TIFF 2011 preview (page 2)

THE TORONTO INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL 2011 PREVIEW

page 2

christopher funderburg, john cribbs & marcus pinn

marcus pinn:

Ha, I was just going to say how much our tastes differ.

This is not only my first year at TIFF but also my first time in Canada, so I'm very excited. But as it turns out, some of my current favorite directors have movies showing this year. Todd Solondz (Dark Horse), Lynne Ramsay (We Need To Talk About Kevin), LvT (Melancholia), Bertrand Bonello (House Of Tolerance), etc. I'm also excited because I get another opportunity to see Drive (in fact i may see it twice while I'm there). John, if Im not mistaken Drive is playing 3 times all together. I'd try to see it if I were you. If I'm not mistaken, arent you a fan of Michael Mann and William Friedken? Drive is done in the style of both of those directors. Seriously, it's great. Albert Brooks' performance, Christina Hendricks (who's only in the movie for like 10 minutes but is still getting billed like she's one of the stars), Cliff Martinez's synthy soundtrack, etc. I love everything about it. Nicolas Refn may be one of the few directors I like, along with Soderbergh and Linklater, that has more movies in his filmography that I dislike than like. I'm not crazy about the Pusher films, Bleeder or Bronson, but he's grown on me thanks to Fear X and Valhalla Rising.

And I didn't know Greta Gerwig was in a Whit Stillman movie. That combination of people together makes me upset just thinking about it. I'm having "daymares" of Mumblecore, the word "like" and Metropolitan all swirling around inside my head right now. What makes me more upset is that Alia Shawkat, a much more talented and beautiful actress than Gerwig, is playing a supporting role. This is what I was talking about in The Bad & The Beautiful article. She keeps getting overlooked and cast in movies I don't care to see as a supporting player. Now I have to sit through a Whit Stillman movie just to see her. And I bet she only has about 15 minutes of screen time. Between the new Stillman movie and The Oranges (another film co-starring my future wife), I seriously hope Alia makes an appearance at Toronto this year so I can try to steal a kiss. Or at least get close enough to smell her hair. Actually, you know what? Both movies that Shawkat is going to be in look pretty bad. I may just hang outside the theater while they're playing and hopefully bump in to her.

Anyway, here's my rundown...

MUST-SEES:

We Need To Talk About Kevin
I think John C. Reilly is a good comedic actor (...sometimes), but its been so long since he's played a dramatic role that it feels like people forgot he started out as a serious actor. This year he makes a return in Lynn Ramsay's new film. Normally, I wouldn't show interest in a movie about a high school shooting, but Ramsay is one of my current favorites, and I trust she'll do a good job with this. Everyone's been talking about the return of directors like Malick and Hellman, but its been almost a decade since Lynne Ramsay has a made a feature film, so I'm pretty excited about this.

Darkhorse
Im sure you guys already know that I'm down for anything Todd Solondz does. And it seems like he got so tired of every other american independent filmmaker copying him, he changed up his own style for this one. According to Solondz himself, there's no pedophilia, murder or rape in Dark Horse. This should be interesting. I assume I'll be rolling solo to this one??

Le Harve
I wasnt pleased with Kaurismaki's last film, but Im still a huge fan of his and Im looking forward to this very much. What's funny is that if any other director made a film with the same premise as Le Harve I'd probably roll my eyes and write it off.

Drive
In my opinion this lived up to all the hype and I can't wait to see it again.

Melancholia
The general consesus is that not only is this great, but the ending is very powerful. And after winning best actress at Cannes, I'm very curious to see Dunst's performance.

House Of Tolerance
I've been bugging Bertrand Bonello personally on facebook for the last few months about this (he wasnt even sure himself if this was going to be at Toronto). I think he may be one of the most misunderstood directors in recent years. Something about the trailer to this makes me want to see this so bad.

The Artist
I'm hearing nothing but good things about this one as well. Plus John Goodman (one of my heroes) is in this.

The Skin I Live In
Antonio Banderas collaborates with his old friend Pedro Almodovar after almost 20 years in an old fashion revenge flick. I havent been super crazy about Almodovar's last couple of films. I recently realized that Volver wasn't as good as I thought it was and Broken Embraces was just "ok". But this looks interesting. I'm sure there will be plenty of colorful transexuals and overly dramatic music.

DIDN'T KNOW ABOUT IT, BUT SOUNDS GOOD TO ME:

Carre Blance
I dont know much about this one, but the trailer is cut really well and its being compared to Tarkovsky (which I already know is probably an innacurate comparison, but still...). This is one of those movies that will either be really awful or really great. There's no in between with this one.

Dark Girls
Its nice to know Bill Duke is still active. I'll admit I havent really thought about him since his cameo in Soderbergh's The Limey. Im hoping this will be much better than For Colored Girls.

Empire
After Uncle Boonmee, I'll see just about anything from this guy. But the funny thing is, I cant seem to find when this is playing. Someone help me out.

Keyhole
Even though Guy Maddin's films are slowly becoming slight variations of the same exact thing, I still have faith in him.

Shame
Steve McQueen and Michael Fassbinder together again (Hunger). This one really came out of nowhere. I thought McQueen's next film was supposed to be a biopic about Fela Kuti, but i guess not. I'll take this as a substitute.

Take Shelter
This has been getting some good reviews, and I'm a Michael Shannon fan [it should be noted that this is the clearest point of agreement amongst the 3 of us: we all love MIchael Shannon - christopher] (I watched Revolutionary Road just for his 2 1/2 scenes).

ON THE FENCE:

Wuthering Heights
I like Andrea Arnold a lot, but i dont know about this one. And what ever happened to parts 2 & 3 of Red Road?

The Ides Of March
My new found mancrush on Ryan Gosling may get me to see this, but at the same time im not big on political thrillers.

Livid
I hate buying in to this new vampire craze, but Beatrice Dalle is in this so i dunno...

Moneyball

Twixt

NO THANKS:

Even though Im very excited about this year's lineup, there's still a lot of films that look awful; Trespass, 50/50, Coriolans, From The Sky Down, Killer Elite, Jeff Who Lives At Home, Take The Waltz, etc. And like any post-1996 film festival, it looks like there's going to be plenty of Todd Solondz wannabee's: Michael (a humanistic look a pedophile living with a 10 year-old boy? Riiiiiiight), The Descendants (I realize this movie has nothing to do with Solondz, but Alexander Payne is one of those directors who's become successful off of Solondz' style with films like Election and Sideways. Plus Payne's last few movies were like lifetime movies for men so I'm gonna pass on this) & The Oranges (I know we already discussed this, and I've already said that I'll be seeing it just because Alia is in it, but something tells me this is another film from the "school of Todd Solondz")

WHAT HAPPENED TO...

Carnage
Did I totally miss this? Is this not playing at TIFF?

Amour
I thought Haneke's new film was scheduled for 2011, but apparently not anymore. I was looking forward to this. Oh well...

christopher funderburg:

Positivity.

Let’s get down to it. First off Marcus, as a first time visitor to Toronto, you should be aware that it has a reputation for being clean and nice, but it has roughly 100 times more homeless people and street-walking prostitutes than NYC. A drunk prostitute once whipped a used tampon directly out of her vagina and threw it on my leg right as I was attempting to step over a puddle of vomit out front of a Burger King. When I looked up at her in stunned horror, she (still hunched over from reaching inside her vagina to pull out the ruined cotton swab) cackled. Cackled. But really I don’t know virtually anything about the city because I spend almost all of time going directly from the hotel to the movie theater, only stopping off at nearby sports bars to watch a couple football games over the course of the week. The festival area might just be plagued by roving bands of filthy whores and smelly (but strangely beatific) homeless dudes...

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