For those who attended, what were the films that did the most for you?
My Top Twelve would look something like this:
1)PROMISES WRITTEN IN WATER (Vincent Gallo)
Audacious, beautiful 16mm black-and-white button-pushing reminds me of 70s Chantal Akerman in the best possible way.
2)ESSENTIAL KILLING (Jerzy Skolimowski)
Nearly dialogue-free thriller about an escaped soldier in the forests of Poland, who faces a never-ending series of obstacles both natural and man-made. Very strong performance from Gallo (strange that he's involved in my two favorite films this year), and expertly paced.
3)POETRY (Lee Chang-dong)
Masterful drama about an elderly woman in the early stages of Alzheimer's, also dealing with the possibility that the grandson she's raising participated in an unspeakable criminal act. From the director of the also-excellent SECRET SUNSHINE.
4)VIVA RIVA! (Djo Tunda Wa Munga)
Fun, stylish, anarchic action film from the Democratic Republic of Congo. The most conventionally entertaining film I saw at the festival -- but not a conventional film. Great characters, soundtrack, wonderful sense of humor, gruesome body count.
5)UNCLE BOONMEE WHO CAN RECALL HIS PAST LIVES (Apichatpong Weerasethakul)
Cannes-winning follow-up to SYNDROMES AND A CENTURY offers some of the same mysterious pleasures and surprises; each 20-minute reel is rendered in a different style, and one concerns a fish eating out a princess.
6)ATTENBERG (Athina Rachel Tsangari)
A Greek dark comedy/drama with Fassbinder notes about a daughter whose gentle (but fiercely individualistic) father is dying from cancer, and the outside-the-box way they cope with his decline. Very similar tone to DOGTOOTH; the director of that film co-stars.
7)CURLING (Denis C??t??)
French Canadian character study with teeth. A socially awkward working-class father has been homeschooling his pre-teen daughter, only to be hit hard by the realization that she is lagging behind in most academic areas.
8)MEEK'S CUTOFF (Kelly Reichardt)
Evocative western from the director of OLD JOY and WENDY AND LUCY didn't effect me as much as those films, but was still very strong with some very ill moments. Maybe a comparison to THE PROPOSITION is in order, although this is a lower-key story with much stronger female chartacters.
9)CAVE OF FORGOTTEN DREAMS (Werner Herzog)
3-D documentary from Herzog about the ancient cave art in Chauvet-Pont-d???Arc, France is mesmerizing, and offers a left-field, unexpected ending that'll really stick in your mind.
10)BOXING GYM (Frederick Wiseman)
Documentary master turns his attention to a very diverse (in all senses of the word) boxing gym in Austin, TX; as with all Wiseman's work, there are no talking heads here -- we're thrown right into the setting to absorb its flavor and many characters.
11)FILM SOCIALISM (Jean-Luc Godard)
An exceptional first third feels as alive and inspired as anything Godard's done since the 60s; though not for everyone, sequences shot seemingly on low-grade video surveilance cams with audio dissonance felt thrilling, especially when juxtaposed with some of the dry, impenetrable work he's generated over the last 20 years. His intentionally selective subtitling of the French dialogue was also effective and provocativde. Unfortunately, the body of the film is not as dynamic.
12)OKI'S MOVIE (Hong Sang-soo)
Another amusing look at a self-absorbed, male S. Korean film director from Hong Sang-soo; this one tells its story from multiple perspectives, and becomes more about the female protagonist as it moves along, in rewarding ways.
DID NOT LIKE:
John Carpenter's THE WARD -- he's going through the motions with this tired genre piece about a young girl who might've been wrongly committed to a psychiatric ward. The early 60s setting adds a few appealing moments.
HATED:
VANISHING ON 7th STREET -- awful "thriller" from Brad Anderson, the director of the strong horror flick SESSION 9 and THE MACHINIST. The absurd concept (everyone in the world who isn't holding a light source disappears, leaving their perfectly arranged clothes behind; all others must run from CGI shadows) is horribly executed, resulting in the worst film I've ever seen at TIFF, and the most laughable genre piece I've seen since THE HAPPENING. Both films star John Leguizamo... coincidence?
