Toronto Dispatch. 5.

Marlow: Since we're all inclined to look for patterns - it's hard-wired into our species, I wager - I've noticed a trend that I failed to note in the earlier installment. There are plenty of films in the pipeline about our blundering into Iraq but there are a number of others that could be metaphorically hinting at the state of things over there. I'm thinking specifically of the earnest return of the "best laid plans" genre, such as Cassandra's Dream and Before the Devil Knows You're Dead - capers in which "nothing could possibly go wrong" and then everything, naturally, goes terribly wrong indeed.

Gee: You could say that everything goes wrong in every film - conflict makes for interesting viewing.

Marlow: It might be as simple as conflict-as-the-driver-of-drama. After seeing folks work through similar themes, I may be drawing some larger and possibly unnecessary conclusions. Sometimes a cigar is a cigar. The slight resurgence of the western genre caused me to suspect that perhaps something else was at play.

Gee: Looking over the list of films I've seen here at TIFF 2007, I don't see one that is a pure tribute, straight documentation or can-do-no-wrong profile - except for maybe Captain Mike Across America, which is very much about the blundering into Iraq and all about "how great Michael Moore is." I have to say I was disappointed with it and had to wonder what the point was of putting this account of Moore's Slacker Uprising Tour in the months before the 2004 election into film form. Unlike some other current political docs I've seen here, Moore ends with how the tour was successful in getting young people registered to vote (which is obvious if you're paying even the smallest amount of attention to the film) but gives no other updates on how that has impacted the political scene in the three years since. Along with "conflict making interesting viewing," it's nice to have a resolution to things, even if it is as loose as a call to action or questions for viewers to ponder.

Marlow: I don't suppose I'd expect either of those things from a Michael Moore film. Regardless, by my count, when I finally leave this city I'll have seen 60 films in the programme. I'm not sure how I feel about that. Not all here in Toronto, of course (too many meetings for that), but between Cannes, Telluride and elsewhere, I've seen an outrageous number by nearly any standard. Perhaps not by the standards of the journalists that cover SIFF in its entirety!

Gee: Right. Cannes. Many of the films I saw here played at Cannes and Venice and, while seeing them here serves a scheduling purpose for press who don't travel to either European festival, it seems that, to really hit things when the irons are hot, one needs to go to Cannes. It's not like Sundance, where things debut without anyone knowing a whit about them (and I still remember watching Danny Boyle's 28 Days Later and not knowing what was hitting me). There is a bit of a pressure to play catch up here, let alone catching up with you! Even when we see four films a day, we feel like we're behind and not doing enough.

Marlow: Fortunately, there are several films amongst the many screenings that might be considered great on reflection. I'll have to re-evaluate my initial impressions in a few weeks. Granted, my "great" isn't the "great" of others. I'll continue to encourage folks to see Silent Light even if they'll likely become impatient with it. I ran into director Carlos Reygadas a few days ago and he expressed some concern (I won't use his exact phrase here) about the acquisitions folks in the US. Without the salacious material found in his first two films, this one unfortunately will prove to be a hard sell in this conservative climate - and yet it's easily his finest work to date.

Gee: I haven't seen Silent Light and I also missed Guy Maddin's My Winnipeg, Peter Greenaway's Nightwatching, the Catherine Breillat film and The Who documentary - all things I wanted to see. You saw the first three of those films. What did I miss?

Marlow: I'm among the few that actually appreciated Nightwatching, at least based on my entirely unscientific survey. I enjoyed it for what it was - a lengthy assessment of Greenaway's obsessions, which haven't really changed over the years. I suppose that might be the appeal of Maddin's quasi-documentary as well, although his is definitely the more pleasurable viewing experience of the two films. I only wish that the fictional television program Ledge Man actually existed! Imagine the possibilities. I derived some pleasure from Dorota Kedzierzawska's Time to Die, primarily due to the captivating performance by Danuta Szaflarska who, at 91, dominates every frame in which she appears. It is an absolute shame that Kedzierzawska's films are rarely distributed on this side of the Atlantic.

Regardless, it seems that I'm dwelling a bit much on the "serious" films, but there are a few comedies here and there. Since we both skipped Sundance this year, I failed to see Garth Jennings's sophomore effort, Son of Rambow, until now. The Hammers & Tongs team should be commended for such an hilariously clever piece of storytelling. I suppose that I could relate a little too well with its social misfit-isms. I found François Ozon's Angel to be exceptionally entertaining but it all depends on how one takes the writer/director's approach to the source material. I would presume that the Elizabeth Taylor novel is quite a bit different in tone. There are plenty that I missed, of course. Everyone seemed to particularly enjoy Lars and the Real Girl. Sometimes, people just want to laugh.

Gee: People laughed a lot in Juno, Jason Reitman's teen pregnancy comedy with Ellen Page in the sharp, strong role of the titular character. Everyone, from JK Simmons to Jennifer Garner (as the deadpan dad and the would-be adopting mom), turned in good performances. They also laughed in George A Romero's Diary of the Dead, which proposed a documentary that was being videotaped by Penn State film students as the first zombies were slouching about in Pennsylvania. Romero had some good dark humor interspersed with this imagining of the zombie crisis in the YouTube era.

Marlow: The initial critical reaction to Diary appears to be somewhat favorable and yet it failed for me on essentially every level. Shoddy social commentary, mediocre thrills and sub-standard acting (even for a zombie picture) - folks should finally stop making excuses for his post-Dawn of the Dead efforts. Perhaps I'm merely disappointed with the wasting of a premise filled with plenty of possibilities. However, an entirely different ersatz zombie-begat-zombie process was on display in several of the titles in the program, with actors appearing again and again. The aforementioned Ellen Page was in three films at the festival. I figured some time ago that this diminutive powerhouse would be going places. Is it too early to call her a celebrity yet? I suppose, post-Kitty Pryde and despite a wise-beyond-her-years performance as Juno MacGuff, that her best work is still ahead.

Meanwhile, no greater case study for "good adaptation/bad adaptation" could be made from the two pictures starring Keira Knightley, Atonement and Silk. It was only a few years ago when she starting making a name for herself and look at her now. Then there are the odd connections; the six degrees of Atonement, if you will. Romola Garai stars in two "A" pictures (Angel and Atonement); Saoirse Ronan in the latter picture and the historical-figures-in-historically-inaccurate-situations, Death Defying Acts. Expect to see more of both of them, too.

Posted by dwhudson at September 14, 2007 12:49 PM