February 2008

AJ Schnack on Top Doc Fests

by James McNally on February 28, 2008

in Documentaries,Film Festivals,Lists

Filmmaker AJ Schnack (Kurt Cobain: About a Son) is put­ting together his list of the top 25 doc­u­mentary film fest­ivals in the world, with lots of input from other film­makers and industry rep­res­ent­at­ives. I was very pleased that Toronto took two places in the top ten, with TIFF coming in at #2 and Hot Docs at #6.

As of this writing, he’s only posted the top ten, but I’m looking for­ward to seeing the rest of the list, and (hope­fully) get­ting to attend some of these fest­ivals in the future.

As a side note, I’m heading to #4 (South by Southwest) in just over a week! Maybe I’ll have a chance to talk up Toronto a little bit with AJ and others while I’m there.

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Predicting the 2007 Oscar Winners

by Moen Mohamed on February 22, 2008 · 4 comments

in Awards,Oscars

Although it would appear that many win­ners of the 2007 Academy Awards are obvious in key cat­egories, Sunday night may provide some surprises,one can only hope. The truth is, a sur­prise win can be the single most exciting devel­op­ment on the entire show! In the mean­time, as we await and watch the show in anti­cip­atory nausea, I think these are the poten­tial win­ners in each cat­egory. Enjoy the show and relish the many fruitful, sub­sequent discussions!

Best Picture

No Country for Old Men

Actor

Daniel Day-Lewis, There Will Be Blood

Actress

Julie Christie, Away From Her

Supporting Actor

Javier Bardem, No Country for Old Men

Supporting Actress

Amy Ryan, Gone Baby Gone

Director

Joel Coen and Ethan Coen, No Country for Old Men

Foreign Film

The Counterfeiters, Austria

Adapted Screenplay

Joel Coen & Ethan Coen, No Country for Old Men

Original Screenplay

Diablo Cody, Juno

Animated Feature Film

Ratatouille

Art Direction

There Will Be Blood

Cinematography

There Will Be Blood

Sound Mixing

Transformers

Sound Editing

Transformers

Original Score

Atonement, Dario Marianelli

Original Song

“Falling Slowly” from Once, Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova

Costume Design

Atonement

Documentary Feature

No End in Sight

Documentary (short subject)

Sari’s Mother

Film Editing

The Bourne Ultimatum

Makeup

La Vie en rose

Animated Short Film

Madame Tutli-Putli

Live Action Short Film

Le Mozart des Pickpockets (The Mozart of Pickpockets)

Visual Effects

Transformers

Editor’s Note: Moen is very brave put­ting up his pre­dic­tions. It’s some­thing I never do, usu­ally just picking for the Oscar pool an hour or so before the show. How about you? Feel free to post some of your boldest pre­dic­tions in the comments.

Tagged as: predictions

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The Best Performances of 2007

by Moen Mohamed on February 22, 2008 · 2 comments

in Lists

In 2007, actors and act­resses were presented with chal­len­ging roles, many of which garnered much acclaim and boun­tiful awards. However, the
per­form­ance of the year, without a doubt, goes to Casey Affleck for his work in THE ASSASSINATION OF JESSE JAMES BY THE COWARD ROBERT FORD.

Affleck embodies his role with such con­vic­tion, intel­li­gence and humanity, that it leaves one in utter amazement. A great per­form­ance is able to extract mul­tiple reac­tions from the audi­ence, and not just empathy, for example. As Robert Ford, Casey Affleck allows the audi­ence to enter his world, but there is always a dis­tance between us and his char­acter. And that dis­tance encom­passes ten­sion and unpre­dict­ab­ility. The result is an abso­lutely mem­or­able per­form­ance by this rel­at­ively new actor and is one of the high­lights of this fine film.

BEST ACTORS

  1. CASEY AFFLECK — The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
  2. MATHIEU AMALRIC — The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
  3. EMILE HIRSCH — Into The Wild
  4. DANIEL DAY-LEWIS — There Will Be Blood
  5. SAM RILEY — Control
  6. RYAN GOSLING — Lars and the Real Girl
  7. PHILIP SEYMOUR HOFFMAN — The Savages, Before The Devil Knows You’re Dead & Charlie Wilson’s War
  8. GEORGE CLOONEY — Michael Clayton
  9. JOSH BROLIN — No Country For Old Men & American Gangster
  10. SASSON GABAI — The Band’s Visit

BEST SUPPORTING ACTORS

  1. JAVIER BARDEM — No Country For Old Men
  2. VLAD IVANOV — 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days
  3. ARMIN MUELLER-STAHL — Eastern Promises
  4. TOM WILKINSON — Michael Clayton
  5. JOHN CARROLL LYNCH — Zodiac
  6. HAL HOLBROOK — Into The Wild
  7. MARTIN PIROYANSKY — XXY
  8. OMAR METWALLY — Rendition
  9. HEATH LEDGER — I’m Not There
  10. CHRISTIAN BALE — I’m Not There

BEST ACTRESSES

  1. ANAMARIA MARINCA — 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days
  2. JEON DO-YEON — Secret Sunshine
  3. MARION COTILLARD — La Vie en rose
  4. INES EFRON — XXY
  5. LAURA LINNEY — The Savages

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESSES

  1. TILDA SWINTON — Michael Clayton
  2. SAOIRSE RONAN — Atonement
  3. SAMANTHA MORTON — Control
  4. MARIA BONNEVIE — The Banishment
  5. AMY RYAN — Gone Baby Gone

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Icelandic Films to Screen in Toronto

by James McNally on February 22, 2008 · 1 comment

in Special Events

From a press release sent out by the Icelandic Tourist Board:

In col­lab­or­a­tion with the New York-based cur­at­orial team Package Deals, a handful of fea­ture films will be screened in Toronto during the fest­ival. The film Children (Börn), by well-known Icelandic dir­ector Ragnar Bragason, is a com­pel­ling look at a group of dys­func­tional people in Reykjavi­k. Shot in beau­ti­fully styl­ized black and white, which com­ple­ments the film’s dark atmo­sphere, the story’s unex­pected twists and turns lead to a pro­voc­ative denoue­ment. The film was awarded the Best Screenplay award at the 2006 Edda Awards, Iceland’s equi­valent of the Academy Awards, in 2006. This screening marks the Toronto premiere of Children (Börn).

The new acclaimed film Heima will also be screening as part of the Taste of Iceland fest­ival. Directed by Ottawa native Dean DeBlois, Heima, which trans­lates as both “home” and “home­land”, chron­icles a series of free con­certs that Sigur Rós, Iceland’s biggest musical export after Björk, played in their native Iceland in the summer of 2006. The film provides unique insights into one of the world’s most fas­cin­ating and inscrut­able bands, cap­tured live while exploring their nat­ural hab­itat — ”the mys­ter­ious, oth­er­worldly land­scape of Iceland” — like never before.

Both films will screen at the Cumberland Theatre on Bloor St. Children (Börn) will air at 6:30pm and Heima at 8:15pm, both on Thursday, March 13th.

Children (Börn)

The film screen­ings are part of A Taste of Iceland, a weeklong Icelandic cul­tural fest­ival in the city, which includes free musical events and an Icelandic dinner. Check out the full press release for more details.

Unfortunately, I’m going to be in Austin this week, but if you catch Children (Börn), com­ment here. I’ve already raved about Heima else­where, and you should def­in­itely catch it on a big screen.

And though I’m sad to be missing this event, it just makes me that much more excited for my trip to Iceland this coming September for the Reykjavik International Film Festival.

Tagged as: iceland, music

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The Best American Films of 2007

by Moen Mohamed on February 21, 2008

in Lists

2007 has been a great year for cinema — and American films shone in 2007. The best American films of the har­vest were chal­len­ging, enter­taining, intel­li­gent and insightful. The films on this list spoke to me per­son­ally and cine­mat­ic­ally. These are my favourite American films of 2007, in order of preference:

  1. THE ASSASSINATION OF JESSE JAMES BY THE COWARD ROBERT FORD — Sublime cinema. This is the best film made about the outlaw (Samuel Fuller’s I SHOT JESSE JAMES comes close). Jesse James is com­pletely deglam­our­ized and exposed in his final years. Although Brad Pitt’s per­form­ance is chilling and mer­it­orious, the film belongs, heart and soul, to Casey Affleck, who gives the per­form­ance of the year. A truly evoc­ative, poetic and meta­phys­ical piece of film-making. (a dif­ferent view from TSS’s Jay Kerr)
  2. ZODIAC — A com­plex, multi-layered, com­pel­ling piece of his­tory that works on every level as a film. Meticulously researched, superbly acted and per­fectly real­ised, this film is fiercely intel­li­gent and sadly overlooked.
  3. INTO THE WILD — Sean Penn’s powerful film about indi­vidu­ality, youth and nature. It is a cour­ageous film. Although sad, this film is uplifting if you look in the right places. Emile Hirsch is a revelation.
  4. THERE WILL BE BLOOD — Much has been said about this film and THE per­form­ance, but all that aside, this film is an American classic. Instantly. The fact that the ending has divided many people is not exactly a bad thing.
  5. THE SAVAGES — A bril­liantly written and acutely observed film. It’s been 10 years since Tamara Jenkins’ SLUMS OF BEVERLY HILLS, which is a very good film, but I believe THE SAVAGES to be superior. This film draws the viewer close to the quiet moments of making agon­izing decisions con­cerning loved ones and it does so unce­re­mo­ni­ously and unsen­ti­ment­ally. But all the same, the emo­tions are raw.
  6. NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN (James McNally’s TSS review)
  7. NO END IN SIGHT (James McNally’s TSS review)
  8. THE KING OF KONG: A FISTFUL OF QUARTERS (James McNally’s TSS review)
  9. MICHAEL CLAYTON
  10. THE HOAX
  11. THE LOOKOUT
  12. RATATOUILLE
  13. KURT COBAIN: ABOUT A SON
  14. BILLY THE KID (James McNally’s TSS review)
  15. CHOP SHOP
  16. STEEP
  17. THE DARJEELING LIMITED
  18. NANKING
  19. BEFORE THE DEVIL KNOWS YOU’RE DEAD
  20. A MIGHTY HEART
  21. THE BOURNE ULTIMATUM
  22. JOSHUA
  23. THE DEVIL CAME ON HORSEBACK
  24. 3:10 TO YUMA
  25. MY KID COULD PAINT THAT

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