TIFF Quickie: Crazy White Women!

by Nathaniel R

For this last batch of short TIFF reviews, let's look at three films about mysterious and/or psychologically complex female characters. The post title was glib but the films aren't. 

DISCO (Jorunn Mykelbust Syversen, Norway)
This puzzling drama centers on a champion dancer whose mom and step-dad run some kind of evangelical church. Apparently in Scandivania -- as with America -- conservative faith movements are on the rise. Syversen shows empathy for her characters but chills it with a clinically detached rhythym to the cutting. The lost protagonist Mirjam (Josefine Frida Pettersen) has mysterious physical troubles and vacant psychology that can bring flickers of Todd Haynes' Safe (1995) to mind.

Syversen's strongest skill seems to be in observational mode. In one escalating series of scene at a Jesus camp the choices in camera distance are particularly compelling. In medium shot we observe a group of boys being told to breathe quickly in and out of paper bags to drive out the demons inside them. Cut to a long shot as we watch them comically pass out as they hyperventilate. This is a followed by a not at all comical baptism that is shot more like a drowning. Despite Syverson's obvious skill and a tight running time (94 minutes), Disco is far too repetitive and its point of view remains as opaque as Mirjam's psychology. It's not enough, always, to merely observe. C

EMA (Pablo Larraín, Chile)
The first image is a startling one: a still working traffic light engulfed in flames...

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Emmy Creative Arts Winners 2019

by Nathaniel R

"We're going to the Catskills" was a popular episode of the Emmy's darling favourite The Marvelous Mrs Maisel.

The Creative Arts Emmys were held over the weekend so Game of Thrones and Marvelous Mrs Maisel are looking set to easily repeat their previous series wins on Emmy Night (Sept 22nd) since they retained a stranglehold on below the line prizes. The big news that had the internet in a huff over the two night ceremony was the fact that the popular concert special Beyonce Homecoming lost all the Emmy categories it was up for. Whether or not you love Beyoncé (I remain indifferent) that seems justifiably insane in some of those categories.

It's really time for Emmys to bring back blue ribbon panels because this "everyone can vote" thing just means that whatever is the most watched or most obsessed over show just wins everything regardless of the category. If voters aren't watching their submission tapes they're also often voting on shows they loved the year before or love right now (but a different season is the thing they're voting on. Etcetera). Why have 100s of categories if you're just going to bury three or four shows in the same dozens of awards and leave hundreds of just-as-fine programs Emmyless? If the Emmys were truly a reflection of the art of television there would be more of a variety of winners from year to year. The list of winners and a few notes after the jump...

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Tweet of the Week: Charlize Crushes

I feel like I have to be honest.
I’m in a new relationship.
With both these ladies.
For real. pic.twitter.com/V2GxFW8PTi

— Charlize Theron (@CharlizeAfrica) September 15, 2019

If Bombshell is great it might become the tweet of the year!

TIFF: A Good Time with "Bad Education"

by Chris Feil

Long Island public school administration corruption comes to light in Cory Finley’s Bad Education, a sharp examination of early 2000s secrets hidden in plain sight. A young school paper reporter Rachel (Blockers’ Geraldine Viswanathan) first goes looking for a quote on her high school’s flashy new building project. What she ultimately stumbles upon are records that reveal an embezzlement scheme funneling millions of taxpayer dollars into the interests of those at the top, including Hugh Jackman’s chief administrator Frank Tessone.

Based on an actual case of massive fraud, Bad Education is less salacious than you might expect and much more humanely interested. Mike Makowsky’s script starts with the big picture and focuses towards the personal, detailing not only the slippery slope of petty to major financial theft, but also the landmine of Tessone’s closeted sexuality in a culture that forces him into interiority. The film has a strong, smoothly told grasp on the finer points of the story, such as economic inequity, gender imbalance, and personal relationships allowing people to look the other way.

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"Hustlers" Collects the Cash

We're baa-aaack. We haven't done a box office post in two weeks due to our TIFF jaunt so we're dying to know what you've been watching while we were cramming fall and winter movies in. Next weekend things get VERY competitive with the Brad Pitt led sci-fi drama Ad Astra, the leap to the big screen for Downton Abbey, and yet another Sylvester Stallone milking-his-franchises sequel Rambo: Last Blood all arriving to compete with Pennywise and JLo for the box office crown.

The weekend estimates for all 14 pictures in wide release and the corresponding top platform titles are after the jump along with a few notes...

Weekend Box Office Sept 13th-15th (Estimates) 🔺 = new or expanding / ★ = recommended
WIDE RELEASE (800+ screens)	PLATFORM TITLES
1 IT CHAPTER TWO $40.7 (cum. $153.8)	1 🔺 BRITTANY RUNS A MARATHON  $1.5 on 757 screens (cum. $3.8) REVIEW ★

2 🔺  HUSTLERS $33.2 *new* REVIEW ★	2 🔺 LINDA RONSTADT: SOUND... [DOC] $734k (cum. $889k) on 220 screens

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