Toronto Film Fest, Day Seven
Sep. 16th, 2004 11:49 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
przedThree films I was taking a chance on today, and they all turned out pretty good.
Title: Double Dare
Director: Amanda Micheli
Country: U.S.
P's Rating: Recommended
A documentary about two stunt women at opposite ends of their careers. Jeannie Epper is from a legendary stunt family and most famously doubled for Lynda Carter in Wonder Woman. Zoe Bell is a Kiwi who doubled for Lucy Lawless in Xena, and is just establishing herself in the Hollywood scene. This doc is not only a lot of fun, but it also raises a lot of issues about both the stunt industry (especially watching Jeannie's adult daughter struggle with a stunt-related injury) and about the still second-class place of women in society in general. And all without being even slightly didactic about it. Very good stuff.
Title: Keane
Director: Logan Kerrigan
Country: U.S.
P's Rating: Recommended
I reckoned this was going to be a long shot, but it paid off. Set in the bottom rungs of New York's social order, the film follows the meanderings of William Keane, a man haunting the Port Authority bus station looking for his abducted daughter. Keane is clearly not entirely well, mumbling to himself, obsessing over odd things and having a control problem with alcohol. But when he notices a young woman and her daughter in trouble at the transient hotel where he lives, he takes it upon himself to reach out and help them, and begins to regain a measure of control and dignity. The first half hour of the film is a bit hard too watch, and frankly nothing that hasn't been done before, most notably in Cronenberg's Spider, but once the family enters the picture the film really takes off. The central performance of Damian Lewis (of Band of Brothers) is totally committed and rivetting.
Title: Kontroll
Director: Nimrod Antal
Country: Hungary
P's Rating: Okay
This was Hungary's last chance before I wrote the country's cinema off for another ten years. Fortunately, it was a fun ride. A midnight madness film, Kontroll is set amongst the poor schlubs who have to check the ticket holders of Budapest's subway riders. While they get constantly abused by passengers, a hooded figure is pushing people in front of trains. The whole thing is a shaggy dog story, and very much influenced by Besson's so much better Subway, but it's still a lot of fun.
Title: Double Dare
Director: Amanda Micheli
Country: U.S.
P's Rating: Recommended
A documentary about two stunt women at opposite ends of their careers. Jeannie Epper is from a legendary stunt family and most famously doubled for Lynda Carter in Wonder Woman. Zoe Bell is a Kiwi who doubled for Lucy Lawless in Xena, and is just establishing herself in the Hollywood scene. This doc is not only a lot of fun, but it also raises a lot of issues about both the stunt industry (especially watching Jeannie's adult daughter struggle with a stunt-related injury) and about the still second-class place of women in society in general. And all without being even slightly didactic about it. Very good stuff.
Title: Keane
Director: Logan Kerrigan
Country: U.S.
P's Rating: Recommended
I reckoned this was going to be a long shot, but it paid off. Set in the bottom rungs of New York's social order, the film follows the meanderings of William Keane, a man haunting the Port Authority bus station looking for his abducted daughter. Keane is clearly not entirely well, mumbling to himself, obsessing over odd things and having a control problem with alcohol. But when he notices a young woman and her daughter in trouble at the transient hotel where he lives, he takes it upon himself to reach out and help them, and begins to regain a measure of control and dignity. The first half hour of the film is a bit hard too watch, and frankly nothing that hasn't been done before, most notably in Cronenberg's Spider, but once the family enters the picture the film really takes off. The central performance of Damian Lewis (of Band of Brothers) is totally committed and rivetting.
Title: Kontroll
Director: Nimrod Antal
Country: Hungary
P's Rating: Okay
This was Hungary's last chance before I wrote the country's cinema off for another ten years. Fortunately, it was a fun ride. A midnight madness film, Kontroll is set amongst the poor schlubs who have to check the ticket holders of Budapest's subway riders. While they get constantly abused by passengers, a hooded figure is pushing people in front of trains. The whole thing is a shaggy dog story, and very much influenced by Besson's so much better Subway, but it's still a lot of fun.
