Venice, 9/3.

"[T]he first edition of Marco Mueller's new four-year mandate has all the makings of an off-year," writes Variety's Nick Vivarelli. "An honorable off-year, maybe. But still an edition during which the din of complaints - pretty much a constant at all film fests - has spiralled to an almost unbearable level." A sample of what he's overheard: "Marco is in trouble. If he doesn't get his act together next year, then the majors will snub Venice entirely and start just going to Toronto."

In this roundup: A few films heading to Toronto, a few that aren't and a peek at Daily entries to come.

Lee Marshall in Screen Daily on Machan: "High-concept but low-octane, this old-fashioned, feelgood Sri Lankan immigration comedy-drama represents an unexpected first directorial outing for Full Monty producer Uberto Pasolini." More from Jay Weissberg (Variety). Next stop: Toronto.

"Painfully slow but at the same time a resonant, elegiac coming of age story, the second installment in Turkish arthouse director Semih Kaplanoglu's Yusuf trilogy shows him to be something of a magic-realist Terence Davies," writes , reviewing Milk (Süt) for Screen Daily. "But with its overlong shots in which almost nothing happens, this Venice competition entry represents a tough ride for audiences and, like his last film Egg (Yumurta), is likely to be more of a festival workhorse than a theatrical prospect." More from Ray Bennett (Hollywood Reporter) and Derek Elley (Variety). Next stop: Toronto.

"What makes this small French-backed Afghan charmer, which premiered in Critics' Week at Venice, more than just a heartwarming quest comedy is its grounding in the everyday chaos and strict social and religious codes of war-ravaged Kabul." Lee Marshall in Screen Daily on Kabuli Kid. "Though honed by script consultant Jean-Claude Carrière, the film does not Westernise its protagonists, and the device of the baby abandoned by a woman in full burka allows it to explore issues of social and gender constraint without preaching." Next stop: Toronto.

"Two lovers nursing a few secrets run into a working girl with a talent for manipulation in Adrian Sitaru's entirely POV-shot freshman feature, Hooked." Jay Weissberg, Variety: "Taking a page from Knife in the Water but giving it a new visual spin, Sitaru makes form the king, but the relentless quality of the subjective lensing, shifting among the characters' perspectives, offers only a modicum of insight. With such an inescapably intimate style, the characters had better be attention-worthy, and here the main couple just don't fit the bill." More from Ray Bennett (Hollywood Reporter). Next stop: Toronto.

"Haile Gerima ambitiously attempts to put his native country's tragic recent history into context in the sprawling Teza, which follows an Ethiopian intellectual through exile in Germany and return to his home village during the turbulent early years of the Marxist regime," writes Fionnuala Halligan in Screen Daily. "Taking place over three decades, this may be modestly-budgeted but it is also handsome, intelligent and watchable.... [T]his is ostensibly about Ethiopia, but it tells the sad story of much of the continent, then and now." More from Ray Bennett (Hollywood Reporter) and Alissa Simon (Variety). Next stop: Toronto.

"Audiences who were impressed with the frank soul-searching of Ari Folman's animated Waltz With Bashir, and its depiction of Israeli soldiers at war in Lebanon, will find an echoing note in Z32, which director Avi Mograbi calls a 'musical documentary tragedy,'" writes Deborah Young in the Hollywood Reporter. More from Alissa Simon (Variety).

"Pupi Avati's second film in less than a year, Giovanna's Father, centers on a protective and doting father who chooses to stay by his daughter's side even after she is institutionalized for killing a schoolmate," writes Natasha Senjanovic in the Hollywood Reporter. "The film's at times emotional, at times sophomoric treatment of heavy subject matter should earn it only modest returns at home and little beyond the festival circuit abroad." More from Alissa Simon (Variety).

"Billing itself as probably 'Malaysia's first Manglish so-called musical,' multihyphenate Yeo Joon-han's Sell Out! is an overlong attempt at a satire on business and media greed that's played and helmed with a sophomoric enthusiasm." Derek Elley in Variety.

Gautaman Bhaskaran in the Hollywood Reporter on Perfect Life: "Writer-director Emily Tang, who moved from China to Hong Kong after her Conjugation, a bitter look at Tiananmen Square, randomly explores the tension between the real and the unreal. Unfortunately, it does not turn out to be experimental enough, and may find it difficult to grab even a festival slot." More from Derek Elley (Variety).

"A snapshot of a woman dealing with being alone in her late 40s, The Other One [L'Autre], written and directed by France's Patrick Mario Bernard and Pierre Trividic, fails to offer anything new on the topic of loneliness," writes Ray Bennett in the Hollywood Reporter. More from Lee Marshall (Screen Daily).

They're fast at Screen Daily. I'm sure there'll be entries on these, but for now, here are their reviews of Jonathan Demme's Rachel Getting Married, Agnès Varda's Les Plages D'Agnès, Mamoru Oshii's The Sky Crawlers, Emmanuel Bourdieu's Intrusions and Gerardo Naranjo's I'm Gonna Explode.

Posted by dwhudson at September 3, 2008 3:12 PM