Festival Future?

So why is this year’s Toronto Film Festival leaving so many people shrugging their shoulders?

I would submit that we are finally feeling the powerful effects of the change in the indie business overall. After all, what successfully came out of Sundance this year? In release, there are two comedies from Searchlight and a comedy doc about McDonald’s. Coming is The Motorcycle Diaries, which Focus is readying for an awards season launch, The Woodsman, which Newmarket is readying for an awards season launch and The Machinist, which Paramount Classics is readying for huge DVD sales next summer after Christian Bale becomes a saleable commodity, post-Batman Begins.

Toronto is a much wider ranging festival, but the result has been that since commercial indies seem ready to wait for Sundance each year, the only great sales at Toronto tend to be foreign language films… not that there’s anything wrong with that.

The question is, does Toronto need to change its focus – or more importantly, the media’s focus – to re-solidify its place on the world festival stage? Or is the idea of dominant film festivals aging badly?

Escaping Toronto

I ended up heading out of Toronto a bit earlier than expected. Sorry if there has been a dearth of stuff to read from this author. But there is still a lot to write about from the last few days. Look for more on MCN and THB…

About "Fag Noir"

I could have responded to this in the “comments” section of the posting, but I think it is too important to take the chance of it going unread.

I am used to my gay male friends referring to themselves and others as “fags.” And indeed, as a straight guy, it is probably inappropriate.

I do, as a rule, believe that words that have at some time hurt people as epithets – including “kike” – have a place in conversation. But that doesn’t mean that everyone else needs to agree with my feelings about epithets… not by a long shot. And I am writing this for your consumption, not just my amusement.

In this case, the specific twist on “film noir” calls for a word that has some connection to the word “film” and “gay” doesn’t cut it. But I do hear you. I offer my apology to any offended sensibilities. And I will retire the phrase – though not the post – immediately. And when it turns up in Time Out New York or The Village Voice, I will smirk at the irony. But my concern for the offense is nonetheless real.

If you are interested, you should read the comments from the previous post, “Monday At The Fest.”

Second Wind

As generally blah as the first half of the festival has been, you can smell a renewed energy on the streets… people are looking for some great small surprises again.

I’ll be seeing a new Ozon later today, to go with the Solondz. Antoine Fuqua has great buzz for his blues doc. Old Boy and Eros are coming. Z Channel, Jiminy Glick and teh folkie doc, Isn’t This A Time too. And who knows what small gems will be unearthed?

I think…

… that I could be great friends with Catherine Breillat and James Toback… so long as I never had to see or review any of their movies ever again.

Solondz Zdnolos

Saw Palindromes this morning… and I have no idea what pissed the Telluride crowd off so much. We had some walkouts when some pro-choice characters started speaking their minds, but it seems to me that points of view are better expressed than repressed, no? One gruesome “dead baby” bit turned out to be less graphic than warned. And overall, the film is less glib and loaded with less to offend than Happiness. You don’t have to like Todd Solondz, but this shouldn’t have shocked anyone who knows his work.

And it’s a hell of a lot better than that last piece of crap he made!

More later on the film on MCN…

In The Vacuum

It is endlessly fascinating to me how very, very, very smart people become obsessed with trade reviews at a festival like this. But not just for smaller films, where the trades have a real influence in the life or death of the movies, but for Dependent or major True Indie titles.

It’s not that the trades don’t matter. They do. But with 800 members of the world press in Toronto, the wave of media that will hit real people – including the industry that votes for awards – is much, much more influential in the long term (meaning, next month) than the trades. The power of being first and most promoted during the fest is significant. But what is the track record of being “right” in retrospect? Of course, no critic should be on the hook for being “right.” It is the odd double-edged sword of being in the “how will it do?” critic business. “How will is do?” should have nothing to do with “Is it good?” and sometimes, the two get confused (by me as well). And often times, they get confused by the people waiting anxiously for those “opening night reviews.”

Chris McGenius

You have to give it to McGurk… as Screen Gems would put it, the media got served.

Everyone who spoke to McGurk here at the festival seemed to come back with the “the WB deal is done” story. But the pressure that put on Sony seems to have sealed the deal… for Sony.

My thinking that Sony would consider keeping the brands alive turned out to be wrong. But the price also turned out to be lower than anyone thought it was, which shows that Mr. McG can keep a secret when he wants to.

A McGurk/Cook co-chairmanship of Disney… hmmm….

Monday At The Fest

Almodovar’s Bad Education launches a new genre – Fag Noir.

I don’t usually call gay men “fags,” but trying to come up with a clever tag, Gay Noir seemed to be missing something. Nonetheless, Almodovar’s latest effort is right out of the Bob Zemeckis school of combining genre twisiting and homage. Coincidentally enough, Sony Classics is also releasing House of Flying Daggers , which also offers homage with a twist. (Kung Fem?)

The infamous cat-killing doc, Casuistry: The Art of Killing a Cat is not really a cat-killing doc, but an exploration of self-delusion. But the production just isn’t good enough to make it worth the time.

And Keane is the festival’s indie version of Ray. Damian Lewis is guarenteed an Indie Spirit Awards Best Actor nomination for his work in this Lodge Kerrigan film.

In the name of sleep, extended piece on The Assassination of Richard Nixon, Bad Education and Ray will have to wait.

Last Update – New Rumor About Elvis Mitchell…

Elvis was at the Searchlight dinner for Sideways… but there is no job forthcoming. And the renewed Sony rumor appears to have died off too. So, Elvis is still looking for just the right auditorium.

===============

But I’m not spilling until I get some feedback from the company involved.

I will say this now though… “What is Elvis doing?” is a question far more often asked so far this week than “Where is Harvey?”

Now spilling gently…

Looks like the renewed effort to set up a consulting deal at Sony is not happening again… but the new buzz is that a red, hen-loving animal with a torch and a mirror might sign him up. Still leaning toward the “just a rumor” category, but…

Just Wondering…

What is the trades interest in pushing this as a great sales year?

If you don’t think that the two Sony Classics deals done before the weekend were already done before the fest, you’re whacked. Crash is a $4 million domestic buy for a Sandra Bullock movie. And most of the execs I’m talking to are ready to go home utterly empty handed.

I’m thrilled for Gunner Palace, but even that film, which was once intending to hold fast for first screenings here in Toronto, was seen by most studios before it got here and the buy you saw was the other shoe dropping.

This year’s fest is a good indicator of the troubling place where indie cinema now finds itself. And pretending that all is not only well, but great, seems unhealthy to me. But then again, I don’t mind the taste of medicine.

Over The Hump…

The general feeling about the festival about now is… ehhhhhh.

It’s not that there aren’t good films or even a handful of great films. But the great finds seem to be lacking this year. Tomorrow night’s gala, Downfall, a Hitler pic, has some fish swimming around it, fins swinging hard and teeth being shown. And In My Father’s Den seems to be very well liked, even if the checkbooks aren’t flying open.

In general, the big movies – and there have been few of them – have been recieved with a sigh. Rex Reed asked me the other day whether I was working for Searchlight, because Kinsey and Sideways are usually the movies that come out of my mouth first in “what did you like?” discussions. But that is true of almost everyone you talk to. There is a distinct anti-Sideways contingent. But it is small and fading. Kinsey has very few detractors.

And still… people are looking for magic…

I just saw The Assassination of Richard Nixon, which is a very interesting film. It’s not the same feeling as Beyond the Sea, which stirs violence and laughter in my soul, but is tempered by Spacey’s intensity and a structural mess so messy that I keep feeling that I still haven’t got all the puzzle pieces in place. But I feel like I have to sort out the ideologies of the film in my own head before offering them to you. It will be hard for Sean Penn to be nominated for an Oscar two years in a row. But ThinkFilm could make a serious run at it with this performance if they like. There are some excellent cameos, but essentially, it’s a one-man show.

What will get interesting is how the questions I am asking myself play out in the media. Is this film pro or anti advocacy? Is the film about politics or lunatics or both? Is the 9/11 connection going to be seized on by the press? And is Nixon a stand in for George Bush in these politically intensive days? Or is it just a story about a nut job?

The Crusades continue….

Be Gone To Sea…

CORRECTION: After chatting with Roger Ebert tonight, he made clear that he has said nothing about this film for the record other than “Kevin Spacey really can sing.” So it is just the trades who need medication. I stand corrected.

The Earlier Story:

Word now has it that both The Hollywood Reporter and Variety will rave Beyond The Sea, along with Roger Ebert.

Kirk Honeycutt writes:
“But when “Beyond the Sea” goes into a platform release in November and December, strong reviews will certainly attract Baby Boomers and the whole thing could snowball into a considerable hit for Lions Gate. Certainly, Spacey is in line for major honors and nominations in two categories as he has sweetly realized a dream project on which he has labored so long.”

What was the last time this trio raved a musical bio-pic? De-Lovely.

Just sayin’.

One More Graphic Sex Flick At Toronto

Michael Winterbottom’s 9 Songs appears to be some footage he threw together with a 16mm camera at a concert and nine sexual encounters of one couple, which are graphic, but only fluidy at one point.

And yes, Winterbottom once again asks the musical question, “How long will and audience wait for a blowjob?”

In this case, it’s 57 minutes.

Art. Uh-huh.

The Dude & John Kerry

I had a nice chat with Jeff “The Dude” Dowd last night about his support of the George Butler doc on John Kerry. He was telling me that they had a test screening the other night and that a high percentage of uindecideds turned decided for Kerry after the screening…

More later…

It’s later. Jeff tells me that they are in the process of raising millions of dollars so that the film, Going Upriver: The Long War of John Kerry can play in theaters and on TV and so they can give away thousands and thousands of copies of the film on DVD in swing states, hoping to impact fence sitters.

The Dude makes on great point. Whatever side of the fence you are on, you have to do something. (Jeff would prefer you be on the Democratic side, for the record.) Whatever happens happens. But if you take action, you can look yourself in the mirror. If you don’t…