Toronto Film Fest, Day Five
Sep. 15th, 2004 12:25 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
przedA day of all-American film, one amazing, one okay and one that needs some serious work.
Title: Silver City
Director: John Sayles
Country: U.S.
P's Rating: Okay
I've been a fan of John Sayles for a very long time, as much for his sympathetic approach to his characters as his left-wing politics, but his last few films have fallen short of the high water marks he set with films like Matewan and City of Hope. I had hoped that Silver City, a political drama about a very Bush-like candidate for the governorship of Colorado, would be a return to form. Given the times we live in, I was hoping for an angry political screed, a galvanizing tale of the corruption engendered by greedy corporations. Instead, I got a lukewarm satire that seems more toothless than anything. The one bright spot, as always in a Sayles film, is that the cast is impeccable. Of surprising note is Danny Huston, playing a hapless private investigator who becomes less interested in his job of protecting the candidate and more interested in exposing the corruption of his state. Sal Lopez, as a chef that Danny enlists to talk to the illegal Mexican workers who may have witnessed a murder, is also a joy to watch.
Title: Sideways
Director: Alexander Payne
Country: U.S.
P's Rating: Highly Recommended
Payne's newest is a truly wonderful film about two friends who take off for a week to California's wine country. Paul Giamatti play Miles, a mild-mannered and more than slightly neurotic, English teacher who loves wine and words in equal measure. Thomas Haden Church plays his best friend, Jack, a lunkhead actor determined to get laid before his wedding. Not too much happens, but Payne allows both comedy and pathos to evolve out of the characters in a lovely way.
Title: P.S.
Director: Dylan Kidd
Country: U.S.
P's Rating: Not-so-good
Laura Linney plays the head of admissions at Columbia's fine arts department who suddenly wonders if she has given up on her what she wanted from life. She's still friends with her ex-husband, but has no real passion left. Then she gets an application from a student who reminds her of the boy she loved in high school and sets out to seduce him in short order. There are some very nice moments early in this film--Linney's seduction of the kid rings absolutely true--but no one seems to know what to do after the initial set-up. Instead, the characters flail around in increasingly unconvincing ways until the film simply putters to a stop.
Title: Silver City
Director: John Sayles
Country: U.S.
P's Rating: Okay
I've been a fan of John Sayles for a very long time, as much for his sympathetic approach to his characters as his left-wing politics, but his last few films have fallen short of the high water marks he set with films like Matewan and City of Hope. I had hoped that Silver City, a political drama about a very Bush-like candidate for the governorship of Colorado, would be a return to form. Given the times we live in, I was hoping for an angry political screed, a galvanizing tale of the corruption engendered by greedy corporations. Instead, I got a lukewarm satire that seems more toothless than anything. The one bright spot, as always in a Sayles film, is that the cast is impeccable. Of surprising note is Danny Huston, playing a hapless private investigator who becomes less interested in his job of protecting the candidate and more interested in exposing the corruption of his state. Sal Lopez, as a chef that Danny enlists to talk to the illegal Mexican workers who may have witnessed a murder, is also a joy to watch.
Title: Sideways
Director: Alexander Payne
Country: U.S.
P's Rating: Highly Recommended
Payne's newest is a truly wonderful film about two friends who take off for a week to California's wine country. Paul Giamatti play Miles, a mild-mannered and more than slightly neurotic, English teacher who loves wine and words in equal measure. Thomas Haden Church plays his best friend, Jack, a lunkhead actor determined to get laid before his wedding. Not too much happens, but Payne allows both comedy and pathos to evolve out of the characters in a lovely way.
Title: P.S.
Director: Dylan Kidd
Country: U.S.
P's Rating: Not-so-good
Laura Linney plays the head of admissions at Columbia's fine arts department who suddenly wonders if she has given up on her what she wanted from life. She's still friends with her ex-husband, but has no real passion left. Then she gets an application from a student who reminds her of the boy she loved in high school and sets out to seduce him in short order. There are some very nice moments early in this film--Linney's seduction of the kid rings absolutely true--but no one seems to know what to do after the initial set-up. Instead, the characters flail around in increasingly unconvincing ways until the film simply putters to a stop.
