Toronto International Film Festival '05 : Day 9

So... Tired... I ended up skipping Everlasting Regret so I could go home and take a nap before the Pusher marathon I so wanted to see because even though I liked them I was having a really hard time staying awake through the morning's films. Only one more day to go and right now I'm really under movie-overload. I wish I had a bit more of a break after the fest before work kicks-in, but that's just something to remember fix next year.

Beowulf & Grendel

Paramount 2

3/5 Epically Odd

It was really hard to stay awake for Beowulf & Grendal, being the time it's from the pacing is slower than a movie of today would normally be. The story is of course a classic, and by that I mean everyone knows the gist but no one has actually read it. I'm not about to remedy that in any way, but it's a really good tale and the actual story of the film I really enjoyed. What kept me on edge were some of the choices made about dialogue and casting. The language was just a bit too modern for my taste, and some of it seemed really awkward. Also although I love Sarah Polly, she is just way to pretty to play the witch in the hut - I just could not buy her in that role at all. Because I faded in and out a bit I would be willing to give it another try however.

Dam Street

Varsity 1

4/5 Damn Good

In some respects as a mother-son-mother movie Dam Street has something in common with Mother of Mine, but that's really it. I don't really have a lot to say because I don't have a lot of notes on the film, but I really enjoyed it. I thought it was a good look at modern China outside the big urban centers, and although you can kind of guess how it's going to come down the acting is compelling enough to keep you hooked.

Pusher, Pusher II, Pusher III

Varsity 1 & 6

4.5/5 3/5 3/5 Stop Pushing

The first Pusher was amazing, I loved it. I thought the user of music to keep the pacing of the movie was excellent and the story of this very bad week for the main character was fun to watch. It's really easy to see why people would want more of this, after watching the first film I was really glad I took a break before hand. Yet another good movie showing that in this world of crime it only takes one bad day to bring everything crashing down around you. This one I highly recommend.

Pusher II and Pusher III were less compelling. Each follows up with one of the characters from the first movie and follows them around many years afterwards. Pusher II follows around Tonny, son of one of the bosses who is generally a f*ckup. Pusher III follows around Milo, an aging boss getting pushed aside by younger hungrier gangs. Unfortunately neither of them lives up to the bar set by the first and although I stuck it out through both of them, I did it more for completeness than anything else.

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