Toronto 2012: The Reckoning

Day 1:

275) Looper (2012) Dir: Rian Johnson Date Released: September 28, 2012 Date Seen: September 6, 2012 Rating: 3.75/5

276) Motorway (2012) Dir: Pou-Soi Cheang Not Yet Released Date Seen: September 6, 2012 Rating: 3.5/5

277) Anna Karenina (2012) Dir: Joe Wright Date Released: November 16, 2012 Date Seen: September 6, 2012 Rating: 2.75/5

278) Thale (2012) Dir: Aleksander Nordaas Hopefully Never to Be Released Date Seen: September 6, 2012 Rating: 1.75/5

Day 2:

279) Dredd 3D (2012) Dir: Pete Travis Date Released: September 21, 2012 Date Seen: September 7, 2012 Rating: 3.75/5

280) Hotel Transylvania (2012) Dir: Genndy Tartakovsky Date Released: September 28, 2012 Date Seen: September 7, 2012 Rating: 3.75/5

281) Something in the Air (2012) Dir: Olivier Assayas Not Yet Released Date Seen: September 7, 2012 Rating: 4/5

282) Berberian Sound Studio (2012) Dir: Peter Strickland Not Yet Released Date Seen: September 7, 2012 Rating: 3.75/5

283) Seven Psychopaths (2012) Dir: Martin McDonagh Date Released: October 12, 2012 Date Seen: September 7, 2012 Rating: 3.75/5

Day 3:

284) Gebo and the Shadow (2012) Dir: Manoel de Oliveira Not Yet Released Date Seen: September 8, 2012 Rating: 3.5/5

Day 4:

286) The Company You Keep (2012) Dir: Robert Redford Not Yet Released Date Seen: September 9, 2012 Rating: 2.5/5

288) No One Lives (2012) Dir: Ryuhei Kitamura Not Yet Released Date Seen: September 9, 2012 Rating: 1/5

Day 5:

289) Arthur Newman (2012) Dir: Dante Ariola Not Yet Released Date Seen: September 10, 2012 Rating: 1.5/5

290) The Cloud-Capped Star (1960) Dir: Ritwik Ghatak Not Yet Released Date Seen: September 10, 2012 Rating: 4.75/5

291) The Lords of Salem (2012) Dir: Rob Zombie Not Yet Released Date Seen: September 10, 2012 Rating: 3.75/5

Day 6:

292) Ginger and Rosa (2012) Dir: Sally Potter Not Yet Released Date Seen: September 11, 2012 Rating: 2.25/5

293) Wasteland (2012) Dir: Rowan Athale Date Seen: September 11, 2012 Rating: 2/5

Day 7:

293) To the Wonder (2012) Dir: Terrence Malick Not Yet Released Date Seen: September 12, 2012 Rating: 2.75/5

294) At Any Price (2012) Dir: Ramin Bahrani Not Yet Released Date Seen: September 12, 2012 Rating: 2/5

295) Byzantium (2012) Dir: Neil Jordan Not Yet Released Date Seen: September 12, 2012 Rating: 2.75/5

296) The Land of Hope (2012) Dir: Sion Sono Not Yet Released Date Seen: September 12, 2012 Rating: 4.25/5

Day 8:

297) Leviathan (2012) Dir: Lucien Castain-Taylor and Verena Paravel Date Seen: September 13, 2012 Rating: 2.75/5

Day 9: 

298) Penance (2012) Dir: Kiyoshi Kurosawa Not Yet Released Date Seen: September 14, 2012 Rating: 3.75/5

Phew. Now, to get into what I thought about these films. In the case of some films, like Looper, I'll go further into depth later when I write about what I thought after re-watching them. And be sure to check back here for my Cloud Atlas interview, since I saw the film at Toronto and didn't revisit before interviewing the Wachowskis and Tykwer. But otherwise, pretty self-explanatory: lots of tweet-reviews, lots of links. Enjoy. Movies I saw were mostly meh to so-so, but the ones that were good were pretty good. So I can't complain, really.

Looper: "Impressive! Relished myriad revelations of hidden people, objects just out of range of frame & story. Melodrama is a lil pokey. A-."

Motorway: "Couple of fantastic chase scenes show that Cheang gets macho BS at heart of cop flick. Scenario & dialogue usually not as good. There are 2 downright exhilarating car chases in MOTORWAY. Can't take those away from Cheang. Ok, ok: maybe he is more than just raw talent. B."

Anna Karenina: "Ruthlessly brisk pace often makes hurried adaptation feel like Clif Notes cinema. Not for me. C."

Thale: "Shall henceforth be known as ASS SCAR: THE MOVIE. Or: FANTACRAP: THE MOVIE (Nude Nymph as daddy's lil oversexed monster is awful). Lucky McKee might have been able to do something with THALE. Mostly because he'd laugh at its stupidity and then mock it mercilessly. D."

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   Dredd 3D: see my review in the Village Voice.

   
   

   Hotel Transylvania: see my interview with Tartakovsky in the LA Weekly.

   
   

   Something in the Air: No idea why I can't find this tweet review. But in any case: I mostly found the scope of this historical drama and the way Assayas's only seemingly improvisatory style of direction makes the film's curdled romanticism stick. A bit monotonous towards the end, but I rather liked it.

   
   

   Berberian Sound Studio: I talk a little about this one on the Cinephiliacs podcast.

   
   

   Seven Psychopaths: "Same ol same ol from McDonagh is still very thoughtful and hilarious. Rockwell is MVP, easy. B+."

   
   

   Gebo and the Shadow: "Necessarily stuffier than MO's last 2 films because it's about how suffocating familial duty can be. Mostly moving. B."

   
   

   The Company You Keep: see my disappointed review for the Playlist.

   
   

   No One Lives: Kitamura's worst? Dude has never been a "good" filmmaker but jesus, this is fucking dire. That having been said, I will now be going around exclaiming, "You gigantic pussies!" So NO ONE LIVES had some merit. F."

   
   

   Arthur Newman: see my indignant review for the Playlist.

   
   

   The Cloud-Capped Star: also can't seem to find my tweet review of this fantastic film. Rich characterizations and deeply involving, melancholic melodrama. Visually sumptuous and just down-right beautiful. A great film.

   
   

   The Lords of Salem: I interviewed Rob Zombie about this for the Village Voice but that won't be released until the film comes out. So in the meantime, enjoy my mostly very positive review for the Playlist.

   
   

   Ginger & Rosa: again, wherefor do these tweet reviews go? Anyway, I was trying to get into this slow and only intermittently engaging historical drama but never really could as the melodrama is fairly contrived and the performances are mostly unconvincing. Meh.

   
   

   Wasteland: no tweet review to be found. Contemporary Brit heist pitcher starring young pischers that dream of escaping dead-end suburbia is not nearly as clever as it thinks it is. Busy and convoluted, yes. Clever, moving, thoughtful, anything else, no. So much quirk!

   
   

   To the Wonder: "With [Odie Henderson] on this one. Malick's observations on dissolution of a marriage monotonous. Alt. frustrating & rapturous. C+."

   
   

   At Any Price: "Today is Agree with [Odie Henderson] Day. Dennis Quaid only bright spot in R. Bahrani's atypically dismal, ill-conceived latest. D+."

   
   

   Byzantium: 404 error. Kept waiting for this more sleepy than thoughtful vamp epic to take off. Only really comes alive as it sluggishly crosses the finish line. Intelligent commentary on sex and power dynamics seems mostly sublimated in story. Which is not a bad thing, just a very elusive thing.

   
   

   The Land of Hope: another 404 error. Ugh. Easily the strongest contemporary film I saw at the festival and a striking change of pace for Sono. Exudes the hurt and prickly sympathy he's known for but also a deceptive accessibility to its narrative. Mostly lacks the tonal abrasive-ness Sono's known for. Very powerful.

   
   

   Leviathan: yet another 404 error. Pseudo-immersive fishing doc is pseudo-immersive, mostly because, like In the City of Sylvia, I feel like any film that tries this hard to sensually replicate the feeling of a locale or milieu is bound to lose me after a point. The limitations of the technology that the film's co-directors used is too apparent and distracting. Couldn't get into this, sorry.

   
   

   Penance: "One reason I really like Penance is that unlike earlier films, it concerns the difficulty rather than impossibility of escaping denial." That's all I could find of my multi-tweet review. I really dug this one though, and found it to be a fairly thoughtful, if not consistent, interlocking mystery/redemption melodrama.