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Michael Haneke

My faves of TIFF 2012

By September 17, 2012 Film, Performance

There were 24 films on my agenda. I skipped out on two due to exhaustion. I sold another screening to a friend. The result: 21 movies seen in 9 days. 21 out of 289 feature films is a mere slip of an experience, you may think.

You would be wrong.

I won’t bore you with lesser titles.
What follows in no particular order are my superlatives.

Best surprise: Cloud Atlas.
Advance word on this was poor: a novel too dense to film; the result a convoluted mess. I almost sold my tickets. The screening fell on a gorgeous day. Maybe I should check in on the kids. Thankfully, the movie nerd instinct kicked in. Hurrah for me. The movie is epic, edging almost on schlock, except it isn’t. Instead, six different stories span over centuries, connected by huge themes. Love! Friendship! Freedom! Revolution! The film dares to be audacious. I liked that, as did my fellow screening peers, on their feet at the conclusion. Maybe they just had to shake out their numb limbs: the film clocks in at nearly three hours. I didn’t feel the time (which is rare for me, who thinks all movies should be 90 minutes exactly). I fell for it all, especially all the scenes with Brit genius Jim Broadbent.

Most fun: Much Ado About Nothing
Hipster director Josh Whedon has many fans…many of them were here at this screening. Sometimes that kind of papered audience responds positively no matter what is on the screen. Here the roars and giggles of pleasure are shared by me. Whedon adapts Shakespeare’s beloved comedy with disarming simplicity, shooting the film in his home in black and white over 12 days. The cast is young and attractive and delivers Shakespeare’s lines with a contemporary swishy style. They all appear to be having way too much fun—the experience of watching it is akin to being invited to your big brother’s bash while visiting his way cool pad.

Last month I saw a near-perfect production of this play on stage at Stratford, Ontario. The crowd there was filled with seniors. Indeed, a younger generation will fall in love and recognize the source of all the derivations in popular culture that fall from this gem. This was entertainment writ large in a way Shakespeare never dreamt. Or maybe he did.

Most unnerving, most moving: Amour
This film picked up the Palme d’Or in Cannes earlier this year: easy to see why. Austrian director Michael Haneke gets my vote for best director. Every single scene is near perfect and precise. Two legendary French actors, Jean-Louis Trintignant and Emmanuelle Riva, inhabit the roles entirely of an aged couple whose love for one another resonates through a debilitating illness. Still, this film will be a hard sell in the crowded marketplace as all the action takes place in one apartment with two seniors. Nor is the story pretty. I cried during several moments. This film forced me to go deeply into a place I rarely visit: my mortality.

Anyone fortunate to have their parents in their lives should see this film.

Fave documentary: Storm Surfers 3D
This was my last film at the festival, and I needed it to be fun. What a ride! One of the film’s directors, on hand to crow over his runner-up win for best TIFF doc, entertained the crowd by calling one of the surfer stars of the film on his cell and playing the call for the audience. Of course, we went along with all of it, whooped and hollered our approval of this story of two best friends, famed Aussie surfers Tom Carroll and Ross Clarke-Jones, as they search for the giant waves in the world. A total adrenaline rush and crowd-pleaser made me feel like an old fart. I should take up surfing. But, wait…no, I don’t have to. That’s what movies are for.

Best actress: Rachel Mwanza (Rebelle)
Rebelle is on my list thanks to the shimmering performance of newcomer Rachel Mwanza. She was discovered by Canadian director Kim Nguyen while doing preproduction in the Republic of Congo, where he shot his film. Mwanza won the Silver Bear award for best actress at the Berlin Film Festival earlier this year —an incredible feat given her age and inexperience. Director Nguyen was eloquent and endearing at the Q&A after the screening and deserved much praise for this unflinching look at the life of a child soldier. Look for the film, which took ten years to make, at the TIFF Bell Lightbox this month.

Best actor: Philip Seymour Hoffman in The Master and A Late Quartet
This guy is a wonder to watch. I saw him in two very different films, days from one another and forgot I was watching the same guy: here is a true talent who never repeats himself.

Best cast: The Sapphires
A hoot thanks to a quartet of actors shining throughout this Australian movie about four Aboriginal singers who entertained the troops during the Vietnam war. Based on a stage hit based on a real-life group of singers, this film was pure entertainment and had us grooving to its incredible soundtrack as we left the theatre.

Best chemistry: Marion Cotillard and Matthias Schoenaerts in Rust and Bone
This was my first festival screening, and it grabbed me at go with the most chilling scene for me at TIFF, featuring a frozen lake and a desperate father. I won’t give away much more but expect to see this at the Oscars. So pray Matthias Schoenaerts shows up in a tux. He and Marion Cotillard steam up this beautiful drama, which is one of my festival faves.

Best supporting performance: Chris O’Dowd in The Sapphires
This guy was a lesser presence in Bridesmaids (one of my faves of last year). Here he makes every scene pop with charisma.

Favourite Q& A: Mr. Pip
There was nothing short of extraordinary performances of Xzannjah Matsi and Healesville Joel in Mr. Pip. I loved this book and was hopeful for a decent adaptation which certainly was, if not as wondrous as the book itself. These two were discovered by director Andrew Adamson who told us he mainly used non-actors for his film: he plucked these two from the village of Bougainville in the South Pacific depicted in the story. The two performers, real-life mom and daughter, gave what became one of those magic TIFF moments as they were introduced to the TIFF audience, smiled shyly and told us it was their first time in North America. Both were beautiful and eloquent in all their responses. Hugh Laurie may have been the “name” actor on set, but if there’s a reason to see this, it is these two remarkable women. In my world, a special achievement award for versatility is to director Adamson, known for Shrek and The Chronicles of Narnia. This is the guy to watch.

Best thriller: A Place Beyond the Pines
This was far from perfect, but it still ranks as a highlight. Like Cloud Atlas, it demands a little patience. In this case, three separate chapters are linked by fathers and sons. A story about the legacies fathers pass on to their children; the film will resonate at the box office if a marketing team can figure out a way to tie in all the threads. Director Derek Cianfrance, on hand after the film, told us he needed equal weight from his cast to carry the narrative forward: tricky to do with Ryan Gosling stealing the first act. Bradley Cooper continues the story with some sizzle provided by Ray Liotta as a corrupt cop. Two dynamic young men, Dane DeHaan and Emory Cohen make for a thrilling finish, but the film needs a tighter edit.

Most challenging film to stay awake for: The Master tied with Great Expectations
I saw these films late at night after a long day of screenings. Both probably deserved more of my attention. The Master is enthralling for the first hour but falls flat as the film progresses despite some acting wizardry from Joaquin Phoenix and Phillip Seymour Hoffman. The international press has all convened in one giant love-in for this film. I am rarely a contrarian, but this didn’t work for me. Call me a simpleton.
Great Expectations was predictable, solid…. boring. Charles Dickens would be horrified. Here was a writer who knew how to spin a tale, yet the emotional wallop of this story was missing for me. Big thrill still to see one of my screen gods, Ralph Fiennes, show up to support director Mike Newell at the screening (he didn’t disappoint on screen either). Forgive me, Ralph. I am still your biggest fan, but I dozed off.

Best director intro: Quebec wunderkind Xavier Nolan, who directed the winner of best Canadian film, Laurence, Anyways.

 Cannes may have a palais and a beach but Toronto has heart!

We were seduced at go except that the film, a romantic drama about gender identity, wasn’t as charming as its director. It lost me with a ridiculously long running time. It is tough to make a long film worthy. Many filmmakers forget this.

Most accessible crowd-pleaser: Argo
Too much buzz often results in a letdown. This is a good film with a confident direction and terrific pacing. But was it the festival’s best film, as critics have suggested? Not by a long shot,  as it lacks memorable performances, sizzling chemistry, and an original story.   There is, however, a fascinating behind-the-scenes peek at one of the more exciting chapters in recent history. It will make buckets of money and deserves praise. A good film, if not great. Great cameos from Alan Arkin and John Goodman made it fun to watch.

Most intimate: Everyday
As a festival newbie, you can roll the dice and pick something from each program. You would likely find luck in the Masters program featuring the world’s most influential arthouse filmmakers. Everyday is one gem from British director Michael Winterbottom (who made me howl with the film The Trip a few years back). Here he follows a family separated by a father’s stint in prison. Winterbottom shot the film over five years using four real siblings, non-professionals, and seasoned Brit actors Shirley Henderson and John Simm as their parents.

The film plays out like the cinéma vérité films I studied at university and is reminiscent of the work of Canadian documentary pioneer Alan King. Unbelievably intimate, tender and quiet, the story appears to be a slice of nothing but is a plate of everything. I was touched especially by the many beautiful frames of the children doing everyday things. Seeing them age over time offered a degree of authenticity rarely seen in feature films—mastery by a master.

That’s it, that’s all; I will skip the weaker films, the disappointments and crash landings.
There were enough highs to call the whole thing a spectacular success. For this fan, anyway.

Now for the laundry…

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