TIFF '09 Day 10: A Few of My Favourite Flics

I was able to see more pre-festival films this year than ever, so I had a record-breaking year for the number of films I was able to see at TIFF. I tried very hard, but I could not get my list down to a Top 10. To do so, I would have had to eliminate 2 films based on the fact that they were attached to "big name" directors or producers: Jacques Audiard's A Prophet won the Grand Prix at Cannes, and Lee Daniel's film Precious (a.k.a The Oprah Movie) won rave reviews at Cannes, won awards at Sundance, and picked up the Audience Choice Award today at TIFF. These two films are well-told stories and it would have been an injustice to penalize them because they are attached to known names.

MY TOP 12 FAVES (in Alpha Order)
Air Doll
Cairo Time
Castaway on the Moon
Crab Trap
Every Day is a Holiday
Face
Hipsters
Melody of a Street Organ
Precious
A Prophet
V.O.S.
Vengeance

HOW I CHOSE MY FAVES
To choose my favourites, I had to be pretty ruthless. From 56 films I got my list down to 20, and from those 20 films I kept the ones that elicited the strongest emotional response in: How did I feel after seeing the film at TIFF, and do I still have the same response? Are these well-made films? Could I defend my faves if challenged to do so? Would I add these films to my DVD collection? (I buy DVDs only if I will watch the film more than 3 times per year.)

MY ULTIMATE FAVE And the award for donna g's favourite film at TIFF '09 goes to...Castaway on the Moon. This film had all the elements I look for in a film, and is simply, unforgettable.


WHAT'S ARE YOUR FAVES?As you can see my choices are very personal. Whether we go with friends or alone, we always take ourselves to the movies, so what we like will depend on our individual life experiences. Here's a simple example: if you can't stand someone with a certain name/look/or voice, chances are you're going to flashback to that person during the screening and this will impact how you perceive the film; no one else is going to have that same perception because this is your experience.

Please feel free to share your personal faves with me. With over 300 films screening at TIFF, I'm sure we didn't all see the same films. Let loose people, and leave your comments.

Photo Credit: top photo by donna g; photo stills from V.O.S., HIPSTERS, CAIRO TIME, and CASTAWAY ON THE MOON courtesy of http://tiff.net/default.aspx

TIFF '09 Day 8: A Mixed Bag

FACE I love the work of director, Tsai Ming-liang, but he is not for everyone. I always get the sense that he makes movies to please himself, and if you like it too, great. If not, he's on to the next project regardless. He makes art house films that are beautiful to look at, but not always easy to understand. I accept that I won't always understand everything he is trying to say, but I'll have a good time watching it. Honestly, I was tired when I saw FACE and was hoping that it would get boring so I could leave, but that never happened and by the end I was tired but laughing. How can you be bored with a film that has stunning photography, French actress, Fanny Ardant, cameos by her countrywomen, Jeanne Moreau and Nathalie Baye, a deer, a bird, and a woman obsessed with banishing her reflection? A few people did walk out of the screening, but most in the sizeable theatre at the Scotia stayed. As one guy said on the way out of the screening: "I think I love it, but I don't know why." That sums up the work of Tsai Ming-liang to a T. If you are curious about this director, I suggest you start with his most accessible work, Good-bye Dragon Inn.

DELIVER US FROM EVIL Hmm...I spent most of this film wondering why I wasn't liking it as much as I should. Nothing is horribly wrong with this Danish film, but I just wasn't connecting with what was happening on screen. Considering that I am Black and the townspeople turn against a Bosnian outsider (they refer to him as "nigger"), I should have felt more than I did. I finally figured out after the film that it was the emotional tone of the film (too one-note) that I didn't like. I also didn't like the actress that played the main character's wife. Her emotional range did not come across well enough on screen for me to believe her character's reactions to certain advancements in the plot. Indifferent is not a feeling I like to experience when watching a film. Even boredom is an emotion.

THE SECRET IN THEIR EYES Fascinating. Director, Juan José Campanella knows how to tell a story using the flashback technique. So many times this method of storytelling leads to confusion or repeats elements of the plot that have already been revealed. In this film the flashbacks tell the story of a lawyer's involvement in the case of a young schoolteacher who has been raped and murdered. The present day storyline is the lawyer 25 years later trying to write a book about the case, and his reconnection with a beautiful judge who also worked on the case at the time. As a viewer you can't help but become as involved in the case as the lawyer, nor can you help but be interested in the romance, both past and present between the two leads. You feel like part detective and part matchmaker as you watch this film. The ending is disturbing, satisfying and stunning. Well done.

THE WIND JOURNEYS This simple story about a grieving accordion player and the young boy who is determined to become his mentee. When I think of the accordion, I flashback to elementary school where my Italian and Portuguese friends would complain about having to take lessons. Well, if they learned to play the accordion the way it is played in this film, then they should be making very passionate music in adulthood. I've never seen an accordion battle on screen, where each player tries to outdo the other in their playing and in their bragging lyrics. Amazing!

You will go places in this film that most people have never been, including some Colombians. Ciro Guerra directs this road trip via donkey in a languorous manner that suits the pace of the characters internal and external journeys. I enjoyed this trip through the grasslands, mountains and villages of Colombia, and the element of mysticism that cloaks the "devil's horn" accordion played by the lead character.