Posts Tagged ‘Mike Leigh’

Another Year, director Mike Leigh

Tuesday, October 12th, 2010

TIFF Dispatch Day Six: Catching Up

Wednesday, September 15th, 2010

Time to lighten things up a bit, after that last dispatch, eh?

As we near the homestretch, this has been a really good fest for me. In a lot of ways I feel like this fest represents a bit of a coming full circle for me from last year’s devastating fest-spent-in-a-hospital bed, which was all kinds of double-plus-unfun.

Over the past 12 months my life has pretty much completely changed in many ways — a bit of a rebirth, you might say, and like any birth you have to go through the pain to get to the new life waiting on the other side. But I am very glad and very grateful to be back at TIFF and back on my fest coverage game, working productively and filling my soul up with so many good films.

The slate at this year’s TIFF — and I don’t think I’m alone in saying this — has been exceptionally strong. I’ve seen 25 films in seven days, and of those there are only a couple that I’d say I actively did not like. That is an incredible run of good luck for a critic, because so often it’s a total crapshoot at a fest this; I couldn’t begin to tally up how many times I’ve gone to a fest and sat through mediocre-to-bad films far more often than films that blew me away, or even just made me happy I’d worked them into my schedule. But this fest? Has been mostly great.

Yesterday at a screening some press folks behind me were bemoaning the “terrible” slate at this year’s fest, and I had to wonder if we were attending the same festival. Or perhaps I’ve just gotten really lucky with the screenings I’ve chosen, and they were particularly unlucky with theirs. Or, who knows, perhaps they were just tired and having a bad day. Certainly by this point in the fest, everyone’s walking around looking a little shell-shocked.

Before TIFF, after a slate of mostly boring summer movies, the excellent Scott Pilgrim not doing well at the box office, and another Oscar season looming, I was dealing with a seriously annoying case of “I don’t give a shit about awards season.” After TIFF? I’m feeling rejuvenated, excited even. There are some excellent films at this festival with an eye toward the upcoming awards rush — some very much expected soft pitches and others that were unexpectedly good, or smaller films with outstanding performances.

And while many of us like to say we really don’t care about awards season, what we do care about is that the frenzied buzz around the Oscars, in particular, can give some smaller films a boost that can make a real difference to their bottom line. So while I don’t care much about a naked golden man statue, I do care very much about film, particularly good films, and the people who put their hearts and souls into making them, and there are a couple of films out of TIFF I will be championing over the coming months.

Since my last dispatch, there are a few films I’ve particularly enjoyed. I was surprised by how much I loved I Saw the Devil, which just may end up being the first serial-killer thriller to end up on my year-end list. It also may be the best-directed film at the fest; certainly it’s among the best.

It was less surprising that I enjoyed the new Mike Leigh film, Another Year, but what was surprising for me is that this film has surpassed Secrets and Lies as my favorite Mike Leigh film. And if you are also a Mike Leigh fan, you know this is high praise. Lesley Manville gives a stunning performance in the film; it’s worthy of an Oscar nom, but in a crowded field this year, it’s going to take a serious push to get it there, but she could (and should, if we’re judging on actual merit) be a dark horse contender.

I saw Another Year at a public screening, where it was very enthusiastically received. I always enjoying watching Mike Leigh at Q&As, because I think he tends to be much more open to audiences at screenings than he can sometimes be with journalists. Very quickly into the Q&A, Leigh turned it around on the audience and turned it into group discussion on the film, and it was a lot of fun to watch the enthusiasm and passion with which the crowd discussed the film. Anytime a film inspires that level of discussion, I think it’s achieved something special.

The other part about TIFF, of course, is that it’s end-of-summer camp for film geeks. It’s always great to come to Toronto and reconnect with friends. In a normal year I would have seen most of these folks at Sundance, but this year a nasty post-surgical infection pre-empted my Sundance plans, so I haven’t seen most of my friends in a year. It’s a relatively small world in which we all work, and most of us use Facebook and Twitter prolifically to stay in touch. However did people stay in touch before the Internet age? It’s hard to imagine my world without the daily IMs and texts and Facebook messages that allow me to stay connected to friends who have, over the years, because my extended family.

But this fest is so busy for most of us that much of our social interaction is actually not so much social as it is sitting next to each other in screenings, and perhaps rushing over for a quick coffee fix before the next one. I don’t attend most of the parties at TIFF, my schedule really precludes doing much beyond the occasional small dinner party for this or that film.

But the one party I do attend every year is the SXSW karaoke party, which took place last night at a new location downtown. This is the one place where I can always count on seeing most of my good friends in one place, at a time in the fest when we’re all tired and desperately in need of a night of letting our hair down, so to speak. I banged out three reviews before the party so I could take a break with a clear conscience, then stayed way later than I intended to once I got there, but it was a much-needed break from the fest grind.

In spite of being up way too late I did manage to get up and drag my butt to the 9AM screening of Black Swan. I’d heard very divisive buzz on the film around and about the fest, but for me, it was throroughly engaging and emotionally devastating. Aronofsky is just a remarkable director, and with Black Swan he weaves together a tightly controlled, nightmarish story about self-destructive perfectionism within the world of ballet. I’d heard that Black Swan was more The Wrestler than The Fountain, but I’d have to disagree with that. It’s not really like either film, and yet it bears a distinctive Aronofsky feel. I’m not quite sure I’d call him an auteur yet, but with this film he’s getting there. More on that one later.

Another full day ahead of me, so onward.

TIFF Review: Another Year

Tuesday, September 14th, 2010

Mike Leigh is one of those rare directors you can almost always count on to deliver something good, interesting and completely original. His latest film, Another Year, is tonally very different from the last film he had at Toronto, Happy-Go-Lucky, (actually, to be more precise, I’d say it’s tonally different from much of his previous work, but as accessible to the audience as Happy-Go-Lucky was).
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I Just Flew Into Toronto, and Boy, Are My Arms Tired

Wednesday, September 8th, 2010

After a full day of travel, I finally landed in Toronto around 10PM tonight. I spent part of the flight watching screeners — I’ll have a review of Swedish film Behind Blue Skies up soonish, but in brief: it’s kind of a Swedish Holy Rollers (the Jesse Eisenberg, Hasidic Jews smuggling ecstasy flick), set in the ’70s, and stars Bill Skarsgård (Son of Stellan) in a soulful, impressive lead performance.
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TIFF Preview, Part Two

Saturday, September 4th, 2010

Previously, I wrote about what you might consider the more “indie” sections of the Toronto International film fest: Contemporary World Cinema, Discovery, and docs, plus Canada First!, which is always interesting.

Now let’s take a peek at the Galas and Special Presentations, plus everyone’s favorite late night, wild ‘n’ crazy section, Midnight Madness.
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37th TELLURIDE FILM FESTIVAL ANNOUNCES 2010 FESTIVAL LINEUP

Thursday, September 2nd, 2010

Twenty-four new feature films to preview in Festival’s main program, the ‘SHOW’

Claudia Cardinale, Colin Firth and Peter Weir to receive Silver Medallion Awards

Special revival programs selected by Guest Director Michael Ondaatje

Telluride, CO – Telluride Film Festival (September 3-6, 2010), presented by the National Film Preserve is proud to announce its 2010 Festival program. Twenty-four new feature films presented by their creators in the Festival’s main program; six programs curated by 2010 Festival Guest Director Michael Ondaatje; twenty-five new short films; plus thirteen documentaries screening in the Backlot program. Celebrating works from over twenty countries, Telluride Film Festival opens Friday, September 3 and runs through Monday, September 6, 2010.
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Trailering Mike Leigh’s Another Year For Blighty Luvvies

Saturday, August 21st, 2010

Trailering Mike Leigh’s Another Year For Blighty Luvvies

Clooney on South Park

Thursday, September 4th, 1997

GEORGE CLOONEY IS A FLEA-RIDDEN HOMOSEXUAL!
Calm yourselves, everyone. George is just guest voicing on Comedy Central’s South Park as Sparky, a male dog who comes out of the closet when he discovers that life’s a bitch and so is he. Normally, The Hot Button doesn’t cover TV, but who could resist writing that headline?
SWM JOURNALIST SEEKS STRUEDEL
German filmmaker Eckhart Schmidt will try to answer some of the questions about cyber-lust in Internet Love, his low budget, Mike Leigh-style project which starts shooting in L.A. next month. It’s the story of a Los Angeles journalist who falls for a German actress after exchanging Internet bon mots. Aspiring actresses can email me their photos and resumes at ladave@pacbell.net No stalkers, please. (And if you really want to know why you shouldn’t do that, read The Rules: L.A..
SEAGAL SEEKS FRIENDS
The press release tells the tale. To quote: “Steven Seagal, star/producer of eco-thriller (or is that ego-thriller?) Fire Down Below, will perform with his band after the premiere. Seagal will be joined by his co-stars Ed Bruce, Mark Collie, Patsy Lynn, Peggy Lynn, Harry Dean Stanton and Randy Travis.” Gee, I wonder what happened to his co-stars, Marg Helgenberger, Stephen Lang and Kris Kristofferson? Could they be afraid that their co-star is… Satan?! For more of why Steven is so popular, check out 5 Reasons why Steven Seagal is so Popular from our friends at Black Belt Magazine. Haaaaaa-ya!