Toronto International Film Festival '05 : Day 4

A back and knee crushing (okay, not really once I found a good aisle seat) day spent mainly at the high-schoolesque Ryerson Theatre. For the most part worth it however. There was one possibly good thing: I didn't get the details but from what I overheard Kinetta was a complete bomb, so maybe I dodged a bullet there.

A History of Violence

Ryerson

4.5/5 A Great Film

In A History of Violence, Viggo Mortensen shows some real breadth as a small town diner owner who has to come to grips with a dark past thought long forgotten. If this was the only good role in the film it would have been one thing, but really right down to Ashton Holmes as the smart-shy son the performances were great. One of the many things I liked was that this movie could have gone in a very Jerry Bruckheimer kind of way, and it just didn't. The movie takes place in a small town and it really always stays there, with that insular cozy feeling.

Also, again with the smart movies. I hope this is a trend. I really hate when people in movies do things no one with held a grain of sense wouldn't, so obviously just to further the plot.

Seven Swords

Ryerson

2.5/5 Two Naps

For starters this movie is just way too long, and so suffers through some seriously extraneous characters/scenes. The next major problem is I just felt there wasn’t anything really new in this movie – once I had all the basics down I knew exactly where it was going. This is not a good thing. The opening was really good with an army taking down a village of martial artists; there were some truly excellent tidbits in that battle. From there the sparks are few and far between. Again I confess I nodded off at least twice, which really shouldn’t happen in a movie named Seven Swords.

Delicate Crime

Cumberland 1

2.5/5

This just falls under not a story I found very compelling. It was a little disturbing yes, but not in that interesting kinda of way. Over all it was just very unmemorable. Probably the worst film I saw and didn't sleep through, but since it's a 2.5/5 that's still not too bad overall.

Harsh Times

Ryerson

4/5 Dude

I'm trying to think of some of the several movies this reminds me of but can't right now. Christian Bale plays Jim, a joyriding, pot smoking, angry white man. This is a movie about what it means to be a certain type of man in the modern era, unfortunately I'm not even close to this guy so I have very little sympathy (should I?). The movie looks great, the acting is good, the narrative is strong. In the end he of course gets what he deserves, not what he thinks he deserves (serious false sense of entitlement). This is a very raw film.

Posted at 08:30 AM to Film By: John Fairley