TIFF MOVIE REVIEWS

Warriors of the Rainbow Sidiq Bale

Directed by T. Wei (TAIWAN)

If you can imagine "Braveheart" set in the jungle then you might start to get an idea of what this film is like. If the Scots were more nimble, could climb tress and race across rocks in river terrain then they might stand a chance against these belligerent aboriginal hunter/warriors from the jungles of Taiwan.

Before the film began the director warned us that there would be violent images of animals being hunted. Please be accepting of other cultures , he said, this is a true story . OK. John Woo is executive producer so I expected a lot of action.

It's the 1930s and Japan has acquired Taiwan from China. The army moves in and disrupts the lives of the jungle hunter people. Eventually they can't take much more of this and decide to revolt and kick the Japanese out. It wasn't until the insurgency build up and the battle with the Japanese army kicked off that I realized that their love of aiming for the neck of their opponents and severing their heads might have something to do with the fact that they're head hunters! That's what the director meant by being accepting of different cultures. No wonder these guys are so belligerent! Even the kids want to grab some heads. Young ones too.

Once the Japanese army moves it becomes a non-stop battles with plenty of bloody deaths. How much killing? There was a cast of 15,000. Bodies fly and heads roll. Planes drop grenades and bridges explode, all held together by seamless compositing and animation. This whole film is really packing energy and enthusiasm from beginning to end. It's the liveliest film out of all the ones I've seen.

If this plays in North America I'm sure it will draw an audience. I have no idea what the ratings board will think though. The body count is high and the philosophy of the head hunter tribe is to fight to the death. So far it's sold 450,000 tickets in its' opening weekend in Asia., so this movie is BIG already. Is North America ready for the Sidiq Bale?

Kotoko

Directed by S. Tsukamoto (JAPAN)

"Kotoko" fits in to a category of film that I see every year, the one that makes me consider leaving part way through . I've never done that before at the Toronto Film Festival. I've thought of it sometimes. But usually it's like a panic response "Oh no, 90 minutes of this? " But sometimes you're wedged in the middle of the section and it's awkward to get out. This time I had room to maneuver, two empty seats next the aisle, and I'm near the back by the exit. Plus a few people had walked out already so I didn't feel so guilty. In the end I chose to stick it out.

After the 2 ½ hours of blood and beheading I had just witnessed during "Warriors of the Rainbow,"  I wasn't sure if I was ready for a story of a woman's descent into madness. This film had just won some prestigious prize at the Venice film festival so it arrived with some honors. The director said that he hasn't been here since 2003, even though he's made many films since then. Hmmm, very cryptic. The MC said he is a cult film director. OK, here we go…

I was expecting something like Roman Polanksi's ‘Repulsion'. What I got instead was a lot of hysterics, screaming and yelling, and blood. Kotoko, a young single mother, has double vision and she sees things that aren't there. Did she drop her baby off the roof? She also thinks people are attacking her. Unlike the head hunters from "Warriors of the Rainbow" Kotoko prefers to cut herself, and it becomes clear after a while that this is all in her head. Will she get better? No. And we still have 60 minutes to go. Two ladies in front of me made a loud "eeeoooo" sound and winced, jerking their heads as she sliced in to her arm again for the fourth time. They looked like nice ladies. I'm not convinced this was their kind of film.

I do recommended it to people like the ones in the audience who laughed in all the right places, like the bizarre moments with her stalker/boyfriend who fumbles around trying to find bandages after her latest latest self mutilation . Drip, drip, ho ho ho. This director has loyal fans that understand his sense of humor.

One of the strangest sequences has the lead actress (a well-known singer in Japan) serenading her boyfriend/us as we look through his POV. The camera wobbles and zooms in and out of her happy/deranged face, and features at least two encores… And that is the most enduring image that I can leave you with.

Juan of the Dead

Directed by: Alejandro Brugues (CUBA/SPAIN)

We are in Cuba, hanging out with Juan and his lazy pals when suddenly, out of nowhere, people start behaving really aggressively, biting and eating their neighbors. What is going on? Is this a sickness? Are they possessed? The news says that the violence is caused by "dissidents". Some sort of political uprising perhaps? The audience waited patiently for our heroes to figure things out. No, not vampires guys.

This film is designed as a slacker comedy of sorts, filled with one-liners and the kind of grotesque humor you would expect when characters exhibit no trace of remorse when they are viciously beating their neighbor with an oar or a hammer. There's even a running gag involving a harpoon gun that kills innocent non-zombies by mistake. Oops. Juan even starts his own business, answering the phone with "Juan of the Dead, we take care of your relatives." His girlfriend thinks he should be more altruistic and not charge for zombie killing.

There is not much you can say about a zombie film during TIFF other than to be brutally honest . It was a welcome relief. It was silly and childish and kind of mean-spirited, but after the dark repression from the first weekend of screenings. I welcomed the change. And the audience. They were there to enjoy themselves. Eventually the story reached a point where the zombies wade in en masse and Juan and his friends send heads and body parts flying. Did I mention that the audience was laughing a lot?

On the way out of the theatre an older, grey-haired couple were commenting on the carnage.

"I think that's a lot of beheading for one festival," said the husband.

I turned to him and said: "You went to see Warriors of the Rainbow, right?"

"Yeah", he says. He and his wife started laughing.

"They should send those head hunter warriors from Taiwan over to Cuba and let them fight the zombies."

We agreed that we had seen much killing in the past few days. Funny how this sort of film use to end up in Midnight Madness, but now ends up among the regular selection. Has the mainstream caught up?

Rebellion

Directed by Mathieu Kassovitz (FRANCE)

"Rebellion" was 10 years in the making, and features a fine cast and well choreographed action. The director gave himself double duty by casting himself as the head of an elite hostage negotiation team sent in to deal with a situation in New Caledonia where aboriginal natives have attacked two bases, killing four gendarmes taking others hostage.

Kassovitz does a great job of balancing the human side with the more action-oriented moments. He has a real eye for visuals and the camera work, its' endless tracking shots dragged me along with a relentlessly determined manner. And I was mesmerized by the pacing of it. The drama between the French army, gendarmerie and the negotiators is fascinating as the different camps that are supposed to be united each lobby for their own distinct plan of action. In the end it's French politics and the upcoming election that has the final say for the fate of the islanders. Their struggle to draw attention to their fight for independence (another TIFF theme this year) only leads them to becoming pawns on the world stage.

There was a lot of sympathy generated for the enemy rebels, who are portrayed by the French government as a terrorist group rather than the simple fishermen and farmers that the really are. The story seems destined to play out only one way, but the details behind the scenes are what made this enjoyable and compelling. This is great for those who like a good action oriented historical drama. I look forward to seeing more work from Mathieu Kassovitz in the future.

Pearl Jam Twenty

Directed by Cameron Crowe

Are there any Pearl Jam fans in the house? Cue the noisy response.

Apparently at the movie, there were quite a few. Including me. From what I saw in the lineup that snaked all the way around the Ryerson campus, I could tell this would be a screening unlike any of the others. A respite from the tortured repression seen on screen thus far. This film was made for a good time. The fact that it was at Ryerson campus made it strange somehow. This doesn't feel like the Toronto Film Festival.

And with that I must give my biased opinion that as a fan of the music and of music documentaries in general it didn't take much for me to get drawn in to the history of this grungy hard rock band from Seattle. I'm still stunned that a lot of what happens on screen occurred during what seems to be a small time frame. Did they really do all that? The progression from small Seattle clubs to Lollapalooza is almost hard to believe.

Director Cameron Crowe's CV as a music journalist serves him well here in piecing this history together. But the truly remarkable thing is that the band documented so much of it themselves from the very beginning. Early gigs shot on home video show the band mugging for the camera and playing the part of "rock star". Little do they know that they are documenting their own climb to fame.

Some of the footage seen here is just outright stunning, like the scene of Eddie Vedder's dramatic on-stage transformation in a Vancouver club after witnessing the violent takedown of a drunken partygoer by a security guard. Or the bands embarrassing appearance on MTV where they consumed copious amounts of alcohol and basically fell all over the stage. Or Vedder's antics climbing the rafters and jumping in to the crowd at various concerts.

The best parts are the most personal of course. Vedder speaks candidly about his lyrical inspiration and his family history, his rivalry with Kurt Cobain and what they meant to each other and his relationship with success and fame and how it's affected his life.

To hear from a man who laid his soul bare for art only to find himself forced to build a literal wall around his house to protect himself from his fans is almost tragic in its' truth.

This was a much needed wakeup after this past weekend's mediocre screenings.

The Lady

Directed by Luc Besson

"The Lady" is a prime example of how to drive an audience to tears and succeed marvelously. The standing ovation that the filmmakers received at the end of this screening confirmed it. I don't think there was anyone that was untouched by the agonies suffered by its' main characters, played by Michelle Yeoh and David Thewlis.

In telling the true story of Aung San Suu Kyi, there has been great effort expended to make the detail of the story accurate. The film focuses on the relationship between Aung San and her ordeal of house arrest in Burma, isolating her from family and community. She may leave at any time and return to England, but she will never be allowed to return. As the separation from her Oxford-based family begins to take its' toll, she is torn between her personal desire to be with them and her commitment to the cause of her nation.

Luc Besson is restrained enough to let his actors do the work here and surrounds them with a beautifully photographed backdrop. The colors and contrast between blue-grey Oxford and the lush orange and green of Burma make them seem worlds apart and disconnected.

There are some really nice moments between Yeoh and Thewlis, and they are what takes this film beyond a standard biopic to something much more personal. The choice between family and duty is the crux of the drama and it is their private moments together that made me believe that their sacrifice had great meaning to both of them.

This film does justice to a remarkable person and I expect it to do very well in theatres. I also think it puts Michelle Yeoh on course for a Best Actress nomination, which she certainly deserves to win. This is the best film I've seen so far and is my current choice for the best of the festival.

Sat. September 17, 6.00 PM, Scotiabank

From Up On Poppy Hill

(Directed by: Goro Miyazaki (JAPAN))

I've always been impressed by the way that Japanese anime can evoke so much emotion and empathy for its characters. Maybe it's their big expressive eyes that widen with surprise or shock, or maybe the way they effortlessly glide across the screen, or how they laugh.

Set in 1964 during the preparations for the Tokyo Olympics, the film deals with a period of change in Japan when the old was being replaced by the new and Japan's past seemed to be disappearing in favor of modernization and future progress. This is exemplified in the efforts by the local high school kids to save their beloved club-house, an old dilapidated French-style mansion which had become the home of various school clubs. As the two main characters grow closer together in their efforts to save their club, stories and ghosts from the past begin to reveal to them their shared, lost history.

There is a wonderful haunted quality to this film as it dredges up the unpleasant memories of the past, emotions of loss and heartache. There is a nice mix of tragedy, comedy, nostalgia, youthful passion and bitter-sweetness. This film filled me with my own sense of nostalgia, since I grew up watching Japanese anime. Seeing these cell drawings come alive on screen felt like I was still that age.. In fact, the style of the film is in effect part of the film's theme, a refusal to part with tradition and go beyond the classic hand-drawn style which has served these filmmakers well for so long. I would hate to see them be tempted by 3D, it simply isn't the same. With Disney as a distributor I expect to see this make a large impact when it arrives in theatres.

Future screenings: Sat. Sept 17, 3.15 PM, Scotiabank 1

Salmon Fishing In Yemen

Directed by Lasse Hallstrom (UK)

Very light and flaky like a morning pastry. These are the words that popped in to my head as I descended the stairs from the Elgin theatre balcony. Yes, that was a treat, but not very filling and full of cavity-inducing sweetness. It reminded me of the Danish that I ate before jumping on the subway. At this point in the festival I pray for a zombie or two to make an appearance.

This film treads a fine line between wanting to be nice and heartwarmingly funny to wanting to tackle issues like the war in Afghanistan or an attempted assassination. But the movie's serious, grave matters are quickly brushed aside and blow away like the desert wind. Yemen is, after all, the birth place of Osama Bin Laden and some of his people are not happy that the rich sheik is so enamored with Western ways that he would build a dam just so he can fish and be happy. But never mind, that, we have two very good-looking lead actors.

The romance is obvious from the beginning, despite knowing that both characters are already with respective others, you know that they are going to try and get together eventually, right? The desert, the bond-building project, and yes, salmon! Ewan McGregor pulls out his charming-yet-grumpy persona that suits him well when he wants to mug for the camera.

Am I wrong for feeling sorry for the soldier boyfriend who goes from being MIA in Afghanistan to sole survivor of an operation that resulted in everyone being killed? Only to find his girlfriend in the arms of another? The only thing that kept him going in Afghanistan was thought of being reunited with….OK, you know the rest. Goodbye war hero, hello Dr. Salmon.

If this sounds harsh it's not meant to be, most people enjoyed it and laughed in all the right places. The conversations that I overheard on the way out of the theatre confirmed it. There's an audience for this film and they love this kind of thing. I on the other hand need to improve my choice of breakfast and stop letting art reflect life.

Wuthering Heights

Directed by Andrea Arnold (UK)

Andrea Arnold's "Fish Tank" was one of my favorite films when it screened here at the festival in 2009. Her poetic vision of small town mediocrity and bleakness was offset with a real spirit in the guise of the main character, a teenage girl coming of age and discovering herself.

Much of Arnold's visual style is seen here in this latest adaptation of the classic book, and her rawness adds a welcome grittiness to the dark, bleak narrative. The hand-held camerawork gives an in-your-face immediacy to the action, but it becomes distracting after a while and dominates the proceedings in a heavy-handed manner. Extended conversations among the characters would have drawn me in more, but sadly I still feel disconnected from really feeling for the drama or caring too much for their feelings.

In adapting this novel to the screen she has left out a lot of what I enjoyed most from hear previous effort: the dialogue and speech that made "Fish Tank" so aggressively verbose. Instead there is more emphasis on a clipped narrative with many scenes strung together and a too similar tone that doesn't really modulate much, making it somewhat one note and repetitive. The characters say very little and most of the time we are left to imagine what their thoughts might be, so the emotional payoff towards the end feels flatter than it should be, and less satisfying.

The audience that I saw it with seemed unmoved by the experience and, judging by the delayed, absent minded applause at the end probably underwhelmed. There is a haunting quality to the film that has stuck with me, so it will be interesting to reflect back on this in a few days time as the images embed themselves in my subconscious.

Next screening: Friday, September 16, 9.00 PM (Visa Screening Room)

The Hunter

Directed by Daniel Nettheim

Willem Dafoe plays an expert tracker sent to Tasmania to find the last remaining Tasmanian Tiger. He's there on behalf of a mysterious bio-weapons company that wants to make a special toxic that the tiger's body creates. Upon arrival he immediately finds out that her is not welcome in this town, as many like him have come before and disrupted their lives. The local loggers are out of work and angry at the excessive forest preservation and it appears he may have some competition for the tiger as well.

Along the way he encounters various characters who help him along, including the wife and children who host take him in and rent him a room. It seems that the father went missing about a year ago in the same area he wants to go in, and under similar circumstances involving the search for the same animal. And then there is the family friend (Sam Neill) who keeps an eye on them. He's friendly but mysterious.

Dafoe does a fine job of convincingly playing a man who knows his business outdoors and watching him quietly go about setting traps and snares while hunting for the elusive tiger is enjoyable to watch, as is his relationship with the children of the missing scientist. There are some nice moments between them that balance out the narrative and make us care a bit more for him and his mission. The plot is somewhat thin, and the action light, but the characters are engaging and make up for it.

But in the end it's the Tasmanian wilderness which is the most fascinating to watch, its' spectacular landscape danger being the most compelling character of all.