TIFF 2015

pink/reservoir-gods

Foreword:- Our man in Canada, Mr Pink, goes to watch a film. No, he goes to watch LOTS of films! He's back, in some serious textual action, in how many years? Anyway, give a big hand to him! - CiH, Dec 2015.

There are a handful of things that put Canada's most populous city on the map; the CN tower, the proximity to the Niagara falls and the antics of its crack smoking mayor. In recent years, the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) has started to vacuum up increasing amounts of publicity, so much so that it is becoming synonomous with this great city.

TIFF has often been seen as a lesser cousin of more prestigious events like Cannes and Sundance, but in recent years it has started to come into its own. The key to its success has been its position in the calendar year. Traditionally held at the start of September, this is ideal for movie studio trying to launch movies in time for the Oscar season.

Some of the biggest recent Oscar films have debuted at TIFF including "NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN", "SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE", "THE HURT LOCKER", "THE KING'S SPEECH", "ARGO", "THE ARTIST" and "12 YEARS A SLAVE".

Last year's TIFF saw "DALLAS BUYERS CLUB", "THE IMITATION GAME", "THE THEORY OF EVERYTHING", "AUGUST:OSAGE COUNTY", "PHILOMENA", "THE WIND RISES" and "GRAVITY" all go on to gain Oscar nominations.

TIFF is also more of a public friendly event that a lot of other festivals. Tickets can be bought for $25, which isn't much more than what you have to splash out on to see a 3D IMAX movie here. You get the benefit of seeing the movie before anyone else in a knowledgable and excited audience, and generally get a Q&A with the director/screenwriter/stars afterwards.

I have been getting increasingly invested in TIFF, from seeing a smattering of films the first week I was here to booking a week off work and watching movies from 9AM to 2AM every day for all 10 days of the festival.

So here is my breakdown of the movies I saw at TIFF 2015, all 50 of them!

THURSDAY

The festival opened with LASZLO NEMES "SON OF SAUL", a gruelling holocaust drama that had already won the grand prix at Cannes. The picture follows a worker in a concentration camp, the camera constantly tracking his every move in long claustrophobic handheld takes. The director after the film said he felt that other holocaust movies were a little too sentimental - that is definitely not something you can accuse this picture off. It is hard to recommend this film as it is so remorselessly grim, but it is a brilliant intense piece of film-making.

In MICHAEL MOORE's latest polemic, he had to make the decision of "WHERE TO INVADE NEXT". Here he makes the tongue-in-cheek case for a series of intellectual invasions into countries that have "solved" some the USA's political problems, and stealing their best ideas. He goes to Finland to steal their superlative education system (it must work, it gave us Aggression!), to France to steal their healthy free school meals (no frogs legs though), to Denmark to steal their prison system and Portugal to take their drug policy. As with all of his work, it is a thoroughly entertaining watch, even if he sometimes glosses over the subtleties of the issues. Overall a movie that will infuriate conservatives and energise progressives and make you wonder why the states is so fucking useless on so many issues.

JEREMY SAULNIER had picked up a lot of acclaim with low budget revenge thriller "BLUE RUIN", so the anticipation level was high for his follow up "GREEN ROOM". The film follows a down on their luck band touring the pacific northwest, taking on increasingly more desperate gigs just to earn a little scratch. They end up playing for a bunch of right wing extremists and inevitably things go horribly wrong. After witnessing a murder in the green room, they end up trapped in the fascist compound and try to fight their way out. After a promising beginning, the movie here degenerates into a fairly predictable horror piece. Patrick Stewart is interesting a the head nazi, but ultimately this is a disappointing mis-tread for Saulnier.

FRIDAY

Canadian JEAN-MARC-VALLEE was coming of the back of pair of great movies ("DALLAS BUYER'S CLUB" and "WILD"), so "DEMOLITION" had a lot of expectation on its shoulders, and sadly crumbled under this weight. JAKE GYLLENHALL turns in a strong performance as an investment banker who can only manifest the grief for his wife's death through acts of physical destruction. There are tinges of FIGHT CLUB here in the sardonic atmosphere. Some witty writing, sharp dialogue and memorable scenes can't make up for a film that is strangely weightless and despite its use of sledgehammers, never really leaves a mark.

Your enjoyment of YORGOS LANTHIMOS'S "THE LOBSTER" will depend on entirely on your taste for the absurd. In this surrealist world, single people are forced to live in a hotel and have 45 days to find a mate. If they fail in this task, they will be turned into an animal of their choice. Serial loser COLIN FARRELL chooses a lobster as his final destination should he fail his love quest. This is a funny, strange and unique film that tells truths about relationships through a prism of bizarre.

TIM HIDDLESTONE and ELIZABETH OLSEN do their best in MARC ABRAHAM's turgid "I SAW THE LIGHT". This biopic of Hank Williams falls into all the genre traps, showing a series of uninteresting events and characters just because they happen to be historically accurate. It also thinks the audience will be riveted by the machinations of contract negotiations (hint- they won't). Check out some clips of Hiddlestone impersonating Williams, but don't bother with this turkey otherwise. The only light worth seeing here is the exit light.

Austrian BARBARA EDER's "THANK YOU FOR BOMBING", tackles a difficult subject - the war in Afghanistan - through the eyes of three different war correspondent. This is a muddled and unsatisfying piece; unsure if it wants to be biting satire, slapstick comedy or drama and ultimately being neither. Sullied by a rather graphic rape scene in the middle of the picture and some very one dimensional stereotyped characters, the real bomb here is the film's script.

In Turkish director's CAN EVRENOL's "BASKIN", a squad of cops end up going through a trap door to hell (don't you just hate it when that happens). The film has some strong, witty Tarantino-esque dialogue at the start, but once the action starts it gets pretty silly pretty quickly.

SATURDAY

Canadian master film-maker DENIS VILLENEUVE got a rapturous response from the audience for "SICARIO", his war-on-drugs thriller. Emily Blunt plays the heartfelt FBI agent who teams with a pair of shadowy government operatives to take down a Mexican cartel. Special praise here must go to Josh Brolin and Benicio Del Toro who are both amazing here. The real standout of this film are the set pieces - there are three scenes here that are some of the most pulse racing, spine tingling sequences in modern cinema. Combined with Johan Jahonssen's bombastic score, "SICARIO" will keep you coming back from just one more hit.

NICHOLAS HYTNER does a great job in transforming Alan Bennet's "THE LADY IN THE VAN" to the screen. This is a premium slice of English humour. Whilst Maggie Smith is incredible as the titular van dwelling lady, it's Alex Jennings playing Bennet who steals the show. As the playwright himself said, Jennings is more Bennet than Bennet himself. This is just a brilliant, warm, witty film that really made me miss good ol' blighty!

One event that makes TIFF special is Jason Reitman's Live Reads. The director of films such as "Juno" and "Up In The Air" found that the table reads he did when casting movies where one of the most entertaining parts of the process, and decided to share them with the public by getting famous actors to do a live read of a classic film script. He always keeps the actual cast a secret until you arrive at the event, so half the pleasure is finding out who is cast in each role. This year the film being read was "THE PRINCESS BRIDE", and once again the cast was stellar; including RACHEL McADAMS, PATRICK STEWART, CHRIS O'DOWD, GAEL GARCIA BERNAL and even the director of the original film ROB REINER. Tremendous fun.

China's JOHNNIE TO makes two kinds of movies; action thrillers and comedies. I find him to excel more in the former genre, whilst the latter never really translate successfully. Unfortunately OFFICE is a "comedy", and what's more, a subtitled comedy in 3D. It does have the small drawback of not actually being funny.

Whilst many video-games attempt to emulate movies, ILLYA NAISHULLER has gone the other way and made a movie that looks like a video game. "HARDCORE" is shot entirely from a first person perspective. The plot seemingly has also been lifted directly from a video game - so much so its hardly worth mentioning - some nonsense about genetically modified super soldiers. It serves as a convenient linking mechanic between a series of set pieces as our first person camera gets into fights, parkours around buildings and leaps out of planes. The set design at times looks like it has been lifted directly from Mirror's Edge. Not a great movie, but certainly an unique experience.

SUNDAY

I can't say enough bad things about TOM HOOPER's terrible "THE DANISH GIRL", so I will try and be brief. The premise sounds intriguing - it documents the first every percipient of gender reassignment surgery. Eddie Redmayne is appalling, the script and dialogue is lumpen, the characters are entitled and annoying, the set design is claustrophobic and off putting. Alicia Vikander, who plays Redmayne's long suffering wife, appears to be in a different, better movie - she is fairly decent here. Otherwise the best part of this film is when it ended.

NAOMI KLEIN is one of the most important contemporary political commentators, and with "THIS CHANGES EVERYTHING" she brings her recent book about climate change to the big screen. The message is incredibly important, and whilst the book is packed with intricately researched facts, the film adopts a more anecdotal approach. In patches this works great as you really connect with the protagonists, but overall some of the urgency of the message is diluted in this format.

"SUMMERTIME" chronicles the tale of love and lust between a Parisian Spanish teacher and a farmers daughter. What's not to like about some hot french lesbian action? (Answer: nothing). It subtitled so you can satisfy yourself this is definitely art not porn.

In "FREEHELD", JULIANNE MOORE and ELLEN PAGE are lesbian lovers battling an outdated legal system. As MOORE dies of cancer, red tape and prejudice prevents PAGE from being recognised as her legitimate domestic partner. STEVE CARELL bounces in a bombastic gay rights lawyer to try and save the day. It's a weepy feel-bad/feel-good romp.

SEAN BYRNE delivers a bunch of tired horror cliches in "THE DEVIL'S CANDY". Beware of strange film directors offering you candy.

MONDAY

Netflix furthered its intentions to rule the world by financing the ambitious "BEASTS OF NO NATION". Fresh from the success of True Detective, CARY FUKUNAGA directs IDRIS ELBA in this harrowing tale of child soldiers in Africa. Whilst this is obviously an important subject, I don't feel this movie brought anything new to the table and the film played out just as you would expect a rather grim tale of a child soldier would.

BEN WHEATLEY has made some great films; whilst "KILL LIST" put him on the map, it was the dark humour of "SIGHTSEERS" that really connected with me. Combining his sensibilities with that of J.G. Ballard, who wrote the novel that "HIGH RISE" is based on should be a perfect marriage. Unfortunately this a complete incoherent mess of a film. As with any Wheatley piece, there are some excellent moments and elements here but screenwriter Amy Jump (Wheatley's wife) can't really tie all this strings together, and this high rise collapses under its own weight.

STEPHEN FREARS has turned into a very solid film maker, and his Lance Armstrong biopic "THE PROGRAM" follows this trend. This is a decent, enjoyable retelling of the Armstrong story. BEN FOSTER is good as the villainous cyclist, effortlessly emulating his mannerisms. If you know the story then there is little new here, and I feel the film slightly bungles the final reveal, but ultimately this is a enjoyable picture.

GEORGE AMPONSAH retells the story of MARK DUGGAN through his friends in "THE HARD STOP". This is an inditement of the Metropolitan Police's counterproductive tactics, and gives a great insight into lives in the community.

LUCILE HADZIHALILOVIC (trying saying that after a few pints) brings us "EVOLUTION", a Kronenberg-esque body horror full of creepy children with unusual growths. Some nice cinematography here, but nothing else to really elevate the genre.

NICK SIMON'S "THE GIRL IN THE PHOTOGRAPHS" tries and fails to be a modern meta Wes Craven style horror. KAL PENN is actually decent here as an overbearing photographer, but the film never really does anything new or fresh. It's disappointing that this will be the last film to bear the recently departed Craven's name (he was a producer on it).

TUESDAY

In THE FAMILY FANG, NICOLE KIDMAN and JASON BATEMEN are the children in a dysfunctional family of performance artists. When their parents go missing, they have to team up to find out if they are really dead or is this just their final act of performance art? CHRISTOPHER WALKEN is great here as the whacky dead, and Bateman brings a real humanity to the piece.

JOHNNY DEPP cakes his head with make-up to play the part of Whitey Bulger in SCOTT COOPER'S "BLACK MASS". JOEL EDGERTON is the corruptible FBI agent who takes the Boston gangster into his employ. But who is controlling who, and does anyone really care? There are so many classics in the gangster genre that a mediocre effort like this seems fairly redundant. And whilst DEPP is good here, the make-up is incredibly distracting.

SUSAN SARANDON is "THE MEDDLER", the overbearing mother that won't give daughter ROSE BRYNE an inch to breathe. Fortunately guitar-playing retired cop and chicken lover J.K. SIMMONS appears on the scene to give SARANDON something else to think about. This is daytime tv movie fare, but the strong cast keeps it entertaining throughout.

GASPER NOE has always been a challenging director. From the dizzying camerawork and stomach churning bass of "IRREVERSIBLE" to the psychedelic neon jungle of "ENTER THE VOID", he has never been afraid to push boundaries. With LOVE he is pushing through the fourth wall somewhat literally, as this is his first 3D movie. The film is an attempt to explore the sexual side of modern relationships. As this a NOE joint, it is incredibly explicit - yes we see throbbing hard cocks in full 3D. There is a bit of everything in the mix; threesomes, lesbians, transexuals. The highlight 'comes' as the protagonist ejaculates thick streams of semen right at the camera across the audience - in 3D. There were gasps and cheers in my screening at this scene. Bravo Gasper, bravo.

CHARLIE KAUFMAN wanders into the world of stop motion animation with "ANOMALISA", an adaptation of one of his plays. The story is unlike anything you usually see in animation, which is part of the pleasure here. It's a slice of life tale about a motivational speaker on the road, and a night he spends at a hotel before a conference. As with all of Kaufman's work, it is wordy, witty and tells something of the human condition. Also, the best puppet sex since Team America: World Police.

In the MIND'S EYE, a drifter with psychic powers takes on a evil doctor and his crew of telekinetic assassins. Mid-level midnight madness fare.

WEDNESDAY

LENNY ABRAHAMSON's "ROOM" was the breakout hit of the festival. Adapted by Emma Donoghue from her novel of the same name, "ROOM" is loosely based on the Fritzel case. I must admit to some trepidation before entering this movie, as the prospect of spending two hours watching victims of sexual abuse wouldn't be what you normally think of as entertainment. The performances of BRIE LARSON and especially JACOB TREMBLAY really turn this into something special. Never seen so many people crying in an auditorium, but don't let that put you off - there is a reason this took the TIFF audience award.

"JE SUIS CHARLIE" is a documentary covering the tragic events in Paris earlier this year. There was a gaggle of police and security men at the event, and everyone's bags had to be searched before entering the theatre. It turned out that some of the key surviving members of Charlie Hebdo were in the audience. The documentary had some interesting first hand accounts of the event, but overall brought little new to the table.

ROAR UTHAUG has the perfect name for directing disaster movies, and "THE WAVE" is his attempt to bring a Norwegian twist on the genre to the table. Playing out like a low budget Roland Emmerich flick, the picture focuses on a family in the fjords and is sliced neatly into "before" and "After" segments. Some quite nice CG for the big tidal wave itself, but this is more a calling card for a future hollywood career for UTHAUG than a film that demands to be seen.

"SOUTHBOUND" gets five sets of directors to deliver interlocking stories, shlocky horror tales set on a desolate stretch of the highways of Americana. Although each segment is relatively average in itself, the pleasure here is seeing how they match up the seams and interleave with each other.

THURSDAY

RYAN REYNOLDS and, in particular, BEN MENDELSOHN act the shit out of MISSISSIPPI GRIND - a worthy but not especially exciting tale of gamblers on the road.

RIDLEY SCOTT tackles ANDY WEIR'S self published phenomenon "THE MARTIAN". As usual, he plays to his strengths - visually strong, great space shots - whilst not overcoming his weaknesses (some really leaden and underdeveloped characters). It's a worthy adaptation of the source material, but you do really miss all the glorious ingenious science descriptions.

In "WOMEN HE'S UNDRESSED", GILLIAM ARMSTRONG makes an engaging documentary about the career of legendary Hollywood costume designer Orry Kelly, the man who dressed Marilyn Monroe for "SOME LIKE IT HOT". Eschewing the usual documentary conventions of stock footage and talking heads, ARMSTRONG instead has actors performing re-enactments of slices of Kelly's life. Stylish.

I suspect that BRUCE McDONALD'S "HELLIONS" only got into TIFF because he is Canadian, as this psychedelic chiller is utterly awful.

In "SPL 2 - A TIME FOR CONSEQUENCES" Tony Jaa beats up a lot of people, which is great, if you like that sort of thing.

FRIDAY

PAOLO SORRENTINO follows up the Oscar success of "THE GREAT BEAUTY" with "YOUTH". He drops his native Italian for an English language film, led by the ageing pair of MICHAEL CAINE and HARVEY KEITEL reminiscing about their life. Delicious dialogue combined with fantastic cinematography and that Sorrentino feel of opulence make this an intoxicating experience.

The screening was packed for ROBERT EGGERS "THE WITCH", a tale of witchcraft in 17th century New England. Rugged pastoral scenes and olde english abound. There is something spellbinding about this slow building horror.

ELAINE CONSTANTINE'S "NORTHERN SOUL" tries to make a compelling film around this 70's music scene and fails. The music is great, the acting is ok, the story and editing are poor. Still, top tunes, natty haircuts and look at those trousers!

TAKASHI MIIKE's "YAKUZA APOCALYPSE" is as ridiculous as the premise sounds. A genre mish-mash of gangsters, vampires, monsters, martial arts and knitting.

SATURDAY

SANDRA BULLOCK and BILLY BOB THORNTON are cynical political advisors trying to fix a Bolivian election in "OUR BRAND IS CRISIS". This is well trodden territory, and shows like THE THICK OF IT and VEEP just do this sort of thing so much better.

"EQUALS" shows a dystopian future where emotion is considered a disease and people live like robots. KRISTEN STEWART and NICHOLAS HOULT are the workers who develop illicit feelings for each other. Sentimental but satisfying slice of sci-fi.

NICK ROBINSON is the insufferable whiny protagonist of ROB REINER's latest miss "BEING CHARLIE". MORGAN SAYLOR (aka the daughter from Homeland) is especially bad as the love interest here. Avoid.

In "LEGEND" Tom Hardy plays both of the notorious gangster twins Reggie and Ronnie Kray. Hardy is great in this duel role, but you can't help feeling this sort of film has already been made a hundred times before.

"THE FINAL GIRLS" is a mildly diverting spoof of 80s slasher flicks, which looks like it was a lot more fun to make than actually watch.

SUNDAY

"TRAPPED" is another icy northern noir in the vein of The Killing and The Bridge, only this time it is iceland stepping into the fray. The premise is suitably ridiculous - a murder on a ferry between remote parts of Iceland forces the police to keep everyone on board until the murderer is found - and will allow the tension to be ratcheted up over the course of this series.

GRETA GERWIG is delightfully kooky (once again) in "MAGGIE'S PLAN". If you have watched and enjoyed her other roles like "FRANCE HA", this is basically more of the same - and that's a good thing. A fine and fun way to end the festival.

SUMMARY

So after ten days of festival madness, I emerge bleary eyed from the theatres, tired by happy having gorged myself on a feast of cinema. My top picks from everything I saw would be:

- Room
- Youth
- Love

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