The Confessions of a Film Junkie: The Weekend

There’s something a bit daunting about the fact that two of the most acclaimed films coming into the Toronto International Film Festival are titled Hunger and Blindness. Both premiered at Cannes withBlindness receiving the prestigious opening night slot and Hungerwinning the Camera d’or award for best first feature.

I prefer Blindness, at least the type one encounters cinematically. Based upon the novel by Jose Saramago and directed byFernando Meirelles it’s a contemporary allegory about the breakdown of society. Set in an unnamed city, it begins with a man suddenly going blind though a subsequent analysis cannot account for the cause. However, in short order it snowballs into an epidemic and the “blind” are put into camps that are more like leper colonies than rehab centers.

Apart from guards whose job is to shoot anyone attempting escape, they are on their own and briefly stated their society evolves into a Lord of the Flies environment. What’s shown of the human condition is hard to take but the conclusion (when this virus effects virtually everyone) at least extends a shred of hope that isn’t simply a pretty bow.

Hunger focuses on the Irish prison hunger strike led by Bobby Sands in 1981. The depiction of the squalor these predominantly political prisoners live in and the endless beatings they undergo from jailers is vividly and unflinchingly portrayed. Written and directed by the acclaimed installation artistSteve McQueen, it’s an accomplished first film and, at the same time, suffers from a new filmmaker’s inexperience behind the lens.

The filmmaker has a tendency to provide more information than the audience requires. He also gives his film a false start; introducing Sands 20 minutes into the film after setting up several other characters that one assumes (incorrectly) will have a central role in the drama. McQueen – one suspects coming from a different medium – wants to apply other narrative precepts but his tendency to set up situations that have no pay off proves to be more frustrating than innovative at times.

Hunger as well as Blindness are among the fortunate films that have American distribution. The festival is well underway and news of a sale of any unencumbered movie regardless of size has yet to occur. There have been rumors of interest in several titles but whether the math or the passion is absent remains to be seen.

One veteran of the acquisitions community told me that while he was always interested in finding new, exploitable films, his primary intent in Toronto was to sell the movies he already had in his larder. He said the traditional bull market one associates with Toronto had shifted into a bear market and didn’t expect that to change in the foreseeable future.

Still, Monday affords premieres of a couple of films that are anticipated as potential and significant sales items. The Wrestler stars Mickey Rourke in a comeback performance (he received actor honors at the recently concluded Venice fest) of a man trying to reconnect with his daughter and learning that if he goes back into the ring in his present physical condition, he will likely die. The word coming back from the Lido is that it’s a powerful albeit downbeat drama.

The other newbie is Che, Steven Soderbergh’s two-part portrait of the bygone revolutionary (and coincidently the recipient of best actor honors for Benecio del Toro in its Cannes debut). Rumors are that the filmmaker has done considerable tinkering since the initial screening though the festival brochure lists a running time (262 mins.) that corresponds to the earlier festival incarnation. So, gets some sleep and report back tomorrow.

– Leonard Klady

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