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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Date: 2009-09-18 04:36 am (UTC)(no subject)
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Date: 2009-09-18 05:08 am (UTC)(no subject)
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Date: 2009-09-18 11:40 am (UTC)(no subject)
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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
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Date: 2009-09-18 02:02 pm (UTC)(no subject)
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Date: 2009-09-19 01:15 am (UTC)(no subject)
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