TIFF 2010, Days One and Two

[przed]

It's day four of the fest, and I finally have time to catch up on what I've seen so far. (I am never modding a Big Bang in the middle of TIFF again, I swear.)

I saw three films in the first two days, one clunker, and two pretty good ones.



Title: Legend of the First: The Return of Chen Zhen
Director: Andrew Lau
Country: Hong Kong
P's Rating: Not-so-good
A sort of remake/prequel to Bruce Lee's Fist of Fury, which was also remade by Jet Li in the '90s as Fist of Legend. This time the star is Donnie Yen, and alas, he has none of the charisma of either Lee or Li. There's a dearth of action sequences, I didn't care about any of the characters, in spite of what should be some heart-wrenching scenes. They even manage to waste the generally awesome wild man actor Anthony Wong. It's too bad, because it could have been so much better. Director Lau made all the wonderful Infernal Affairs movies, which Scorsese turned into the vastly inferior The Departed. If you want to check out any of his movies, check out the first Infernal Affairs, and leave this one out entirely.


Title: Behind Blue Skies
Director: Hannes Holm
Country: Sweden
P's Rating: Pretty Good
One of a number of Swedish crime films at the fest this year. (It's gotta be the mark of all those Stieg Larsson books.) Set in 1975, this one follows Martin, a teenager with an alcoholic father and a mother who struggles to keep everything together. The father of Martin's rich best friend gets him a job at a summer resort, offering him an escape from his family, but then Martin falls in with Gösta, the man in charge of the resort and all sorts of shady dealings going on in the Stockholm archipelago. It's all set in a more innocent time, with Bill Skarsgård playing Martin as a sweet naif, while Peter Dalle brings out the weirdly endearing aspects of Gösta. It's probably twenty minutes too long, but it's still enjoyable.

Title: Easy Money
Director: Daniel Espinosa
Country: Sweden
P's Rating: Pretty Good
The other of the Swedish crime films I saw at this year's fest, and this one has a more traditional thriller vibe. It follows a Swedish business student, a Serbian mob enforcer, and a Spanish escaped convict whose paths all collide over a big cocaine deal. It's stylishly shot, and I love the multi-ethnic milieu it takes place in. It could be a bit tighter--there are a few too many close-ups of character X agonizing over the latest plot calamity--but it's definitely worth a look. I'm thinking director Espinosa is going to turn up doing some Hollywood films soon. At the Q&A he turned out to be this smart, funny, handsome young guy, who as a bonus is fluent in English. I hope he doesn't get chewed up by the system.

Comments

[graculus.livejournal.com]

I love Donnie Yen, but he has all the acting ability of a stick, so why would anyone put him in a martial arts movie with a minimum of martial arts scenes?

[przed.livejournal.com]

I want to like Donnie Yen, but the acting ability of a stick thing always gets in the way. He's got about as much charisma as a stick, too. And yeah, the dearth of action sequences was pretty darn disappointing.