This was a strong year at TIFF. Of the 38 films I managed to take in (40 if you count Che as two films and a Burn After Reading in the regular cinema as TIFF palette cleanser), it was a struggle to come up with 5 that I actively disliked. This is despite the surprising absence of significant mainstream titles (The Road, Milk, The Changeling, Revolutionary Road and Ponyo on A Cliff) and a number of Asian directors (notably Hong Sang-Soo, Johnnie To, Takashi Miike, Shinya Tsukamoto and Hayao Miyazaki) all of whom have new films. The theme in the Midnight Madness programme, as well as the entirety of the festival was: Discovery. It was the smaller films from unknown directors; or the scaled-back-in-scope approach of established directors (Aronofsky, Kurosawa, Meirelles) that were the more interesting films. (This is of course, no fault to Steven Soderbergh and Spike Lee who both had excellent entries of massive size) As with Todd's wrap up, mine is presented with the films in alphabetical order; as it would be rather difficult (and not that necessary) to rank them. As with Michael, there are more reviews and interviews to come.
TOP TEN
Blindness
Ignore the Cannes buzz on Fernando Meirelles adaptation of Nobel laureate José Saramago's novel. It may just be the first apocalypse film that is wearing a dinner jacked and bow tie (Michael Haneke's Time of the Wolf is perhaps the closes analogue). However, when the clothes comes off, it reveals the stinking humanity contained underneath and pulls no punches. While I did not care for the last couple minutes of the film (which were unnecessary and perhaps even facile without the film continuing for another act), everything up to that point is stylish, brutal, and above all questioning on how different people utilize 'privileged' when it is handed to them in the strangest of circumstances.
JCVD
Believe the hype. Jean Claude Van Damme proves his acting chops by maximizing pathos and humour in a refreshingly fictional biopic. The film was worth seeing for the first 5 minutes, perhaps the greatest intro to a Van Damme flick of all (or any) time. The film has only the slightest misstep in the middle with pacing and convoluted structural trickery, but it is easily forgivable due to the audaciousness of the story and situations (A great throwaway scene in the film should convince celebrities to take a limo (or personal driver) and not a cab from the airport).
Pontypool
Probably the worlds first semiotic zombie film, the film defies expectations at every turn and plays out much more like a science-fiction chamber piece. A career topping performance from character actor Stephen McHattie, who gets to chew mightily on Tony Burgess's sharp screenplay. If language and meaning and communication are of any interest to you, look past the Z-word (which is never uttered in the film) and give this one a shot. It is nice to see that there is a number of intelligent genre flicks coming out of Canada.
The Skycrawlers
Stylish. Epic. And Gorgeously produced on a grand canvas fusing 2D and 3D animation techniques, The Sky Crawlers is Mamoru Oshii's most accessible film, a reasonably straightforward war love story. Yet at the same time, no Oshii-ness is ever sacrificed in the telling, and the love story is strengthened by the not-so-odd austerity of the piece. If Hayao Miyazaki's Porcco Rosso is Japan's animated Casablanca, then The Sky Crawlers is worthy of Metropolis. Using a pastiche of elements of contemporary science fiction (From Ender’s Game to Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep) mashed up with stirring World War II aerial dogfights and a his unique brand of austere and cold melodrama, The Sky Crawlers certainly will not be for everyone. The film is a feast for the senses, not only in the gargantuan fighter plane battles, which may be safe to say are the best ever committed to celluloid (and yes, that includes Hell’s Angels and the space climaxes of any of the best of the Star Wars pictures).
Synecdoche, New York
Sure to batter folks around on an intellectual level as well as (by the end) and emotional level. This is clearly screenwriter Charlie Kaufman's 8 1/2. One of the most stunning graduations of screenwriter to director, the film is akin to starting at the dark center of those Russian dolls and peeling your way out, shell by shell. A large ensembles of the best actors working today give the heady stuff the emotional and human resonance the picture needs. A film I suspect will get even better with age.
Tears for Sale
If you see one Serbian digital backlot gypsy film about women losing their virginity in a town filed with bats and landmines, I humbly suggest Tears for Sale. Combining spectacular imagery with a very playful mulch of eastern European European myth and WWI tragedy, comparisons to Jean-Pierre Jeunet are apt, but only scratch the surface here. I do not believe I had more pure fun at TIFF than this film. The mine-yard, spiderbrandy, girls fighting on broken glass, ghosts, F. Scott Fitzgerald, occult promises, breasts, and the explosive climax culminated to a rare visual treat.
Tokyo Sonata
I do not believe I have ever witnessed a Japanese director implode the social mores of their native country, and then rebuild them up from scratch so elegantly, emotionally and delightfully as Kiyoshi Kurosawa. Unequivocally earning labels such as Masterpiece and Auteur (putting him very much on the level of the more famous Kurosawa - that would be Akira), Tokyo Sonata is brimming with ideas and complicated social situations involving family, ego, desperation and desire. At no point did the picture feel manipulative or dishonest, and in unabashed tears are earned in the final act. If you see one Kiyoshi Kurosawa film (and shame on you then for just watching one), it should be this one.
Vinyan
Fans of great poetic horror films or simply good old fashioned exploiters should be flocking to the child-in-peril shocker Vinyan. Taking a page from the recently resurfaced cult classic Who Can Kill A Child, it is most definitely not meant to be processed literally. Adding in the tactile desensitization of Werner Herzog's jungle tales of woe and the visceral sights and sounds of Gaspar Noe's Irreversible, Vinyan is for those game to soak up an horrific inevitability: Our world is destined to never get along when different cultures collide on the crest of 21st century natural disasters.
White Night Wedding
White Night Wedding is very likely the best film from Icelandic director (and ScreenAnarchy favourite) Baltasar Kormákur. The film is a whopper of an ensemble piece (adapted from a Chekhov play) that sees a lot of characters who all have many motives and schemes on the go. Everything culminates and collapses and recombines in one of the most intense forms of celebration: The Wedding. It is not often that a dramatic comedy is the 'full package' in terms of emotional resonance, humour, wit and pathos. Furthermore have a new favourite character actor, Ólafur Darri Ólafsson (who is also in the other 2008 Icelandic wedding comedy, Country Wedding).
The Wrestler
The Wrestler is built kind of like the sport that it is set in. The story is familiar, a bit shop-worn, even contrived, and perhaps a bit faked. While things are playing out on screen, it archives a genuine emotional workout: the best kind of cinematic magic. The film is a weepy and a crowd- pleaser in the best sense of both of those terms. Above all, it shows a talented filmmaker at the pinnacle of his career, working with two actors at the pinnacle of their game. All those rough years boxing and slumming serve Mickey Rourke's features well in this one, and he carries the film mightily. While it may or may not do any favours to legitimize the modern cartoon that is WWE, it is a strangely positive love-letter to the sport (witness the charming ‘shop talk’ in the Wrestlers greenroom) and those who grind themselves away practitioning it.
BOTTOM FIVE
Deadgirl
A film with an interesting metaphor and solid enough visual style that just sits there nearly as lifeless and brain-dead as the title character. The use of only two or three locations, issues in the acting department (particularly the supporting characters) and failure to realize the story to its fullest makes the film more than a bit of a bust.
Eden Log
Whilst a triumph of production design and some initially great mood building, eventually tumble into the realm of watching someone else play an exploration video game. The science fiction ideas put forth were not particularly novel or engaging enough to overcome the glacial pacing. Those bummed about about last years The Chrysalis and its icy relationship with the audience, will probably find a similar reaction here.
The Ghost
The Ghost looked fabulous, had all the style to burn shooting department, but curiously the screenplay never really comes together on this merging of Steven King's Misery and David Fincher's The Game. The film was polished to such a glossy sheen that the movie itself was buffed clean out.
Martyrs
Where to start with Martyrs? Controversy and buzz follows it around. (And as fest programmer Ant Timpson commented over beers afterwards, it will at the very least make a fine spread of glossies in Fangoria) The film is apex of the type of modern horror picture that the phrase 'torture porn' is often applied. I got the sense that the film (and filmmakers) thought they were making art that had something to say, or perhaps to have a dialogue with the viewer. But the film has little actually to say (it is more interested in fist pumping its technical prowess - which admittedly the picture has in spades). Since it does not let the audience in on the concept until the last 10 minutes, a dialogue with the picture is rendered impossible, unless one wanted to watch it again, which I certainly have no desire to do.
Plastic City
Not in a long, long time have I seen a film go right off the rails like this one did. Things start out as a run-of-the-mill Triad film, with the difference that it is set in Sao Paulo instead of Hong Kong, and featuring solid if not particularly remarkable work from twitch faves Jo Odagiri and Anthony Wong. Around the 2/3 mark, however, director Yu Lik-wai decides to cram in 3-4 other films into the plot, message and pile on metaphors that simply do not mesh with the movie up until that point. Now, I've been told that the print we actually saw is still quite incomplete due to struggles in the editing room. Perhaps there is a good film in there somewhere. Hopefully someone can extract it after some more time with an Avid.
HONOURABLE MENTION
Public Enemy Number One (Part 1)
Honourable mention for one of the most pure mainstream entertainments. Call it the OUT OF SIGHT of biopics, although narratively it is a warped fusion of Goodfellas and Bonnie & Clyde. While we get little real insight into one of Frances most notorious criminals, Jacques Mesrine, what we do get is one of the most snappy crime thrillers in quite some time. One of the most iconic Vincent Cassel performances (and that is saying something!). And all this is presented in a stylish presentation and driving narrative do not let up. The film asks you to root, cheer, and laugh for a truly despicable human being, and with its stars charm and menace at the helm, you might just find yourself doing so. Bring on Part 2 in TIFF '09!