Life During Wartime

In brief:
Todd Solenz puts a lot of characters on the screen that I wouldn't want to invite to my house.

Ramblings:
Many disjointed scenes. Perhaps it would have helped to have seen "Happiness" more recently to figure out some of the plot and inter-connections between the characters. The boy who played the main character was the best thing in the movie. Three sisters -- so what?

Same Same But Different

In brief:
Flat and uninspired telling of a true story that wasn't helped by lackluster performances. Cameron Bailey said this was the only real romance movie at the festival ... if this is romance it was not very passionate.

Ramblings:
The setting and music were more interesting than the actors. The scenes outside the plot were certainly interesting and would have made a great documentary.

A Serious Man

In brief:
I was so looking forward to seeing this but I honestly didn't think it was very funny at all, though many of the audience were rolling in the aisles.

Ramblings:
Absolutely stunning re-creation of a 1967 American suburb. Great artistic design. Many bad things happen to good people but I couldn't relate to the situations. It might have helped to be Jewish since many of the jokes were in Yiddish or Hebrew.

25 Carat

In brief:
Absolutely great first film. If you like movies like "Lock, Stock and Smoking Barrel" you'll love this one.

Ramblings:
Director said it was shot in six weeks and made for a million Euros. Great main characters. Great situations. Constant surprises.

Independencia

In brief:
"Artistic" movie that will have a difficult time finding an audience.

Ramblings:
Apparently it was meant to look amateurish. It did that well. A bit too far out for me.

The House of Branching Love

In brief:
Very uneven acting and implausible changes in the characters make for a choppy divorce movie.

Ramblings:
Female star spoils this one. Her acting (or is it the script) is all over the place. It's hard to believe or understand her motivations a lot of the time -- except that it makes for funny situations. Her role is a victim to the plot.

People laughed a lot, though I didn't find some of the situations that funny. I wouldn't recommend this one.

The Men Who Stare at Goats

In brief:
Great story, well told.

Ramblings:
Well worth seeing but needs lots of time to think about. In the middle of a film festival there's not enough time. Can't really say much more right now.

How to Fold a Flag

In brief:
Another great documentary from the duo who did "Gunner Palace." This time they look at what happens when the soldiers who fought in Iraq come back or don't come back.

Ramblings:
Four absolutely riveting characters are highlighted. Seamless editing. Great cinematography. Emotional stories.

Triage

In brief:
Colin Farrell giving a stellar performance in a movie that takes a look at how war photographers deals with PTSD.

Ramblings:
It is written as a mystery and more of the story is revealed as the movie progresses but it's too bad that the plot will be told and there will be no surprises for the audience by the time this movie opens. Main reason I love seeing films at festivals.

All the other actors and especially Christopher Lee are exceptional too. Great story.

Eyes Wide Open

In brief:
Story that sometimes looks more like a documentary about a tradition and fundamentalist Jewish community in Jerusalem and how its members cope with those who veer from the path.

Ramblings:
Director told us that the cinematographer came from a documentary background. Shot on location. Excellent performances. Sometimes the narrative rambles a bit. Similar story-arc to "Brokeback Mountain," but the main character is more difficult to relate to than the Heath Ledger tortured soul -- perhaps because his day-to-day life is so dissimilar to anything a North American would understand.

It really need another title so people won't confuse it with the Stanley Kubrick film.

The Band that Wouldn't Die

In brief:
One-hour ESPN documentary by Barry Levinson about the Baltimore Colts marching band which stayed the course even after the football team left Baltimore.

Ramblings:
Very evocative. Too bad there wasn't more time to actually see and hear the band, but this was a one-hour (tv time) documentary. Too bad Barry Levinson wasn't there for the Q & A but the assembled producers did a creditable job. This is what documentaries are all about. Great story. Great characters. Emotional story. Highly recommended when broadcast on ESPN on October 13^th this year. You don't have to know anything about football to be moved.

Colony

In brief:
Well-done documentary about crisis facing beekeepers who are losing hives due to an unknown cause.

Ramblings:
This Irish documentary was shot entirely in the US. It highlights a recent problem by interviewing beekeepers faced with the loss of one-third of their hives. Special highlight of a fundamentalist Christian family in California and their problem with getting paid for the work they do of moving hives into almond groves to pollinate the trees. No solutions given. Lots of beautiful closeups of beehives and the insects. Not much new here.

I Am Love

In brief:
Great story. Great acting. Melodramatic musical score kills it somewhat.

Ramblings:
Tilda Swinton was one of the producers and starred in this Italian film. It could have used some severe editing. Overly melodramatic music ("Nixon in China"?) underscores the action and actually overscores it. (Just in case we didn't realize it was a dramatic moment, the music lets us know -- very loudly.)

The cinematographer got away with too much. Ridiculous closeups spoil some of the drama. Unnecessary cutaways slow down the story.

"Pippa Lee" and Emma had a similar story-arc. I'm not sure which I prefer.

V.O.S.

In brief:
You've heard about taking down the fourth wall. How about removing the fifth wall. Title stands for Version Original with Subtitles. This is a very original film.

Ramblings:
Highly original movie made from a stage play. Characters stay in character but the artifice of film-making shows that they are really just actors and not "real people." Looks at relationships, the fluidity of relationships, and new ways of setting up families. The acting is stellar. The director told us the same actors had done the stage play over 300 times. This will certainly get people talking. My top choice of the day.

Huacho

In brief:
Grim portrait of rural life in Chile.

Ramblings:
Each of four members of a peasant family has a secret and coping mechanism they hide from other members of the family. Sobering look at class distinctions and how stark some people's lives are. Well worth seeing.

Like You Know It All

In brief:
Likeable main character gets into funny/dangerous situations. Things happen to him. He does not make things happen.

Ramblings:
Probably an "in" joke for festival directors, it's about a "well-known" director who seems to be rather a bystander in his own life -- in two chapters a few weeks apart. People ask him deep questions but he keeps changing the answers. He meets people from his past but he has trouble re-connecting. Fanciful and slightly funny.

TIFF List

Friday, September 11
1 - 9:15 AM to 11:21 AM Like You Know It All SB 1
2 - 12:15 PM to 1:44 PM Huacho SB 3
3 - 2:45 PM to 4:11 PM V.O.S. SB 3
4 - 5:30 PM to 7:30 PM I Am Love SB 3

Saturday, September 12
5 - 12:30 PM to 1:57 PM Colony AMC 2
6 - 2:15 PM to 3:09 PM The Band That Wouldn't Die AMC 7
7 - 5:00 PM to 6:30 PM Eyes Wide Open V 2
8 - 8:30 PM to 10:09 PM Triage WGT

Sunday, September 13
9 - 9:15 AM to 10:40 AM How to Fold a Flag AMC 2
10 - 11:30 AM to 1:03 PM The Men Who Stare At Goats RY
11 - 3:00 PM to 4:42 PM The House of Branching Love AMC 3
12 - 6:15 PM to 7:32 PM Independencia AMC 5
13 - 9:30 PM to 10:56 PM 25 Carats AMC 6

Monday, September 14
14 - 9:00 AM to 10:45 AM A Serious Man SB 1
15 - 2:30 PM to 4:13 PM Same Same But Different SB 3
6:00 PM to 8:00 PM Duke of York Bloggers Meetup
16 - 8:15 PM to 9:51 PM Life During Wartime SB 1

Tuesday, September 15
17 - 9:15 AM to 11:00 AM The Joneses — SB 1
18 - 12:15 PM to 1:45 PM The Last Days of Emma Blank SB 4
19 - 3:45 PM to 5:30 PM Capitalism: A Love Story SB 1
20 - 6:45 PM to 8:18 PM Jean Charles AMC 4

Wednesday, September 16
21 - 11:00 AM to 12:39 PM A Single Man RY
22 - 2:00 PM to 3:40 PM Get Low RY
23 - 4:00 PM to 5:45 PM Leaves of Grass WGT
24 - 7:30 PM to 9:15 PM The Time That Remains IB
25 - 10:00 PM to 11:15 PM Cole V 3

Thursday, September 17
26 - 9:45 AM to 11:05 AM High Life SB4
27 - Noon to 1:45 PM Micmac RY
28 - 2:30 PM to 4:23 PM Police, Adjective AMC 6
29 - 5:45 PM to 7:37 PM The Search SB4
30 - 8:00 PM to 9:25 PM Videocracy V 1

Friday, September 18
31 - 8:30 AM to 10:38 AM Vincere SB 2
32 - 11:15 AM to 12:58 PM Cooking with Stella SB 2
33 - 1:45 PM to 3:33 PM The Waiting City SB 1
=========================================
Ooops! I decided I'd had enough and didn't finish the week.
=========================================
4:15 PM to 5:59 PM The Boys Are Back SB 1
6:00 PM to 9:00 PM Film Circuit: Bistro 990 Party
9:30 PM to 11:28 PM FC: Max Manus [RTH]

Saturday, September 19
9:30 AM Spring Fever AMC 9
1 PM Bran Nue Dae AMC 3
3:45 PM to 5:23 PM The Hole 3D AMC 9

Ones I saw in Europe this summer:
34 - Happiest Girl in the World
35 - Private Lives of Pippa Lee
36 - Young Victoria
37 - Broken Embraces

The Happiest Girl in the World

In brief:
Very slow-moving look at a day in the life of a contest winner (and her parents) while shooting a commercial. Lots of in jokes about film-making. A few chuckles.

Ramblings:
Everybody knows that film-making is a lot of hurry-up and wait but this was just a lot of waiting. Lots of stereotypical members of the crew. Plot seemed to be made up as they went along. Some scenes came out of left field. Some scenes were completely unnecessary.

You never got the idea that anything was going on at the shoot while we were being taken off to another part of the forest for more exposition of the family dynamics — or long takes of someone doing nothing.

Although there were a few chuckles of recognition about film shoot happenings and mishaps, there was not enough engagement with any of the characters to really care what would happen next.

The Young Victoria

In brief:
Lots of pomp and pompousness in the court of Queen Victoria. There wasn't much plot but it was fun to watch.

Ramblings:
Emily Blunt as Queen Victoria is quite beautiful and so is Rupert Friend as Prince Albert. They make a lovely couple.

It's fun to watch the shenanigans in court although it's hard to believe Victoria was as naive as she's made out to be — but Sarah Ferguson was one of the producers.

Since it's history, we know they'll get together eventually so there's no suspense there.

Nice to hear that after he died, she still had his clothes laid out every day. Perhaps there will be a sequel to tell the story in between.

Broken Embraces

In brief:
Unnecessarily complicated plot and sub-standard acting by most of the cast. Not very satisfying. Almodavar could have (and has) done better.

Ramblings:
Ho-hum love affair between Penelope Cruz and two men. The only one who generated any interest on the screen was Bianca Portillo who said more when she wasn't speaking than the other three did when they read their lines.

The plot meanders all over the place and by the time we come to the end of the movie, when all the loose ends have to be tied up in neat little bows, it all seems quite rushed. Perhaps some of the side-plots, explanations, and superfluous scenes could have been omitted.