Toronto International Film Festival 2009

[Stay Puft]

UPDATE: The Festival is over. See post #2 for my festival viewing log.

A thread for TIFF, because otherwise I'm going to drown the FDT.

Date: September 10th to 19th, 2009
Official Website: http://www.tiff.net/default.aspx
Films: http://www.tiff.net/filmsandschedules/filmlist/default.aspx:
Schedule: http://www.tiff.net/filmsandschedules/schedule?sdate=10/09/2009

As I mentioned in the FDT, my current plan is to attend the festival for the entire ten day run. I just need to get plans for the closing weekend locked down.

Should all go according to plan, I hope to do my best to entertain you, Match Cut, with my own personal, informal coverage of the festival. By which I mean lots of writing about films and informal film reviews, or capsules of agreeable volumes of verbiage at the very least. No, I'm not stalking Megan Fox for you, Match Cut. I'll use the next couple posts to serve as indexes for film reviews and put my temporary schedule there for the short term.

And, of course, discussion of all things TIFF, from general news to film reviews and coverage by established critics and media outlets should ensue.

So who all is going this year? Let's talk movies!

[Stay Puft]

My TIFF 09 Viewing Log
title (director) star rating

Day 1
Phantoms of Nabua (Apichatpong Weerasethakul) ***½
A Vicious Undertow (Jesper Just) ***

Day 2
Face (Tsai Ming-liang) ***½
She, a Chinese (Guo Xiaolu) **
Fish Tank (Andrea Arnold) ***
Daybreakers (Michael Spierig, Peter Spierig) **

Day 3
City of Life and Death (Lu Chuan) ***
Let Each One Go Where He May (Ben Russell) Nap time.
Survival of the Dead (George A. Romero) **

Day 4
Up in the Air (Jason Reitman) **
At the End of Daybreak (Ho Yuhang) **½
The Secret School (Marina Gioti) ***
Une Catastrophe (Jean-Luc Godard) ? [This is a trailer for Viennale fest.]
Le Streghe, femmes entre elles (Jean-Marie Straub) **½
A Letter to Uncle Boonmee (Apichatpong Weerasethakul) ***
Film for Invisible Ink, Case No. 142 (David Gatten) **½

Day 5
Soul Kitchen (Fatih Akin) ***½
Toad's Oil (Koji Yakusho) ***

Day 6
The Warrior and the Wolf (Tian Zhuang Zhuang) *½
Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans (Werner Herzog) ***
[Rec] 2 (Jaume Balagueró, Paco Plaza) **½

Day 7
Phobidilia (Yoav Paz, Doron Paz) **
Once Upon a Time Proletarian (Guo Xiaolu) ***

Day 8
Mother (Bong Joon-ho) **½
My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done (Werner Herzog) ***
Symbol (Hitoshi Matsumoto) ****

Day 9
Wheat (He Ping) **½
Nymph (Pen-ek Ratanaruang) ***½

Day 10
A Town Called Panic (Stéphane Aubier, Vincent Patar) ***
Karaoke (Chris Chong Chan Fui) **½

[Stay Puft]

reserved x2

[Watashi]

So much Herzog. So little time.

[Ezee E]

Enjoy it man!

[Duncan]

Last year was a lot of fun, wish I was going this year. Decided I had other monetary priorities.

[ledfloyd]

i need to make it up there for this some time. it's not terribly far and the list of films is always really impressive.

[Spaceman Spiff]

All my dosh is going towards schoolage. Otherwise, I'd be all over that shit.

[Boner M]

Denis' new film White Material (her first collab with Huppert!) is getting scintillating raves from Venice (http://www.theauteurs.com/notebook/posts/991). Sounds like another relatively accessible film from her after 35 Rhums, which I'm down with. Anyone here seeing it at Toronto?

[Stay Puft]

Denis' new film White Material (her first collab with Huppert!) is getting scintillating raves from Venice (http://www.theauteurs.com/notebook/posts/991). Sounds like another relatively accessible film from her after 35 Rhums, which I'm down with. Anyone here seeing it at Toronto?

I was thinking about it. I wanted to see 35 Rhums last year but didn't get a chance. I haven't seen anything by Denis yet, though, and I'm always concerned in these situations that this won't be a good "introduction" (your links says it's her return to Africa - I don't know what that means, have any context to appreciate that kind of consideration, etc.). But the Isabelle Huppert factor is kinda irresistable.

[Stay Puft]

Reading more about Future Projections, I think I finally have some concrete information about the opening night events (I was initially finding contradictory info, making this confusing) and, as such, have been formulating new plans. Thought I might bring this to the attention of anyone in the Toronto area:

Apichatpong Weerasthakul's Phantoms of Nabua is at the Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art for the duration of the festival, as part of his Primitive installation project (Wavelengths is screening A Letter to Uncle Boonmee, another part of the Primitive project, in conjunction with Future Projections).

The opening reception is at the MOCCA on Thursday, Sept. 10 (opening night of TIFF) from 7-10 PM.

Following this as the Offical After Party at the Drake Hotel, doors at 11 PM. This event marks the debut of the new Jesper Just installation, A Vicious Undertow (apparently being projected onto the hotel's facade), which is also part of Future Projections. I guess Andy Rourke of The Smiths is the DJ for the party? I can't find as much information about this, but I'll try to check it out. I decided to devote my first day entirely to Future Projections since there's not much playing in terms of feature films and such.

[Boner M]

(your links says it's her return to Africa - I don't know what that means, have any context to appreciate that kind of consideration, etc.)
Aww c'mon, I hardly think that matters, unless you're an anal auteurist. :) (FWIW, a few of her films are set in Africa, notably her debut Chocolat) The reviews for this newie make it seem like a solid intro, as opposed to anything before 35 Rhums.

[Stay Puft]

Well, no, but I like to consider as many perspectives as possible. I suppose there is no ideal here, so I'm just voicing my own pointless, internal conflicts (I'm not actually going to drop a film from consideration because of that; it's on my list). But like I said, 35 Rhums sounded interesting when I was looking for films to see last year, I was disappointed I didn't make it, and I've been thinking about where I could fit White Material into my schedule, so we'll see.

[Stay Puft]

TIFF starts today.

Woke up, illin', sore feet, etc. (???) Why did my body decide to fall apart on the day I'm leaving, essentially, on vacation?

Perhaps it's rebelling because I looked at my bank statement last night (bad idea). What a stupid plan this was. Ten days? I'm going to be broke. I'm looking over my schedule now and thinking about cutting down on the number of films I see, prioritizing smaller stuff and crossing out anything with a reasonably high profile, or that I guess will be in theatres soon (so I'll probably skip The Road, etc.).

[NickGlass]

Denis' new film White Material (her first collab with Huppert!) is getting scintillating raves from Venice (http://www.theauteurs.com/notebook/posts/991). Sounds like another relatively accessible film from her after 35 Rhums, which I'm down with. Anyone here seeing it at Toronto?

Hopefully I will be seeing it at the NYFF.

[transmogrifier]

Jeffrey Wells loves A Serious Man, Mike D'Angelo does not. The Coens bore me a little, but I'm interested to see where this ends up.

[ledfloyd]

Jeffrey Wells loves A Serious Man, Mike D'Angelo does not. The Coens bore me a little, but I'm interested to see where this ends up.
d'angelo compared it to fargo as a negative, so i'll take his negative review as a positive.

[transmogrifier]

d'angelo compared it to fargo as a negative, so i'll take his negative review as a positive.

Well, he loved both No Country for Old Men and Burn After Reading, so how do you read that?

[Pop Trash]

Jeffrey Wells loves A Serious Man, Mike D'Angelo does not. The Coens bore me a little, but I'm interested to see where this ends up.

I said this in another thread, but some of the writers from Film Comment also really hated it.

EDIT: The AV Club and Variety writers really liked it. I don't know, this sounds totally like my kind of movie.

[right_for_the_moment]

Jeffrey Wells is so obnoxious. I really need to find something new to read..

[Stay Puft]

Awesome, Amnesiac! Glad that worked out for you. Looking forward to your extended thoughts on that; I'll be waiting for commerical release.

I'm tired, exhuausted, somehow bloody sick again, so I'm not going to write much tonight. I ended up not bothering with rush lines partly on that account. Nevertheless, some interesting stuff after three days.

Quick summary of my TIFF viewings so far:

Day 1
Phantoms of Nabua (Apichatpong Weerasethakul) ***½
A Vicious Undertow (Jesper Just) ***

Day 2
Face (Tsai Ming-liang) ***½
She, a Chinese (Guo Xiaolu) **
Fish Tank (Andrea Arnold) ***
Daybreakers (Michael Spierig, Peter Spierig) **

Day 3
City of Life and Death (Lu Chuan) ***
Let Each One Go Where He May (Ben Russell) Nap time.
Survival of the Dead (George A. Romero) **

More later.

[Rowland]

Survival of the Dead (George A. Romero) **
Hmm, I'm sorry to say I'm not surprised in the least, given how weak Diary was. How does this compare to that one?

[Boner M]

Face (Tsai Ming-liang) ***½
Can't wait to hear your thoughts on this; I'd give it half a star less, but its nearly-universal dismissal everywhere is rather puzzling.

[Ezee E]

Any further thoughts on Fish Tank?

[B-side]

Early word for The Road is excellent. Haven't read the book, but it looked to have plenty of potential.

[Yxklyx]

d'angelo compared it to fargo as a negative, so i'll take his negative review as a positive.

He's a bit of a Coen fanboy so perhaps watches their movies more critically than normal.

[Stay Puft]

Yeesh, things are more hectic than I had thought. Hopefully I'll have more time over the next few days. I'll respond briefly to inquiries in a moment. Quickly, then, a ratings summary of the last few days.

Day 4
Up in the Air (Jason Reitman) **
At the End of Daybreak (Ho Yuhang) **½
The Secret School (Marina Gioti) ***
Une Catastrophe (Jean-Luc Godard) ? [This is a trailer for Viennale fest.]
Le Streghe, femmes entre elles (Jean-Marie Straub) **½
A Letter to Uncle Boonmee (Apichatpong Weerasethakul) ***
Film for Invisible Ink, Case No. 142 (David Gatten) **½

Day 5
Soul Kitchen (Fatih Akin) ***½
Toad's Oil (Koji Yakusho) ***

Day 6
The Warrior and the Wolf (Tian Zhuang Zhuang) *½
Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans (Werner Herzog) ***
[Rec] 2 (Jaume Balagueró, Paco Plaza) **½

As I said, I went ahead and just skipped Broken Embraces, White Ribbon, The Road, Mother, Air Doll, etc. I'll catch that stuff later. Or maybe I'll see what I can do for the remaining four days.

[Stay Puft]

Hmm, I'm sorry to say I'm not surprised in the least, given how weak Diary was. How does this compare to that one?

It's a follow-up to Diary, in just about every sense of the term. It ditches the "guy recording everything with his camera" conceit, but otherwise, it's the same Romero you saw in that film. Clumsy, clunky, awkwardly didactic, often facile. Parts of it are fun, and I might give it an edge over Diary because of the two actors playing the feuding cowboys, but I was also a bit disappointed with how contrived the "zombie kills" are in context of the overall narrative.

Actually, now that I'm typing all of this, I'm wondering if I'm not overrating it a bit with two stars...


Can't wait to hear your thoughts on this; I'd give it half a star less, but its nearly-universal dismissal everywhere is rather puzzling.

My knee-jerk reaction is to declare it his best film, but I'll wait for a rewatch. I'm not sure what direction Tsai took with his last couple films (didn't have time to catch up with them), but taking a jump from WTIIT? to Face is basically mind blowing. It's the same old Tsai, in a way, but it reconfigures elements from previous films in a startling (some may say obscure) context, and I don't think he's ever been as stylistically strong.

Will need to reflect more before offering more thoughts.


Any further thoughts on Fish Tank?

It's a strong, but flawed, effort (as are quite a few I've seen so far at TIFF). I like Andrea Arnold's style, although I think Red Road is a much more ambitious, interesting film. With Fish Tank, I think we have a good film (if dramatically predictable) that completely drops the ball towards the end. The cute reaction shot of the dog, the sister chasing after the car, all of it just... ugh. It killed a lot of goodwill. Still enjoyed it overall, though, as Arnold's style does go a long way.

[Ezee E]

I didn't think Fish Tank was predictable at all. The final result of the main character surprised me as much as Sugar did. We were all predicting that she'd find some type of freedom, and with the final scene of her finally releasing the horse. METAPHOR. Instead, the horse dies, and she goes on a path that will lead her to being the person she hates the most.

[Pop Trash]

I said this in another thread, but some of the writers from Film Comment also really hated it.

EDIT: The AV Club and Variety writers really liked it. I don't know, this sounds totally like my kind of movie.

So yeah, apparently Scott Foundas and J Hoberman are in the vast minority re: A Serious Man because according to Indiewire's critics poll of TIFF this and Up in the Air are two of the best reviewed movies at the fest. Although, I'm pretty sure I will like this better since, ya know, it's the Coens and not Jason Reitman.

[Silencio]

Precious wins the top prize at TIFF. What an upset!

http://www.hitfix.com/blogs/2008-12-11-awards-campaign-2009/posts/precious-takes-aim-at-oscar-after-winning-toronto-people-s-choice-award

[Stay Puft]

I'm actually glad it's over. It was fun, but I'm not sure I'd ever try to attend the festival for ten straight days again. I'm exhausted, numb, etc. Quickly, for now, summary of my last four days.

Day 7
Phobidilia (Yoav Paz, Doron Paz) **
Once Upon a Time Proletarian (Guo Xiaolu) ***

Day 8
Mother (Bong Joon-ho) **½
My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done (Werner Herzog) ***
Symbol (Hitoshi Matsumoto) ****

Day 9
Wheat (He Ping) **½
Nymph (Pen-ek Ratanaruang) ***½

Day 10
A Town Called Panic (Stéphane Aubier, Vincent Patar) ***
Karaoke (Chris Chong Chan Fui) **½

When I said I decided to skip a bunch of relatively high profile stuff, including Mother, I didn't realize Mother hadn't even screened yet. So I ended up making room for it. Good, but disappointing compared to previous efforts. Also apologies to Boner because I was so exhausted by the end I slept through White Material.

[Stay Puft]

Also, my complete festival viewing log is now in the second post. I lost my data transfer cable so I can't upload any photos right now. Those will have to wait for later. I doubt I'll want to write full reviews for all of these films, but I'm thinking of a couple different writing approaches to talk about some of these films in retrospect (e.g. my favorite cinematic moments from the festival, some comparative discussions, etc.). We'll see. Sleep first.

[Ezee E]

Yeah, ten days does seem a bit long, but you'll probably break down and do it again next year. :)

Denver's is next up for me. They usually have a good amount of the foreign stuff. So we'll see.

[Pop Trash]

Precious wins the top prize at TIFF. What an upset!

http://www.hitfix.com/blogs/2008-12-11-awards-campaign-2009/posts/precious-takes-aim-at-oscar-after-winning-toronto-people-s-choice-award

Yes, this is totally getting a Best Pic nomination, hell it might even win.

[Ezee E]

Precious wasn't included, but indiewire averaged out critics/bloggers reviews and A Serious Man and Up in the Air came out the best with A-'s.

[number8]

A Single Man is the only movie that sold this year. That's fucking depressing.

[Ezee E]

A Single Man is the only movie that sold this year. That's fucking depressing.
I thought Valhalla Rising got sold?

[ledfloyd]

i think alot of the films that played were already sold. unfortunately nobody has picked up visage yet.

[Ezee E]

i think alot of the films that played were already sold. unfortunately nobody has picked up visage yet.
A good point, as some people are trying to make it out as a "economy problem" as to why no films were bought.

Sundance is starting to become the same way.

Which makes that Independent VS. Indie animated short all the better.

[number8]

I thought Valhalla Rising got sold?

Oh yeah, and Defendor, too. I forgot about those.

But I think that highlights the difference even more. A superhero dark comedy and a Viking movie sold, because those would be a cake to market. What about the intimate and period dramas? They used to sell well in fests like Toronto, too.

It is the economy, in some way. For the past few months, all the insiders ever talk about is how scared shitless studios are in greenlighting projects that don't already have a built-in fanbase (this is why for the next year, we're going to see a LOT of remakes, sequels, comic book movies, reboots and video game adaptations). It's ridiculous. The spec script market is dying. I think the same applies to the fest indie market as well.

[Ezee E]

Oh yeah, and Defendor, too. I forgot about those.

But I think that highlights the difference even more. A superhero dark comedy and a Viking movie sold, because those would be a cake to market. What about the intimate and period dramas? They used to sell well in fests like Toronto, too.

It is the economy, in some way. For the past few months, all the insiders ever talk about is how scared shitless studios are in greenlighting projects that don't already have a built-in fanbase (this is why for the next year, we're going to see a LOT of remakes, sequels, comic book movies, reboots and video game adaptations). It's ridiculous. The spec script market is dying. I think the same applies to the fest indie market as well.
I had this conversation. Outside of District 9 and Inglorious Basterds, I can't think of any summer big budget movies that were original. The fall season is looking worse then it usually does. Outside of Avatar, there aren't really any big budget movies on the horizon that are entirely original either.

Indies are still different, but the chance of them being at a big festival like Toronto, Telluride, or even Sundance is going down each year because they either need a big star, big name director, or somehow already be wellknown.

Youtube was suppose to open it up to a new generation of filmmakers, but it seems as tough as it's always been.

[Pop Trash]

Yeah it's bullcrap. I miss the 90s.

[Stay Puft]

Other stuff I know that sold:

Maple bought LEBANON (Venice winner; Sony Classics has US distr.)
Sony Classics bought GET LOW
Sundance label bought THE ART OF THE STEAL
Magnolia bought I AM LOVE

[Stay Puft]

Also, before every film you would watch at TIFF this year, you would see one of these three ads: http://www.rbc.com/tiff2009/

Links on the right. Chick Chicken, After Party, and Cheetah Prince.

I'll see if I can find the Cadillac commercials. Death Shark is a bit of a TIFF meme.