TIFF: Shedding Light on "Urbanized."

The best way for a film audience's eyes to light up is to produce vivid images on the screen. Gary Hustwit, director of documentaries like Helvetica and Objecitified now brings us Urbanized about urban planning around the world. It has an opening montage, despite being at least four shots long, that absolutely rivals or even betters the ones in Woody Allen's movies, because it depicts different and more rustic angles on certain landmarks. The Kremlin as seen on the background from a nearby bridge, the foreground populated by young people including one wearing an I ♥ NY shirt. A close-up of the St. Louis Gateway Arch, as silver and white as the rising moon. Unlike Allen, these visions are devoid of tourist-y romantic schmaltz.

The movie took me on a grand tour. It concentrates less on the touristy areas and more towards where the residents live and move around, these spaces depicted more magnificently than any monument. It brought out my nerd-like fascination of watching how Bogota has chosen buses over subways and trains or where Copenhagen has arranged the city's old streets to accommodate certain types of vehicles. It also shows how the depopulation and devastation of certain American cities can break the audience's heart more than the squalor in third world slums like those in Rio. This film isn't just composed of shots of city streets and the structures that line them, as the camera shows interviews of mayors, urban planners and advocated who are candid about their predecessors and each other.

Too bad it doesn't keep this momentum throughout the film but it does stick to its mission. Like most documentaries about worldwide trends, it inevitably has to show statistics about populations flocking to different cities throughout history and its effects on those areas with this kind of alarmingly increasing density.

The movie can also be criticized with heavy-handed leftist leanings. I saw it with an insufferably liberal audience that clapped whenever bikes or Jane Jacobs were mentioned. It tries to be more fair and balanced by including the voices that advocate 'unpopular' city building like the neglect in Mumbai, Niemeyer's 'spacious' method that he used in Brasilia, the sprawl in Phoenix and the anti-environmental renovations in Stuttgart. The film runs the risk of preaching to the choir, despite its beautiful realism.

TIFF: Spending time with auteurs, illegal immigrants and jailed filmmakers

Hi everyone. Amir here, making my debut on The Film Experience with some festival news from the Great White North.

It was interesting – as it is every year - to see the usually quiet Toronto turn into a total frenzy and the usually laid-back Torontonians line up on the streets to see their favourite stars (which so far has included the likes of Bono, George Clooney, The Goz and Brad Pitt). The greying chilly weather didn’t stop the festivities on the first day and it was only fitting that my festival experience started on a happy note as well with the screening of Aki Kaurismaki’s Le Havre.

Le Havre

The film centres on an unlikely friendship between Idrissa, a teenage African illegal immigrant and Marcel, an elderly French shoe shiner in the titular harbour in France. As the police forces search around the city to find “the missing boy”, Marcel (Andre Wilms) hides Idrissa and tries to find a way to reconnect him with his mother in London.

Kaurismaki doesn’t deal so much with the socio-political implications of illegal immigration. Instead, he wraps the issue in layer after layer of dry humour and his particular brand of absurdist comedy. Aided by his impeccable comic timing and the terrific deadpan wit of his leading man Andre Wilms, Le Havre makes for a delightful two hours at the theatre.

This is not the type of film that you can read much into. Not to say that there’s no depth, but what Kaurismaki sets out to do is to charm, not to make a statement, and he succeeds at that. Even more charming than the film was Wilms himself, who showed up in person for a Q&A (having clearly indulged in generous amounts of alcohol backstage) and managed to equal his character’s deadpan line delivery with remarks like “French Rock ‘n Roll is like English wine” in reference to a lengthy scene with French rocker Little Bob.

Despite Wilms’ terrific performance, the highlight of the film for me was Jean-Pierre Darroussin’s hilarious turn as the sympathetic inspector Monet whose costume was right out of a Pink Panther movie and his inexpressive face was a perfect fit for this role. At the end of the day, I imagine this is a film everybody will like, but few will love. If you get a chance to see it though, don’t pass up.

This is not a Film

The second day’s experience was bitterer, though no less entertaining as I watched This is not a Film, the experimental film by Iranian auteur Jafar Panahi and documentarian Mojtaba Mirtahmasb. If you’re unfamiliar with the story, Panahi is one of Iran’s most important filmmakers and a Venice Golden Lion winner who is now under house arrest for political reasons. Though his situation has stirred much controversy for the vague basis of his charges, he is still serving his 20 year ban – one that includes prohibitions on filmmaking, screenwriting, giving interviews and leaving Iran – and waiting to hear the final verdict on a proposed 6 year jail sentence. Under these extreme circumstances, Panahi sets out to expand his creative limits.

Mirtahmasb takes his camera inside Panahi’s house and films him as he reads and re-enacts his final screenplay in his living room, mapping out the film on his rug “Dogville style” and visualizing the story for the audience. For a society that is reserved about their personal lives to the point of impenetrability, This is not a Film is a major revelation. It’s unprecedented in Iran to see a documentary that goes so intimately inside someone’s house to show him have breakfast, take care of his pets or even get out of bed in their underwear and hang about the bedroom.

What, I imagine, is more appealing to a universal audience is that this film is one of the best made about the creative process, one that shows the passion filmmakers feel for their craft and the energy they put into it. Panahi tears up as he watches behind-the-scenes footage of his old films and even resorts to filming things with his iPhone just for the heck of it. That a ban as long as twenty years can’t stop him from planning a future film is only a testament to how much he loves cinema.

The film isn’t short on symbolic imagery either and while the final shot of the film might be too on-the-nose for some, the extensive intermittent footage of Igi, Panahi’s pet Iguana is subtler and more provocative. As the iguana moves around the house and overcomes endless obstacles on its way without ever giving up, it’s hard to miss the allegory of Panahi’s patience in the roughness of the Iguana’s scales and his restraint in its seemingly pointless quest around the house.

TIFF: Biopic Boys will be Boys

Paolo here in Toronto. My first TIFF movies are about real-life men who customarily look nothing like the attractive actors who play them on the big screen.

Edwin Boyd is a step in the right direction for Canadian cinema, since making a heist film like this is both relatively cheap and lucrative. It's about the WWII veteran turned 1950's Torontonian bank robber of the same name played by Scott Speedman. Speedman puts an athletic sensitivity to the role, whether Edwin is inside a singing booth or jumping over the counter to get the loot he wouldn't have gotten in his former job as a kind-hearted bus driver. The story covers him facing and indulging temptations, his addiction to the wrong kind of attention as well as to robbing banks, which he and his gang continue to do despite multiple arrests. There are clichés here, the biggest one is the golden-hearted criminal who also likes to get drunk and play music while celebrating his jackpots. I will give credit to the film's capability on whetting the audience's appetite on period specificities. It's also a treat to watch its grey and white cinematography, capturing the rough surfaces of the city's architecture or his snowy escape from authorities. The supporting cast includes Kevin Durand as Edwin's right hand man and Brian Cox as the protagonist's father.

Also took in the Brad Pitt vehicle Moneyball which is about the baseball team Oakland Athletics in their 2002 season.

The film's first half is has a problematically distinct voice from its second, making it difficult to forget that two writers are responsible for its script. The first, which I'll call the Steve Zaillian half, has Pitt portraying the A's general manager Billy Beane. The script makes him have the same conversation with other people, telling his financier, other GM's, his precocious daughter, her mother (Robin Wright) and her mother's boyfriend (Spike Jonze) that he's fine even if both parties know, through local and national news, that his team is having board room and locker room problems. The A's are having trouble finding 'stars' like Jason Giambi who have left the team. Fortunately, Billy meets Peter Brand (Jonah Hill), a fictionalized version of Paul de Podesta who introduces the idea that instead of buying 'stars,' the team has to 'buy runs.' It's a method that, to someone like me who knows nothing about sports, sounds like cheating.

The underlying tension in many scenes in the film's first half is in anticipating Billy to squirm or get angry under all of these people's microscopes. This half also allows its audience to think about what might have happened if the person originally slated to direct this movie, Steven Soderbergh, had done so. Hopefully I'm not the only person who can see Soderbergh's skills in satire, and he would have highlighted these characters' callousness and childlike stubbornness. 

The second half, when the A's fate turns around, belongs to a writer with a more distinct voice, brainy frat boy Aaron Sorkin. Just like Charlie Wilson's War or Studio 60, this movie has its share of Abbott and Costello-like telephone or office conversations. He also tends to romanticize whatever he's writing about, which is baseball this time around. He even makes Peter, a generally scientifically minded character in the first half, seem emotional later on. But admittedly it still works better here than the affected humanity in The Social Network. Director Bennett Miller, with the help of his male dominated cast (including the surprisingly capable Hill) also negotiates and sutures these two voices well.

TIFF Begins... Tonight

The Venice jury hasn't even handed out their prizes yet (Will Shame win the Lion?) but Toronto kicks it off tonight with their opening presentation of Davis Guggenheim’s From the Sky Down, a rock documentary on U2. It's actually the first time a documentary has opened the 36 year old film festival. I'm personally going to be incommunicado this weekend. Perhaps it sounds like bad timing but I knew I'd need to be away from NYC this weekend (can't take all the 9/11 obsessing). More importantly, it's my last breather / eye rest (begone computer screens!) for the next six months until the post-Oscar ceremony wrap-ups. 

Paolo and Amir. The Film Experience correspondents for TIFF 2011

Just as with Venice, I've enlisted some correspondents. You'll be hearing from Paolo (who you've already met) and Amir (of Amiresque) as they hit the fest. That's them above so stay tuned!

I'm here until tomorrow and I'll be back Monday late night. You won't even miss me. 

Sixteen from Toronto. (And Your Input, Please.)

Festival season heading your way out there in the dark. Even if you only experience film festivals through blog mania for the same, that's still something. That's how most of us experience Cannes each year, yes? This year TFE will be doing a lot from NYFF as it's close to home (5 stops on the subway close!) and quite inexpensive since there's already a bed to sleep in: one's own! But we have lined up a few foreign correspondents to give you bits and bobs from Venice (Aug 31st-Sept 10th), Toronto (Sept 8th-18th), and London (Oct 12th-27th). Quite often commenting is light on film festival pieces, which one assumes is because of the unfamiliar factor of the films, though sometimes it's quite distressing -- I even drew you cartoons from Nashville and there was nary a peep! --  so some feedback would be greatly appreciated:

What interests you and what doesn't about film festivals?

Bizarre Typecasting Alert! Saoirse Ronan is playing her second consecutive teenage assassin in "Violet and Daisy"

The full Toronto International Film Festival schedule is up at their website. I won't be there but I am leaving town right about then because I do not want to be anywhere near Manhattan when the 10th anniversary of 9/11 rolls around. That's just going to be a nightmare and I don't mean in the fear-of-terrorism sense. Someone on TV the other day was theorizing about small scale terrorism as they do -- fear being our great masochistic national addiction -- and deadly gas or whatnot in crowded places came up. Movie theaters were mentioned. I know it's perverse but my immediate unbidden thought was  this: 'If I have to die by terrorism, that'd be an awesome. At least I'd be enjoying myself when the end came!'

Oh but Toronto, yes, yes. Rather than attempting to type up their entire 200+ film list, after a very quick glance through of the titles and summaries here are 16 that I'd probably try to snag tickets for had I gone this year. Festival moviegoing is much different from regular moviegoing in that you have to not only consider your normal desires but balance those out -- you can't go all drama or all France or even (gasp) all actressy -- and you have to immediately rule out films you'll be able to see in a week or two after you get back like all the NYFF titles.

So here we go...

Auteur Lust
Andrea Arnold's Fish Tank was so mesmerizing and incisive that I'm naturally curious to see her follow up Wuthering Heights, even though I prefer it when wonderfully contemporary filmmakers tell original stories. Despite reservations that come with yet another Bronte adaptation the TIFF write up promises a stripped down power... "No starched lace, no panoramic views, no sweeping score"; After Reprise Joachim Trier should win automatic eyeballs for Oslo, August 31st which might be Norway's Oscar submission; I hadn't realized until just now that A Funny Man, one of Denmark's Oscar finalists, is by the director of Applause Martin P Zandvliet. Though the praise for that film was mostly directed at Paprika Steen's shattering lead work, if Zandvliet can work similar magic with Nikolaj Lie Kaas who takes center stage here perhaps we'll have to regard him as one of the world's finest directors of actors?; Yorgos Lanthimos's follow up to Dogtooth called ALPS sounds juicily provocative "A mysterious underground outfit, going by the name of ALPS, offers bereaved individuals a very unusual service: they stand in for their dearly departed." Yes, please. If you can already surprise just from a concept line, I'm in.

Gender and Sexuality: Love and Bruises follows an international love affair between Tahar Rahim (A Prophet) and newcomer Corrine Yam. It's from Lou Ye, the director of Summer Palace and Spring Fever which were both successfully sensual and evocative pieces; Lost in Paradise is supposedly a sympathetic leap forward for gay depictions and characters in Vietnamese cinema; Leave it on the Floor is a coming of age musical about a young gay man in the vogueing underground ball circuit. That milieu, such a cinematic one, hasn't been center stage since what, 1992?; Finally the French Canadian Nuit #1 investigates a one night stand. Films which focus tightly on one event can often reap big rewards, because film is such a great medium for short stories as it were. Plus it's a debut feature (from Anne Emond) and festivals are a great place to discover new directors.

For the Actressing: Christophe Honoré's Beloved is about the love lives of a mother and daughter. They're played by real life mother/daughter Catherine Deneuve and Chiara Mastroianni (who also did that trick for A Christmas Tale) and  Ludivine Sagnier co-stars so this is must-see-times-three; Huh Jong-ho's crime drama about a collection agent and a con artist Countdown features Korean actress of the moment (and TFE obsession of the moment) Jeon Do-yeon of Secret Sunshine and The Housemaid fame.;  Albert Nobbs and We Need To Talk About Kevin... regarding both: I'm just impatient, y'all!

For the Variety: Friends With Kids is the directorial debut of Jennifer Westfeldt (Kissing Jessica Stein) who was once more famous than her husband Jon Hamm but hasn't been for some time now post Mad Men. Hamm is part of the ensemble cast she's collected for this comedy about a group of tight friends who begin to fall apart once children are in the picture. The film co-stars Adam Scott, Kristen Wiig, Megan Fox, Edward Burns and Maya Rudolph; Where Do We Go Now? is a Lebanese musical from the director of Caramel; Alois Nebel is a black and white rotoscoped animated film from the Czech Republic and the style would be enough for me in the festival setting (plainly different than everything around it!) though the content sounds interesting, too; Finally, I'm letting The Encounter stand in for avant garde programs in general. It's a short but I know I need to experiment with more that's truly experimental when given the chance ... and A list festival are that chance. In this film "a woman's synethesia transforms her vision into beautiful song." Wait, is this a Björk biopic?

But really, there are so many that I could do this for several more hours. Wrapping it up, now. Bye!