TIFF 2010, Day Eight
Sep. 17th, 2010 10:10 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
przedWe're nearing the end of the fest, which is probably a good thing. I'm utterly knackered. And somehow I've got to get through the final Midnight Madness screening tomorrow without it turning into an expensive nap.
Fortunately, I saw a couple of fab films yesterday, and only one dodgy one.
Title: 13 Assassins
Director: Takeshi Miike
Country: Japan
P's Rating: Recommended
Japanese cinematic bad boy Miike does his take on the samurai film. It starts on a slow burn, as we discover that the current shogun's half-brother, Noritsugu, is a murderous sadist who's poised to seize even more power. A conspiracy of 12 samurai is formed to kill Noritsugu before he's unstoppable. The first hour gives us the set up, establishing how bad Noritsugu is (very, very bad, as it turns out), and introducing us to the samurai determined to assassinate him, and the crazy peasant they discover in the forest who joins in their suicidal plan. The last 45 minutes is comprised of one of the most out and out crazy battle scenes I have ever seen committed to film. (I have just two words for you: flaming bulls.) It's bloody good fun, in all meanings of the word.
Title: Three
Director: Tom Tykwer
Country: Germany
P's Rating: Highly Recommended
Hanna and Simon have been together for 20 years, and the spark has long since disappeared from their relationship. When they both independently meet and fall in love with the same man, Adam, things get very interesting. Told from the perspective of all three of the people involved in the affair, this is a sweet and funny film. Tykwer occasionally brings in the arsenal of crazy split screens, animation, and overlapping dialogue he used in Run, Lola, Run, but always in the service of the story, and it never overwhelms the very human story. And as a prurient aside, the guy on guy sex scenes are very, very hot.
Title: Monsters
Director: Gareth Edwards
Country: U.K.
P's Rating: Okay
A photojournalist is ordered to get his boss's daughter out of Mexico. The only problem is that after a satellite broke up over the country six years before, extraterrestrial monsters have been staging annual rampages through an infected zone, and they're just getting started. The monsters are an intriguing idea and fascinating to look at, and the guerilla-style shooting of the film gives it a convincingly gritty feel. It's just a pity about the actors, neither of whom convinced me for an instant. (Apparently they're a couple in real life, but they manage to put across zero chemistry on screen.)
Fortunately, I saw a couple of fab films yesterday, and only one dodgy one.
Title: 13 Assassins
Director: Takeshi Miike
Country: Japan
P's Rating: Recommended
Japanese cinematic bad boy Miike does his take on the samurai film. It starts on a slow burn, as we discover that the current shogun's half-brother, Noritsugu, is a murderous sadist who's poised to seize even more power. A conspiracy of 12 samurai is formed to kill Noritsugu before he's unstoppable. The first hour gives us the set up, establishing how bad Noritsugu is (very, very bad, as it turns out), and introducing us to the samurai determined to assassinate him, and the crazy peasant they discover in the forest who joins in their suicidal plan. The last 45 minutes is comprised of one of the most out and out crazy battle scenes I have ever seen committed to film. (I have just two words for you: flaming bulls.) It's bloody good fun, in all meanings of the word.
Title: Three
Director: Tom Tykwer
Country: Germany
P's Rating: Highly Recommended
Hanna and Simon have been together for 20 years, and the spark has long since disappeared from their relationship. When they both independently meet and fall in love with the same man, Adam, things get very interesting. Told from the perspective of all three of the people involved in the affair, this is a sweet and funny film. Tykwer occasionally brings in the arsenal of crazy split screens, animation, and overlapping dialogue he used in Run, Lola, Run, but always in the service of the story, and it never overwhelms the very human story. And as a prurient aside, the guy on guy sex scenes are very, very hot.
Title: Monsters
Director: Gareth Edwards
Country: U.K.
P's Rating: Okay
A photojournalist is ordered to get his boss's daughter out of Mexico. The only problem is that after a satellite broke up over the country six years before, extraterrestrial monsters have been staging annual rampages through an infected zone, and they're just getting started. The monsters are an intriguing idea and fascinating to look at, and the guerilla-style shooting of the film gives it a convincingly gritty feel. It's just a pity about the actors, neither of whom convinced me for an instant. (Apparently they're a couple in real life, but they manage to put across zero chemistry on screen.)
