DAY TWO – FIVE FILM FRIDAY
Film one – Big Bang Love Juvenile A. This was a typical Takashi Miike film - completely and utterly predictable at every point. Some directors specialize in weirdness and unpredictability, but after time their weirdness becomes expected (David Lynch for example). Miike, on the other hand, has just made a film which is mind-blowing in spite of being nearly the 70th one of his career. The story is a gay murder mystery about two prisoners, and somehow they still exist as children, and every moment of time in a person’s life exists somewhere in the universe if you only look a different way, and a ray of light hitting a person can change his fate forever. It’s also about the dead haunting the living, and awesome kung-fu beatdowns, and a stunning interpretive dance done by a super-hot tattooed Asian guy. It was moving and profound without being pretentious – it was amazing.
Film two – Time. This was a Korean film which I thought would be totally depressing, but was actually a charming and hilarious character study of two fucked-up, insane people. Then the rest of the movie was dark, gory, and full of bizarre insanity. Interesting and well-done, and I really liked the lead male actor.
Film three – 2:37. An Australian film made by a first-time director at the age of 19. First of all, let me stress that my critique of this film shouldn’t deter anyone from seeing it. It was really masterful for a first film, and the actors were all very good. The subject is a suicide in a high school, and before the film even started the director came up to talk about how the film was based upon the suicide of one of his close friends, and he started going into detail about his own failed suicide attempt… uhhh…. I know that younger generations are used to pouring out their guts, but I was a little taken aback by his frankness. Anyway the film is basically a copy of Elephant. There are good aspects to it, but the camera work, sound editing, and structure were so close to Elephant that I really wondered what was going on. In the credits the director thanks Gus Van Sant, and during the Q&A he admitted that he started work on the film after seeing Elephant, and that Gus Van Sant watched his film and said he liked it ‘but it reminded him of Elephant with a more coherent plot.’ Uh, OK. So instead of a new generation of Tarantino copycats, we have a Gus Van Sant copycat? This movie doesn’t really take Van Sant’s style any further, and I hate to say that because the movie is obviously very heartfelt.
Film four – Brand Upon the Brain! – This was a world premiere of Guy Maddin’s new silent film with orchestral accompaniment, narrator, and live foley artists. I’m glad I saw it because there’s no chance this will be shown anywhere else, ever (according to the notes, one showing cost $20,000). Maybe he’ll record a soundtrack so it can be released in regular theaters – who knows. It was a pretty typical Maddin movie – reminiscent of the 20s, very funny in a quirky way, and full of dream logic plot twists. It’s basically just like an avant-garde film from the 20s, cut and edited by a schizophrenic on acid. Unfortunately I had to leave 10 minutes before the end – since the film started 40 minutes late, I would have been late for my next film. The only problem I had with the film was the fact that the live foley artists were within my line of vision, and instead of watching the screen, I was watching what they were doing at least half of the screening time.
And also, I hate to complain about a film festival that I have nothing to do with – but this was the WORLD premiere of the movie, and there were a couple hundred people waiting in the rush line. Yet, when the movie started, the seat directly in front of me and one seat to my side were empty the whole time. I know for a fact that there were people in the rush line that got turned away, but there were actually seats to accommodate them. This also happened at the world premiere of Diggers the next night. The Toronto Film Fest also seems to always seat people with rush tickets AFTER the movie starts. If volunteers at both the Wisconsin and the Chicago Film Fest can manage to get people to squish together, count empty seats, and sit people with rush tickets before the film starts, I have a hard time believing that it’s impossible for the Toronto volunteers to do the same!
Film five – Candy. Right off the bat, let me stress that everyone must watch this movie. As my friend Dan recently said, “Every heroin movie is a good movie!” He’s right. This follows in the tradition of junkie movies, but the two lead actors (Heath Ledger and Abbie Cornish) were beyond excellent. The script was perfect, it was entertaining, depressing, funny, beautiful, etc., etc. Please see this movie. I really have to say I’m a fan of Heath Ledger ever since I saw him in 10 Things I Hate About You, possibly the best high school film ever made.
Now – another major complaint. This one has nothing to do with the festival, but actually with the people at the festival. I sat down in the fourth row, and there were three single 20-something guys right next to me. One was having an argument with his girlfriend on the phone before the movie started, one of those “Baby, please, Baby, please,” arguments – while eating nachos, in a fucking crowded theater. Before the movie started, Heath Ledger was standing in the wings ready to speak, and I could tell just by looking at him that he was absolutely petrified. I gave him a huge smile (thinking I would send some positive energy his way) but honestly I don’t think it helped him at all. He got up to the mike and started stammering “I didn’t have any idea I had to speak here, I really have nothing interesting or great to say at all,” with lots of ums and uhhhs. I found it endearing that a major movie star was so nervous before a crowd like that. But the douchebags to my right started shouting things while he was talking, like “I feel a Brokeback moment coming on!” and “Casanova! Casanova!” One of them shouted “Casanova!” right while Heath was in the middle of a stammered sentence, and he stopped and said, “Sorry, what was that?” Then the guy again shouted “CASANOVA!” And Heath kind of stopped, looked around really confusedly, pointed at the blank movie screen, and said, “Ummm…. Yeah.” It was awkward and horrible – fucking Heath Ledger was announcing his movie, and clearly nervous, and some fucktards in the audience are HECKLING him. I don’t think I’ve ever been more upset during any moment of any film fest in my life. I mean, seriously, Heath was really charming and nervous and polite, and these guys were like retarded frat boy demons from fucking hell.
So then, the movie starts, and these guys are TALKING the whole time. There’s a film fest volunteer on the other side of them, and he’s not doing anything. About 15 minutes into the movie, I turned to the guy closest to me, and spat, “Could you shut up? I’m trying to watch this movie!!!” The guy responded, “I’m trying to watch it too.” Then I turned, caught his eye, and gave him my trademark icy death stare. He started babbling and saying stupid things, and turned to his friends to say something (much more quietly though). Then, five minutes later, they all got up and left. Who knows what the fuck that was about. At least they left – but I’m really embarrassed that they were heckling Heath Ledger. Seriously, what the fuck?
Film two – Time. This was a Korean film which I thought would be totally depressing, but was actually a charming and hilarious character study of two fucked-up, insane people. Then the rest of the movie was dark, gory, and full of bizarre insanity. Interesting and well-done, and I really liked the lead male actor.
Film three – 2:37. An Australian film made by a first-time director at the age of 19. First of all, let me stress that my critique of this film shouldn’t deter anyone from seeing it. It was really masterful for a first film, and the actors were all very good. The subject is a suicide in a high school, and before the film even started the director came up to talk about how the film was based upon the suicide of one of his close friends, and he started going into detail about his own failed suicide attempt… uhhh…. I know that younger generations are used to pouring out their guts, but I was a little taken aback by his frankness. Anyway the film is basically a copy of Elephant. There are good aspects to it, but the camera work, sound editing, and structure were so close to Elephant that I really wondered what was going on. In the credits the director thanks Gus Van Sant, and during the Q&A he admitted that he started work on the film after seeing Elephant, and that Gus Van Sant watched his film and said he liked it ‘but it reminded him of Elephant with a more coherent plot.’ Uh, OK. So instead of a new generation of Tarantino copycats, we have a Gus Van Sant copycat? This movie doesn’t really take Van Sant’s style any further, and I hate to say that because the movie is obviously very heartfelt.
Film four – Brand Upon the Brain! – This was a world premiere of Guy Maddin’s new silent film with orchestral accompaniment, narrator, and live foley artists. I’m glad I saw it because there’s no chance this will be shown anywhere else, ever (according to the notes, one showing cost $20,000). Maybe he’ll record a soundtrack so it can be released in regular theaters – who knows. It was a pretty typical Maddin movie – reminiscent of the 20s, very funny in a quirky way, and full of dream logic plot twists. It’s basically just like an avant-garde film from the 20s, cut and edited by a schizophrenic on acid. Unfortunately I had to leave 10 minutes before the end – since the film started 40 minutes late, I would have been late for my next film. The only problem I had with the film was the fact that the live foley artists were within my line of vision, and instead of watching the screen, I was watching what they were doing at least half of the screening time.
And also, I hate to complain about a film festival that I have nothing to do with – but this was the WORLD premiere of the movie, and there were a couple hundred people waiting in the rush line. Yet, when the movie started, the seat directly in front of me and one seat to my side were empty the whole time. I know for a fact that there were people in the rush line that got turned away, but there were actually seats to accommodate them. This also happened at the world premiere of Diggers the next night. The Toronto Film Fest also seems to always seat people with rush tickets AFTER the movie starts. If volunteers at both the Wisconsin and the Chicago Film Fest can manage to get people to squish together, count empty seats, and sit people with rush tickets before the film starts, I have a hard time believing that it’s impossible for the Toronto volunteers to do the same!
Film five – Candy. Right off the bat, let me stress that everyone must watch this movie. As my friend Dan recently said, “Every heroin movie is a good movie!” He’s right. This follows in the tradition of junkie movies, but the two lead actors (Heath Ledger and Abbie Cornish) were beyond excellent. The script was perfect, it was entertaining, depressing, funny, beautiful, etc., etc. Please see this movie. I really have to say I’m a fan of Heath Ledger ever since I saw him in 10 Things I Hate About You, possibly the best high school film ever made.
Now – another major complaint. This one has nothing to do with the festival, but actually with the people at the festival. I sat down in the fourth row, and there were three single 20-something guys right next to me. One was having an argument with his girlfriend on the phone before the movie started, one of those “Baby, please, Baby, please,” arguments – while eating nachos, in a fucking crowded theater. Before the movie started, Heath Ledger was standing in the wings ready to speak, and I could tell just by looking at him that he was absolutely petrified. I gave him a huge smile (thinking I would send some positive energy his way) but honestly I don’t think it helped him at all. He got up to the mike and started stammering “I didn’t have any idea I had to speak here, I really have nothing interesting or great to say at all,” with lots of ums and uhhhs. I found it endearing that a major movie star was so nervous before a crowd like that. But the douchebags to my right started shouting things while he was talking, like “I feel a Brokeback moment coming on!” and “Casanova! Casanova!” One of them shouted “Casanova!” right while Heath was in the middle of a stammered sentence, and he stopped and said, “Sorry, what was that?” Then the guy again shouted “CASANOVA!” And Heath kind of stopped, looked around really confusedly, pointed at the blank movie screen, and said, “Ummm…. Yeah.” It was awkward and horrible – fucking Heath Ledger was announcing his movie, and clearly nervous, and some fucktards in the audience are HECKLING him. I don’t think I’ve ever been more upset during any moment of any film fest in my life. I mean, seriously, Heath was really charming and nervous and polite, and these guys were like retarded frat boy demons from fucking hell.
So then, the movie starts, and these guys are TALKING the whole time. There’s a film fest volunteer on the other side of them, and he’s not doing anything. About 15 minutes into the movie, I turned to the guy closest to me, and spat, “Could you shut up? I’m trying to watch this movie!!!” The guy responded, “I’m trying to watch it too.” Then I turned, caught his eye, and gave him my trademark icy death stare. He started babbling and saying stupid things, and turned to his friends to say something (much more quietly though). Then, five minutes later, they all got up and left. Who knows what the fuck that was about. At least they left – but I’m really embarrassed that they were heckling Heath Ledger. Seriously, what the fuck?
posted by ginsoakedgirl at 8:58 AM
2 Comments:
crazy canadians.
how long are you in toronto? i'm about to move up there, on sunday!
it's buck, by the way. buck wiltzius.
Demon frat boys from hell! I bet they were visiting from Portland. You are my hero. Forget glow-in-the dark puffy paint; I'm going to practice my icy death stare.
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