TIFF, Day Eight

[przed]

Another day and three more solid films. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that my picks don't all go south in the final two days.


Title: Fifty Dead Men Walking
Director: Kari Skogland
Country: UK/Canada
P's Rating: Recommended
The second film this fest that deals with the Irish Troubles, this time from the point of view of a young bloke who's recruited by Irish Special Branch to infiltrate the IRA. Martin is a street smart young hustler who comes to the attention of both the IRA and an intelligence handler in Special Branch. He's recruited into Special Branch as he begins to rise through the ranks of the IRA, with the danger cranking up every time he makes it through to the next level. Jim Sturgess is very good as Martin, and the always dependable Ben Kingsley is lovely as his Special Branch handler, Fergus.

Title: The Brothers Bloom
Director: Rian Johnson
Country: U.S.
P's Rating: Recommended
Mark Ruffalo and Adrien Brodie play con men brothers making a play for one last mark. Ruffalo's Stephen constructs elaborate plots that use the longing of Brodie's Bloom for a normal, unwritten life. When Bloom decides he's had enough of the con, Stephen comes up with one last job. Rachel Weisz plays their final mark, a rich and eccentric young woman who falls for Bloom. And Rinko Kikuchi is too much fun as Bang Bang, the brothers' silent assistant who can get anything done. Though the plot sinks a bit into its own convolutions about half way through, it's still a fun, and occasionally touching, ride, and a worthy follow-up to director Johnson's first film, the high school noir, Brick.

Title: The Burrowers
Director: JT Perry
Country: U.S.
P's Rating: Recommended
I picked this one because a) it was touted as being like John Ford's The Searchers (a personal favourite of mine), but with monsters and b) Clancy Brown was in it. And I wasn't disappointed. Karl Geary plays an Irish ranch hand whose sweetheart is abducted along with her family. He joins the hunt for the Indians who abducted her, but the true culprits turn out to be something much more implacable than mere human beings. Clancy Brown is solid in a too brief turn as the leader of the party hunting for the abducted family, and Geary is quite fab as Irish immigrant Coffey. Films like this live and die on their monsters and how they're shot, and in this case the director was canny enough to both create a truly disturbing creature and to limit the amount of time you see the things on screen.

Comments

[ancastar.livejournal.com]

The Burrowers sounds truly bizarre. I don't know that I can think of another film (at least one that's above drive-in quality0 that blends the classic western with monster movies. Hmm. How gory was it?

[przed.livejournal.com]

The link between western and horror is actually a really nice fit. In the Q&A, the director pointed out how alien the landscape of the west must have been to the Europeans who immigrated to it.

And I don't know about classic westerns, but off the top of my head, Kathryn Bigelow's Near Dark is a blend of western and vampire tropes. It's a mix I wouldn't mind seeing more of. (Hmmmm.)

[shooting2kill.livejournal.com]

Sorry, I can't comment on the films you've just seen but I had to say something when I read that The Searchers was a personal favourite. I've loved that film all my life, it was one of the films I was brought up on, then I discovered the wonders of videos etc. and ended up knowing nearly every line. The introductory scene and music *still* brings me out in goose pimples and I *love* John Wayne in it and thought it showed his capability and depth as an actor. And I thought the final doorway shot when he rests one arm on his other arm - I think a salute to Olive Carey's husband - would make a wonderful icon!

(Didn't Burt Lancaster make a film with a similar theme called The Unforgiven? - even though he was once my favourite film actor, it's a film I've never seen. I must look out for The Burrowers.

Sorry to interrupt! Hope you enjoy the rest of your film viewing.

[przed.livejournal.com]

I also love The Searchers. It was the film that turned me around on westerns. Growing up in a community with a lot of Ojibway kids, I'd always rejected westerns as offensive. In The Searchers, though, there's so much more shading to the Indian/Aboriginal characters, not to mention way more grey in the white ones. (John Wayne's character is far from a good guy.) Plus, it's gorgeous. The matching doorway shots at the beginning and end are just brilliant.

You should definitely give The Burrowers a try if it comes out where you are.

[kelliem.livejournal.com]

Oh man, I adore Clancy Brown! I am not big on horror movies but if that gets a wide release I may have to go see it.

[przed.livejournal.com]

I'm with you on adoring Clancy Brown. I fell in love with him in Buckaroo Banzai, and have watched pretty much everything he's done since. Except Carnival. Just didn't have time to commit to that, and now that I know it ends incomplete, I'm reluctant to give it a watch.

If you do see The Burrowers (and I definitely recommend it) just remember that Clancy's got a brief role. Sorta Rawhide brief, if you know what I mean.

[kelliem.livejournal.com]

Ahh, yes, I think I understand.