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September 19, 2005
TORONTO WRAP UP
It was long, it was hard… but it wasn't that hard…
No, The Hot Button isn't taking advertising from Viagra now. I'm just trying to find the words to describe the 30th Annual Toronto International Film Festival & Press Opportunity.
The funny thing is, as I went through the festival guide, my search for a Top Ten easily generated a Top Nineteen. (I added one, as you'll see below, to make it an even top Twenty.) Add to that, another six films that I felt were interesting enough to note. And there are at least seven or eight more that were good, but not very special to me.
That said, of the 26 films in the "top" and "of interest" lists, I only saw 14 of the films at Toronto for the first time. Another half dozen of those titles were at other major festivals where I missed the opportunity to see them there. So only eight or so of these films were Toronto discoveries. And those include films like Mrs. Henderson Presents, which is The Weinstein's Company one realistic Oscar hopeful this year, launched at Toronto, and HBO Films' The Notorious Bettie Page, which won't be released by Picturehouse until March and is already planning a trip to Sundance in January. (For anyone counting, Annette Bening's touted awards possibility in Mrs. Harris is only for Emmys, as the film will not get a theatrical, in spite of being at TIFF.)
WANNA SEE
I also have a list of 19 films that I left Toronto still wanting to see.
A few of them, I am sure to see soon: aka Tommy Chong (ThinkFilm) and Dave Chappelle's Block Party (Rogue) were both picked up. Sarah Silverman: Jesus Is Magic came in under the Roadside Attractions banner, as they hope to match The Aristocrats' $6 million showing. Leonard Cohen: I'm Your Man is Lions Gate's docs division's second release after Grizzly Man. Sketches Of Frank Gehry is on its way to TV. Magnolia has Roger Donaldson's The World's Fastest Indian, which is going to make any hope Anthony Hopkins had for an Oscar nomination a virtual impossibility. And from Sony Classics, there is Why We Fight, TIFF pick-up The House of Sand and festival "pick-up," The Three Burials Of Melquiades Estrada.
A deal for audience award winner Tsotsi is forthcoming… the producers are doing what they can to maximize that opportunity, which in this case means some patience.
The prospects for the other 9 titles are less clear. Tideland was a bit of a disaster, but that itself may inspire someone to get it into the marketplace, hoping to trade on Terry Gilliam's name in Home Entertainment if nowhere else. On the flip side, C.R.A.Z.Y. was one of the most positively talked about films at the festival.
Larry Clark (Wassup Rockers), Thomas Vinterberg (Dear Wendy), Anne Fontaine (In His Hands), Lars von Trier (Manderlay) and Beat Takeshi (Takeshis') are all directors who are used to getting distribution in the U.S. and likely will again somewhere down he road.
And finally, there are two docs (51 Birch Street and Pick Up The Mic) and one pseudo-doc (Festival). The most likely to find American distribution is Pick Up the Mic, which is about the advent of gay hip-hop. Hello, Strand.
CRASH 2005
I saw four unmitigated disasters this year at TIFF. (I didn't catch Tideland, so I remain hopeful.)
All four of the car wrecks were high profile. Part of that is because everything ugly is uglier under a microscope, and part of it is that I'm not real interested in shredding small, helpless indie films whose birth already left enough marks for the filmmakers. Still, the most disastrous directing debut of the festival was that of Stephen J. Mavilla, whose pre-show "no cameras/no cell phones" piece for Motorola was universally despised, marking the fastest rise and fall of a career in movie history, not just TIFF's history. You shouldn't have put your name all over that thing, Steve. So change your name or start writing documentary grant applications.
These four can take the heat. In order of shittiness:
Mrs. Harris - Two great actors and a somewhat interesting story were not enough to keep the effort to be stylized from sinkin' this stinkin' wreck. The film suffers the central problem that occurs with so many well-cast films… it counts on our relationship with the actors rather than doing the lifting itself. When the film keeps telling you that Ben Kingsley's Herman Tarnower is the most charming natural panty remover in the world, and that this dog has chosen Annette Bening's Jean Harris as his most steady steady, we need to feel both. But we feel neither. And to indulge in the kind of cutesy filmmaking that Phyllis Nagy attempts, we need to have those foundations firmly set.
Elizabethtown - Cameron Crowe's saddest miss, since it is such a "Cameron Crowe movie." Paramount tried to slow the train before it hit the wall by telling us all that there would be some more cutting before release, but it was clear to everyone I know who saw the film that editing was not going to help anything.
Edison - The most incompetent big film at the festival. It was like some sort of celluloid excretion that pops up a few years after the actors in the film won awards or found huge box office success. The only problem is that two Oscar winners and The Guy Who Is Servicing Cameron Diaz are in their prime and still chose, somehow, to do this Cannon-esque monstrosity. The only thing close to redeeming is Piper Perabo calling Justin Timberlake out as incompetent as anything other than a piece of ass. Now if only she had told that to the director.
Revolver - Guy Ritchie has a gift. No talented director has gotten so much attention, married so far over his pay grade, and crashed quite so dramatically in such a short period of time. I can't say I was ever a huge fan, though there are things worth watching in his relentlessly giddy gangster romps in the past. Even the hideous Swept Away remake had a few moments worth chewing on. That film was pretentious by trying not to be pretentious, which is, coincidentally, the heart of why Madonna has been unsuccessful as an actress… she never lets it loose. (This may also be why she is a huge pop star.) Revolver is grind house filmmaking that desperately wants to be taken seriously. It is a hooker that expects a proposal from its john. It is a peanut butter and jelly sandwich that bills out at $27.95. Unfortunately, in this case the audience gets to enjoy neither the screw or the chew.
CONCLUSION TOMORROW
Well, that got out of hand.
Tomorrow, the Top 20 and six other titles that are worth taking a good long look at.
The Top 20, the Cult Films and the Edge Pushers.
