Toronto Film Fest 2006, Day Three
Sep. 11th, 2006 11:16 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
przedSaturday was a good day for celeb sightings. Werner Herzog, Jeremy Davies and, last but certainly not least, Christian Bale were at the screening of Herzog's Rescue Dawn. Herzog was as charismatic as ever, and Bale came off as articulate and smart and committed to doing interesting projects. And he's drop dead gorgeous in person, which doesn't hurt. Sophie Fiennes did the intro and a Q&A for her doc, and also came across as smart and articulate. And then there was Brittany Murphy, who's bubble-headed simpering on-stage nearly overwhelmed her rather good performance as a witty, sharp-tongued character in Alex Keshishian's new RomCom. (Seeing actors outside of the roles they play is always a dangerous proposition.)
Title: A Pervert's Guide to Cinema
Director: Sophie Fiennes
Country: U.K.
P's Rating: Recommended
A three part film essay by philospher Slavoj Zizek, this is an incredibly dense examination of film through the lens of Freudian and Lacanian psychoanalysis. Fiennes has taken what might have been a dry, talking head doc and jazzed it up by digitally dropping Zizek him into the scenes of many of the films he discusses, including The Birds and The Matrix. It also helps that Zizek is a compelling guy to listen to and his arguments are blessedly free of the overly arcane jargon that so infuriates me in academic writing, though he is given to overly grandiose claims that initially sound plausible but are easy enough to refute. Still, it's a thought provoking piece.
Title: Love and Other Disasters
Director: Alex Keshishian
Country: U.K./France
P's Rating: Recommended
A quick-witted comedy set among London's smart set. Brittany Murphy plays Emily 'Jacks' Jackson, an American-educated Brit who has a gay best friend and an boyfriend she doesn't like very much but continues to shag. When she tries to set up her friend with a photographer's assistant, predictable, but charming, wackiness ensues. The film is lovingly self-conscious about the conventions of the romantic comedy, with characters analyzing what they'd do if they were in a movie and script directions appearing on screen at key moments. The acting is across the board wonderful, notably Matthew Rhys as the gay best friend. It doesn't hurt that the film is also a love poem to London, a city I adore at any time.
Title: Rescue Dawn
Director: Werner Herzog
Country: U.S.
P's Rating: Recommended
Based on Herzog's utterly brilliant documentary, Little Dieter Needs to Fly, this is the true life story of Dieter Dengler, a young man who immigrated to the U.S. from Germany so he could become a pilot. Dengler enlisted in the Air Force, only to be shot down over Laos. He survived horrendous treatment in a Laotian prisoner of war camp through a combination of ingenuity and absolute determination. Christian Bale takes on the role of Dengler with his usual enthusiasm (and lost a bucket-load of weight again to play Dengler after he's been in the camp for months). Steve Zahn is also notable as a fellow prisoner who becomes Dengler closest friend. The fictionalized version isn't quite as powerful as the documentary--Dengler himself is an utterly fascinating guy--but it's still quite powerful.
Title: A Pervert's Guide to Cinema
Director: Sophie Fiennes
Country: U.K.
P's Rating: Recommended
A three part film essay by philospher Slavoj Zizek, this is an incredibly dense examination of film through the lens of Freudian and Lacanian psychoanalysis. Fiennes has taken what might have been a dry, talking head doc and jazzed it up by digitally dropping Zizek him into the scenes of many of the films he discusses, including The Birds and The Matrix. It also helps that Zizek is a compelling guy to listen to and his arguments are blessedly free of the overly arcane jargon that so infuriates me in academic writing, though he is given to overly grandiose claims that initially sound plausible but are easy enough to refute. Still, it's a thought provoking piece.
Title: Love and Other Disasters
Director: Alex Keshishian
Country: U.K./France
P's Rating: Recommended
A quick-witted comedy set among London's smart set. Brittany Murphy plays Emily 'Jacks' Jackson, an American-educated Brit who has a gay best friend and an boyfriend she doesn't like very much but continues to shag. When she tries to set up her friend with a photographer's assistant, predictable, but charming, wackiness ensues. The film is lovingly self-conscious about the conventions of the romantic comedy, with characters analyzing what they'd do if they were in a movie and script directions appearing on screen at key moments. The acting is across the board wonderful, notably Matthew Rhys as the gay best friend. It doesn't hurt that the film is also a love poem to London, a city I adore at any time.
Title: Rescue Dawn
Director: Werner Herzog
Country: U.S.
P's Rating: Recommended
Based on Herzog's utterly brilliant documentary, Little Dieter Needs to Fly, this is the true life story of Dieter Dengler, a young man who immigrated to the U.S. from Germany so he could become a pilot. Dengler enlisted in the Air Force, only to be shot down over Laos. He survived horrendous treatment in a Laotian prisoner of war camp through a combination of ingenuity and absolute determination. Christian Bale takes on the role of Dengler with his usual enthusiasm (and lost a bucket-load of weight again to play Dengler after he's been in the camp for months). Steve Zahn is also notable as a fellow prisoner who becomes Dengler closest friend. The fictionalized version isn't quite as powerful as the documentary--Dengler himself is an utterly fascinating guy--but it's still quite powerful.
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Date: 2006-09-11 06:56 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-09-12 12:48 pm (UTC)