TIFF, Day Two

[przed]

Day two of the fest, though day one for me, and I had a fine time. Two films, both of them winners.


Title: JCVD
Director: Mabrouk El Mechri
Country: Belgium/Luxembourg/France
P's Rating: Highly Recommended
Jean-Claude Van Damme plays himself. Sort of. Which is to say he plays a washed up action star called Jean-Claude Van Damme fighting for the custody of his kids who goes home to Belgium to try to get his head together and accidentally gets entangled in a bank robbery gone wrong. The film is funny and clever and has moments of surprising emotional depth. And Van Damme has this amazing five minute long monologue that is a wonder to behold. This is one of the films I was most looking forward to and I was not disappointed.

Title: Appaloosa
Director: Ed Harris
Country: U.S.
P's Rating: Highly Recommended
Another film I was looking forward to, and another winner. Ed Harris directs himself and co-star Viggo Mortensen as two lawmen for hire who take on the job of cleaning up the town of Appaloosa. The joy of this piece is not the direction, which is workmanlike, or the story, which has a few nice moments but mostly follows the usual western tropes, but the chemistry between Harris and Mortensen. They are a joy to behold, and the best moments in the film consists of just the two of them and their razor sharp dialogue. Theirs is the most slashtastic on-screen relationship I've seen since Titus and Lucius in Rome, something the stars are clearly aware of. When introducing his stars, Ed Harris called Renee Zellweger "the love of my life in the film," and Viggo "the real love of my life in the film." Awwww.



I didn't even try to get close to Viggo on the red carpet this time, and I ended up sitting reasonably far back, but I did get a couple of fuzzy shots of him on stage, including this one:



Alas, the shot of him and Harris in a big sloppy manhug is just an illegible blur.

Comments

[callistosh65.livejournal.com]

I'm stunned to hear that JCVD is alive and well and acting. And Viggo.. be still my heart. *And* with Ed Harris in sloppy man hugs, eh?? Sounds like you are in the right place!

[przed.livejournal.com]

JCVD is alive, mostly well, and man, he apparently can totally act. In French, at least.

It seems that everyone who works with Viggo gets a bit of a crush on him, so I'm not surprised by the sloppy man hugs. I'm just glad I was there to see it. (I'm also jealous that a friend's girlfriend was at the Appaloosa party last night and got to meet both Harris and Viggo. Oh well.)

[liars-dance.livejournal.com]

*sighs* You just have got to love ed Harris!!

[przed.livejournal.com]

Indeed you do.

Look! You're icon again!

[phantomas.livejournal.com]

OH OHHH!
He's dashing in that suit!!!
I WANNA SEE THIS FILM!!!!
*runs around like headless chicken*

thank you :)

[przed.livejournal.com]

It's coming out in a week or two in both North America and the U.K., so you should have your wish soon.

[ancastar.livejournal.com]

Aw, nice to hear that Ed Harris and Viggo sparked on-screen. I had friends who worked with Ed Harris years ago (he came to Sarasota to make a film, and many of the folks who were a year ahead of me in my MFA program were used as extras and in small roles). All of them spoke about how kind he was and how patient with novices. I've always kept an eye on his career.

[przed.livejournal.com]

It's nice to hear Harris is a nice guy. He came across that way before the screening. He was gracious to the other actors, and he teared up when he introduced his dad, who he got to play a small role in the film. (I've been keeping an eye out for him since The Right Stuff, and it's nice to see him get take the lead in this one. He's so often playing heavy character roles these days.)

[kortirion.livejournal.com]

I watched 'The Abyss' on tv last night - it amazed me how like Viggo Ed Harris looked in that film, like the elder brother, or at least, a close cousin. Around the eyes mainly, but a definite resemblance... or maybe I'm just 'transferring'! *g* And you've still got 'Good' to come... *envy*

[przed.livejournal.com]

Wow, The Abyss was also on TV here last night. I caught a bit of it, and while I didn't notice it at the time, I can see what you mean about the resemblance. It may just be that they both have faces with virtually no flesh on them, but there is a certain resemblance.

Good is tomorrow night, and yep, I'm totally looking forward to it. Don't worry. There will be a full report. *g*

[kelliem.livejournal.com]

I love Ed Harris. I wasn't even vaguely interested in this movie though, until I read your comments. Now I am. :)

Hey, have you heard anything about Passchendaele? How it was received or what sort of reviews it got?

[przed.livejournal.com]

You totally have to see Appaloosa. It's wonderful. Not to mention slashy.

A couple of friends scored tickets to the Passchendaele gala and thought it was quite good. The local reviews have also been solid. No one's calling it great art, but the consensus seems to be that it's far better than the well-meaning but dull history lesson that it could have been.

[kelliem.livejournal.com]

Cool, thanks for the update!

I just saw this on the IMDB and thought of this post... apparently Viggo is geography challenged. ;D http://www.imdb.com/news/ni0563626/

[przed.livejournal.com]

Given our stoopid Conservative government (who are poised to be elected with a freaking majority in October) I think he's spot on, actually. :-/