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TIFF 2015, Post the Last
And it's over for another year.
I have to say, seeing only 11 films, and taking a few days off to do that has resulted in a nicely relaxed festival experience. Usually by the end of the fest I feel like a brain-damaged zombie. This year, I feel almost refreshed. And I ended with two films that, while not spectacular, were engaging in radically different ways.
As a cinematographer, Christopher Doyle made his name by collaborating with HK director Wong Kar Wai on a series of stunning looking films, culminating in In the Mood for Love and 2046. (Those of you looking for interesting gay love stories should totally check out their Happy Together.) Every once in a while, Doyle will direct his own film, and I usually try to see them. His work tends to be quirky and odd, but always engaging. Hong Kong Trilogy: Preschooled Preoccupied Preposterous definitely fits that mold. Doyle has taken audio interviews with citizens of Hong Kong--school kids, twentysomethings and senior citizen--and turned them into very idiosyncratic scenes and tableaux. It's less like a narrative film and more like a dream trip through the subconscious of the territory, with every image impeccably composed. Not for everyone, but I quite enjoyed it.
Here's the trailer:
Kill Your Friends was a fun, if vicious, way to end the fest. It's basically American Psycho set in the '90s Britpop era, with Nicholas Hoult playing a cynical and driven music exec who will stop at nothing to advance his career. It's blackly funny, and powered by some of the best music '90s England had to offer, Blur, Oasis, The Prodigy and loads of Chemical Brothers. There's even an especially apt use of Radiohead's Karma Police. Not high art, but loads of fun.
This trailer captures is all perfectly:
That's all she wrote.
For my next adventure, I'm off to see Benedict Cumberbatch do Hamlet in London with a bunch of mates. This time on Wednesday I'll be in a plane over the Atlantic. Yikes!
I have to say, seeing only 11 films, and taking a few days off to do that has resulted in a nicely relaxed festival experience. Usually by the end of the fest I feel like a brain-damaged zombie. This year, I feel almost refreshed. And I ended with two films that, while not spectacular, were engaging in radically different ways.
As a cinematographer, Christopher Doyle made his name by collaborating with HK director Wong Kar Wai on a series of stunning looking films, culminating in In the Mood for Love and 2046. (Those of you looking for interesting gay love stories should totally check out their Happy Together.) Every once in a while, Doyle will direct his own film, and I usually try to see them. His work tends to be quirky and odd, but always engaging. Hong Kong Trilogy: Preschooled Preoccupied Preposterous definitely fits that mold. Doyle has taken audio interviews with citizens of Hong Kong--school kids, twentysomethings and senior citizen--and turned them into very idiosyncratic scenes and tableaux. It's less like a narrative film and more like a dream trip through the subconscious of the territory, with every image impeccably composed. Not for everyone, but I quite enjoyed it.
Here's the trailer:
Kill Your Friends was a fun, if vicious, way to end the fest. It's basically American Psycho set in the '90s Britpop era, with Nicholas Hoult playing a cynical and driven music exec who will stop at nothing to advance his career. It's blackly funny, and powered by some of the best music '90s England had to offer, Blur, Oasis, The Prodigy and loads of Chemical Brothers. There's even an especially apt use of Radiohead's Karma Police. Not high art, but loads of fun.
This trailer captures is all perfectly:
That's all she wrote.
For my next adventure, I'm off to see Benedict Cumberbatch do Hamlet in London with a bunch of mates. This time on Wednesday I'll be in a plane over the Atlantic. Yikes!
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But seriously, I don't feel I did too badly in the sleep department this year. Apart from the fact that my back's still dodgy and waking me up inconveniently early.
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