(no subject)
I haven't seen anything truly excellent yet, but a few that were good. My ratings here are on a scale of 0 to 10 but I tend to be pretty generous (at last year's TIFF I think I gave two or three films 10, and several more 9, out of 33 films I saw). In order that I saw them:
The Lives of Others: Definitely worth seeing. Set in the DDR (East Germany) in the mid-1980s, the film follows two sets of characters: a playwright and his coterie of writer friends, on the one hand, and a meticulous, loyal Stasi officer along with his friend and superior. The Stasi officer, Wiesberg, is running a surveillance mission on the writer, Georg. Ulrich Mühe was amazing as Wiesberg; every scene he was in was just riveting. But the film lagged whenever it shifted its focus to Georg and the other writers. Those characters just were not that interesting and the actor playing Georg in particular was very bland. This director certainly has a lot of potential, and I did enjoy the film; I think it is successful at capturing all the instances of subtle intimidation that can characterize life in a totalitarian state with no privacy. Also it occurred to me that when the full truth gets out about George W. Bush's wiretap program, it will be comparable to what is depicted in this film. But at other times I was reminded of the silly Richard Dreyfuss/Emilio Estevez film Stakeout, where two Seattle cops are surveilling a woman's apartment, and then one of them runs into her in the grocery store (and zany hilarity ensues). 7
Time: I really wanted to like this film; it had some interesting ideas and great images, particularly at an avant-garde sculpture park at the beach. However, it just kept going around in circles. I know, I know, that probably was the point, and I am just narrow-minded for not getting that. Still, if this film had been tighter it would have been a better achievement. 5
2:37: I liked this film; it had an original style about it even though much of the plot elements were modern high-school clichés, drawn straight from the original Degrassi Junior High. 7
Palimpsest: Speaking of clichés, this film was full of them. Just way too earnest, and you can see the "twist" coming from almost the start. John Cusack did this sort of idea recently in a film that sucked but was still better than Palimpsest. The real problem is that there's nothing at all interesting about the murder that the guy is investigating; nothing to get the audience invested in caring about who did it, or caring about the police detective and his problems, or caring about the meta elements relating to the "twist" (which I won't give away, even though it is obvious). 2
Evening with Michael Moore: This was pretty interesting. He talked about his speech at the Oscars where he laid into the Bush policies and got booed, then went on to talk about his time in the seminary, and the rest of his life leading up to Roger & Me.Then he showed a few clips from Sicko, which looks like it will be worth seeing.
La Tourneuse de pages (The Page Turner): I found this film misogynistic, but all the women I've spoken to who saw it thought it was great. The plot is simple, and overall a bit ridiculous. Despite that it was not boring; the acting was very good and the director did a great job at creating a general mood of foreboding (though not actual suspense). 5
Penelope: The first half of this film was amazing. Christina Ricci is always a pleasure to watch; even when she is supposed to look hideous. Catherine O'Hara, playing the mother, was one-dimensional in her performance, treating it as an extended SNL sketch, but the other cast were great. Halfway through, Reese Witherspoon shows up, and she is fine, but the whole subplot involving her adds only a tiny bit to the film, and really just slows it down. The ending also was not satisfying. Still, this is absolutely worth seeing. 8
The Lives of Others: Definitely worth seeing. Set in the DDR (East Germany) in the mid-1980s, the film follows two sets of characters: a playwright and his coterie of writer friends, on the one hand, and a meticulous, loyal Stasi officer along with his friend and superior. The Stasi officer, Wiesberg, is running a surveillance mission on the writer, Georg. Ulrich Mühe was amazing as Wiesberg; every scene he was in was just riveting. But the film lagged whenever it shifted its focus to Georg and the other writers. Those characters just were not that interesting and the actor playing Georg in particular was very bland. This director certainly has a lot of potential, and I did enjoy the film; I think it is successful at capturing all the instances of subtle intimidation that can characterize life in a totalitarian state with no privacy. Also it occurred to me that when the full truth gets out about George W. Bush's wiretap program, it will be comparable to what is depicted in this film. But at other times I was reminded of the silly Richard Dreyfuss/Emilio Estevez film Stakeout, where two Seattle cops are surveilling a woman's apartment, and then one of them runs into her in the grocery store (and zany hilarity ensues). 7
Time: I really wanted to like this film; it had some interesting ideas and great images, particularly at an avant-garde sculpture park at the beach. However, it just kept going around in circles. I know, I know, that probably was the point, and I am just narrow-minded for not getting that. Still, if this film had been tighter it would have been a better achievement. 5
2:37: I liked this film; it had an original style about it even though much of the plot elements were modern high-school clichés, drawn straight from the original Degrassi Junior High. 7
Palimpsest: Speaking of clichés, this film was full of them. Just way too earnest, and you can see the "twist" coming from almost the start. John Cusack did this sort of idea recently in a film that sucked but was still better than Palimpsest. The real problem is that there's nothing at all interesting about the murder that the guy is investigating; nothing to get the audience invested in caring about who did it, or caring about the police detective and his problems, or caring about the meta elements relating to the "twist" (which I won't give away, even though it is obvious). 2
Evening with Michael Moore: This was pretty interesting. He talked about his speech at the Oscars where he laid into the Bush policies and got booed, then went on to talk about his time in the seminary, and the rest of his life leading up to Roger & Me.Then he showed a few clips from Sicko, which looks like it will be worth seeing.
La Tourneuse de pages (The Page Turner): I found this film misogynistic, but all the women I've spoken to who saw it thought it was great. The plot is simple, and overall a bit ridiculous. Despite that it was not boring; the acting was very good and the director did a great job at creating a general mood of foreboding (though not actual suspense). 5
Penelope: The first half of this film was amazing. Christina Ricci is always a pleasure to watch; even when she is supposed to look hideous. Catherine O'Hara, playing the mother, was one-dimensional in her performance, treating it as an extended SNL sketch, but the other cast were great. Halfway through, Reese Witherspoon shows up, and she is fine, but the whole subplot involving her adds only a tiny bit to the film, and really just slows it down. The ending also was not satisfying. Still, this is absolutely worth seeing. 8