Gary Dretzka
Leonard Klady
David Poland
Ray Pride
Notes From A Festival Junkie ...
SaturdayThe opening weekend of the Toronto Film Festival usually lists toward American movies abetted by press junkets for upcoming U.S. releases with marquee names sucking up the ink. While the star quotient was slightly down from past sessions, there was still sufficient potency thanks to the likes of Dustin Hoffman, Annette Bening and Kevin Spacey making the rounds. When Charlize Theron had to bow out owing to a back injury, a publicist for her movie Head in the Clouds let out a sigh of relief.
Among the American movies in the spotlight …
TELL THEM WHO YOU ARE
A profile of iconographic cinematographer Haskell Wexler by his son Mark is less about the father's staggering filmography than the fractious relationship between the two men. Within the film industry Wexler Sr.'s is not only considered a towering talent but one of the prickliest personalities in the industry. His leftist politics, social activism and creative assertiveness have cost him work despite two Oscars and a resume that includes In the Heat of the Night, American Graffiti, Bound for Glory, Matewan and the direction of Medium Cool and a string of incendiary documentaries.
It's clear that Mark Wexler conveyed to his father that his hope in doing a portrait film might heal the wounds of a psychologically brutal upbringing. Outwardly one can see what caused the scarring effect with the elder Wexler repeatedly brow beating his son about his choices dramatically and aesthetically. However, he nonetheless participates and, despite protestations, one comes to believe he to would like to see a rapprochement.
An impressive group of filmmakers participated in the exercise and some of the most insightful comments come from Jane Fonda who also suffered a stern upbringing from a famous father. Whether the wider issues will connect as occurred with My Architect is difficult to gauge. Certainly for the film cognoscenti there's a lot to chew on with brief snatches that are ample reminders of the subjects thorough going knowledge of craft and facility to turn his technical prowess into art.
KINSEY
The relationship between fathers and sons also wafts through Kinsey like a leitmotif. While by no means the focus of the film, it's informative much in the way that myriad questions asked participants in the initial Kinsey Report coalesced into a study of sexuality Americans in the 1950s weren't prepared to absorb. The film isn't so much a time capsule as it is a sly indictment of how little sexual attitudes and fears have altered despite the passage of close to a half-century.
