Strippers, priests, male prostitutes, bears, chainsaws, hallucinogens, demons, a visit to Hell and probably even a kitchen sink or two are smashed together, blended until each has been reduced to gooey chunks and then splattered back up on screen with a joyful exuberance. It's sick, gory, disgustingly gross and very, very funny.

However, let me be very clear up front: The opening 10 minutes of the film is extremely nasty stuff and enough to thoroughly repulse just about anyone but the purest of gorehounds. A rapist of fathers (it's explained that he doesn't like woman, but never stated why he only goes after the Dads) is on the loose and we join him in the middle of a particularly, um, gruesome violation of another human. Having seen the faux-trailer for the film last year (which led the Canadian filmmaking team Astron-6 to make a full version of the film for the folks at Troma), it wasn't really a surprise - that trailer is full-on Grindhouse at its ickiest - but that first section began to validate my fears that the movie was going to be completely in that same vein. A strange thing happens after a few minutes of this type of gore though - it's pitched so way over the top that you can't actually take any of it seriously and it becomes more of a parody than anything else (though a disgustingly Lurid one).

Of course, nothing remains very stable in this movie for long. Even though a team of three band together to stop the evil Fuckman (yes, occasionally they stoop to juvenile humour), the father raping aspects of the plot mostly disappear. Not only was this rather welcomed, but it also fits right into the standard templates of the exploitation films - how many were actually faithful to their original concepts by the time they had run their course? There's still loads more bloodshed and what you might call "vivid" images, but once the humour kicks in it all meshes into somewhat of a thank-you card to these grindhouse style films. The actors (most of them members of the Astron-6 team) occasionally go for big emotional moments or speak in halting ways just like the "bad" acting that is associated with the genre, but it's obviously on purpose and isn't used to the extent that it becomes tiring or a single joke. They actually stay in their characters, have subtle well-timed comedic moments and never wink directly at the audience. Combined with the visual riffs on the genre (obvious rear projection footage during an explosion, etc.) and a willingness to change the plot almost on a whim, the film starts to pile laughs on top of absurdities on top of laughs on top of absurdities.

Which is why a description of the plot is relatively pointless. If you want to hear about where the story goes before deciding whether you want to see the film, you're approaching this particular movie all wrong. The Astron-6 folks have put together a loving tribute to 70s exploitation films that careens with controlled abandon across the genre's tropes, styles and limitations while never losing sense of the fun. Or the goo.

Toronto After Dark 2011 - "Absentia"

2011-10-26T09:22:00.006-05:00

If there was one piece of hype that was circulating during this year's Toronto After Dark festival, it was that the relatively low-budget horror film "Absentia" would shake us all, was easily the scariest thing we would see all week, possibly all year and that we should prepare ourselves...And if there was one thing that the crowd (at least those that I talked to afterwards) mostly agreed on after seeing the film was that the hype had improperly set everyone's expectations. The film didn't actually scare the pants off anyone or make them jump out of their seats to the rafters as advertised (except for one early scare that was executed brilliantly and made several people actually cry out). However, it did end up being the kind of real horror movie that lets its concepts sit and stew with you and provide fodder for the deep dark corners of your mind to pick up and play with when you aren't paying attention. This applies not only to the specific horror on screen but to a larger thematic look at the idea of being abandoned. So though there was a great deal of consensus that the film wasn't as outright scary as expected, there also seemed to be almost as much agreement that it was an excellent dramatic depiction of deeply felt horror.

The title comes from the decision to call someone dead after they have been "in absentia" for a period of time. Essentially, if after 7 years (in this case) a missing person hasn't shown up anywhere and it's just like they dropped off the face of the Earth, then they can be declared legally dead. The film opens as Tricia struggles with just such a decision so she can close the final chapter of her husband's own disappearance 7 years ago. Her younger sister Callie has come to visit in order to help her with the final "death in absentia" paperwork and some packing before she moves out of the house to start a new life. Considering Tricia is pregnant, she should really be ready to move on, but the final submission of the papers and acceptance of her husband's death (even if their marriage wasn't completely successful) is a big step. So big, in fact, that she begins to see a ghostly version of him at almost every turn - his hollowed out eye sockets still fixing on her in an accusatory manner. Are these simple manifestations of her attempts at closure or is his spirit really trying to break through back to her? The answer might lie in a nearby walkway tunnel that seems to be a focal point for several disappearances.

This initial section provides the majority of the film's spookiness via these apparitions and it leaves the viewer in a distinct state of tension as Tricia waits for the final death certificate and packs up the house. As mentioned above, one particular moment delivered a solid jolt to the audience - but not simply as a loud jump scare. After several of the apparitions had already built up a level of dread, one particular reveal gave a solid punch to the gut due to both surprise and a deep concern for the character. The crowd's reaction of laughter afterwards was a mix of release as well as a group admittance that "they got us" and it's one of the great things about watching horror with a packed audience. If you build up to those moments via character and tension, you can pull the audience even further into the story. This is why the crowd stayed involved with the film even though it eventually moved away from the spooky apparitions and focused the horror on things both more personal and more concrete. Particularly after a specific event happens that throws Tricia's life into turmoil yet again.

Tricia and Callie talk about the main theme of the movie in several scenes and from different angles - not just from the point of view of being abandoned by someone, but also feeling the temptation to just walk away from a situation yourself. In other words: to leave it all behind, drop your problems and abandon the people currently in your life that feel like a burden. Callie left home as a teenager and has roamed from one location to another getting into trouble and falling into drugs (yet another form of escape). She has found religion, but even it isn't always there to help her. Tricia takes a more buddhist slant and meditates to calm herself and prevent her own desire to flee. The different ways that the film brings in the characters' feelings of abandonment and their desire to do the same to others is its main strength. How horrific would it be to lose your spouse without knowing why? Or even worse, your child? And how crushing would it be if there was hope they had returned only for it to be quashed yet again? It becomes easy to sympathize with the desire to pack it all in yourself at those points. It's made even easier in this case due to the very strong performances by Courtney Bell and Katie Parker in the lead roles. They interact wonderfully well together whether it's love life discussions or nasty fights. They make the characters wholly believable and so when they are in jeopardy (real or imagined), you easily slip into their shoes with them. When a horror film can do this, it removes the necessity for the big special effect or the crashing scare. As evidence, two particular scenes had the crowd curling up in their seats just a little bit more than they already were. One involved a bathroom with a billowing shower curtain and another a very slow zoom into pitch black darkness while a character's face remained just in frame to the side. If neither scene really "paid off", the horror you felt for the characters in the moment was very real.

October Horror 2011 - Chapter #6

2011-10-25T13:41:00.004-05:00

I've had my eye on Toronto After Dark the last few days (and the next few as well), so the output has been a bit slower. Some good solid movies in this batch...

Pin (1988 - Sandor Stern) - "Pin" is not your ordinary doll/horror movie. Partially because "he" is a medical mannequin (used as a teaching device) instead of a child's toy, but also because the film relies much more heavily on the psychological horror aspects of a young boy's development into an adult than any Chucky style attack. As young kids, Leon and his little sister Ursula are transfixed by Pin when their father uses it as a ventriloquist's dummy and teaches them certain lessons. Ursula realizes Pin is only a dummy at a young age, but Leon continues to think that Pin is an actual living being and part of their family. As he matures and can't count on his parent's support or help in typical growing up matters, he goes to Pin without his father being present (disobeying a strict order) and communicates with him. His father (another dose of Terry O'Quinn - that's two for the month!) decides to remove Pin from the house, but after a car accident leaves Leon and Ursula as orphaned teens, Pin becomes more and more of an influence to Leon's life. It's not filled with jump scares nor will it make you shiver in your seat, but it's something that aims at the horror of a broken individual. It's hampered occasionally by some inadequate acting in several roles (though David Hewlett as the older Leon is quite good), but it worked far better than I expected it would.

Amer (2009 - Helene Cattet, Bruno Forzani) - Gobs of style. Style piled on style over style - with style on the side. Cattet and Forzani's tribute to the cinematography and atmosphere of Italian giallos mostly dispenses with dialogue and even, to a certain extent story. It's premise focuses mainly on the sexual awakening of the same woman in three different stages - confusion (child), curiosity (teenager) & desire (adult) - with witches, murder and a variety of other real and surreal occurrences thrown in for good measure. It's quick cutting, very arty and may drive some people for the Tylenol (or the remote), but I loved it. It creates very specific moods for each of the three stages and though there appears to be very little resolution in what occurs, the trip through it all kept me completely engaged because of the tension of truly not knowing where any of the stories were going and how they would present the next images. The colour (particularly in the opening section) is glorious and pretty much every shot is unconventional. Certainly self-conscious, but still quite the beautiful thing to see - in particular if you like rampant usage of close-ups of people's eyes. Unnerving at times and a wonderful example of someone who wants to play and experiment in a given style.

Burnt Offerings (1976 - Dan Curtis) - In between making his two made-for-TV horror anthologies ("Trilogy Of Terror" and the recently viewed "Dead Of Night") director Dan Curtis snuck in this tidy slow-burn feature about a family that moves into an old mansion as caretakers for the summer. Oliver Reed and Karen Black play the parents and neither bring a whole lot of subtlety to their roles - which is perfect for a film like this. The owners of the house ask only that the couple leave a tray of food once a day for their elderly mother who lives in the room upstairs. "The house takes care of itself" they say and this becomes apparent as it slowly seems to rejuvenate as the family slowly falls apart. The father is haunted by memories of his own father's funeral (and a really creepy hearse driver) while Mom becomes strangely devoted to the unseen old lady upstairs as well as her daily house cleaning tasks. Their aunt (played by Bette Davis) is also with them and as her health starts to fail, she drives a further wedge between the couple. Her health woes certainly can't be due to malnutrition, though, since the sicker she gets, the more Davis chews the scenery. Again though, it's essentially in service to the film and its possessed house - the longer they stay, the more of themselves they give away. It doesn't all work, but it provides a perfect resolution and ends up being quite satisfying. And Karen Black always kinda creeps me out in these roles - you just never know how her characters are going to react.

The Ruins (2008 - Carter Smith) - There were moments early on during "The Ruins" where I thought I had made a tragic error - I had heard this was one of the better recent Hollywood horrors, but during the character introductions I felt that I had seen these beautiful young people a hundred times before and therefore thought I knew exactly what I was about to see. Fortunately, I was quite wrong in my cynical assumptions. Instead of simply getting lost inside a set of old ruins while each dull character gets killed off by old supernatural ghosts, the story sets up a more horrific natural threat - the vines that grow on and surround the off the map pyramid-like structure the characters have come to visit after their week of partying in Mexico. It sounds a bit silly (and certainly is at times - particularly those flowers that mimic sounds), but along with the additional issue of being stranded on the ruins in the jungle surrounded by locals who won't let them leave (in order not to allow the plant lifeform to spread elsewhere), it sets up a fine scenario that lets you play "what would I do?" while the characters work through their own options. One of the most terrifying aspects are those locals - not because of any of their specific actions, but it's their inaction that is frightening. Instead of helping or even simply killing these trespassers, they have forced everyone who has come into contact with the plant to remain on the ruins knowing full well that the vines will take care of the problem for them. There's some needless gore in a few sequences, but overall it mostly avoids the obvious and spins out an effective tale of terror.

Toronto After Dark 2011 - "Midnight Son"

2011-10-25T07:43:00.006-05:00

The vampire mythology continues to retain its hold on our collective imaginations as it works its way through film, TV shows, literature and, as many North American doorsteps will undoubtedly encounter in about a week’s time, fashion and costume design. There’s good reason – it taps into some deep seated fears of death reaching out to you anywhere, the intimate turning into the violent and your own life’s blood be drained away. Not to mention the promise of eternal life. It also comes with a whole variety of different aspects to the myth that can be added or modified to the same basic premise to allow for countless possibilities of stories to be told. Whether you like your vampires with wings, fangs or sparkles, the legend remains and the stories keep spawning from it. The latest example is Scott Leberecht’s many-years-in-the-making Midnight Son which takes yet another approach – strip the myth down to its basic elements and drop it into the real world. Akin to George Romero’s best film (IMO) Martin, but with superior acting and even more sympathetic characters, Midnight Son succeeds on just about every level as a storytelling vehicle: a genre exercise, a different spin on a well-worn legend, an examination of several themes (loneliness, self-realization) and a simple love story. It is easily the best told tale of the festival so far.

Jacob is a 24 year-old nighttime security guard at an office building. He’s pale, skinny and a fairly blank slate. His “skin condition” has forced him out of the sun since he was quite young and his apartment is sealed tightly from any external shafts of light. However, he seems to be undergoing even more health issues of late – though he eats everything in sight, he simply can no longer satiate his hunger. His sallow complexion is of concern to his doctor until one day Jacob stumbles on draining the juice from a raw meat package. He immediately notices how his system reacts to the red liquid and starts making regular visits to a local butcher for containers of animal blood (which he sneaks into work inside his coffee thermos). It’s yet another stumbling block on the road of life for Jacob and things become even more complicated when he meets Mary. She has her own problems (dead-end jobs and a blossoming coke habit), but the two have an easy rapport upon their first meeting. On their first date, they don’t even leave the apartment as Mary jumps him after stealing a rather large snort in the bathroom. This results in a nasty nose bleed that trickles into Jacob’s mouth and an even more intense realization from his body about what he really needs – human blood. Now the real challenge begins for Jacob.

The biblical names of the characters are obviously not chosen by accident (though the commonality of “Jacob” with the Twilight films is – director Leberecht mentioned that he began the script before “Twilight” was a known entity) and Jacob indeed meets many personal struggles. Though he initially finds a possible source of human blood at the back of a local hospital in the guise of an orderly, he finds that it will be at the expense of others. His job is at risk due not only to his health but because his temper and inability to control a new strength may get him in trouble. He also worries that he may have killed a woman in the parking lot outside his office building, but he can’t quite remember. Most frustratingly perhaps, is the inability for he and Mary to actually make it through a lovemaking session as his vampiric tendencies keep trying to take over. To help ground the story in a “possible” reality, Leberecht has made an excellent decision to limit the vampire characteristics to two basic elements: need for human blood and aversion to sunshine. However, the strongest part of the film is the relationship between Jacob and Mary. They converse easily and the attraction between them is wholly believable. The dialogue feels natural and helps to create characters that keep you engaged. The performances by both Zak Kilberg and Maya Parish are exceptional and they carry every moment of the story. The whole cast though – from veteran Tracey Walter to relatively young newcomer Arlen Escarpeta – is superb, so credit must land with Leberecht as well in preserving the proper tone across a story that could easily fall into using standard genre tropes.

If there are any issues with the film, they are mostly minor. A somewhat flat look to the picture occasionally dilutes the otherwise quite beautifully lensed and composed images. As well, there are several plot points that seem somewhat forced or perhaps a tad too convenient. To nitpick is to miss the point though – this is a character based story whose theme of overcoming loneliness by being true to yourself makes use of familiar genre elements. Movies like Midnight Son ensure that the myth of vampires will be as eternal as Dracula himself.

Toronto After Dark 2011

2011-10-20T16:20:00.002-05:00

Toronto After Dark 2011 (the 6th edition of the festival) starts today and its the biggest festival yet. 18 films (with the opening film "Monster Brawl" getting two screenings on opening night) and a raft of shorts over the next 8 days easily makes it the largest in TAD history. But will it be the best.

I'll admit, even though this is my favourite fest of the year (the audience is a blast, I've made oodles of friends and each fest brings in a couple of films that usually make my top 10 for the year), I was a TAD concerned when the initial 8 films were announced...The zombie films looked a bit uninspired, there was a post-apocalyptic film, a sci-fi anime on its way to DVD, a Troma film (my unabashed hatred of their "Mother's Day" certainly doesn't put me in the mood for the screening of "Father's Day") and the opener looked, well, flat. However, by the time a few friends talked me down off the ledge and the remaining films were announced, I was primed, excited and ready for the fest. The anime film has several people quite excited, the Troma film is apparently not at all like "Mother's Day" and the festival always allows for fun to be had. So, to sum up, I'm just as psyched for the festival to start as I always am. Maybe more.

Here's a few of my top picks from the full lineup:

The Innkeepers (Ti West)

I swear, I don't even really know what the movie is about and it's number one on my list (I had even expressed hope before the lineup was announced that it would be included). West's previous film was the wonderful "House Of The Devil" that took the slow and steady tension builds of the 70s and rode them all the way through a rather silly (though still kinda fun) ending. The very, very end of the film also harked back to some of the bleeker 70s films, so I'm very much on board with whatever he does next. Early reviews from other festivals have been very strong, so this sounds like a great way to close the festival (screens on Thursday Oct. 27th at 9:45PM).

The Woman (Lucky McKee)

Most people will have heard about this film due to some ruckus (still not sure if it was genuine or not) that it caused at Sundance. My interest, once again, stems from the director - McKee's "May" was one of the more original horrors from a few years ago and if nothing from him since has quite matched it, everything has something of interest and usually with an unsettling tone that keeps you engaged (screens on Thursday Oct. 27th at 7:00PM).

The Corridor (Evan Kelly)

OK, a cabin in the woods movie at this stage shouldn't get me too excited, but when the words "palpable dread" are used to describe it, I can't help myself. Also, it's a Canadian film and I'm coming off of the Toronto International Film Festival with a renewed strong opinion of what my country has been releasing of late (screens on Wednesday Oct. 26th at 7:00PM).

A Lonely Place To Die (Julian Gibley)

I'm going on the strength of word of mouth for this one - just about anybody I talked to who went to ActionFest in North Caroline earlier this year has blathered almost rhapsodically about how fantastic this thriller is. You could see how intense a movie about cliff climbers being the targets of deadly snipers might be, so count me in (screens on Monday Oct. 24th at 9:45PM).

Absentia (Mike Flanagan)

OK, on the surface this looks a bit like any other recent Hollywood supernatural ghost story, but I've every reason to believe that it will separate itself from that lackluster pack. For one thing, as a low-budget independent, there's ample room to avoid the pitfalls and hopefully be creative with how they will bring some atmosphere to the tale. Also, some early reviews mention that it suffers none of the stereotypes or poor acting that many of its cousins do (screens on Monday Oct. 24th at 7:00PM).

The Theatre Bizarre (Tom Savini, Richard Stanley, Douglas Buck, Karim Hussain, Buddy Giovinazzo, David Gregory, Jeremy Kasten)

I can't help it - I really enjoy anthology movies. I should have no reason to think that this particular one will match the quality of the old Hammer and Amicus vehicles or even some of the mid-70s one off films, but there's almost always a few good ideas and memorable moments (come on, who can forget the tiny evil doll from "Trilogy Of Terror"?) so I remain hopeful (screens on Sunday Oct. 23rd at 7:00PM).

Love (William Eubanks)

On the opposite end of indie horror, sometimes indie sci-fi can be a dangerous place to lurk - if they can manage to refrain from attempting too many special effects, they typically (in my experience) get derailed by the "big" ideas and can't find their way to a point. It's entirely possible that "Love" may suffer a similar fate, but the story has enough to make it worth the effort to find out: its main protagonist is left all alone on a space station when humanity is destroyed on Earth and while he begins to adjust to a long, lonely life ahead, he finds a secret that may change all his previous ideas about what exactly life is. OK, I'm intrigued (screens on Sunday Oct. 23rd at 4:00PM).

I'm betting that there will be some gems in the rest of the field as well. If not, it's almost as much fun discussing where things went wrong in the Pub After Dark. Though the festival shifts to the Toronto Underground this year (while the beloved Bloor Cinema gets some renovations), it won't impact the eagerness of the crowd to have fun. If it does, Manborg will set them straight...

Wiebo's War

2011-10-19T09:37:00.005-05:00

With "Wiebo's War" being released to several theatres this week, I thought I should republish a review I wrote earlier in the Spring while it screened at the Hot Docs 2011 film festival. It's fascinating, heartbreaking and easily one of the best documentaries I've seen all year. A list of cities screening it can be found at the bottom of the review.

Typically, the best documentaries are the ones that make you look at something from a different angle, approach a situation or person in a way you never expected and even further educate you on a topic that you thought you already knew. For example, if you're Canadian, you may think you know the story of Wiebo Ludwig. If the name rings a bell or two, it is more than likely the warning kind that signals "crackpot". Director David York's current day look at the man, his closed community and the history of his battles with the oil companies drilling near his land may not completely change your view of Wiebo, but it might give you some insight into some of his actions.

Some background first...Ludwig was implicated in several oil pipeline bombings in Alberta and B.C. in the late 90s and involved in the shooting death of a young teenage girl on his property. He was charged and found guilty on several counts of vandalism that related to the explosions and served close to 2 years in prison before being released and allowed to return to his community's compound. The community is a devout Christian one that he has built up with several families and is mostly self-sufficient which allows them to stay insulated - apart from the occasional trip to town - from the rest of society. Of course, given that oil production is a big part of the economic engine in this region, many people weren't exactly happy with Wiebo's alleged involvement with those bombings and he and his family weren't overly welcomed in town. One night in 1999, a group of teenagers went joyriding on his property and before you could say "stupid prank gone wrong", a young girl was dead. As reported at the time, Wiebo came across as an eco-terrorist who had a borderline cult deep in the backwoods of Northern Alberta backing him up.

With a new series of bombings beginning in 2008, York brought his cameras into Ludwig's compound to attempt to get a better look at their secluded life and delve into both the new and old oil company issues. It doesn't appear that it will be a smooth ride at the outset, though, as York is questioned by Wiebo and his sons about his atheism: "What gives you the right to deny the existence of God?" asks one of them. This early going may not help change viewers' minds about Ludwig's apparent fundamentalist religious mindset, but as York seems to win their trust, religion recedes into the background during the rest of the film. Let me be clear: any intimations of Ludwig and his family being "crackpots" is NOT based on their specific religious views, but strictly on their reclusiveness combined with what was termed to be an extreme response to their fears of oil exploration.

Here's the thing though...Their fears end up being completely and wholly realized. Shortly after the initial drillings, sour gas leaks near their property were the likely causes of several illnesses in their families, dozens of miscarriages among the animals and 5 separate miscarriages by Wiebo's own daughters and daughters-in-law. In one absolutely devastating moment, home footage shows the family's funeral of a still born baby and the burial they give it. It is shocking, gruesome and deeply disturbing (I rarely turn away from images on the screen, but I couldn't handle this one for much more than a few seconds). Two days after that footage was shot several bombings (the ones Ludwig was eventually sentenced for) occurred at oil facilities. Though it could also be said that the footage exploits that particular tragedy, York has by this point put together (using current day footage as well as home documents from a decade previous) an interesting portrait of the community - the young women seem wonderfully sweet, they all provide for themselves and they appear to be quite happy. Combine this with numerous other facts about the case that never surfaced to the general population (e.g. the RCMP actually purposely staging an explosion as a means of accusing Ludwig to find out more information, etc.) and you begin to see why Ludwig is no big fan of oil drilling or the government. The news at the end of the film that new drilling is about to begin right near the community's water supply again is - especially as we hear Ludwig's tearful declaration to his family that they must endure - heartbreaking.

Nothing excuses many of Ludwig's actions. Whatever danger he and his family may have thought they were in from the joy riding teenagers, someone pulled that trigger and killed a young girl. As well, the bombings of private property were not only obviously illegal, but dangerous to many innocent people. After watching "Wiebo's War", I haven't changed my opinions on his actions or beliefs, but I'd like to think I've gained a better understanding of his point of view. Certainly the sign of a terrific documentary.

October 14 at the Mayfair Theatre, Ottawa (David York in attendance on October 14 and 15)

October 19 at the Winnipeg Film Group Cinematheque

October 21 at the Vancity Theatre, Vancouver

October 21 at the Plaza Theatre, Calgary

October 21 at the Metro Cinema, Edmonton (David York, Bonnie Thompson and Wiebo Ludwig in attendance on October 22)

October 21 at The Royal, Toronto (David York in attendance on October 21)

October Horror 2011 - Chapter #5

2011-10-18T13:35:00.004-05:00

Just for the record, Elisha Cook Jr. is awesome. I thought that needed to be said.

Dead Of Night (1977 - Dan Curtis) - No, not the classic 1945 anthology of horror stories called "Dead Of Night", this is the 1977 not-quite-as-classic anthology of horror stories called "Dead Of Night". In this case, it's three completely separate unlinked stories (without even a wraparound story for good measure) that were made for TV and bundled together as a single movie. Actually, there is one uniting characteristic across all three of them: each story was written by Richard Matheson (he of "I Am Legend" fame and countless other novels and short stories). It shows through in the concepts behind the stories and the way they are structured (if not in every spoken line) and this helps to make for a quite entertaining 70 odd minutes. The opening story is the least effective, but that may be partially due to my inability to see Ed Begley Jr. as anything but the perpetually goofy Dr. Victor Erhlich from TV's "St. Elsewhere". He plays a young man devoted to restoring old cars and finds that his latest project has actually driven him back to its own past. I like the way the time travel element is handled (no weird vortex needs to be entered, etc.) and where the story ends up, but it's all rather flatly told. On par with an average Twilight Zone episode (which still isn't exactly bad). The second story moves things in a more interesting direction even though it begins and initially unfolds as your typical Victorian vampire story. Patrick Macnee stars as the concerned husband who calls in a friend to help find the reasons behind his wife's apparent vampire attack wounds. The town is locking itself up at night and the servants have departed, but things may not be what you expect. A very nicely told and quite tense thriller. The final story simply entitled "Bobby" is, apparently, the one everyone remembers from its original showing on TV (similar to how everyone remembers that last story in "Trilogy Of Terror" with the tribal doll) and it's obvious why that is. After a distraught mother contacts the spirit world and asks that her recently drowned son be returned to her, she gets a big surprise - he shows up in the pouring rain on the doorstep. However, and you had to see this coming, all is not what it may seem...The boy starts to question and turn on her until it becomes a bit of a life and death hide and seek game. Terrific use of lighting to build atmosphere (yes, it's cliche to have a lightning storm happen during these type of scenes, but it establishes mood wonderfully well) and a kicker of a final image (that also leaves the viewer to fill in the blanks as to what happens next). I can imagine the talk in the grade 7 hallways the day after this aired...

Day Of The Dead (1985 - George Romero) - Took me awhile to get to the third installment of Romero's "Dead" films, but I'm (mostly) glad I finally got there. I'll blame Romero's tandem non-Dead films "Martin" and "The Crazies" for delaying me as I felt I needed to see them first. That actually worked out well since the former is likely his best film and the latter was still very solid and led to an even more solid remake. Back to zombies though..."Day Of The Dead" shares a lot with its predecessors: zombie bloodshed, crappy acting, rag tag group of individuals hemmed in by zombies, terrible character development, a satirical approach to broader subjects and poorly thought out dialogue. The good moments are awfully entertaining as the zombies really tear into their victims (apparently you really need to dig out those central organs for the tasty sections) and you never can quite tell when the next kill is going to happen. Yeah, the gore and effects are over the top, but I laughed long and heartily along with them. The overlong scenes of this group of twelve talking (I think it's safe to say that stating that the movie ends with fewer than that is not a spoiler) occasionally threaten to derail the whole enterprise, but it always managed to save itself. The military characters are far too one-dimensionally racist, power-hungry and violent which in turn makes them awfully dull and waters down the larger satire of military control over large populations. Particularly when the scientists aren't exactly an engaging lot either...Still, the zombie carnage is highly entertaining.

Mark Of The Vampire (1935 - Tod Browning) - At only an hour, Browning doesn't have a whole lot of time to pack in his story, his characters, his monsters and his creepiness into "Mark Of The Vampire, but he still somehow manages to do so in a very satisfying way. And that's even with a complete change of pace, plot, story and mood with about 10 minutes left. I'll admit I wasn't overly thrilled with that particular turning point, but it made for something different and certainly can't take away from the fun of the preceding 50 minutes. As you watch all the scenes of Dracula (Bela Legosi) and Luna slowly walking the halls of their mansion or wandering towards their prey at night, it becomes obvious that Browning had worked extensively in silent movies. The silence of those scenes and the glowing of the monsters provide all the spookiness you might want (bonus: lots of spiders, bugs and bats thrown in for good measure). Browning isn't afraid to add some subtlety either - whether it's having Luna just slightly widen her eyes in order to command her victim or changing up the lighting for an added surreal effect. He also wisely decides not to add any broad humour which, for me, sometimes impacts how well some of these old horrors work (see "The Black Cat").

30 Days Of Night (2007 - David Slade) - Both better and worse than I expected. The look of the film is sharp, detailed and quite lovely given that most of it happens "at night" (the story occurs in the Northern reaches of Alaska where the winter has just moved into a month of darkness) and the colours remain deep and rich. The action is actually comprehensible and not completely chaotic (only occasionally suffering from jittery fast motion) and the performances by Josh Hartnett (not one of my favourite actors) and Melissa George are strong and feel right for the characters. The flip side is that the story strains at its edges to make sure you believe the 30 days of darkness angle, but by trying to close off the realistic avenues of escape for its characters, it can't help but then make you think about what they missed or got wrong. And it's not a short list. First and foremost is the idea that as soon as the sun sets on a specific day (at which point a good chunk of the population leave for areas of greater daylight), it then literally completely disappears for a full month. I can let that slide (though it's a bit frustrating), but the vampires are another issue. Initially they appear to be interesting in both design and behaviour, but when they start speaking to each other in their own language (with nothing of interest to say) and don't stay consistent in their actions (their intelligence as well as their strength seems to waver throughout), I got a bit bored of them. Having said that, the film does provide some good tension as well as surprises and at just under 2 hours doesn't feel overly long. It's ending was somewhat unsatisfying though - whether it was partially to do wanting to leave a crack open for a sequel or just laziness towards wrapping things up is hard to say.

October Horror 2011 - Chapter #4

2011-10-14T07:55:00.002-05:00

It slices, it dices and it delivers horror!

Man In The Attic (1953 - Hugo Fregonese) - This 1953 retelling of Jack The Ripper, even at a fairly lean and condensed 82 minutes, feels a bit stretched - particularly with the two (not very good) musical numbers thrown in. Granted, they do provide moments which allow the infamous slasher (an alternately socially awkward and frightening Jack Palance) to get all hot and bothered by the main dancer's overt sexuality. After moving into the upstairs rooms of the dancer's parents' house (the economy has impacted the family so they need to take in borders), Jack becomes the object of desire for the dancer and feels attraction for her as well. Unfortunately his prior scars haven't quite healed and he is compelled to occasionally hit the streets and commit his heinous acts. There's nary a drop of on-screen violence, but there's some nice shadowplay and the two main killing scenes are somewhat chilling in how the women react to the unseen killer. Overall, not too bad, but heavily dependent on Palance's nervous performance.

The Amityville Horror (1979 - Stuart Rosenberg) - There's something about 70s horror films - the steady creep, the look and feel of their surroundings and, as with the original "The Amityville Horror", their pace. In this case, it grabs you early and ever so gradually reels you in with very few slow spots (OK, the sex scene between James Brolin and Margot Kidder was a bit longer than I would've liked...). To be honest, not much happens for most of the movie, but it manages to keep you just a little bit nervous throughout and always waiting for the next incident. I've somehow managed to avoid this blockbuster (I believe the short doc on the DVD stated that this was the largest grossing independent film ever at the time and held the record for a good 4-5 years afterwards) up to this point - I had always thought it would be a fairly tedious affair with much mumbo-jumbo. Instead it's quite engaging and all the mumbo-jumbo segments are delivered with a whole lot of gusto from both Rod Steiger and Helen Shaver. The ending sort of gets away from the film a bit and it sputters just when it should be vrooming, but when a movie can build the tension this well (and throw in a bleeding stairway too), that can be forgiven.

Mad Love (1935 - Karl Freund) - Based on "The Hands Of Orlac" (the basis for a whole raft of other films, including the 1924 silent of the same name directed by Robert Wiene who also did "The Cabinet Of Dr. Caligari"), this version is dominated by the presence of Peter Lorre. Not an authoritative presence, but one that demands just as much attention - in just about every frame he is unsettling, creepy and somewhat disturbing. His performance might be viewed as slightly comic by today's standards, but I love how Lorre never quite relaxes into any semblance of normalcy. The lovely expressionistic sets add a good deal to the proceedings, but I must admit I wanted more - the hospital of Dr. Gogol (Lorre) is filled with uneven doors and odd shapes, but it doesn't quite get the time to really instill that sense of a world askew. And things definitely go off the rails as the story moves forward. Gogol is obsessed with Yvonne Orlac the lead actor of a local Grand Guignol style horror theatre, but she resists his advances since she is married. When her concert pianist husband has his hands crushed in a train accident, Gogol sees his chance to not only get closer to Yvonne but also to toy with her husband. After surgically replacing the pianist's mangled hands with those of a recently executed murderer, Gogol tries to convince him that he's going crazy. If the film has a flaw, it's that it's too short (68 minutes) and that it could've pulled together even more eerie moments. However, any Peter Lorre - especially of this caliber - is a good thing.

Martyrs (2008 - Pascal Laugier) - That was not a pleasant experience. That's not to say that this wasn't well-made, extraordinarily tense and even kind of brilliant at times, but the sheer brutality that happens on screen with never a pause for anything else, bordered on painful. Though it begins to make a point of how society's treatment of its young women is like a form of torture as it forces so many conventions and expectations on them, it ends up somewhere completely different. I'm not sure I liked where they ended up considering the assault I had just witnessed, but I have to admit Laugier surprised me at each turn and left me with indelible images and a few things to ponder. However, the unrelenting and nightmarish violence the women in this movie are subjected to is very hard to sit through - even though I understand the point of it in the context of the film, it does leave you wondering why you continue to watch. I didn't hate the film by any stretch, but I can't really imagine what circumstances would lead me to ever recommend this film to someone else.

October Horror 2011 - Chapter #3

2011-10-10T19:35:00.009-05:00

The horror is just gonna keep on comin'!

The Caller (2011 - Matthew Parkhill) - For a film about which I had heard absolutely nothing and which was given to me by a friend (Thanks Dave!) with the following description "It wasn't terrible...", The Caller was a very happy surprise. There are plot holes a mile wide (similar to time travel paradoxes, the story would be hard pressed not to have a few incongruous moments) and some scenes that frustrate due to the main character's poor decisions (ie. if she just did what any logical person would do, the story would have petered out), but director Matthew Parkhill injects the ever-wonderful DREAD into the movie by using great framing of his character (she appears behind bars numerous times over the course of the film) and using a very solid sound field that doesn't fall back to the same old obvious tricks. A very nice lead performance by Rachelle Lefevre rounds out this tale of a recently separated woman (with an awful ex) who answers a call in her new apartment from a stranger living 30 years in the past. As their relationship builds and deteriorates, the calls become more threatening since the past can reach out and change the future. One of the better straight to video releases I've seen in some time.

Apt Pupil (1998 - Bryan Singer) - Singer's follow-up to "The Usual Suspects" was a bit of an odd choice - a story of a high school student who, after becoming fascinated with the Holocaust in school, finds a Nazi war criminal hiding out in his own town. In exchange for hearing the Nazi officer talk about his horrible acts in the prison camps, the teenager promises to keep his years long secret safe. It gradually shifts towards a battle for control between the two and becomes an interesting look at how some people can be capable of almost anything especially when their own self-interests are in peril and their backs are up against a wall. The descriptions of the war crimes committed are indeed horrifying and truly unnerving, but basing your horror movie around these inhumane acts is a strange concept. However, as it moves away from these straight recollections, it becomes a tense battle between the teenager (Brad Renfro) and war criminal (Ian McKellen - fabulous as always). Though it stumbles a bit trying to wedge in all the closing plot points (and adds in a few more ridiculous coincidences), it still remains an effective thriller with great shot choices from Singer - from the get-go you know you are in the hands of someone who knows what to do with a camera. Its horror is certainly far beyond any monster or nighttime ghostly vision...

Phantom Of The Paradise (1974 - Brian De Palma) - De Palma's rock musical variation on Phantom Of The Opera always struck me as being a bit too goofy to really be considered a horror film. Turns out I was right, but it doesn't mean it's not fantastically fun. I'm not likely to run out and buy the soundtrack tomorrow, but the songs are actually pretty memorable and fit the within-the-film musical. Said stage production is being put on by famed record producer Swan (played by Paul Williams) after having stolen all its music from a piano player named Winslow who auditioned for him. After being framed by Swan and sent to jail, Winslow escapes, tries to stop Swan releasing his music and becomes horribly disfigured in a record pressing plant. Swan chooses a young singer (played by Jessica Harper who would go on to appear in "Suspiria") and convinces Winslow (now with a mask to hide his scarred face) to finish the musical for her. Buried below the stage of the Paradise theatre, the "phantom" works long and hard to finish the music for his new muse, but Swan has new plans for everyone. As you might expect, it doesn't quite end smoothly. The set designs and De Palma's camera angles are the real stars here and it makes for a goofy but very entertaining take on the classic horror tale. And the last 15-20 minutes or so are deliriously nuts.

Event Horizon (1997 - Paul W.S. Anderson) - It's not that I wasn't enjoying this almost 15 year-old space horror, but by the half hour mark I felt I could just stop the film and write the review. Great atmosphere, fine build-ups while searching the abandoned ship, false scares, cardboard characters, stock dialogue, lazy and mostly pointless CGI - the good stuff is good, but why-oh-why do they have to be so lazy with the rest? A fine example of this lazy thinking is the little bits of CGI refuse that rattle around the abandoned ship in weightlessness - the crew have already mentioned several times how the temperature in the long abandoned ship is a deep freeze and yet one of the items that floats by is a full water bottle complete with sloshing sounds of its contents. Picky? Sure, but it goes to show the attitude in the creation of the film. However, the first hour certainly doesn't waste a lot of time as it delivers a great vibe, never gets boring, provides a solid amount of creep and even the unwarranted jump scares are kind of fun. However, the last half hour pretty much spirals out of control in trying to literally show the private hells of some of the crew and what lies beyond the gateway the ship has opened. It's a mess and loses all the tension of the first hour. A shame.

October Horror 2011 - Chapter #2

2011-10-08T23:44:00.004-05:00

I'm licking my chops to get at this next set...

Tales From The Darkside (1990 - John Harrison) - By whatever name this film is known (it's also been called "Creepshow 3" internationally), it still follows the standard conventions of the horror anthology film: a single wraparound story allows for several disparate short tales (20 - 30 minutes each) to be told. Pros and cons abound with this approach of course, but the high watermark for me has always been the Amicus films from the late 60s and early 70s which perfected the style (for the horror genre anyway) with titles such as "The House That Dripped Blood" and "Tales From The Crypt". The law of diminishing returns seems to hold if you consider this one to be the third Creepshow entry - the first wasn't perfect, but had some very entertaining stories and a few fun "scares". The second left the inspiration behind, but still zipped it's way through it's three stories. With this edition from 1990, none of its three segments are out and out bad, but each fails to really pay off. The first is probably the best - a Mummy inflicts the same procedures done on it on others - and has the biggest name stars (Christian Slater, Steve Buscemi and a very early role for Julianne Moore), but it doesn't really have anywhere to go once it completes its first couple of kills. Still, it's well directed with some solid moments. The second (starring David Johansen) is far less effective as we watch a hit man get contracted to kill a cat. The last is really only interesting on two fronts. The first being that it is essentially a remake of "The Woman In The Snow" - my favourite of the four stories from the classic Japanese film "Kwaidan" - though it doesn't attempt to mimic the gorgeous and surreal look of the original. The second is that it provides some fine creature effects. Otherwise it was deadly dull (granted, as soon as I realized it was a remake I knew exactly where the story was going, but that's still no excuse for being dull). The less said about the wraparound story with Debbie Harry, the better.

In Dreams (1999 - Neil Jordan) - Neil Jordan tries his hand at the horror-dream film with this story of a woman who is haunted by dreams of children underwater. The true horror of these visions shows itself when she realizes that she is somehow linked with a serial child murderer and that her own young daughter may be at risk. Though the film boasts a solid cast - Annette Bening, Robert Downey Jr., Aidan Quinn and Stephen Rea - the acting is its biggest issue. Particularly the performances of Bening and Downey Jr. who both obviously try too hard. They don't necessarily have to come across as "being natural", but I shouldn't be pulled out of their scenes as I notice them "act". Having said that, the movie has many solid things going for it: the cinematography (especially underwater) is wonderful, the story (though slightly convoluted) is both surprising and engaging and the horror isn't thrust upon you in undeserved jump scares (which I admit I assumed would be the case). The frightening moments in the story are when you think about what just happened and you put yourself in the character's shoes.

Mill Of The Stone Women (1960 - Giorgio Ferroni) - This Italian film is much more Hammer gothic than Giallo (which, given its 1960 date, makes a whole lot of sense). Though it borrows heavily on Italian set design and use of colour to light tense scenes filled with anticipation, the pace and story are much closer to how the great British studio would have handled this material. The story is set around a windmill in which sits an old carousel of mannequin women who rotate around the stage whenever the wind blows and the mill's arms turn. The women appear to be models of famous women throughout history who were killed (Joan Of Arc, etc.). A young writer is hired to pen a story about the 100th anniversary of the mill and while there he meets the very ill daughter of the caretaker. She suffers from a disease that may cause her to expire almost instantaneously with any imposed stress and so she remains in the mill with her personal doctor. The young man feels that something is not right, but then wonders if he is losing his mind when he witnesses the daughter die and sees her alive and kicking again the very next day. It's a slowly paced movie that creates its mood around the mill itself. Slow camera dollys, ominous creaks and the nighttime hues all chip in to make the mill become an additional character in the film. The broad acting and overdubbed dialogue might be difficult for some to handle, but the film proves rewarding if you have the patience.

The Black Cat (1941 - Albert S. Rogell) - The second of two "The Black Cat" films that feature Bela Lugosi, this 1941 feature is a mix of comedy and haunted house similar to something like "The Old Dark House". It's a bit broader in some of its funny business (some of which is far too forced from star Broderick Crawford), but is definitely memorable for the creaks and moans the house provides, several key scenes and a great finale. I've owned the movie for well over a year (as part of the Universal Horror: Classic Movie Archive 2 disc set of 5 films), but assumed it was the earlier Black Cat film that I had seen and so put it aside for later. Fortunately there was discussion about it at both Cinema Styles and the great Arbogast's blog (if you aren't following Arbogast's 31 Screams feature throughout October, you are frittering your life away), so I dug it up. Despite some misgivings about the style of comedy, I'm still very glad I did.