TIFF 2009, Day Eight
Sep. 17th, 2009 11:10 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
przedMy best fest day yet. Four films, all of them corkers.
Best of all, James Purefoy was at the screening of his film, and not only stuck around for the Q&A, but stuck around to sign posters afterwards. (I was too far back in line to actually get a poster, and didn't fangirl Purefoy, in spite of how totally approachable he was--he was running around with a marker after the posters ran out signing anything people threw at him--but I totally fangirled his director who created some of the best action scenes I've seen on screen in years.)
Title: The Damned United
Director: Tom Hooper
Country: U.K.
P's Rating: Highly Recommended
Michael Sheen plays Brian Clough, the British football manager who flamed out after taking over Leeds United, the dominant football club in the '60s and '70s. This is pure pleasure to watch, both for the script and the go-for-broke performance from Sheen. Sheen manages to capture the charisma of Clough, his arrogance, and the insecurity driving it all. He's ably backed up by a raft of veteran actors, including Timothy Spall as his long-suffering second-in-command and Jim Broadbent as the chairman of the Derby football club where Clough first came to prominence.
Title: Micmacs
Director: Jean-Pierre Jeunet
Country: France
P's Rating: Highly Recommended
When a man is made homeless after being shot in the head, he's taken in by a lovable bunch of misfits who make art out of discarded junk. And then they all take on the weapons manufacturers responsible not only for the bullet in his head, but for the land mine that killed his father thirty years before. A thoroughly inventive piece of whimsy from the director of Amelie.
Title: Solomon Kane
Director: Michael J. Bassett
Country: U.K./Czech Republic
P's Rating: Highly Recommended
James Purefoy plays Robert E. Howard's Puritan swashbuckling hero, Solomon Kane in this utterly entertaining flick. Not only does Purefoy get right into playing a character who is essentially a murderous bastard who undergoes a forced epiphany when Satan comes to claim his soul, but the direction is very nicely done indeed. I haven't seen fight scenes this well choreographed, performed, shot, and edited in a long time.
Title: A Single Man
Director: Tom Ford
Country: U.S.
P's Rating: Highly Recommended
Colin Firth plays a closeted college professor in the '60s, overwhelmed by the death of his long-time lover and searching for moments of grace with students, neighbours, and friends. This is designer Tom Ford's directorial debut, but it's a massively assured piece of work, made more impressive by Colin Firth's wonderful performance. The amount of control over the image that Ford displays is amazing, and the way changes in lighting and colour signal not just past or present, but the character's mood, is masterful.
Best of all, James Purefoy was at the screening of his film, and not only stuck around for the Q&A, but stuck around to sign posters afterwards. (I was too far back in line to actually get a poster, and didn't fangirl Purefoy, in spite of how totally approachable he was--he was running around with a marker after the posters ran out signing anything people threw at him--but I totally fangirled his director who created some of the best action scenes I've seen on screen in years.)
Title: The Damned United
Director: Tom Hooper
Country: U.K.
P's Rating: Highly Recommended
Michael Sheen plays Brian Clough, the British football manager who flamed out after taking over Leeds United, the dominant football club in the '60s and '70s. This is pure pleasure to watch, both for the script and the go-for-broke performance from Sheen. Sheen manages to capture the charisma of Clough, his arrogance, and the insecurity driving it all. He's ably backed up by a raft of veteran actors, including Timothy Spall as his long-suffering second-in-command and Jim Broadbent as the chairman of the Derby football club where Clough first came to prominence.
Title: Micmacs
Director: Jean-Pierre Jeunet
Country: France
P's Rating: Highly Recommended
When a man is made homeless after being shot in the head, he's taken in by a lovable bunch of misfits who make art out of discarded junk. And then they all take on the weapons manufacturers responsible not only for the bullet in his head, but for the land mine that killed his father thirty years before. A thoroughly inventive piece of whimsy from the director of Amelie.
Title: Solomon Kane
Director: Michael J. Bassett
Country: U.K./Czech Republic
P's Rating: Highly Recommended
James Purefoy plays Robert E. Howard's Puritan swashbuckling hero, Solomon Kane in this utterly entertaining flick. Not only does Purefoy get right into playing a character who is essentially a murderous bastard who undergoes a forced epiphany when Satan comes to claim his soul, but the direction is very nicely done indeed. I haven't seen fight scenes this well choreographed, performed, shot, and edited in a long time.
Title: A Single Man
Director: Tom Ford
Country: U.S.
P's Rating: Highly Recommended
Colin Firth plays a closeted college professor in the '60s, overwhelmed by the death of his long-time lover and searching for moments of grace with students, neighbours, and friends. This is designer Tom Ford's directorial debut, but it's a massively assured piece of work, made more impressive by Colin Firth's wonderful performance. The amount of control over the image that Ford displays is amazing, and the way changes in lighting and colour signal not just past or present, but the character's mood, is masterful.
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no subject
Date: 2009-09-18 04:36 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-09-18 11:45 am (UTC)(Thanks for the reviews,
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Date: 2009-09-18 01:51 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-09-18 03:14 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-09-18 01:51 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-09-19 09:04 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-09-18 05:08 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-09-18 01:53 pm (UTC)I'm having a fab time, but now steeling myself for the inevitable bad film lurking amongst my choices. (I'm 13 for 13 now, and really hoping the last 5 are as good as their predecessors.)
no subject
Date: 2009-09-18 11:40 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-09-18 01:55 pm (UTC)I haven't read the Promethean Age novels, but their all sitting in my To Read pile. (I did have breakfast with Bear at WorldCon, though. Benefits of fannish connections. *g*)
no subject
Date: 2009-09-18 02:19 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-09-21 03:33 pm (UTC)You and me both. I'm quite content to write in addition to the day job. (Not that I'm still not working to sell a novel or two in the future. I just don't want my mortgage payments to depend on actually doing it.)
no subject
Date: 2009-09-18 01:08 pm (UTC)Solomon Kane - that's interesting, because I had heard rather wobbly things about that - but since these were second-hand reports, perhaps from people who didn't get the historical/fantasy/comic sensibilities... Maybe they were sour grapes, or just an overheard remark that was repeated and magnified in the telling? In other words - they said it was shit! But I'm inclined to go with your verdict on the finished product, rather than rumours from the set.
A Single Man - quite a buzz about that - I believe the Weinsteins have picked up the distribution? And generally they have enough clout to cherry-pick the best. Soooo... tic the box for 'reserve me The Single Man'. ;)
I like Micheal Sheen but I don't feel the need for The Damned United
no subject
Date: 2009-09-18 02:03 pm (UTC)A Single Man is worth the buzz. It really is a great film. Though I'm often nervous about a film's chances when the Weinsteins pick it up. They're not the powers they used to be, and have a history of a) cutting the crap out of films, b) badly marketing films that do not fit in their Oscar bait niche and c) sitting on films they have no idea how to release. (They picked up an ungodly number of Hong Kong films under their old company, a ridiculously few number of which saw the light of day in North American.)
As for The Damned United, I have to admit I have a terribly weak spot for movies about football. (Saw a genius little Icelandic one at the fest a few years back, Eleven Men Out, about a gay footie team.)
no subject
Date: 2009-09-19 11:47 am (UTC)One of my old tutors was a director making a promising start to her career; she had meetings and a chance for Harvey to take her film, but knowing it would likely be trimmed and changed in tone, she decided to go with integrity and refused the deal - result: a barely known indie pic and she's never made another - hence becoming a lecturer. I sort of feel she threw her chance away, sometimes 'artistic integrity' comes at a high price - her film was the first lead role for Jonathon Rhys Meyer, btw.
no subject
Date: 2009-09-19 07:42 pm (UTC)In the Canadian industry, which is where most of my friends work, it's much easier to get your first film made than your second. The industry is littered with promising directors who never made a film after their first one, or were relegated to directing episodic TV.
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Date: 2009-09-18 02:02 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-09-18 02:17 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-09-19 01:15 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-09-19 03:20 am (UTC)