In Contention

Tag: Toronto Film Festival

  • TORONTO: ‘Precious’ — a work of art

    PreciousThe problem with film festivals is that sometimes we critics speak too soon. Earlier today I stated that after seeing “Up in the Air,” it might be the best American film of the year, and until seeing “Precious” this morning, I meant it.

    Two hours later, walking out of the theater, exhausted, beaten up, stunned by the images I had just seen, yet with a kernel of hope, I realized I had just witnessed a work of art. The press, us hardened critics who can be so cynical and negative, applauded this film for several minutes as the credits rolled, but it was more than that.

    Most of us grew up in stable homes with loving parents, never knowing the meaning of hunger, never having to worry about being beaten or abused either physically or verbally.  Most of us, but not all of us.

    Precious (Gabourey Sidibe) does not know this world because she lives in hell. In her world, her father rapes her; she bears two children by this monster by the time she is 16 and refers to her her daughter, a Downs Syndrome baby, as Mongo, not out of cruellty, but out of ignorance. Precious is obese and illiterate, yet escapes from time to time into a fantasy world of her own where she is desirable and beloved by all who know her.

    (more…)

  • TORONTO: ‘The Informant!,’ ‘Jennifer’s Body,’ ‘Up in the Air,’ ‘Hugh Hefner’

    Megan Fox in Jennifer's Body(Please note, as opposed to Kris and Guy, I tend to grade films on a 5-star scale.)

    Day two of the festival is always among the busiest because the major studios are here and they want you to see their films. Movies with buzz coming out of Toronto quite often end up in the Oscar race.

    “Slumdog Millionaire” exploded out of this festival last year and went all the way to eight Academy Awards.  Who would have thought coming in to Toronto that Danny Boyle’s film would rock the fest? So which film will it be this year?

    If Venice and Telluride can tell us anything it is that Jason Reitman’s “Up in the Air” is winning critics over and should land George Clooney in the Oscar race once again for Best Actor.  Kris certainly loved the film when he saw it, and frankly, so did I.

    But Clooney will not be alone here in the race for Best Actor.  One of his good friends will be right there with him: Matt Damon for his amazing work in “The Informant!.” Today was one of those good days when I bounced from good film to great film back to good film, to great documentary. I may have seen the best of the fest on Friday.

    Let’s get into some reactions…

    (more…)

  • TORONTO: Penelope Cruz and ‘Broken Embraces’

    Penelope Cruz in Broken EmbracesWhen did Penelope Cruz become such a great actress? This was a woman  I could barely stand looking at on screen not more than five years ago, yet now she is an absolute delight, with depth, emotion, and the ability to find the truth in her characters, an innate ability that is downright uncanny. God, her work in “Vanilla Sky” was painful and her performance in “Blow” was so shrill and terrible it was the sort of acting I’d label obscene.

    Then saw “Volver” and was stunned by her work, blown away, knocked out and forever silenced about her talent. It is not the first time this has happened to me. I regularly attacked Julia Roberts until “Erin Brockovich” and “Closer” and was Joel Schumacher’s biggest detractor until “Tigerland.”  If my love of cinema has given me anything it’s the ability to admit when I am wrong, or when an artist has done something that surprised me enough to admit they possess an unexpected talent.

    Cruz was lovely in “Volver” and richly deserving of the Oscar nomination she received, just as she deserved to win the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress last year for her hell cat in “Vicky Christina Barcelona.”  There was something dark in her work last year for Woody Allen, something dangerous, something terribly sexy. And then to see her in “Elegy?”   It was an entirely different piece of work, equally good, but each of her 2008 performances displayed extraordinary range not seen before. Was the talent always there and the roles just weak? Or is it that Cruz simply grew as an actress?

    (more…)

  • WEEKLY WRAP: Festivals, festivals and festivals

    George Clooney in Up in the Air• After weeks of hype, “Up in the Air” landed in Telluride, and delivered. (And finally got a trailer too.)

    • Meanwhile, as some compare director Jason Reitman to Billy Wilder, we interviewed him at the festival.

    • We also got chatty with possible awards contenders Paul Schneider and Venice prize-winner Mark Boal.

    • On the other side of the Atlantic, our Venice coverage continued, including a first look at Michael Moore’s “Capitalism: A Love Story.”

    (more…)

  • OSCAR TALK: Ep. 2 — ‘Up in the Air,’ disagreeing on ‘The Road’ and Toronto looms

    Oscar TalkWelcome to the second installment of Oscar Talk with yours truly and indieWIRE‘s Anne Thompson.  We tried to set aside some time in Telluride to do one of these, but time never seemed to permit.

    Anne is in Toronto this week, and, at the time of this recording (yesterday, so all “todays” and “tomorrows” should be re-purposed accordingly), was gearing up for a screening of Jon Amiel’s “Creation.”

    We tightened things up slightly this time, clocking in at just over 25 minutes.  Here are a few of the topics we discussed:

    • Which films are going to be tested by their exposure in Toronto (John’s coverage begins this weekend)?

    • The story out of Telluride, “Up in the Air,” and the awards prospects for the film across the board.

    • The dueling Best Supporting Actress hopefuls from the film, Anna Kendrick and Vera Farmiga.

    • The cool reception Jane Campion’s “Bright Star” is receiving in some quarters and how that could work against its major Oscar potential, despite exquisite craftwork.

    • By popular demand, Anne and I disagree on something: John Hillcoat’s “The Road.”

    • The “schizophrenic” marketing of the film, moving from genre/suspense to the love/warmth at its center.

    Have a listen below.  And by the way, these should be filtering in through iTunes now, so you can subscribe to the podcast here.

    [display_podcast]

  • TORONTO: Settling in, ‘Antichrist’

    (from left) Willem Dafoe and Charlotte Gainsbourg in AntichristI left home at 6:30am yesterday to make an early check-in to my hotel at 8:30.  One bummer, my youngest daughter, Ariana, has a flu bug and I hate leaving Sherri with her on her own. She assured me it was cool, so I managed to get out the door without being overwhelmed with guilt. Kissed the girls goodbye, loaded the van with my luggage and laptop and was Toronto-bound.

    Just over 90 minutes later (good traffic day) I pulled into the parking garage of the Delta, checked in and set my room up. I am very fussy about what the room looks like, where my stuff goes, my laptop, books and such, though within 10 minutes of the girls arriving Saturday, it all goes to hell.

    From here I head to the press office to get my pass.  Navigating the Sutton Place is hellish, as it is crawling with television crews already preparing for the day’s press conferences. Luckily the press office is away from the nightmare on the second floor.

    (more…)

  • THE LISTS: Top 10 memories from TIFF

    Sarah Polley in The Sweet HereafterOne of the joys of my life is the 10 days in September I spend at the Toronto International Film Festival, bringing the film world to our city, the world press, and enough stars to take over Hollywood. The little festival that could, as it was known in the 1970s and early-1980s, The Festival of Festivals has become a world cultural event, perhaps the most important film festival in the world, and certainly rivaling Cannes for prestige.

    Created by William Marshall, Dusty Cohl and Henk den Henk in the mid-1970s, the festival struggled in its early days to get product, finally landing a major film with “Midnight Express” in 1978. A few years later “Chariots of Fire” would leave the fest on its march toward the Academy Award, while “The Big Chill” would make a huge impression when premiered here in 1983.

    More importantly, the actors and directors were turning their attentions to Toronto. In the early days, the organizers hosted tributes: Warren Beatty and Robert Duvall were there with many friends, further putting the festival on the map. Through the 1980s the festival continued to grow in prestige, expanding its Canadian program to showcase homegrown cinema, but never losing touch with Hollywood and world product.

    In the 1990s, Piers Handling took over as Director of the festival and changed the name to the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) and took the proceedings into the international realm. Handling, one of the greatest cinematic minds I have ever encountered, has been an extraordinary leader for TIFF, taking it into the next level of success worldwide while maintaining the roots that make it a people’s festival.

    I love it, and I maintain it is the finest festival on the planet.  Having covered it for the better part of a decade, close to 15 years, I think, here are my top ten memories of the festival, the films, the performances, the events, the goings-on.

    (more…)