Toronto Film Fest, Day Eight
Sep. 16th, 2005 02:49 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
przedI've survived another day with a midnight with no significant naps during movies. Hoorah! Two days to go, and it continues to be a really good fest.
Title: The Wild, Wild Rose
Director: Wong Tin Lam
Country: Hong Kong
P's Rating: Highly Recommended
Another Dialogues screening. This time Taiwanese director Tsai Ming Liang presented a classic musical/melodrama from the '60s output Hong Kong's Cathay studio. And it was fab, even if it was a not great quality DVD projection. Grace Chang, a classic actress and singer of the period, starred as the Rose of the title, a night club singer who manages to be both femme fatale and self-sacrificing nice girl. The musical numbers, which are all arias from classic operas adapted into pop songs, are dazzling, and Chang's performance outshines the rest of the cast. Too much fun.
Title: Twilight
Director: Victoria Gamburg
Country: Russia
P's Rating: Recommended
A short film from Russia, following a woman whose young daughter disappeared on the way home from school three years before. The narrative is slight, but profound, and the filmmaking craft Gamburg displays is impeccable. I look forward to seeing what she can do at feature length.
Title: Bed Stories
Director: Kirill Serebrennikov
Country: Russia
P's Rating: Okay
This film is made up of seven stories taking place in or around various beds. As you watch, it gradually becomes clear that every one of the people in the various stories is linked back to the others in interesting ways. There are husbands and wives, lovers and children, all linked together in sometimes improbable situations. Not stunning, but interesting and occasionally pretty funny.
Title: Sympathy for Lady Vengeance
Director: Park Chan-wook
Country: South Korea
P's Rating: Highly Recommended
So far, this is the absolutely best film I've seen this fest. An incredibly disturbing tale, it follows Geum-ja, a young woman recently released from prison after serving thirteen years for kidnapping and murdering a young boy. Geum-ja has emerged from prison with a plan to wreak her own kind of vengeance for what happened to her. From the opening credits, the film is a thing of incredible beauty, and it is constantly keeping you guessing as to what's going to happen next.
Title: The Great Yokai War
Director: Takashi Miike
Country: Japan
P's Rating: Highly Recommended
The crazily prolific Miike is at it again, this time with a kid's movie set in the world of the Yokai, fabulous and grotesque creatures from Japanese folk tales. Following his parents' divorce, young Tadashi has moved from Tokyo to a small village. At a local festival, Tadashi is chosen to be the Kirin Rider, protector of the peace for the current year. The title is meant to be ceremonial, but takes on real meaning when the evil Lord Kato begins turning the Yokai into mechanized monsters to terrorize humanity and Tadashi has to claim the legendary sword of the Great Goblin to defend both the Yokai and all of Japan. The film manages to be colourful and creepy and cute, often all at the same time, and is a rip roaring good time.
Title: The Wild, Wild Rose
Director: Wong Tin Lam
Country: Hong Kong
P's Rating: Highly Recommended
Another Dialogues screening. This time Taiwanese director Tsai Ming Liang presented a classic musical/melodrama from the '60s output Hong Kong's Cathay studio. And it was fab, even if it was a not great quality DVD projection. Grace Chang, a classic actress and singer of the period, starred as the Rose of the title, a night club singer who manages to be both femme fatale and self-sacrificing nice girl. The musical numbers, which are all arias from classic operas adapted into pop songs, are dazzling, and Chang's performance outshines the rest of the cast. Too much fun.
Title: Twilight
Director: Victoria Gamburg
Country: Russia
P's Rating: Recommended
A short film from Russia, following a woman whose young daughter disappeared on the way home from school three years before. The narrative is slight, but profound, and the filmmaking craft Gamburg displays is impeccable. I look forward to seeing what she can do at feature length.
Title: Bed Stories
Director: Kirill Serebrennikov
Country: Russia
P's Rating: Okay
This film is made up of seven stories taking place in or around various beds. As you watch, it gradually becomes clear that every one of the people in the various stories is linked back to the others in interesting ways. There are husbands and wives, lovers and children, all linked together in sometimes improbable situations. Not stunning, but interesting and occasionally pretty funny.
Title: Sympathy for Lady Vengeance
Director: Park Chan-wook
Country: South Korea
P's Rating: Highly Recommended
So far, this is the absolutely best film I've seen this fest. An incredibly disturbing tale, it follows Geum-ja, a young woman recently released from prison after serving thirteen years for kidnapping and murdering a young boy. Geum-ja has emerged from prison with a plan to wreak her own kind of vengeance for what happened to her. From the opening credits, the film is a thing of incredible beauty, and it is constantly keeping you guessing as to what's going to happen next.
Title: The Great Yokai War
Director: Takashi Miike
Country: Japan
P's Rating: Highly Recommended
The crazily prolific Miike is at it again, this time with a kid's movie set in the world of the Yokai, fabulous and grotesque creatures from Japanese folk tales. Following his parents' divorce, young Tadashi has moved from Tokyo to a small village. At a local festival, Tadashi is chosen to be the Kirin Rider, protector of the peace for the current year. The title is meant to be ceremonial, but takes on real meaning when the evil Lord Kato begins turning the Yokai into mechanized monsters to terrorize humanity and Tadashi has to claim the legendary sword of the Great Goblin to defend both the Yokai and all of Japan. The film manages to be colourful and creepy and cute, often all at the same time, and is a rip roaring good time.
