Eagle Eye

EAGLE EYE (2008) - Sept. 27, 2008
About a man and woman who are both thrust into some serious shenanigans after receiving phone calls from a mysterious and sinister woman. I can see why it's getting a bit of a critical drubbing -- this is a seriously silly thriller that just gets sillier as it goes along, and which pretty much requires you to check your brain at the door. It's also just as derivative as people are making it out to be. But you know, I still somehow managed to enjoy it. Not sure why. Aside from being a bit overlong, I thought it was pretty entertaining throughout, and well directed by DJ Caruso (with the exception of the car chases, which were a bit more choppily edited than I would have liked). It's not a classic by any means, but I can certainly think of worse ways to spend a couple of hours. ***

Burn After Reading

BURN AFTER READING (2008) - Sept. 17, 2008
An enjoyable film by the Coen Brothers, which... Ummm... I've been lazy with this journal. It's been over two months since I watched this film, so I'm a bit fuzzy on the details. I did enjoy it quite a bit -- though I can't remember if I liked it enough to give it three and a half, or just three. I'm going to go with three. ***

Afterwards

AFTERWARDS (2008) - Sept. 13, 2008
Same deal with this as with Burn After Reading. I waited way too long to write this. About a lawyer who meets a man who claims he knows when people are going to die, this was well made, and featured some really good performances from John Malkovich and Romain Duris. It was quite slow, but I was entertained throughout. ***

Martyrs

MARTYRS (2008) - Sept. 13, 2008
Though this starts out as a fairly typical French horror film, it eventually becomes something... different. About a couple of girls who seek revenge against the people who kidnapped and tortured one of them, eventually finding out that what happened to her was far more sinister than they could have ever realized. It's definitely well made, and the first hour or so was quite entertaining. The last half hour or so gets a little bit repetitive, with probably a few more scenes than necessary of the girl getting repeatedly beaten, but it definitely leads to a pretty interesting payoff. ***

Chocolate

CHOCOLATE (2008) - Sept. 13, 2008
This is the newest film from the director of Ong-Bak and the Protector, and despite the absence of Tony Jaa, this features action that's easily just as good if not better than in those films. It's pretty clear that Prachya Pinkaew is awesome at directing action but pretty awful at everything else -- the first half hour or so, featuring almost no action, is tough to sit through. But it's worth it for what follows: once the action kicks in, it pretty much doesn't stop until the movie ends. And man, is it good. If this movie is any indication, JeeJa Yanin should have a promising career ahead of her. ***

Lovely, Still

LOVELY, STILL (2008) - Sept. 13, 2008
Featuring an expectedly excellent performance from Martin Landau (and an equally good performance from Ellen Burstyn), this film was otherwise somewhat mediocre. The director is clearly going for a stylized, fairy tale sort of vibe, and while that never quite connects the way I'm sure the director wants it to, the film is cute and essentially entertaining. But then there's the dark ending, which is certainly interesting on its own, but is completely incongruous with the rest of the film. If the movie had a slightly more grounded tone I think the ending would have worked really well, but as it stands it felt out of place. **

Good

GOOD (2008) - Sept. 12, 2008
Almost ridiculously stagey (I'm not sure if I've ever seen a movie where its origins as a play were so blatant, not just because of the talkiness but also because of the overly-theatrical style of the dialogue), and completely lacking in subtly, this does feature an expectedly good performance from Viggo Mortensen. About an academic who, against his better judgment, joins the Nazi party in WWII-era Germany. The film was pretty much completely over-the-top, but it was sporadically entertaining, and featured a pretty impressive Atonement-esque steadicam shot right at the end of the film. **

Che

CHE (2008) - Sept. 12, 2008
A sprawling, four-and-a-half hour epic about Ernesto "Che" Guevara -- the first half dealing with his successful revolution in Cuba, and the second half dealing with his not-so-successful revolution in Bolivia. There is little doubt that this is seriously overlong -- each half probably could have benefited from half an hour to an hour's worth of cutting -- but I'm definitely glad to have experienced this on the big screen. Despite its endurance-test running time, I was certainly never bored, and many sequences were downright riveting. It helps that Benicio Del Toro gives a powerhouse performance as Che, turning him into someone we really come to care about and identify with. The same can't really be said about the supporting characters, unfortunately, who are all pretty much interchangeable, and whose motivations are mostly hazy at best. This is probably due at least somewhat to the movie's steadfast naturalism -- this is not a movie that spoon-feeds the viewer anything, instead aiming for a very gritty, documentary-like vibe. This approach actually works really well, making the film feel pretty unique among other epics of the same ilk. ***

Gigantic

GIGANTIC (2008) - Sept. 11, 2008
A quirky romantic comedy about a bed salesman, in the process of trying to adopt a baby from China, who winds up falling in love with the daughter of one of his customers. The film is a bit quirkier than it needs to be at times, and could have definitely used some trimming, but the performances were good and the characters were interesting enough to keep the film enjoyable throughout. Though I have to say, I'm a bit perplexed about the subplot in which a crazy hobo continually tries to kill the main character. **1/2

The Brothers Bloom

THE BROTHERS BLOOM (2008) - Sept. 11, 2008
A really entertaining and well made film about a couple of con-men brothers, one of whom winds up falling in love with their latest mark. The film is directed with panache by Rian Johnson, who shows his range in this follow-up to the much grittier Brick. And while I don't think this film is quite as good as that one, it is fun and quite enjoyable. ***

Fifty Dead Men Walking

FIFTY DEAD MEN WALKING (2008) - Sept. 11, 2008
A generally well made but somewhat uneven film about a young man in 1980s Ireland who winds up becoming a police informer within the IRA. It was entertaining enough, but after a while I started getting sick of it. It probably didn't help that I missed a good chunk of the dialogue thanks to the thick Irish accents. Note to self: heavy accents + Ryerson's crappy sound system = a bad scene. Something to keep in mind for next year's festival. **1/2

Acolytes

ACOLYTES (2008) - Sept. 10, 2008
Though this film ends on a uncharacteristically high note, it's pretty much mediocre all the way through. The unnecessarily confusing plot revolves a group of Australian teens who stumble onto a body and subsequently get mixed up with a sinister serial killer. The film is reasonably well made, but is saddled with thoroughly unlikable characters who make the type of decisions that could only be made by characters from a movie. The movie also features a plot which is unnecessarily convoluted, which makes it much harder to follow than it needs to be. Though the ending was pretty sweet, it doesn't really make up for everything that precedes it. **

Slumdog Millionaire

SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE (2008) - Sept. 10, 2008
An enjoyable film about a young man in India who gets investigated by the police after almost winning the grand prize on India's Who Wants to be a Millionaire. Essentially a love story, the film isn't great by any means but it's well made and entertaining throughout. ***

The Silence of Lorna

THE SILENCE OF LORNA (2008) - Sept. 10, 2008
Though well directed in their usual cinema-verite style by Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne, this was an otherwise unspectacular film about a woman who gets caught up in a greencard marriage scheme. All the performances are very good, but the film ultimately feels kind of pointless. The film is at its best in developing the relationship between Lorna and her drug-addicted fake husband -- after he leaves the picture the film sort of loses steam. **1/2

Flame & Citron

FLAME & CITRON (2008) - Sept. 9, 2008
A well directed but somewhat dull movie about a team of assassins working for the resistance in World War II era Denmark. The film is stylishly directed by Ole Christian Madsen, and features some striking cinematography, but it ultimately fails to hold the viewer's interest for the whole 130 minute running time. There are some really exciting scenes here, and the whole thing is certainly well acted and well made, but the film is undone by its somewhat repetitive nature and the lack of really compelling characters (even the titular Flame and Citron never really become people we care all that much about). **1/2

The Wrestler

THE WRESTLER (2008) - Sept. 9, 2008
Wow! Well, it's official: Darren Aronofsky is a good director, if not a great one. I'll have to watch Requiem for a Dream again to see if it's as bad as I remember it being, as the man clearly has some serious talent. About an aging, washed-up professional wrestler who struggles to find a place for himself outside of the only thing he really knows: wrestling. The film is centred by a truly phenomenal performance from Mickey Rourke -- I really can't say enough good things about his performance; it is crazy good. I'm sure this would have launched a pretty big-time comeback for Rourke if he weren't so screwy-looking. I'd be willing to bet serious money that he'll get an Oscar nomination next year. The performance is just that good. The film is excellently written by Robert D. Siegel, who paints a haunting and deeply effective portrait of a damaged character. And Aronofsky's direction is just as good -- he discards all his usual stylistic quirks and tells the story in the most straight-forward way possible (which isn't to say that the direction is bland, just not flashy at all) which certainly proves to suit the material perfectly. Ultimately, even if the movie weren't that great it would be worth it if only for Rourke's amazing performance. Fortunately, the film is definitely up to his level. ****

Management

MANAGEMENT (2008) - Sept. 9, 2008
A generally affable romantic comedy about a hotel employee who almost instantly falls in love with one of the guests. I was enjoying this quite a bit up to a certain point, but the film's freewheeling vibe eventually causes the viewer to lose interest -- the couple spend a big chunk of the film broken up, and after a while the whole thing starts to lose its momentum. It was entertaining enough, mostly, but by the end I was definitely ready for it to be over. Jennifer Aniston and Steve Zahn were both quite good, but even their easy-going chemistry ultimately couldn't save the film. **1/2

Deadgirl

DEADGIRL (2008) - Sept. 8, 2008
Oh, the humanity. This was an awful film -- it was competently directed, I guess, but it was badly acted, cheesy, overly-quirky and just plain bad. Featuring characters who do things that no rational person would ever do, and some really clunky dialogue, it seems pretty clear that most of this film's problems come from Trent Haaga's truly terrible script. This is a maddeningly bad film, and towards the end I was getting really restless, just waiting for it to be over so I could leave. Yowza. *

Uncertainty

UNCERTAINTY (2008) - Sept. 8, 2008
Hmmm... this was somewhat interesting, but I think I'd classify this as a mostly failed experiment. About the two very different paths a day can take for a young couple, the film features the two stories intercut together, a choice which results in the movie essentially feeling like two movies crammed together. On one hand there is a drama about the couple finding a stray dog and then going to a family dinner, and then on the other hand there is a thriller about the couple finding a cell phone and playing a deadly game of cat-and-mouse with the people who want it back. I kept waiting for there to be some kind of reason as to why these two particular stories should be told together in this format, but it never happens. Nor is the opening ever explained, in which the two characters flip a coin and then go sprinting off in different directions -- I know this was supposed to represent the two different paths the day takes, but why were the characters actually doing that? It doesn't make sense. The performances were all quite good and the film was reasonably well made, but the odd structure never justified itself. **1/2

Disgrace

DISGRACE (2008) - Sept. 8, 2008
John Malkovich gives a really excellent performance -- probably one of his best, at least that I've seen -- in this otherwise mediocre film about a disgraced professor who moves in with his daughter in a remote farm in South Africa. This film has a few good things going for it, Malkovich's performance most notably, as well as competant direction and some reasonably powerful moments, but for the most part it just wasn't all that interesting, and it went on way longer than it needed. **1/2

Still Walking

STILL WALKING (2008) - Sept. 8, 2008
A delightful and really well made film set over the course of a day at a Japanese family gathering. Like Hirokazu Koreeda's previous film, Hana, this is full of really great characters (it helps that it's very well acted), and despite its slow pace, it's completely entertaining throughout. Under a lesser writer/director, the film's completely plotless nature and more leisurely pace may have become oppressive, but here it's a joy to watch, as Koreeda does a great job making sure that the family dynamic seems real without becoming dull, and heartfelt without becoming sentimental. ***1/2

Is There Anybody There?

IS THERE ANYBODY THERE? (2008) - Sept. 7, 2008
About a young boy whose house doubles as a retirement home (much to his chagrin), who winds up striking up a friendship with an aging magician, played beautifully by Michael Caine. The film was directed by John Crowley, who also made what was easily the best movie of the festival last year, Boy A. This was a rather gigantic step down from that. It was probably a bit too quirky for its own good, and just wasn't really able to hold my interest for the whole 92 minutes. It was at its best during the scenes with Michael Caine and the kid -- they both have great chemistry together, and both performances are quite excellent. Unfortunately, there's a lot of extraneous stuff with the quirky residents of the retirement home, when all we really want to see is Michael Caine and the kid interacting. Watching this film, it's pretty clear that Mark O'Rowe -- the writer of Crowley's two previous films -- had an equal hand in the success of those movies. After the phenomenal Boy A, there was really nowhere to go but down for John Crowley, I was just hoping it wouldn't be this far down. **1/2

Kisses

KISSES (2008) - Sept. 7, 2008
An entertaining -- if somewhat slight -- film about a couple of kids in Ireland who who decide to run away to the big city, and get into all kinds of shenanigans over one long night. The accents were kind of brutal (the director, in his introduction, even warned the audience that it would take a while to get used the thick accents), and I did miss a fair chunk of dialogue -- but this wasn't exactly a spy thriller where you need to get every word to keep up, and for the most part just getting the gist of what the kids were saying was enough. This was a cute film, though even at a short 72 minutes it still felt, in parts, like it was overstaying its welcome a tad. **1/2

The Burning Plain

THE BURNING PLAIN (2008) - Sept. 7, 2008
This is the directorial debut of Guillermo Arriaga, and while it is certainly a good film, coming from the man who helped bring us stuff like Amores Perros and 21 Grams, this can't help but feel like a bit of a disappointment, or at least a minor work. Arriaga shows a sure hand directorially, and wisely avoids handheld camerawork, presumably in an effort to distance himself stylistically from his former partner, Alejandro González Iñárritu. The film features the type of fractured narrative that Arriaga has made his name with, and is filled with very strong performances. It doesn't have the same kind of scope as some of his previous films, but as a smaller-scale, more low-key drama it works very well. I do have to question Arriaga's choice to withhold key information until almost the end of the film -- while it is a pretty nifty twist (and one I didn't see coming at all), the viewer's understanding of the characters and their motivations would have been enhanced by having all the information from the get-go. As it stands, it's the type of thing where you really have to see the film again, as many of the characters are put in a whole new light. ***

Vinyan

VINYAN (2008) - Sept. 6, 2008
About a couple who, after spotting what could be their missing son in a video shot in Burma, decide to head down there to see if they can find him. Things almost immediately go bad for the couple, and then proceed to go from bad to worse. Well directed and featuring some good performances, particularly Rufus Sewell, this was a bit slower than it probably needed to be, but did a good job of maintaining a steadily escalating atmosphere of dread. It kind of falls apart at the end, with a denouement that stretches credibility to its very breaking-point. It's a bit unfortunate, because up to that point the film manages to maintain a realistic, gritty tone which is completely at odds with the conclusion. I did really like the opening credits, which I thought did a fantastic job of establishing the tone of the film. **1/2

Sauna

SAUNA (2008) - Sept. 6, 2008
Though I can't say I completely understood this movie, I can say that I enjoyed it. About a team of Russians and Swedes who set out to define the border between their two countries after a brutal war, and who wind up in a small village right next to a mysterious white building, this film was a fairly adept mix of drama and horror. Slow paced but never boring, the film was well directed by Antti-Jussi Annila, and featured some nice looking widescreen cinematography. The ending was kind of baffling at first, but the more I think about it the more I think I have a fairly good handle on what happened (also: at the screening I attended, the director mentioned an idea he had for a sequel, involving a group of modern-day soldiers investigating the sauna. It seemed like he was half-joking, but it sounds like a pretty sweet idea to me). ***

The Sky Crawlers

THE SKY CRAWLERS (2008) - Sept. 6, 2008
This was a bit of a disappointment. Set in an undetermined future, in which war is a constant -- though it's waged by corporations rather than traditional armies, and there doesn't seem to be much at stake (it's briefly implied that the war is ongoing solely because society needs a war to keep them occupied -- an intriguing, 1984-esque idea that goes absolutely nowhere). Because there's nothing really at stake, the pilots (most of the movie takes place within a tiny airfield in which a handful of pilots reside) who fly the fighter-planes are all completely laid-back, not really caring about anything other than a small concern for their own well-being. This could have made for a splendidly atypical war film if the characters became people we really care about, but this never really happens -- all the characters are somewhat thin, and most of the time with the protagonist is spent leading up to a twist that's obvious almost right from the start. Add to this a conclusion that practically defines the word "anticlimactic", and you have a movie which, though well made, never really lives up to its potential. **

JCVD

JCVD (2008) - Sept. 5, 2008
Mildly entertaining, though given the many awesome possibilities that the premise entailed, this can't help but be a pretty big let-down. About Jean-Claude Van Damme -- playing himself -- who winds up in the middle of a hostage situation in a bank. Van Damme gives a surprisingly good performance, but the film itself is woefully generic, and features a non-linear narrative that does the movie much more harm than good. One of the bigger problems with the film is the cinematography, which can only be described as disastrous. Everything is ridiculously over-exposed, which makes a big chunk of the screen completely white for much of the film. I find it hard to believe that anyone could find that visually pleasing, but I guess it was intentional, so... to each his own, I guess. **1/2

RocknRolla

ROCKNROLLA (2008) - Sept. 5, 2008
Another stellar Guy Ritchie film at the festival, and this time (unlike Revolver) I'm sure others will agree with me. Featuring a diverse cast, including Gerard Butler and Tom Wilkinson (all of whom are very good), this is a flat-out enjoyable movie that definitely ranks among Richie's best. It's just as well-directed as we've come to expect from Richie, and also features the type of snappy dialogue that he's become known for, as well as a stellar use of music. The film has a lot of characters and a lot of plot-threads, but unlike Revolver it all comes together quite nicely. ***1/2

Three Monkeys

THREE MONKEYS (2008) - Sept. 5, 2008
Oh man. This actually started out really well -- the opening sequence was really compelling and suspenseful, and just generally well done. It's all downhill from there. About a driver who is paid to take the blame on a hit-and-run charge for his boss, and how this affects his wife and son. The main problem with this film is that it takes an intriguing premise and goes absolutely nowhere with it, moving at a snail's pace and never developing the characters beyond the mundane. I went with it for a while, but there came a point at which the glacial pace wore me down. The film's cinematography doesn't do it any favours, giving all the dark scenes a murky, grainy look -- like they were shot through a wire mesh -- and everything else an unpleasantly desaturated, greenish hue. This is exactly the type of pretentious foreign art-house film that tends to give all foreign films a bad name. *1/2