The Pagan Agenda

This is a very delayed summary of what I had seen at the festival. Generally it was not as strong as last year, nothing quite at the level of Silent Light, but then again not a whole lot of horrible films considering the wider net I cast this year.

Synecdoche, New York – Everyone I have talked to who has seen this film appear to have the same impression: unsure if they liked it after it was finished only to feel a momentum to their reflections that give it near masterpiece-level status in retrospect. There are probably flaws, there are things that do not make a whole lot of sense if you think too deeply about what they mean, but much like one of those 3-D illusions once you let go of the interest in the details and let the whole overwhelm your senses something magical occurs. I think it is a masterpiece, Kaufman’s headiest head trip. Rating:

Hunger – During the Thatcher era, IRA prisoners were denied political status and in an act of rebellion a group of them orchestrated what meager protests they could in confinement, one of the final acts being the hunger strike. An entrenched film of the prison genre film that goes deeper than most at exposing the institutionalizing effects of confinement, gritty by way of Midnight Express, with a mesmerizing performance by relative unknown Michael Fassbender as the emasculating spirit of hope. This directorial debut by Steve Mcqueen heralds the coming of a master of future cinema. Rating:

The Wrestler – Every bit as good as you have heard, but none of the flash that one expects from an Aronofsky film. A very subdued tender story about the Willy Loman of wrestling, while inside the ring its Passion of the Christ. Mickey Rourke, Marisa Tomei, and Rachel Evan Wood are awesome.
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Pontypool – A great little Canadian horror film by Bruce MacDonald that takes the zombie genre in a whole new direction. Possibly the most enjoyable film I saw at the festival. More comedic than scary, with a lot of the humor coming at the expense of small town Ontario and our dubious grasp of the French language. Rating:

Disgrace – Based on a Coetzee novel I have long had an interest in reading, about a professor in South Africa who leaves his position in scandal to wile his hours away with his daughter, and suffer the ramifications of the unresolved feelings of apartheid in the furthermost regions of the country. John Malkovich is stunning as the academic fish out of water who finds himself poised for humiliation and heartache throughout this endurance test of abuses; an unlikeable but sympathetic protagonist that left me conflicted as the end credits rolled. Rating:

Goodbye Solo – Bahrani’s latest slice of life drama depicts the lives of a Senegalese cab driver and his emotionally wounded fare. While I enjoyed this story and could appreciate the reluctance Bahrani took from being overly expositional in his story, in the end I longed for something more, and maybe that is a defect in me, speaking more of where I am in my life than about the characters, wanting to be shaken into something more violent then which is ultimately presented. Rating:

Linha de Passe – A great little film about an impoverished family on the outskirts of Sao Paulo, Brazil, co-directed by Walter Salles. I believe gritty is the word, and sure there is some fatigue about seeing yet another story about the plight of the impoverished, but this felt so authentic, nearly a documentary, that I was sucked into its familiar themes. Rating:

Me and Orson Welles – Middling effort by Linklater, a director who is squandering his talents on stories lacking any real innovation. Been there, done that back stage thespian story chock full of the usual clichés, with a standout performance by Christian McKay truly channeling the spirit of Orson Welles into his performance. Rating:

Sauna – sold as a Finnish horror film that never really delivers much fright. What develops instead is a plodding existential rumination on guilt and salvation that satisfies, with solid performances all around and some interesting cinematography. Rating:

Blood Trail – Fascinating documentary following a war photographer through three different war zones over fifteen years of his career. The subject of the documentary is worthy of the attention, but the director went a bit too obvious with his wailing soundtrack and overwrought slo-mo. Rating:

Afterwards – A moody film about dying that is competently done, has the right amount of intrigue, some strong performances (and one not so strong performance by Evangeline Lilly), but which fades fast in my memory. Rating:

Genova – A very slight drama about a grieving family’s sudden trip to Italy. As the father of two daughters, Colin Firth’s character felt like a black hole, there was no character there, even by minimal standards. There are great moments, its nice to look at, I like the idea of what Winterbottom is doing, observing the grieving as a mundane and familiar process but it is one of those things that works better in theory rather than practice, an artistic conceit that makes for little actual drama. Rating:

Sugar – The directorial team that brought us Half-Nelson show once again that they know how to tell a story. Sugar is a baseball prospect plucked from a recruit farm in the Dominican Republic given the coveted opportunity to live the American Dream, but things don’t go quite as planned. I cannot find a fault with how the story was told, and in the end it was the premise that posed limitations on my enjoyment.
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The Dungeon Masters – A humorous documentary on three impassioned Dungeons & Dragons gamers who have clearly lost a grasp on reality. Not much depth here, the subjects are shown as misfits who cannot find a happy balance between the make-believe of the gaming and the responsibilities that await them in life. Got a very strong David Brent vibe throughout, very much the kind of documentary subjects that The Office parodies. Rating:

Fear Me Not – A Danish film that tells the story of the everyman who lives a life of quiet desperation. Reaching middle age and far too comfortable in his own skin and in his familial role, the protagonist jumps at the opportunity to be a guinea pig for a trial run of new antidepressants, which end up awakening urges in him that lead to dark and terrible places. Great concept, moderately done, with a huge misstep in a particular plot point, that left me somewhat frustrated with the screenplay. Rating:

Religulous – Focusing on the three biggie religions (Christianity, Judaism, and Islam) this thinly veiled stand-up routine of a documentary goes for the laugh at the expense of the lesson virtually every time. That said, I did laugh, there was enough funny material in the film to make me recommend it as a comedy but unfortunately it is at the expense of deepening the trench between believers and non-believers.
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Parc – The director introduced this Hanekesque film as an enigma, and that is certainly one word for it. The word ‘baffling’ also comes to mind. Some interesting mood sequences set amidst a manicured upper class community outside Paris, as a menacing Mr. Hammer ingratiates himself into the world of Mr. Nail and strives to violently disrupt the elite complacency he finds. Rating:

The Burrowers – The only Midnight Madness film I caught and it was pretty boring and uninspiring despite the great potential for the concept of mixing Tremors and the Searchers. Rating:

$9.99 – Israeli Claymation by way of the cringe worthy melodrama of a Jeremy Podeswa’s film. The animation aspired for something new but came off looking like a slightly better Davey and Goliath. Rating:

Uncertainty – The worst film I caught at TIFF this year, a ‘what if’ academic exercise that evokes a ‘so what’ from me. Joseph Gordon-Levitt stars as one part of a couple that lives the same July 4th in two separate paths intercut to show… you tell me, I got absolutely nothing from the concept, a waste of time and energy. Rating: