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No Country For Old Men (Directors: Joel and Ethan Coen, USA, 2007): Based on the Cormac McCarthy novel of the same name, No Country For Old Men is a welcome return to form from the Coen brothers. The West Texas setting and the noirish storyline recall their first film, Blood Simple (1984), but with more than twenty additional years of filmmaking experience as well as strong source material, this is a much more accomplished film. Josh Brolin turns in an excellent performance as Llewellyn Moss, a prematurely “retired” welder who stumbles upon a crime scene while hunting in the desert. It’s obvious that it’s a drug deal gone bad, and among the bodies and shot-up pickup trucks is a suitcase full of cash. Finding the temptation too strong, he takes the money. From there, he is pursued relentlessly by Javier Bardem, sent in as “the perfect tool” to retrieve the money. Tommy Lee Jones is the ineffectual but philosophical sheriff whose despair finally gets the better of him.
Bardem’s performance, while seemingly over the top, is remarkable. He is less a person than a force. While Tommy Lee Jones represents the law, Bardem is lawlessness, chaos and death all rolled into one. And yet he follows his own twisted logic, tying up all loose ends according to his own code of ethics.
The film follows a very simple storyline, and the lack of a musical score keeps the suspense at almost unbearable levels. Bardem’s introduction also leaves the viewer unsure what he will do in any given scene for the rest of the film. Brolin is the not quite innocent but still sympathetic victim-hero of the story, and as he memorably says to his wife early in the film, “Stuff happens. I can’t take it back.” Indeed, stuff happens. And you won’t be able to look away while it does.
Trailer
Official site for the film
(9/10)
Tagged as:
filmnoir,
TIFF
(image courtesy of image.net)
The 64th annual Venice Film Festival is underway, and although I haven’t been following what films will be there, I was delighted to find this cheeky photo of Spanish beauty Manuela Velasco on the red carpet. She’s there to promote the Spanish horror film [Rec], which shared the opening night bill with Atonement, adapted from the Ian McEwan novel and starring Keira Knightley.
Tagged as:
venice
Control (Director: Anton Corbijn, UK/USA, 2007): My fears about this one were mostly justified. Anton Corbijn began his career as a rock photographer and is perhaps best known for shooting the covers of U2’s albums. From there he moved into directing music videos before taking on this film as his feature debut. Corbijn has crafted a pretty conventional biopic about the life of Joy Division’s singer Ian Curtis, who committed suicide by hanging himself on the eve of the group’s first US tour in 1980. All of the formative moments are checked off: Ian as glam-loving teenager singing in front of a mirror, Ian meeting and marrying his wife Debbie, upon whose memoir (
Touching From a Distance) the film is based, Ian’s first epileptic seizure, Ian’s affair with Belgian groupie Annik Honoré (played by an impossibly gorgeous Alexandra Maria Lara). As with most biopics, time is compressed to a ridiculous extent, making it difficult to feel any depth in particular scenes before we’re rushed off to the next major event. As well, Corbijn films in black and white, and instead of making late 70s Macclesfield look like the grim industrial suburb it was, he almost makes it look pretty. In the same way, he photographs Curtis (played ably by young Sam Riley) like the rock photographer he can’t leave behind. Samantha Morton does a fine job of portraying the forgotten wife, but given that she was hardly acknowledged by the members of the band, it’s hard to trust much of the script, which must by nature deal in speculation.
However, the actors portraying the band members played all their own music, and did a wonderful job. And the film drove me back immediately to listen to my Joy Division records, which must mean something worked. I thought the scenes leading up to Curtis’ death were handled sensitively as well. But perhaps my favourite moment was one of the lightest. The presence of John Cooper Clarke (playing John Cooper Clarke!) performing his inimitable spoken word piece “Evidently Chickentown” made me long for the days when someone like Clarke could open for a band as “dark” as Joy Division.
Curtis’ story reminded me vividly of another reluctant rock star. Someone hungry for fame but then disdainful when it arrived. Someone who married and had a child only to doubt his abilities as a husband and father. Someone who struggled with health issues to the point of despair. Yes, I think if there is an afterlife, Ian Curtis and Kurt Cobain are sharing a cigarette somewhere.
Trailer
Official Site
(8/10)
NOTE: I saw this film before the film festival started at a special press screening. I’ve actually revised my numerical rating upward in the days since I first saw the film.
UPDATE: The film opens in Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver on October 23rd.
Tagged as:
music,
suicide,
TIFF
- Thursday September 6: 7:45pm
Jar City (Mýrin) (Iceland, Director: Baltasar Kormákur)
- Friday September 7: 9:15pm
Secret Sunshine (Milyang) (South Korea, Director: Lee Chang-dong)
- Saturday September 8: 10:00am
Persepolis (France, Directors: Marjane Satrapi and Vincent Paronnaud)
- Sunday September 9: 3:30pm
The Band’s Visit (Bikur Ha-Tizmoret) (Israel, Director: Eran Kolirin)
- Sunday September 9: 9:00pm
Silent Light (Luz silenciosa) (Mexico, Director: Carlos Reygadas)
- Tuesday September 11: 9:45pm
Naissance des pieuvres (Water Lilies) (France, Director: Céline Sciamma)
- Thursday September 13: 9:15pm
A Gentle Breeze in the Village (Tennen kokekkô) (Japan, Director: Nobuhiro Yamashita)
- Friday September 14: 6:15pm
Chaotic Ana (Caótica Ana) (Spain, Director: Julio Medem)
- Saturday September 15: 10:00am
Le Voyage du ballon rouge (Voyage of the Red Balloon) (France, Director: Hou Hsiao-hsien)
- Saturday September 15: 2:45pm
Son of Rambow (UK, Director: Garth Jennings)
And yes, it was extremely difficult to narrow it down to just ten films. Toronto Screen Shots correspondents Jay Kerr and Jason Chu will post their early picks in the comments to give you an idea of what we’ll be covering during this year’s fest. A few of us got to see some early press screenings as well so there will be a few more than just our “official” films.
Tagged as:
TIFF
Naissance des Pieuvres (Water Lilies) (Director: Céline Sciamma): One of those “coming of age” films that the French do so well. This one features three girls who meet at the local swimming pool while part of a synchronized swimming team. The trailer reminds me a lot of Lukas Moodysson’s Show Me Love, which was wonderful.
Trailer
Official Site
Interview with director Céline Sciamma
***
My Kid Could Paint That (Director: Amir Bar-Lev): Marla Olmstead is an abstract painter whose paintings fetch up to $25,000 from collectors. She is also 7 years old. Her parents contacted the director in 2004 to make a film about her when critics began to charge that she was not actually the one creating her work, that perhaps her father (an amateur painter) was behind the striking paintings. In order to “clear her name,” her parents invited Bar-Lev to tell her story and film her at work. Despite the fact that Marla has never spoken much about her art, the film attempts to grapple with the question of her creativity. Is she really a modern art prodigy, or is she simply doing what all children do? This promises to be a wild ride.
Trailer
Official Site
***
You, The Living (Du levande) (Director: Roy Andersson): I have yet to see Roy Andersson’s last film, the much-lauded Songs from the Second Floor (2000), but I seem to like deadpan Nordic comedies, and this comes highly recommended (or at least highly anticipated) from Bob Turnbull, who’s made it his top pick. As well, the images from the film look so ghostly and beautiful at the same time. So it makes the list.
Clip
Official Site
***
Tagged as:
TIFF
