TIFF Quickies: Young & Beautiful, Honeymoon, and Belle

Brief notes on three more TIFF pictures

HONEYMOON
Maybe I would be a fan of Jan Hrebejk if I saw more of his pictures? He's been submitted three times for Oscar consideration in Best Foreign Film but of the three I've only seen his most recent Kawasaki Rose which I liked quite a lot. We don't yet know if the Czech Republic will submit his latest, Honeymoon, but it's an involving drama about our past selves and how well we know the ones we love. I really liked the gradual unfolding of its story-puzzle which takes place during a wedding weekend in which an uninvited gayish stranger spoils the proceedings for the bride and groom though they don't quite know why. Or maybe someone does but they're not saying. The relationships were intriguing and the groom is the sexiest ginger bearded actor this side of Fassbender. Though it maybe pushes too hard aesthetically in its climax, the final shots really moved me. 

Of note: Fans of Nastassia Kinski will be delighted at the marquee treatment she receives here. She's not in the film but her late 70s early 80s stardom is a key plot point. B/B+

François Ozon and a British Costume Drama after the jump

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Robert Redford is "The Candidate"

Team Experience is looking at key Robert Redford films as we approach the release of his lauded Oscar-buzzing comeback "All is Lost". Here's Tim Brayton on one of his milestone films.

 In addition to being one of the great timeless sex symbols in Western culture, Robert Redford is noted for the passion of his activism: for art, as in the creation of the Sundance Film Festival and the exposure it gave to American independent filmmaking; and for politics, as seen in the joylessly obvious message movie Lions for Lambs. But let us try as hard as we possibly can not to hold that against him, and instead rewind all the way back to 1972. For it was in that election year that Redford acted in the first of many explicitly political movies of his career, The Candidate.

The title says it all: there’s a Senate campaign to wage, and a candidate to flog, and that candidate, Democrat Bill McKay, is embodied by the most photogenic, blondest, whitest actor of the early ‘70s. Which is as much to say that the casting alone goes a long way towards explaining why the movie works, will all apologies to Redford’s skill. [more...]

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The Terrifying Beauty of The Pfeiffer

My friend Joe Reid didn't write this Michelle Pfeiffer list for me. Tribeca Film pays him, yknow and The Family is now in theaters so the time is right. But all things Pfeiffer pfeel like they're pfor me anyway so I'll take it. If you have any love for La Pfeiff you'll want to read it. Joe memorably ranks 18 of the great's roles in order of how well the film uses her terrifying beauty. (I quibble with a few rankings here and there -- and where the hell are Ladyhawke and Wolf and Sweet Liberty which all trade memorably on her bewitching glares??? -- but I loved every second of it.)

On The Fabulous Baker Boys, her pantheon-sealing triumph, which ranks 8th:

It's all relative, of course. There's no real "danger" when Susie Diamond is singing "Making Whoopee" atop that piano. But the way she's wielding her considerable sensuality, it sure feels like someone's in trouble.

That someone was Jeff Bridges in the right then. And all of the Pfans... pforever.

Nicole Kidman is Indestructible

Two items appeared on Page Six's feed back-to-back today.

Photo 1. A paparazzi on a bike reportedly "plowed" into Nicole Kidman here in NYC. Curse him. Memorize the face. Worst person ever. 

But no matter. Brush it off.

Photo 2. Moments later the actress is seen consuming/giving Fashion Week beauty with Rooney Mara & Naomie Harris, three peas in a goddess pod.

NOW, YES, I KNOW I KNOW.

These events actually occurred in the reverse order (and look at the grace with which she rises and brushes herself off in those photos!!!). An ambulance was called, she had some shoe trouble and was shaken up a bit.

But just go with my preferred order for a better story: the diva eternally unfazed by cruel media sabotage. We're running with a fantasies about Nicole Kidman theme. Indulge us. And get well soon, Nicole. Walk it off!

TIFF: Twelve Ye... Oh, Let's Just Oscar Update

Twelve Years a Slave is... God, I'm going to need some time to collect myself. Good grief but that movie is harrowing / amazing. That's all I got for now. Can we discuss later when I've stopp... I think I have something in my eye.

But since we're talking powerful and overwhelming emotion, our minds should naturally drift to actresses. Patsey the slave (Lupita Nyong'o) confides memorably to Solomon Northup (Chiwetel Ejiofor) that she has no comfort in this world. But Supporting Actress is deeply comforting to us and we need comfort right now after this movie.

Reducing great movies to Oscar talk is awful. I know I know. I hate myself for typing this but LET'S TALK OSCAR'S BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS RACE (UPDATED CHART). I went in to 12 Years a Slave anxious to see what McQueen & Fassbender could do (I'm happy to report that they're three for three under the umbrella of utterly amazing director/muse collaborations) and wasn't thinking about the actresses much at all. A rarity. But still, once I remembered to think of them I was curious about Qu'venzhane Wallis (barely in it... in fact most people won't notice that she is) and Alfre Woodard. Alfre at least has a juicy and blessedly atypical scene to chew on. It's kind of a relief really from the scenes surrounding it and every harrowing story needs catch your breath moments. Especially if you've forgotten to breathe. Which kept happening to me.

As it turns out Lupita Nyong'o as the slave girl "Patsey" and Sarah Paulson as her cruel mistress "Mary Epps" are where it's at for supporting actressing in this movie. Their every scene together is knife's edge brilliant.

Also @ TIFF
Labor Day in a freeze-frame nutshell
Paranoia Mano-a-mano Thrillers Enemy & Pioneer
Jessica Chastain at the Eleanor Rigby Premiere
August Osage County reactions Plus Best Picture Nonsense
Rush Ron Howard's crowd pleaser
TIFF Vow: Dreaming of 2014
The Past from Oscar winner Asghar Farhadi & Cannes Best Actress Berenice Bejo
Queer Double Feature: Tom at the Farm and Stranger by the Lake
Boogie Nights Live Read with Jason Reitman and Friends
First 3 Screenings: Child's Pose, Unbeatable and Isabelle Huppert in Abuse of Weakness 
TIFF Arrival: Touchdown in Toronto. Two unsightly Oscars