Filmfest 2005 Wrap-up
It was a particularly good year for me at the Toronto International Film Festival despite being in the third-last box for the ticket lottery. With few exceptions film after film was enjoyable, even those at the bottom of the pile did not measure “down” to the historical lows. And while it’s hard to rank them all, here they are, somewhat ranked, best at the top of each list:
DOCUMENTARY FEATURES
It can be really easy to mix up a well-made documentary with a merely well-intentioned one whose message you believe in. That said, I enjoyed all the docs I saw, and I think they all passed the not-just-well-intentioned test. Do I want to see them again though? Here’s the summary:
NANOOK OF THE NORTH • The first documentary ever, a 1922 classic set on Quebec’s Hudson Bay coast, concerning the Innu way of life.
Fantastic to see with live accompaniment, especially Inuit throat singers.
WHY WE FIGHT • the American Military-Industrial complex, in all its wretchedness.
Scary, good, very important. I hope this gets a reasonably wide release - it will certainly stir up some controversy.
SKETCHES OF FRANK GEHRY • Frank Gehry’s architectural career is analyzed.
I’d see this again in a flash.
ZIZEK! • Slovenian Lacanian-Marxist philosopher trying to make a mark in this world.
Entertaining, but will whizz over many heads. Worth a second look.
THE GIANT BUDDHAS • the destruction of the Giant Buddhas of Bamiyan, Afghanistan at the hands of the Taliban.
I had to leave before the end, but what I saw was quite compelling.
THE WELL • piecing together Orson Welles’ life in Spain and how it affected him and his work.
The only other film I was a bit sleepy during parts, it provides a lot of information on Welles.
OVERCOMING • Denmark’s CSC cycling team at the 2004 Tour de France.
Fun to get a more intimate look at the Tour than mere race coverage, but the editing is a little too flashy for 100-minutes worth.
CONCERT FILMS
Despite being grouped here, these two are very different, and both very differently enjoyable.
LIZA WITH A Z • A great 1972 Broadway song and dance show restored.
Minnelli was surprisingly captivating in both the movie and the Q&A that followed the screening.
SARAH SILVERMAN: JESUS IS MAGIC • A stand up act out to slaughter all sacred cows.
Very funny, but in the end you wonder if it was all a bit much.
ANIMATED FEATURES
The three I saw this year were all really good (unlike last year when I foolishly subjected myself to A SHARK TALE, which, if anyone needs to be reminded again, is crap).
WALLACE AND GROMIT IN THE CURSE OF THE WERE-RABBIT • English town pushed to the brink by a big rabbit out for a big veggie dinner.
Brilliantly insane, laugh-out-loud crazy, bring the whole family nuts. How long must we wait for the next labour-intensive installment? Five years again? Noooooooo!
TIM BURTON’S CORPSE BRIDE • Fish merchant heir marries the wrong girl, she’s too dead.
Whimsical, gorgeous, funny, and not too scary for kids.
THE DISTRICT • Not for the kids (or the stuffy) Eastern Block South Park, uniquely visionary animation.
Definitely underground, but lots of fun. Seriously, no kids.
LIVE-ACTION ANIMATED FEATURE
This is definitely in a category of its own:
PIANO TUNER OF EARTHQUAKES • Soprano is kidnapped by a mad scientist who squirrels her away on a menacing island.
Dreamy, ethereal, often difficult to comprehend, unique. ERASERHEAD for the opera crowd.
BEST FEATURES
I plan to see all of these again.
EVERYTHING IS ILLUMINATED • Jewish New Yorker goes to the Ukraine to look for his ancestral home.
Standout performance: Eugene Hutz as Alex, the tour guide.
Very funny, rather moving.
A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE • A diner owner is thrust into the spotlight when he kills two hostage takers in self defense.
Standout performance: William Hurt as a Philadelphia mobster
An occasionally violent, sometimes scary, very taught thriller, with a brilliant ending. Excellent performances.
OLIVER TWIST • Orphan Oliver makes his way in Victorian England escaping from one bad situation to land in another - before things look up.
Standout performance: Sir Ben Kingsley as Fagin
Dickens’ classic novel comes to life, a little darkly, but so engrossingly. A bit gruesome for younger kids.
THANK YOU FOR SMOKING • Tobacco spokesman Nick Naylor comes to a crisis point in this satire on all things spun.
Standout performances: Aaron Eckhart and Rob Lowe
Occasional misfires, but mostly a terrific comedy actually written for adults.
KISS KISS BANG BANG • New York thief mistaken for being an actor learns to play a detective while helping with an odd L.A. case.
Standout performance: Val Kilmer plays a wisecracking gay detective
Total fluff, totally entertaining
BROTHERS OF THE HEAD • Mockumentary about a 70s Brit punk band fronted by conjoined twins.
Standout performance: Unknown Treadaway twins are an incredible find, perfect for this double role.
Not for everyone, but a terrific evocation of the punk era - drugs, desperation, music, physicality - it’s all there
TRANSAMERICA • Pre-op transsexual finds he sired a son long ago and must deal with his past before he’s a she.
Standout performance: Felicity Huffman playing a man on the way to becoming a woman. Wow.
Totally contrived, but handled so well that all disbelief is happily suspended for a quite funny, kinda moving film.
WHOLE NEW THING • 13 year-old Emerson develops a crush on his English teacher, and developments surprise everybody.
Standout performance: Aaron Webber as the gifted and determined Emerson.
Clever writing propels this inexpensively made coming-of-age movie. Controversial bits likely mean other 13-year olds won’t be allowed to see it.
DEAR WENDY • Outsiders start a club for gun-loving pacifists in a dying American mining town in this brilliant satire.
Standout performance: Jamie Bell, who was great as Billy Elliot, is unbelievably good as the founder of the gun club.
Director Thomas Vinterberg (CELEBRATION) crafts a Lars Von Trier screenplay into a film that is simultaneously subtle and caustic, and fun.
GOOD FEATURES
I wouldn’t mind seeing these again.
FESTIVAL • Performers from all over converge on Edinburgh for the annual fringe festival and compete for audiences.
Funny. Lampoons include a Canadian experimental theatre troop.
THE WHITE MASSAI • Swiss woman follows a Masai warrior into the Kenyan bush to start a new life together.
Exotic. Fascinating cultural study eclipses story, but that’s fine.
SIXTH OF MAY • Mystery concerning the events surrounding the death of Dutch right-winger Pim Fortuyn in 2002.
Intriguing political thriller. Made me want to know a lot more about the real story it’s based on.
LE TEMPS QUI RESTE • A 31-year old Frenchman comes to terms with an inoperable cancer diagnosis.
Bittersweet, bitterfunny: a tragedy that is ultimately uplifting.
VERS LE SUD • Three women descend on a Haitian beach resort in the 1970s looking for love.
It’s not everyday you get a look at Haiti, and I’ve never seen this subject matter in a similar context before. All that equals interesting.
L’ENFANT • Young and unemployed parents deal with the birth of their first child in a grimy industrial city in Belgium.
Tough, but feels so realistic.
NEVERWAS • Son of a troubled children’s book author tries to better understand the demons that destroyed his father.
Good but flawed, weirdly flawed.
OKAY FEATURES
I don’t care if I ever see these again.
WHERE THE TRUTH LIES • 50s comedy duo come under suspicion in the death of a hotel room-service girl.
Colin Firth is especially good, the film holds interest, buuuuuuuuut I don’t care about any of it subsequently.
THE NOTORIOUS BETTE PAGE • Pin-up Queen of the Universe turns out to be wide-eyed innocent.
Interesting, but pretty simple. No second viewing required.
GENTILLE • Flighty french anesthetist can’t decide whether or not to marry her boyfriend
Cute, but once was enough.
SOMEONE ELSE’S HAPPINESS • Belgian gripped by hit-and-run accident.
Really well made, and provocative, but dark, and I get it.
LITTLE FISH • Aussie tries to improve her life after she got waylaid by drugs a while back.
Well done and all, but too desperate and dark to make me want to see it again.
THE GRÖNHOLM METHOD • Seven applicants vie for a management position at a large Madrid company.
Not too desperate and dark, but too melodramatic for me to care much.
THE MASSEUR • Father dies while son works in a Philippine massage parlour.
Whatever.
NOT SO GOOD FEATURES
I will avoid seeing these again.
SORRY, HATERS • New Yorker traumatized by 9/11 acts out because of feelings of powerlessness.
Not a bad film, but a very difficult one to watch. May be too hot to distribute.
TAKESHIS’ • Circuitous plot about famous Japanese actor and his loser alter ego double.
A few cool scenes, but way too long, and ultimately without substance.
50 WAYS OF SAYING FABULOUS • Adolescent New Zealand outsiders deal with ostracism, bullying, and name-calling.
Well intentioned, but amateurish filmmaking fails to produce more than 1 way of saying fabulous.
OPA! • Hyper-cliched “comedy” set on Greek island. Eyeball roller. Groaner. Induced frantic squirming. Should end Matthew Modine’s career.
Much of the audience enjoyed it, but much of the audience were complete morons. Destined to become cult favourite of the easily pleased.
ATTENTE • Filmmaker looks for actors to join the Palestinian National Theatre.
Incompetent. Well-intentioned but total failure. How did it make it into the festival? Political balance? Too bad to joke about it.
SHORTS
Sorry, What little I remember of them is slipping away quickly. Some were a total waste of time, some were entertaining, but they rarely surface again, so that’s that.
Another year, and I missed all of the prize winners again: they weren’t even amongst the first choices that I missed getting. I don’t know much about them, but if you’re interested, check out www.e.bell.ca/filmfest/2005/mediaCentre_releaseItem.asp?id=184.
I say it every year - with so many films and nowhere near enough time available to see all of them, the festival is a different experience for each attendee - but this year, this does seem to be some agreement in the press that this was an exceptional festival. Here’s hoping next year will be exceptional too.
Meanwhile, it’s been two days since my last film, and I miss those cinemas. I’ll have to get back out to them soon!
Signing off until next year,
Craig James White
Toronto - see you in the dark!
Bacon number: 2