The Much Belated TIFF Post
Oct. 20th, 2019 05:03 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
przedI was originally planning to do a TIFF wrap up post as soon as the festival was over, but the whole breaking my wrist thing delayed that. It's five weeks today since I fetched up in the E.R., and it's only been the last week and a bit that I've been able to type with all the fingers on my left hand...for a little bit at a time, anyway. (It's taken me a week to finish writing this up!)
Anyway, here's what I saw.
My Most Anticipated Film
Endings, Beginnings, US, dir. by Drake Doremus
It will surprise no one that the film I was most looking forward to this TIFF was the one starring Sebastian Stan. And it was really good! Shailene Woodley played Daphne, a young woman recovering from a breakup who becomes involved with Stan's passionate bad boy, Frank, and his best friend, Jamie Dornan's more respectable Jack. The film is built around moments in Daphne's life, and it's gorgeously shot and beautifully edited. And cutting to the chase with Stan, he gets several sex scenes with Woodley that are hot and sexy and yet emotionally vulnerable. The one downside to the film is that all of the characters smoke so much I felt like I was developing lung cancer just watching it.
Anthony Mackie x 2
Seberg, US/UK, dir. by Benedict Andrews
Anthony Mackie was in two films this fest, the first one is this biopic of actress Jean Seberg, starring Kristen Stewart. Mackie plays Hakim Jamal, a black activist Seberg becomes involved with. The movie follows Seberg after her return to the US from France as she's followed and hounded by the FBI for her increasingly radical views. I'm getting rather fond of Stewart, and she and Mackie both do a great job in this film. I'd recommend it.
SYNCHRONIC, US, dir. by Aaron Moorhead & Justin Benson
Mackie's second film at the fest was this low-budget SF film, where he co-stars with Seb's Endings, Beginnings co-star Jamie Dornan as two New Orleans paramedics. The city is in the midst of an epidemic of drug overdoses from a street drug called SYNCHRONIC. When Dornan's daughter goes missing after taking the drug, Mackie figures out its unusual properties and goes on a quest to bring her back. The film's got an interesting premise, but it doesn't always work. Dornan is a bit lacklustre, but Mackie is fantastic throughout.
Women Astronauts
I've been a space geek since forever, so when I noticed there were two films about women astronauts in this year's fest, I signed up for both immediately.
Proxima, France/Germany, dir. by Alice Winocour
Proxima is the more low key of the two films, starring the always wonderful Eva Green as a scientist and European Space Agency astronaut training for her first mission as she faces the challenges of being a woman in a profession that's still dominated by men, and being a mother who needs to spends months away from her daughter. There's a moment near the end that strained my credulity, but it leads to such a lovely payoff that I was willing to swallow the suspension of disbelief pill and enjoy it.
Lucy in the Sky, US, dir by Noah Hawley
Lucy in the Sky is the more outrageous woman astronaut film, though it's based on the real life story of a NASA astronaut who became so unhinged she drove across the country non-stop to confront the man she was having an affair with. This isn't a perfect film, but I did enjoy it. Natalie Portman plays the lead, and gives a credible performance as a type A personality who starts losing her grip on reality. The director, Hawley, is also the creator of the show Legion, and uses some shooting effects that are as trippy as that show gets. It also doesn't hurt that Ellen Burstyn plays Portman's salty grandmother with her usual panache.
More Women in Film
With TIFF making an effort to give 50% of their program over to women-directed films the last could of years, I've made it a personal goal to prioritize more films directed by and starring women. As a bonus, two of the films I picked this year were about Canadian Indigenous women tellings and one of those had an Indigenous woman director.
The Body Remembers When the World Broke Open Canada, dir. by Elle-Máijá Tailfeathers & Kathleen Hepburn
The first of the indigenous films is based on an event in the life of co-direct Elle-Máijá Tailfeathers. A young professional indigenous women Alia (played by Tailfeathers) runs into another young indigenous woman, Rosie, who's barefoot, sobbing, and on the run from a boyfriend who's just beaten her up. Shot in a series of continuous takes, the film follows the two women as Alia tries to get Rosie help and a safe place to stay, and Rosie tries to do what seems safest for her. This is a complex, nuanced film where there is no perfect solution to people's problems, and I can highly recommend it. Ava Duvernay's company has picked it up for distribution, and has plans to release it this fall.
Kuessipan, Canada, dir. by Myriam Verreault
The second indigenous film is set in a Quebec Innu community, and follows two girls who've grown up together but find their lives leading them in different directions. Mikuan is an aspiring writer from a loving family, who starts dating a white boy from the off-rez writing workshop she attends. Shaniss has grown up in a family shattered by addiction and incarceration and has a baby with her volatile boyfriend. The story is loosely adapted from Innu writer Naomie Fontaine's book of the same title, and stars an amazing cast of non-professional actors drawn from the community where it's shot. All the actors are wonderful, but Sharon Fontaine-Ishpatao as Mikuan is especially good, playing both shy and confident in her growing abilities.
How to Build a Girl, UK, dir. by Coky Giedroyc
This adaptation of Caitlin Moran's autobiographical novel is a lot of fun. It stars Beanie Feldstein (who was in the utterly fantastic Book Smart this summer; if you haven't seen it, run now!) as a deeply uncool Wolverhampton teenager who rebrands herself as a nasty cool critic for a London music rag. Feldstein's accent is a bit rocky to start, but settles in, and has a raft of fun co-stars, including Paddy Considine as Feldstein's hapless, on the dole dad, and Alfie Allen as her rock star crush.
The Good Intentions, Argentina, dir. by Ana García Blaya
This was a shot in the dark choice, and it ended up being great. It's a fictionalized account of the author's family, and in particular her father, a laid-back stoner who shares custody of his kids with his more upwardly mobile ex-wife. When his ex wants to move to Paraguay with the kids to find a better life than they can find in Argentina, he has to struggle with how to let them go. This is a really sweet story, and the relationship between the dad and his oldest daughter, the stand in for the director, is wonderful.
Other Favourites
Ford v Ferrari, US, dir. by James Mangold
I was very much looking forward to this, and it did not disappoint. Mangold's film follows the story of car designer Caroll Shelby and racing driver Ken Miles as they help Ford try to topple Ferrari's grip on winning the 24 hour Le Mans race. Matt Damon as Shelby and Christian Bale as Miles are great at portraying the sparky friendship between the two men that results in a winning car. My affection for this film was no doubt helped by the fact that I grew up watching F1 and Indy races with my dad, but I definitely had a smile on my face all the way through. When I wasn't stressing over the outcome of the car races, anyway.
The Vast of Night, US, dir. by Andrew Patterson
This was my one Midnight Madness film this year, and it was a fun one. Set in a New Mexico town in the fifties, the film starts off as a Twilight Zone-esque show on a vintage black and white television set before zooming out to full colour. A young switchboard operator and an ambitious young DJ try to track down the source of a mysterious radio transmission during the course of one night, encountering increasingly ominous events as they get closer to the answer. Sierra McCormick is especially good as the switchboard operator.
Not Quite My Thing
Parasite, South Korea, dir. by Bong Joon-ho
This film had strong buzz this year, coming off its Palme d'Or win at Cannes. I'd been looking forward to it, having loved Bong's monster film The Host and dystopic SF flick Snowpiercer. Parasite is set in modern day Korea, where a family of survival-level grifters get an accidental in with a wealthy family when the son is hired as the rich daughter's English tutor. They perform a number of cons to get all of the family employed by the rich Parks. Things go swimmingly for a time, until, of course, they all go horribly wrong. The film is meticulously put together, and I think I can safely say that you will not see several of the big twists coming, but it left me a bit cold. Most people I know who saw it loved it, though, so YMMV.
The Lighthouse, US, dir. by Robert Eggers
This film was definitely Not My Thing. I picked it entirely due to Willem Dafoe being in it. He and Robert Pattinson play a couple of lighthouse keepers on an isolated island who gradually go nuts when a storm delays their replacements. The film is beautifully shot in black and white, but by the end it reminded me of nothing so much as a Sam Sheppard play, with two guys yelling at each other and trashing the set. I loathe Sam Sheppard plays. The Eggars fan boys in the audience, however, loved it, so it's another case of YMMV.
Anyway, here's what I saw.
My Most Anticipated Film
Endings, Beginnings, US, dir. by Drake Doremus
It will surprise no one that the film I was most looking forward to this TIFF was the one starring Sebastian Stan. And it was really good! Shailene Woodley played Daphne, a young woman recovering from a breakup who becomes involved with Stan's passionate bad boy, Frank, and his best friend, Jamie Dornan's more respectable Jack. The film is built around moments in Daphne's life, and it's gorgeously shot and beautifully edited. And cutting to the chase with Stan, he gets several sex scenes with Woodley that are hot and sexy and yet emotionally vulnerable. The one downside to the film is that all of the characters smoke so much I felt like I was developing lung cancer just watching it.
Anthony Mackie x 2
Seberg, US/UK, dir. by Benedict Andrews
Anthony Mackie was in two films this fest, the first one is this biopic of actress Jean Seberg, starring Kristen Stewart. Mackie plays Hakim Jamal, a black activist Seberg becomes involved with. The movie follows Seberg after her return to the US from France as she's followed and hounded by the FBI for her increasingly radical views. I'm getting rather fond of Stewart, and she and Mackie both do a great job in this film. I'd recommend it.
SYNCHRONIC, US, dir. by Aaron Moorhead & Justin Benson
Mackie's second film at the fest was this low-budget SF film, where he co-stars with Seb's Endings, Beginnings co-star Jamie Dornan as two New Orleans paramedics. The city is in the midst of an epidemic of drug overdoses from a street drug called SYNCHRONIC. When Dornan's daughter goes missing after taking the drug, Mackie figures out its unusual properties and goes on a quest to bring her back. The film's got an interesting premise, but it doesn't always work. Dornan is a bit lacklustre, but Mackie is fantastic throughout.
Women Astronauts
I've been a space geek since forever, so when I noticed there were two films about women astronauts in this year's fest, I signed up for both immediately.
Proxima, France/Germany, dir. by Alice Winocour
Proxima is the more low key of the two films, starring the always wonderful Eva Green as a scientist and European Space Agency astronaut training for her first mission as she faces the challenges of being a woman in a profession that's still dominated by men, and being a mother who needs to spends months away from her daughter. There's a moment near the end that strained my credulity, but it leads to such a lovely payoff that I was willing to swallow the suspension of disbelief pill and enjoy it.
Lucy in the Sky, US, dir by Noah Hawley
Lucy in the Sky is the more outrageous woman astronaut film, though it's based on the real life story of a NASA astronaut who became so unhinged she drove across the country non-stop to confront the man she was having an affair with. This isn't a perfect film, but I did enjoy it. Natalie Portman plays the lead, and gives a credible performance as a type A personality who starts losing her grip on reality. The director, Hawley, is also the creator of the show Legion, and uses some shooting effects that are as trippy as that show gets. It also doesn't hurt that Ellen Burstyn plays Portman's salty grandmother with her usual panache.
More Women in Film
With TIFF making an effort to give 50% of their program over to women-directed films the last could of years, I've made it a personal goal to prioritize more films directed by and starring women. As a bonus, two of the films I picked this year were about Canadian Indigenous women tellings and one of those had an Indigenous woman director.
The Body Remembers When the World Broke Open Canada, dir. by Elle-Máijá Tailfeathers & Kathleen Hepburn
The first of the indigenous films is based on an event in the life of co-direct Elle-Máijá Tailfeathers. A young professional indigenous women Alia (played by Tailfeathers) runs into another young indigenous woman, Rosie, who's barefoot, sobbing, and on the run from a boyfriend who's just beaten her up. Shot in a series of continuous takes, the film follows the two women as Alia tries to get Rosie help and a safe place to stay, and Rosie tries to do what seems safest for her. This is a complex, nuanced film where there is no perfect solution to people's problems, and I can highly recommend it. Ava Duvernay's company has picked it up for distribution, and has plans to release it this fall.
Kuessipan, Canada, dir. by Myriam Verreault
The second indigenous film is set in a Quebec Innu community, and follows two girls who've grown up together but find their lives leading them in different directions. Mikuan is an aspiring writer from a loving family, who starts dating a white boy from the off-rez writing workshop she attends. Shaniss has grown up in a family shattered by addiction and incarceration and has a baby with her volatile boyfriend. The story is loosely adapted from Innu writer Naomie Fontaine's book of the same title, and stars an amazing cast of non-professional actors drawn from the community where it's shot. All the actors are wonderful, but Sharon Fontaine-Ishpatao as Mikuan is especially good, playing both shy and confident in her growing abilities.
How to Build a Girl, UK, dir. by Coky Giedroyc
This adaptation of Caitlin Moran's autobiographical novel is a lot of fun. It stars Beanie Feldstein (who was in the utterly fantastic Book Smart this summer; if you haven't seen it, run now!) as a deeply uncool Wolverhampton teenager who rebrands herself as a nasty cool critic for a London music rag. Feldstein's accent is a bit rocky to start, but settles in, and has a raft of fun co-stars, including Paddy Considine as Feldstein's hapless, on the dole dad, and Alfie Allen as her rock star crush.
The Good Intentions, Argentina, dir. by Ana García Blaya
This was a shot in the dark choice, and it ended up being great. It's a fictionalized account of the author's family, and in particular her father, a laid-back stoner who shares custody of his kids with his more upwardly mobile ex-wife. When his ex wants to move to Paraguay with the kids to find a better life than they can find in Argentina, he has to struggle with how to let them go. This is a really sweet story, and the relationship between the dad and his oldest daughter, the stand in for the director, is wonderful.
Other Favourites
Ford v Ferrari, US, dir. by James Mangold
I was very much looking forward to this, and it did not disappoint. Mangold's film follows the story of car designer Caroll Shelby and racing driver Ken Miles as they help Ford try to topple Ferrari's grip on winning the 24 hour Le Mans race. Matt Damon as Shelby and Christian Bale as Miles are great at portraying the sparky friendship between the two men that results in a winning car. My affection for this film was no doubt helped by the fact that I grew up watching F1 and Indy races with my dad, but I definitely had a smile on my face all the way through. When I wasn't stressing over the outcome of the car races, anyway.
The Vast of Night, US, dir. by Andrew Patterson
This was my one Midnight Madness film this year, and it was a fun one. Set in a New Mexico town in the fifties, the film starts off as a Twilight Zone-esque show on a vintage black and white television set before zooming out to full colour. A young switchboard operator and an ambitious young DJ try to track down the source of a mysterious radio transmission during the course of one night, encountering increasingly ominous events as they get closer to the answer. Sierra McCormick is especially good as the switchboard operator.
Not Quite My Thing
Parasite, South Korea, dir. by Bong Joon-ho
This film had strong buzz this year, coming off its Palme d'Or win at Cannes. I'd been looking forward to it, having loved Bong's monster film The Host and dystopic SF flick Snowpiercer. Parasite is set in modern day Korea, where a family of survival-level grifters get an accidental in with a wealthy family when the son is hired as the rich daughter's English tutor. They perform a number of cons to get all of the family employed by the rich Parks. Things go swimmingly for a time, until, of course, they all go horribly wrong. The film is meticulously put together, and I think I can safely say that you will not see several of the big twists coming, but it left me a bit cold. Most people I know who saw it loved it, though, so YMMV.
The Lighthouse, US, dir. by Robert Eggers
This film was definitely Not My Thing. I picked it entirely due to Willem Dafoe being in it. He and Robert Pattinson play a couple of lighthouse keepers on an isolated island who gradually go nuts when a storm delays their replacements. The film is beautifully shot in black and white, but by the end it reminded me of nothing so much as a Sam Sheppard play, with two guys yelling at each other and trashing the set. I loathe Sam Sheppard plays. The Eggars fan boys in the audience, however, loved it, so it's another case of YMMV.
no subject
Date: 2019-10-21 01:01 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-10-21 01:30 am (UTC)As for the Lighthouse, it is truly meh. The fanboys were gushing over the director at the Q&A, and the friend I was with and I kept rolling our eyes. The one good thing about the screening was that Dafoe was there and he is always charming and gracious. And Pattinson was fun too.
no subject
Date: 2019-10-21 01:45 am (UTC)I had THE BIGGEST crush on Dafoe in like the eighties and early nineties. Cheekbones to die for and that bad boy aura.
I also liked your including more diverse movies! I try to focus more on diverse media, or at least make sure what I'm watching isn't 100% white guys....
no subject
Date: 2019-10-21 02:28 am (UTC)I’ve had a crush on Dafoe since the ‘80s and it’s never gone away. Doesn’t hurt that he’s a real sweetheart. A friend is a dresser at a local theatre and worked with him on a show where everything went wrong, and she said he was always gracious and accommodating. And also tiny!
I see a lot of stuff with white dudes, so I try to make sure that I see more than that as well.
no subject
Date: 2019-10-21 02:51 am (UTC)Yeah, even if I only succeed in getting my feeds to about 85% white guys instead of unthinking 100% white guys, that feels like at least it's -- different. :-/
A lot of my friends are really taken with Portrait of a Lady on Fire, I might try to see that in the theatre (it's hard because I have agoraphobia). I want to see The Farewell too, altho I've heard it makes you cry. Terminator Dark Fate looks fucking awesome, and I am always here for a Little Women adaptation. I think I missed Fast Colors, boo. Ash Is Purest White is supposed to be good? I can't really do violence and/or horror, which cuts out a lot (the other film I see people raving about is Parasite).
The critics are crazy for that breakup-of-marriage drama with ScarJo and Adam Driver and I'm just like....I'm sure it's great, but I can get that thing at home for free. (Joke, sorta.) Ditto for the other naturalistic films I see about addicts coming home and young girls in relationships with older male predators and....and....you know, I'm also sure Brad Pitt is great. There just seem to be a whole lot of movies with Brad Pitt in. (I'm also mildly ticked that the male astronaut movie is getting lauded and the female astronaut movie is getting pasted.)
....I'm probably gonna see Birds of Prey in the theatre, I can't even front about that.
no subject
Date: 2019-10-21 03:13 am (UTC)I quite enjoyed The Farewell, and it did not make me cry. But then, it is generally unpredictable what will make me cry. I did a melodrama course in uni, and my classmates called me heartless because I giggled through Camille with Garbo while they were weeping. They got their revenge a couple of weeks later when I wept uncontrollably through Stella Dallas.
I've got tix to see Terminator Dark Fate with the director at our Cinematheque next week. I can't wait. It looks like it's got everything I love about the best of the Terminator. (I adored The Sarah Connor Chronicles series with its many kickass women.) Ash is the Purest White I have not yet seen, but I'm up and down on Jia Zhangke's films. I loved his first couple that played here, but there was one in the middle (Mountains May Depart, I think) where he portrays a woman in her 40s as old and infirm and I just wanted to punch him in the face. I am resigned to streaming Fast Colors. I love Gugu Mbatha-Raw a lot.
I've got nothing good to say about Pitt's astronaut movie. I didn't care about the characters, the plot's kinda dumb, and there were so many science gaffs in it my eyes nearly rolled out of my head. It's hard to see the bad reviews for Lucy in the Sky for anything but misogyny, given the glowing reviews for Ad Astra.
Unless there's consensus that it's awful, I will also see Birds of Prey in the theatre. Gotta support Grrl Power, even if it is from a multinational corporation.
no subject
Date: 2019-10-21 03:27 am (UTC)AWW HE'S A LITTLE TINY. OMG, you're about the same height as Charlotte Bronte was. (I can make anything about the Brontes. Anything.) The shortest person I ever met was I think T's grandma, who was 4'11".
I did a melodrama course in uni, and my classmates called me heartless because I giggled through Camille with Garbo while they were weeping. They got their revenge a couple of weeks later when I wept uncontrollably through Stella Dallas.
I've never seen Camille! ....the ones that get me are Dark Victory, Brief Encounter, and yeah, Stella Dallas. Those films are knockouts.
(I adored The Sarah Connor Chronicles series with its many kickass women.)
OMFG THAT WAS SO GOOD. We fell in love with it and then it was OVER! IIRC the network "had" to choose between it and Dollhouse, and they picked Dollhouse. Good fucking job, network. I hear Hamilton did a shitload of training, just like she did for Terminator 2, and she looks beautifully craggy and aged.
It's hard to see the bad reviews for Lucy in the Sky for anything but misogyny, given the glowing reviews for Ad Astra.
SERIOUSLY. Also the reviews were so fucking focused on "They left out the diapers! LOLOLOL!" for God's sake, critics....
Unless there's consensus that it's awful, I will also see Birds of Prey in the theatre. Gotta support Grrl Power, even if it is from a multinational corporation.
I fell in love with Harley Quinn watching that awesome Batman cartoon series and even tho Robbie's a bit different, I think she really nails the part. It also looks like she gets to wear actual clothes in this movie! Bonus!
Speaking of Corporate Girl Power, I can't believe I have to wait for my Natasha movie until FUCKING MAY. I'm a little terrified it will flop (and maybe Eternals, and Shang-Chi). As a fan I was so focused on the MCU since about 2014, and now there's only going to be two movies next year? It feels....weird. (I do know about the Disney shows. I liked the Netflix ones, sob.)
no subject
Date: 2019-10-22 02:26 am (UTC)Dark Victory always got me when I was a teenager. Waterloo Bridge is also wrenching. And I've seen Random Harvest a million times. It's got a happy ending, but getting there is agonizing.
TSCC WAS SO GOOD!!! Dollhouse, not so much. My Sweetie stuck with it, but I noped out early. The non-consensual undercurrent just creeped me out.
I did NOT mention the diapers with Lucy in the Sky on purpose. Grow up, reviewers!
I adored Batman: The Animated Series. I've got the DVDs of the first couple of seasons. The design of it was soooo good, and Harley was wonderful in it.
I've got my fingers crossed that the Widow movie will be good, but man, Feige should have given us that film YEARS AGO. After Wonder Woman when he was all "Gee, we really wish we could have had the first female-led superhero movie," I just wanted to slap him, because YOU COULD HAVE IF YOU HADN'T BEEN A GUTLESS WEENIE!!!! ::deep calming breaths::
no subject
Date: 2019-10-22 02:13 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-10-22 02:16 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-10-22 02:24 am (UTC)