Toronto International Film Festival '05 : Day 6

A really good an emotional day at the Fest. So much so I ended up skipping yet another film ( La Trahison ) just to chill out for a while. I met a very nice woman named Meg who is up here scouting out movies for the Wisconsin Film Festival back in Madison. We had 2 of the same movies and it's always nice to have someone to guard your stuff for a pee break ;)

Best film of the festival so far was C.R.A.Z.Y. (a Canadian film!), and overall it was a very good day of movie going. Hard to believe I've now already seen more movies that all of last year's festival and there's still 4 days to go. I'm getting really sick of the intro clips though, and I miss the AGF ads.

It's also relatively certain I'll be heading out to L.A. right after the festival is over; no rest for the wicked.

Bubble

Varsity 8

4/5 Bubble Trouble

A really good look at small town America, and about how people without much will still try to possess what they can. It's hard to talk about without discussing the plot (something I'm trying not to do to much of), but Bubble is another film from Steven Soderbergh and it definitely has the look of his more independent work. All the actors in the film are taken from the small town and I found them to give really understated but compelling performances. A murder has happened at a local doll factory and although we know who's done it the residents have to work it out for themselves. Yeah okay it's better than it sounds. Oh and wow the shots of the doll-making process are just super-creepy!

C.R.A.Z.Y.

Cumberland 1

5/5 Proudly Canadian

C.R.A.Z.Y. follows a family from the 50's right on through to the present. It's a large Catholic French Canadian family and while in many regards I couldn't relate, in others there were so many scenes which I felt a real connection to. Christmas for example is really so much more about the family and their interactions the crazy traditions, contrasting American representations of Christmas as a time of recrimination and food. Also unlike many of the films I've seen this year C.R.A.Z.Y. focused much more on the Father-Son bond. Any reading whatsoever can tell you the plot, so I won't get in to that, but I can't highly recommend this movie enough - very emotional.

Little Fish

Paramount 1

4/5 Hooked

Little Fish [official site] is really a movie about love and redemption set against the backdrop of a family of addicts (recovering and recovered) in Sydney Australia. By far the standout performance for me was from Hugo Weaving as the former rugby star father-figure homosexual addict (what a mouthful). His character really has to go through the shitter on this one while trying not to bring down his family with him. [ aside: it's never clear if he's just the Mom's old boyfriend or if they were ever married ] Kate Blanchett is the young recovered Tracy, trying unsuccessfully to move on from her past. Great, just great.

Duelist

Paramount 2

3.5/5 Visual Feast

Unfortunately that's really all I can say about Duelist [ official site ], as I didn't really like it that much. As they say it just didn't "do it" for me. I did really like the action sequences as colourful or dark pieces about form and motion, but everything that tied it together just didn't. I'd be willing to give it a second chance though as for the parts I was awake for, the lead actress was both funny and energetic. I give it an extra .5 as a down payment on a future 4/5.

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