Lots of random and not so random things, including Israel Brothers Comics, carefully curated vids, coverage of indie film, and Israel Brothers Films. Contact me at bf AT backandforthfilms.com
Still catching my breath after Toronto. Here’s my thoughts on a few more films I caught at the fest.
Werner Herzog’s “Encounters at the End of the World”
Herzog brings his unique, eccentric vision to the frozen continent Antarctica in this documentary which explores the few thousand people living at the bottom of the world. Whether they be scientists studying the science fiction-like life beneath the ice or the random odd linguist on a continent with no languages, Herzog’s pontifications and witty voiceover bring a charming oddness to what could have been a straightforward doc. The film has a feeling of wandering about the ice, as Herzog offer his humorous, biting, and metaphorical thoughts on whatever comes his way.
Todd Haynes “I’m Not Here”
I don’t know a lot about Bob Dylan’s life and have yet to immerse myself in his music, but after seeing this film, a retification is in order, as Todd Haynes has created one of the must audacious, creative, visually gorgeous meditations on a musician that I’ve ever seen. No where near what composes a typical bio-pic, Haynes instead uses several different actors to capture various aspects of the complex character of Bob Dylan. This technique might sound pretentious but it isn’t in any way and offers a more ambitious attempt to grasp what composes a person. My general frustration with movies based on real life people is presenting them in a way that is beyond just finding an actor who can do a good impression. Regardless of your interest in Bob Dylan, any filmmaker should see “I’m Not Here” just to marvel at the mindboggling array of shots and visual techniques that Haynes uses to pull off what will surely be one of the most talked about films for some time.
Thomas McCarthy’s “The Visitor”
McCarthy offers a very thoughtful, human story about a lonely, empty Connecticut economics professor who suddenly finds music in his life again when he discovers an illegal immigrant living in his Manhattan apartment. The film offers a great, subdued lead performance from Richard Jenkins (who played Nathaniel Fischer in “Six Feet Under”) and never condescends with a touching friendship forms between Jenkins and Tarek (played by Haaz Sleiman), an illegal immigrant from Syria.
I’m back in NYC and still trying to catch up with the blog. Here’s more thoughts on some of the films I saw at Toronto.
Craig Gillepsie’s “Lars and The Real Girl”
When Lars (Ryan Gosling) orders a sex doll to fill the void in his lonely life, his brother and pregnant wife try to find the source of his delusions. The film, with a light, playful touch, offers a warm, humanist perspective and counters the general notion that small town Christian communities are intolerant and judgmental. The third act feels a bit forced and unrealistic, but with such well-meaning directing and acting, it doesn’t really matter. Patricia Clarkson offers a nicely restrained performance as Lar’s psychologist and the scenes between her and Gosling are particular well done as she carefully digs into what is causing his inner turmoil.
Peter Askin’s “Trumbo”
Dalton Trumbo was one of the Hollywood screenwriters blacklisted in the 1950’s for refusing to acknowledge if he was a Communist while testifying before congress. As a result of Cold War paranoia that resulted in sacrificing liberty in the name of security, (Sound familiar?) Dalton was barely able to work for almost a decade. This documentary captures Trumbo’s life and wit during that time period by offering his personal and business writings in readings by actors such as Donald Sutherland, Joan Allen, and Nathan Lane. Trumbo had an amazing way with words, whether he was offering his thoughts on his isolation with a friend or thrashing his daughter’s principal for allowing other students to haze her for being a “commie.” Based on a play, the film nicely captures Dalton’s character and experience, but the performances are at times oddly captured with extreme close-ups of the actors, which made it difficult (for me at least) to focus on their interpretations of Dalton through is letters.
Jonathan Demme’s “Man from Plains”
Demme’s latest doc follows President Carter on a publicity tour for his controversial book on the Middle East, “Palestine Peace Not Apartheid.” Along the way we get new insight into the often maligned, Nobel Peace Prize winning President, and his thoughts on the complex relationship between Israel and Palestine. Carter comes off as an extremely thoughtful, intelligent person, and spends a lot of time defending his use of the term “apartheid,” which brings the book the attention he desires but also the hailstorm of criticism that he is anti-Semitic, which confirms how incredibly difficult it is to criticize Israel’s policies in the American mainstream media. The film also confirms that at least one reason Carter lost the 1980 election was his refusal to pander to extremist views and kneejerk reactions. (His response in the film to the handling of the Iran hostage crisis is particularly priceless.) As we’ve seen, a portion of the American voting public prefers their politics dumbed down and black and white.
indieWIRE lowered the landing gear earlier this week for another bout of non-stop ON THE SCENE Toronto, where we’re set up pretty comfortably at our surprisingly okay Towne Inn accommodations. (We insisted on one of the renovated suites this year.)
Here’s my take on some of the films I’ve seen so far:
Baltasar Kormakur’s “Jar City”
An unconventional detective story, “Jar City” follows an aging police detective’s search for a loner’s murderer and covers events spanning thirty years. It explores issues of genetics, family, parental loss, and is a refreshing take on a complex murder mystery by having the plot involve Iceland’s shallow gene pool (Iceland has a population of under 300,000). The film is full of humorous takes on the idiosyncrancies of Icelandic culture, in particular some of the weird Icelandic food choices, such as sheep’s head. Too add, beautiful camerawork and lush, operatic music glides over the gorgeous Icelandic landscape.
Jason Reitman’s “Juno”
An adorable, spunky lead, over the top, quirky dialogue, animated intertitles, along with references to blogs, “Blair Witch Project,” stage moms, fruit flavored condoms, and super short retro track shorts, “Juno” is well acted and has really funny dialogue, but in the end feels like like another paint by numbers indiewood project, with it’s coming of age storyline and the latest indiepop songs, of which come at you at 3-4 minute intervals.
Teenage pregnancy never seemed like so much fun.
Joel and Ethan Coen’s ““No Country for Old Men”
Getting back to the sort of deliberate pacing that the brothers established in “Millers Crossing” and “Barton Fink,” the Coen’s hit one out of the park with this bizarre crime Western about an old school hunter who stumbles upon a ton of drug money and ends up in a deadly head to head with a bizarre, morally vacant Javier Bardem (who will definitely go down as the year’s most memorable film villain). With amazing cinematography by the indisputable Roger Deakins, the film offers a methodical take on the main character’s struggle while also exploring some existential angst by Tommy Lee Jones as the sheriff who struggles to contain the darkness that is encircling him.
Guy Maddin’s “My Winnepeg”
Maddin brings in another hyperkinetic, bombastic project with a terrific imagination as he ponders his hometown, his childhood, and all things dreamlike and real in Winnepeg. For Maddin’s fans this film will feel like his usual style of humor and fast paced unrolling of numerous, sublime mindplays. For the uniniated, it will be be more easily digestible with it’s nice voiceover narration that provides a thread to keep it all together.
Watch "The Tourist," a short film by James and Jeff Israel.
(TRT 15:00)
A woman afraid to leave her Brooklyn apartment makes a puzzling discovery as she struggles with her dreams, memories and the mundane.
Syndicate this site