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Sunshine (Director: Danny Boyle, UK, 2007): Last night, courtesy of the good folks at the Toronto After Dark Film Festival, I was able to catch the preview screening of Danny Boyle’s latest film, a sci-fi epic in the old-fashioned sense. Drawing inspiration from classics like 2001: A Space Odyssey, Solaris, and Alien, Sunshine doesn’t really chart any new ground, but it was a blast, and unlike most American sci-fi of recent years, it didn’t insult the viewer’s intelligence. We were fortunate to have the director present for a q&a after the screening (although he arrived from Chicago just in time for the end of the film) and he was refreshingly candid about the difficulties involved in making the film, as well as the very narrow thematic scope of films like this. As he put it, there is always a ship, a crew, and some sort of distress signal. Of course, it would make more sense for the crew to ignore the distress call, but they never do, and thank goodness, or else we’d be watching a pretty dull film.
As it goes, the eight-person crew of the Icarus II, en route to deliver a bomb into the heart of a dying Sun, pick up signals from the Icarus I, lost seven years before. The film functions as an effective thriller and even enters the horror realm as the crew members meet various unexpected ends. We know at the beginning that their chances of returning to Earth are slim, but it’s still affecting to watch as they send messages home. And although the character development is minimal, there is still a strong sense of caring about these people, since they represent humanity’s last hope against the unfeeling machinery of the universe.
In summary, this is not a classic in the mold of the three films it references, but it’s a great synthesis of their themes and shares the same atmosphere, which for me is a huge achievement. This is the sort of summer blockbuster I’d recommend to my own friends.
Here is the Q&A with director Danny Boyle from after the screening (apologies for the low volume, I’m trying to edit these a bit, but let me know if it’s still too low):
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Duration: 18:44
The film opens in Toronto on July 20.
Official site for the film
Production blog for the film
(7/10)
Tagged as:
scifi,
space,
Theatrical Release,
uk
Interview (Director: Steve Buscemi, USA, 2007): Interview is the first film in a planned trilogy of films honouring Dutch filmmaker Theo Van Gogh, who was murdered in 2004. Each will be a remake of a Van Gogh film directed by an American actor (Steve Buscemi, Stanley Tucci, and Bob Balaban).
Van Gogh’s version of Interview was released in 2003 and played at the Toronto International Film Festival that year, where my wife saw it and enjoyed it. So as we both sat down to watch this tonight, Brooke was aware of all the plot twists and turns and thought I’d be surprised. I wasn’t.
The film is a two-hander with Steve Buscemi playing Pierre Peders, a rumpled political journalist who has been assigned, much to his chagrin, to interview a second-rate actress known simply as Katya (a feisty Sienna Miller), who is more known for her reputation than for her work. The majority of the action, if we can call it that, takes place in Katya’s enormous loft where the two alternately spar and flirt until each thinks they’ve extracted what they need from the other. In the original, the action is entirely confined to the apartment but Buscemi adds a bit of business at the beginning at a restaurant, and it’s an interesting choice.
After their initial restaurant meeting quickly dissolves into insults and they both storm out, Pierre is involved in a minor collision when his cab driver becomes distracted by the beautiful celebrity he sees walking down the street. Feeling a bit responsible, Katya takes Pierre back to her loft to recover. It’s unclear whether Buscemi is trying to show Katya as basically compassionate, or whether their initial bickering has aroused some sort of sexual attraction between the two. It remains a mystery thoughout the entire film, but in the end, the mystery is hollow, because both are exposed as the selfish and needy individuals that their professions make them. As well, their forced intimacy is accelerated onscreen by both characters drinking ludicrous amounts of alcohol, which felt artificial. The music, though used sparingly, felt a little “sitcom-y” (is that a word?), by which I mean that the tinkly xylophone seemed meant to defuse the intensity and make you think this was a light comedy.
It’s a clever script, and both actors are never less than watchable, but in the end, it never surprised and left me feeling a bit miserable. I’m not sure if the original was this misanthropic (although from what I know of Van Gogh, I expect that it was), but I think I’m disappointed that Buscemi, known for directing stories of flawed but essentially real human beings (ie. Trees Lounge), has failed to make these two more sympathetic. I felt almost exactly the same way about Closer (2004), another film with strong performances from actors playing unsympathetic characters. After both films, I felt slightly icky.
The film opens in Toronto on July 20.
Official site for the film
(7/10)
Tagged as:
celebrity,
Theatrical Release
Ratatouille (Director: Brad Bird, USA, 2007): My first thought upon seeing an animated rat cooking in the kitchen of a French restaurant was “Wow! I hope this film can get kids interested in good food.” So I hope we don’t end up seeing Ratatouille Happy Meals at McDonald’s. Seriously, although the main theme of the film was being “true to yourself” or something like that, I was just impressed that a film aimed at kids would take the risk of trying to bring something adult and exotic (and some would say snobby) within their reach. Especially at a time when the food offered to the majority of us is so bland and unhealthy.
As always, Pixar have outdone themselves. I skipped Cars after hearing a few less-than-stellar reviews, but am glad I saw this. The attention to detail is simply stunning, and the food looks real enough that I could almost smell and taste it. Thomas Keller, of Napa destination The French Laundry, was a consultant on the film and it shows. (Maybe The French Laundry could offer Ratatouille Happy Meals. It would be great if they could get the price under $100. Ok, not funny.)
Food blogger Meg Hourihan and her husband Jason Kottke have both posted better reviews than mine, so I’ll stop here. Besides, I’m suddenly a little bit hungry…
P.S. As someone who works in the wine business, it was funny to see the very special 1961 Château Latour at the heart of a key scene.
Official site for the film
(9/10)
Tagged as:
animation,
pixar,
Theatrical Release
The Boss Of It All (Direktøren for det hele) (Director: Lars von Trier, Denmark, 2006): After a string of serious and political films, Danish bad boy Lars von Trier has directed what he describes as a “harmless” comedy. Ravn, the owner of an IT firm, is interested in selling his company to an Icelandic businessman (a clever cameo by Icelandic director Fridrik Thor Fridriksson), but for the past ten years has pretended that the actual owner (“the boss of it all”) lives in America. It’s a ruse that has allowed him to blame all the hard decisions on the absent owner and take all the credit for any successes himself. But now he needs to produce this phantom in order to sign the deal, so he hires Kristoffer, an out-of-work actor whose self-importance is comically outsized compared to his talent. The hijinks begin when the company’s employees catch a glimpse of the man they’ve been waiting ten years to meet.
At first, it’s easy to snow the employees with business doublespeak, but soon he finds out that Ravn has been sending emails to them over the years posing as “the boss of it all” and he’s neglected to tell Kristoffer who’s been told which lie. Within a few days, he’s been seduced by one employee, punched by another, and engaged to a third. As the scheme spirals out of both men’s control, the Icelanders return to seal the deal.
At this point, Kristoffer discovers that Ravn’s plan is to sell the company, lay off all the employees, and profit from intellectual property that is not his to sell. Kristoffer’s initial solution threatens a form of infinite regress, with him blaming an absent “boss of the boss of it all.” Fortunately, he changes tactics, but just as we think he is going to show some moral courage, his actor’s ego overwhelms him.
The film plays a bit like a Shakespearean comedy, in that director von Trier inserts himself into the film as narrator at several points, explaining what is coming up or what has just happened. And as a script, it’s clever and frequently hilarious. The actors are also well-chosen, with the two leads especially well-cast. The problem for me is that as a film, it isn’t visually interesting. At this point, I need to insert something about Automavision™, “a principle for shooting film (and recording the sound) developed with the intention of limiting human influence by inviting chance in from the cold and thus giving the work an ‘idealess’ surface free of the force of habit and aesthetics.” What this means is that after the cinematographer chooses a camera position and aperture, a computer algorithm offsets it so that each shot achieves a kind of randomness. In practice, it was slightly distracting, and certainly didn’t add anything to a visually uninspired film.
There are a lot of jokes made in the film at the expense of the “artistic” theatre actor, but in this case, The Boss Of It All might just be more at home on an actual stage.
UPDATE: The film opens in Toronto on July 13.
Official site for the film
(7/10)
Tagged as:
denmark,
iceland,
larsvontrier,
Theatrical Release
Paprika (Director: Satoshi Kon, Japan, 2006): I’m not really a genuine otaku nor do I aspire to be, but I do have a little bit of experience with Japanese anime, including the films of Hiyao Miyazaki (Spirited Away, My Neighbour Totoro) and the excellent sci-fi series Ergo Proxy. So I don’t claim to know or understand all of the conventions of Japanese animation. With that disclaimer out of the way, I can honestly say that Paprika (or “Papurika” which is the Japanese title) is quite a trip. Like many anime, the plot is tricky, but the visuals are absolutely eye-popping. The fact that the film is based on a well-known and popular novel by Japanese sci-fi master Yasutaka Tsutsui led to high expectations among Japanese audiences, who have received the film enthusiastically.
The press kit synopsis: “Dr. Atsuko Chiba is a genius scientist by day, and a kick-ass dream warrior named PAPRIKA by night. In this psychedelic sci-fi adventure, it will take the skills of both women to save the world. In the near future, a revolutionary new psychotherapy treatment called PT has been invented. Through a device called the “DC Mini†it is able to act as a “dream detective†to enter into people’s dreams and explore their unconscious thoughts. Before the government can pass a bill authorizing the use of such advanced psychiatric technology, one of the prototypes is stolen, sending the research facility into an uproar. In the wrong hands, the potential misuse of the device could be devastating, allowing the user to completely annihilate a dreamer’s personality while they are asleep. Renowned scientist, Dr. Atsuko Chiba, enters the dream world under her exotic alter-ego, code name “PAPRIKA,†in an attempt to discover who is behind the plot to undermine the new invention.”
Paprika is like Dr. Chiba’s subconscious self, or her id, flirty and pixieish, but she is able to do things the uptight Dr. Chiba can’t do. It’s funny that later in the film, Paprika refers to herself as “the missing spice.” With the help of police detective Konakawa and the device’s inventor, the food-loving Dr. Tokita, this Spice Girl will make the world safe again.
Though the plot is almost ridiculously complex, it’s a very fun ride, just to see what the animators can come up with next. Some of the film’s most memorable images wouldn’t be out of place in the off-kilter world of videogame Katamari Damacy. Along with the visuals, the jaunty electronic score adds to the cool factor, making Paprika a sort of Spirited Away for grownups.
The film opens in limited release in Toronto on June 15th.
Official site for the film
(8/10)
Tagged as:
animation,
anime,
japan,
scifi,
Theatrical Release