Toronto
2006
..Festival
News
..Festival
Reviews
..,.Gary
Dretzka
..,.Leonard
Klady
...David
Poland
...Doug
Pratt
...Ray
Pride
...S.T.
VanAirsdale
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When
Lennon Sang, 'Give Peace a Chance,' Nixon And His Cronies Replied,
'Scram' Lennon’s contributions to pop music in the second half of the 20th Century have been exhaustively recorded, dissected and analyzed ever since the Beatles emerged as one of the greatest cultural phenomenon in recorded history. Likewise, his marriage to performance artist Yoko Ono has been scrutinized with the same intensity usually reserved for the tax returns of mob chieftains. Lennon’s untimely death assured that the mythologizing would continue apace for generations to come. ________________________
The
Hot Button I don't know
why it took Mr. Kaye so long to finish this film, but the wait was
worth it. This is a powerful, patient, serious film that should
be seen by every high school junior and senior and college student
in America, not to mention the adult world. It is not fun. It is
not funny. It is going to be hard on you, no matter where your sympathies
lie. The film doesn't even have the visceral thrill of something
like Deliver Us From Evil, which has such a classic villain in the
middle. It's not sexy, in a movie way. But damn, it brings so much
to the table so very well. One of the very best films in Toronto
this year. The
Hot Button We Didn't
Just Hate Bobby CHORUS _________________________ The
Truth About Toronto And Oscar The bottom line... there just aren't enough festival films to fill the schedule with quality right now. Perhaps if the international element was more aggressively programmed, there might be something more interesting there. If the doc world was pushing the envelope with more variety, that could be something. But the classic balance of studio premieres, Dependent hot titles, Canadian product, Midnight Madness (which has become quite mainstream), and a sprinkling of Other just isn't very magical this year. The indie world could start coughing up better films... or maybe the festival - which I agree is now the world's premiere festival event - will have to make some changes. _________________________The Hot Button byDavid Poland The bottom line... there just aren't enough festival films to fill the schedule with quality right now. Perhaps if the international element was more aggressively programmed, there might be something more interesting there. If the doc world was pushing the envelope with more variety, that could be something. But the classic balance of studio premieres, Dependent hot titles, Canadian product, Midnight Madness (which has become quite mainstream), and a sprinkling of Other just isn't very magical this year. The indie world could start coughing up better films... or maybe the festival - which I agree is now the world's premiere festival event - will have to make some changes. _________________________ Beware
of False Prophets With rare exception
it seems there's a very convivial mood at this year's edition of
the TIFF. It's certainly not a reflection of the weather and most
colleagues I've encountered haven't been wowed by this year's selections.
I should also add that no one (myself included) is decrying the
films in the program, they simply haven't encountered a revelation
or discovery or, for that matter, something to spew bile over and
employ to vent about the event's programming gestalt. Sunday
Shorts ...
_________________________ Day
One: Canadian Bacon and Eggs-Haustion The Journals of Knud Rasmussen is from Zacharias Kunuk and Norman Cohn, the folks responsible for Atanarjuat (The Fast Runner), a first film that ranks on a debut level to Citizen Kane, The 400 Blows and Badlands. Sometime back in the early 1980s festival organizers decreed that Toronto's curtain raiser had to be indigenous and I can think of only two instances where that hasn't been the case. One was directed by a Canadian and the other was based on a true story that took place in Southern Ontario. ___________________________A
Little Less Borat, A Little More Conversation When Borat was introduced to start the show, the crowd went wild. And the movie began. The audience applauded and laughed hard at the credits. They laughed at the jokes. They laughed at the Midnight Cowboy gag. (Well, about half of the audience seemed to get that one... and laughed extra hard.) And about 10 minutes later, after lots of laughter, and just before Borat’s failed effort to tell a “not joke,” as seen in the trailer, the movie fluttered to a stop and the room went dark. _____________________________Confessions
of a Festival Junkie What occurred to me recently was that by design or providence film festivals have a tendency to be bundled. In an ideal situation, a behemoth such as Toronto or Cannes, Berlin or Sundance is abutted or overlaps with what might be perceived as a boutique event. One might segue from the hurly-burly of Sundance to the equally intense but more intimate and decidedly more eclectic treats of Rotterdam.
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WrapUps Geoff Pevere
Sums It Up Bella, Takva, Reprise, Maufactured Landscapes And Death Of A President Take Home Prizes From Toronto "People don't like mouthy women in country"
#1 Humorless Oaf Of Kazakhstan To Make Meeting Of Anger With America's President
The Buzz On Performances So Far The
Excellent A Sunday In Kigali, Shot Entirely In Rwanda Sean Penn Smokes, Toronto's Public Health Unit Fumes Reaction To Death Of A President It's A Serious Will Farrell, No Running Naked In The Streets In This Movie
"Life Just Keeps Kicking Your Ass" So If You're Paul Haggis, You Give Back The Last Kiss
Yes, There's Lots Of Sex In Shortbus, But It's About More Than Just The Sex Reese Witherspoon Introduces Penelope, And Other Notes From TO
Herzog's Rescue Dawn Goes To MGM Rediscovering The Charming Side Of Russell Crowe Michael Moore's Sicko Segments The
Wind That Shakes The Barley ..
The Path To Oscar Starts In Toronto .. So Says The Woz The Invasion Of The FIlm Bloggers The Most Anticipated?
For Your Consideration TIFF's
Swag Policy
The Full Toronto Film List Arrives These 3 Headed
To TIFF
Sarah Polley's First Feature Behind The Camera Hits The Toronto Film Fest All The King's Men Gets A Toronto Film Fest Premiere The First Peek At The Toronto Film Fest Slate... The Already Fested The Three Journals Of Knud Rasmussen Opens The Toronto Film Festival In September | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
