In the Land of Blood and Honey - Another Apocalyptic Tale for Our Times

This is an excellent, relentless tale of the war in Bosnia-Herzegovina in the early 1990's. Angelina Jolie has done a masterful (or is that mistressful) job of weaving the personal stories of her character against the backdrop of yet another senseless, internecine genocide. The people are three dimensional and complex, as is the explanation of the poltical and cultural histories that led to this war. The film has a strong "Schindler's List" feeling except that the villains are drawn with much more detail and sensibility. The critics should have been kinder to this film than they were. The acting, writing, directing and sets are terrific. I definitely recommend this film highly.

Yours for serious though provoking film making, Dame Velveeta Peron (DVP)

Haywire - Love Girl Power

I love to watch girls get away with murder. This is a great little action flick. Great cast with Michael Fassbender, Michael Douglas, Antonio Banderas and a very believable newcomer in the role of the killing machine girl. Just great fun. Sit back and enjoy.

Yours in mayhem, DVP

A Dangerous Method - Misnomer based on this Film

True confession : I go to all of Cronenberg's films and don't like his directing. This film is, however, fairly good. Unlike some of his earlier outings, he tells the story directly and simply, without (please excuse the pun) hysteria.

Keira Knightley does a creditable job as the young woman who goes to Jung for help and becomes his star psychoanalytical experiment. I love Viggo Mortenson being anybody and he is a good actor, which is a bonus. I enjoyed his turn as Freud. Michael Fassbender, who is starting to feel overexposed to me, is fine as Jung.

I would like to have understood better the specific reason for the break between Freud and Jung, but there was at least a sense that it had to do with Freud's determination that sex is at the root of all emotional abnormalities and Jung's desire to explore other possibilities.

Overall, this film did peak my interest to do more research about the roots of psychoanalysis and the theories of these two men. If this field interests you, you will enjoy this dip into that arena.

Yours in support of belief that crazy and sex are okay, DVP.,

Handel's Hercules

I have never been in the TELUS Centre for Performance and Learning before Saturday night. This alone is worth getting a ticket for Hercules or anything else that is performed there. The venue is spectacular. Fortunately, Hercules was also a wonderful piece of Baroque choral music. The singing was of very high calibre and the ballet dancers did a lovely job. A most enjoyable, pleasant and relaxing evening. Definitely worth a look and a listen.

Yours in mixing it up, DVP

The Iron Lady- Maggie would have loved the portrayal

Meryl Streep is Maggie Thatcher in the biopic. Her performance is chillingly accurate. I confess that, although I didn't agree with Thatcher's policies, I always admired her courage. Working with that gaggle of stuffed male shirts must have been intolerable, yet she did it for eleven and a half gruelling years. I wish the film had lived up to Streep's performance. Thatcher had a big life and it was probably unwise to try to make reference to all of it in two hours. For those of us around during Maggie's "reign" we could fill in many of the gaps when there was just a brief reference to things she had done, eg the death of Bobby Sands and other IRA members in jail, the Falklands, the crisis when she cut budgets. Still, there was much missed and what was there was not well enough described. Too bad. I'd still go for Meryl Streep's performance alone. Read up in advance to catch the references.

Yours in admiration of strong women, DVP.

Pariah - Sensitive, Thought-Provoking, Novel Coming of Age Story

Just when I thought there couldn't be a new take on the coming of age theme, along comes Pariah. This is the story of middle class Black-African America and how it deals with homosexuality, and in this case lesbian issues. It is refreshing to meet black characters who are not ghettoized but in the mainstream of American culture - or are they? They seem to have only black friends and colleagues. Their daughters' friends are also black. Sadly, this slice of American culture and race is no more tolerant than white societyis of homosexuality. The older of the two daughters is a lesbian, forced to be closeted except with her lesbian girlfriends because of this stigma. Everyone seems to know her sexual preference, even her parents who, nonetheless remain in deep denial. The dialogue is realistic and the acting terrific. The direction is flawless. This film deserves to be seen by a wide audience and I hope it is, but my bet is that those who already know the lesson it teaches will be its audience. You are no doubt among them, but go anyhow, not only because it is a great film but also to improve the possibiltiy for films with controversial, thought-provoking themes to continue to be made.

Yours in diversity, DVP

The Golden Dragon

I wanted to like the latest theatrical offering at the Tarragon Theatre, called the Golden Dragon, but ultimately I just couldn't. It made me feel like I wanted to go home and shower. The characters were either unsavoury and unsympathetic or totally broken and vulnerable. There was not a ray of hope in the theme, or the story which is about the Asian immigrant experience in urban Canada, as far as I could tell. The only redeeming feature of the production for me was the acting of a young man named David Yee, who provided the only point of entry to the characters that gave me a feeling of sympathy and concern. Sadly, his acting is wasted in a boring play.

Yours in thespianism, DVP

This year I saw nineteen films at TIFF and generally had a good experience .

Documentaries

My favourite documentary was The Last Dogs of Winter, the story of a man named Ladoon who is running a programme to save the last 400 wild Husky dogs in Churchill, Manitoba. In 1995, there were 2500 Huskies but the government killed most of them in order to stop Innu people from being nomadic in nature. It was “successful”, destroying further the traditional lifestyle of these people.

This courageous man has only two people helping him to feed these animals, to provide them medical care, and to use them to breed further such animals around the world. He has very little funding and little support from the townspeople for his work, out of fear of these dogs and the polar bears they attract. He is also helping to save the polar bears by keeping them away from the town and the possibility o being shot by townspeople. The story is compelling, heart warming and uplifting.

Pearl Jam Twenty and From the Sky Down about the histories of Pearl Jam and U2 were fine, somehow to me like being invited to watch the visual equivalent of an inside joke. This is for musicians and diehard fans . I like U2 especially but didn’t really feel engaged by the film. Pearl Jam was at least more “out there” and fun to watch with all of their antics.

The last documentary was The Fatherland, an Argentine film shot in the Recoleta cemetery in Buenos Aires , where Evita is buried. The director has different unknown and unnamed people reading at the gravesides of different also unknown( to me at least) historical figures from letters or poetry they wrote. I was asleep in no time. Sound concept but poor execution( so to speak).

The Lady

The Lady is the personal side of the story of Sang Sui Khi who is being kept as a political prisoner in Burma and was under house arrest for many years. She was also the winner of the Nobel prize but was not able to collect it because she would not have been permitted to return to Burma if she left. Michelle Yoen does a creditable job in the title role and Tom Wilkinson puts in a good performance as her long suffering and supportive English professor husband. While I enjoyed the film as I was watching, I realized after I left that it left me quickly and didn’t satisfy my desire to admire and be inspired by this living legend. Her struggle should have touched me more but it didn’t. Perhaps it lacked enough feeling in the character to feel her suffering- she was a bit too stoic for me to connect with her. See for yourself. There is no question that she is an important political figure of our time.

HUGELY DISAPPOINTING , YOU HAD NO REASON TO BE –FILMS

Peace, Love and Misunderstanding- What is there to misunderstand in this stinker?

What was Jane Fonda thinking ? She surely cannot want to be remembered for this retro stinker. Hippy grandmother living in Woodstock, N.Y. has visit from uptight, judgmental lawyer doctor from NYC and her two pubescent teenage children. How many times do we need to see this theme of learning to accept our dysfunctional little family as it is? Not this time, that’s for certain. Just awful, predictable, boring and embarrassing for Jane Fonda and her fans. Jane,tip from a fan : please remake Klute if you must act and can’t think of anything original to say.

The Woman on the Fifth- Fifth What ?

What were Ethan Hawke and Kristin Scott Thomas thinking ? Are they that hard up for money ? If you have insomnia . see this one. You’ll be cured.

Dark Horse- Biggest disappointment of the Festival

What was Todd Solondz thinking? He has been my hero- maker of edgy, dark, difficult and interesting films including Happiness and Life During Wartime. Suddenly he wimps out and makes this half-baked piece about an obese, nerdy boy-man looking for love in all the wrong places , actually anywhere at all. Such a waste of Mia Farrow and Christopher Walken’s considerable talents. Even they cannot save this boring middle of the road unfunny comedy. Another good insomnia medication.

Americano- Snore

Another dog that had no reason to be made. Sorry, another “chien” since it’s a French dog. A garbled meandering tale of love gone wrong. Or something, I regretted the waste of Selma Hayek and Geraldine Chaplin. Boring, pointless, lengthy. Avoid at all costs.

Heleno- Who cares ?

Another waste of time and cute boys, Heleno tells the tale of the rise and fall of famed Brazilian football player ( soccer to me) Heleno de Freitas. I’m sure his life was more interesting than it appears in this film. Even the eye candy provided by Rodrigo Santoro in the title role is not enough to redeem this boring film- 116 minutes of my life I will never get back. Don’t let this happen to you and those you love or at least lust after.

Restless- I got that way after 15 minutes of this film

I adore Gus Van Sant- Elephant was brilliant, MILK wonderful. So what happened here ? Another snore fest . Why, Gus, why ? This film had no reason to be. And I had no reason to have to be subjected to it. Warning to all who enter here : this way boredom lies , 95 long minutes of it.

Albert Nobbs- A must-see gender-bender

By far my favourite film of the Festival, this is a gender-bender that is brilliantly written, directed , cast and acted. Glenn Close plays the title role of Albert Nobbs. I could not take my eyes off her for a second. This was a real tour de force performance. The story was so credible and well crafted and there was not a false note in any of the supporting cast. A must.

The Ides of March- Beware you don’t want them

Okay Gosling again and George Clooney- two hotties. Also Philip Seymour Hoffman who is a great actor. Stir, don’t shake, and you have the ingredients for a great film. Add a riveting story line right out of the political headlines and you cannot miss.

This movie doesn’t miss a beat. The story is credible; the dialogue fast paced and believable and the directing bang on. I love political thrillers and this is a hot one. Great way to pass two hours in the dark- especially in the dark with Ryan and George, sigh. Oh yeah. Run, do not walk to this film.

Take this Waltz- It just needs a quicker beat

Sarah Polley is becoming a good director. I hope she will become a great one. This film is close but misses the mark in a few areas. I like the story- a “grass is greener” morality tale told in a low key, quiet kind of way. The characters are generally credible- nice young married couple, dysfunctional but harmless family members and a “normal” life.

Enter cute new boy across the street- weird, mysterious, sexy, playful. Okay so far but Polley takes too long to build up the romantic tension between them and uses questionable dialogue in their scenes together. That said, I admit to a soft spot for this film and its theme.

We have all been there- deciding between safe and predictable old shoes versus shiny and new. We know that everything new gets old with wear but it is worth being reminded in this disposable, fast food, instant gratification society of ours. Nice cautionary tale with a few flaws. So Canadian- it a good way.

Edwin Boyd

This was a great romp of a movie. Based on the true story of the Toronto-based Boyd bank robbery gang led by the charming and handsome Edwin Boyd, I enjoyed every minute. Scott Speedman, great eye candy, plays the title role with panache. Definitely an okay time waster.

Machine Gun Preacher

This movie is based on the true story of Sam Childers, an American bad ass from Pennsylvania who keeps on getting in trouble with the law. He finally finds religion with his wife’s help and then becomes a missionary. He is no traditional missionary though, of the peace, love and turning the other cheek kind. He has his own brand of charitable vigilante-style justice and help which he uses to shield Sudanese orphans, many of whom have been tortured and used as child soldiers.

Gerard Butler plays the title role and he is amazing. It is worth seeing just for his performance but there is so much more.

Drive

As my faithful readers well know, I am in love with Ryan Gosling. I would watch him recite the telephone book in total awe. Luckily, he is also a good actor and chooses great roles so I don’t actually have to endure this.

Drive is a beautiful little film- sparse in dialogue, no gratuitous action, fast moving storyline, good acting. Gosling’s character’s history is an enigma. We don’t know where he came from or how he got there.

Normally this would annoy me and make it hard for me to suspend my disbelief in the character. Not in this case. The Driver, as he is called, is a complete, self-contained scrumptious package. Nothing more need be known about him to make his character believable. Carey Mulligan does a nice, job as his neighbour down the hall. The story zips by and two hours are up before you blink. Another must see.

This a true story, simply told without manipulation,clever plot devices or special effects. It doesn't need them to lay bare the travesty of justice and the tragedy for all involved. For it is the perpetrator to as well as the accused who are shown as conspirators.

How many films with a similar theme will be told from our times? Many such events will occur  but will there be courageous people like Robert Redford and his colleagues to tell the tale? And even if there are, will they be silenced like James McAvoy's character in this outstanding film ?

We must all hope not.

 Thor 3D- Hunkarama.com

What more can I say? The plot is silly but somewhat amusing; the sequel is imminent. This is pure eye candy all the way, for all of us who like watching cute, muscle-bound boys.

The Bang Bang Club- Not such a big Bang after all

I wanted to love this movie. The theme is close to my heart. It is based on the true story of a group of war photographers who risked their lives to tell the story of the last days of the South Africa apartheid era.This is timely, given the death of the photographer Tim Herthington recently in Syria ( check my country and the spelling of his name please.)

While the story itself is compelling, I never felt a sense of closeness to the main characters. I didn't learn enough about them to understand their motivation or to care about their lives specifically. Thus, I didn't know whether to see their courage as acts of bravery, of a deep sense of commitment, or of foolhardiness and bravado.

This story deserved better but unfortunately neoither the actors or the director delivered.

I am stunned that we still preach on film that the ultimate goal for all women is to be married/have a live-in relationship with some guy - apparently any guy. Doesn't anyone read the divorce statistics ? Doesn't anyone go to therapy?

And why is it still funny to see two women jealous of each other ? Why is it still funny to make fun of women because they have eating disorders? Women have complex and interesting relationships of all kinds. Couldn't we show them?

Is it really still funny to watch people barfing and crapping in sinks because of food poisoning? Didn't that go out with Porkies and frat house toga parties?

So sad, because this movie asks a lot of the right questions but comes up with all the (same old) wrong answers. Husband boring in bed ? Suck it up (so to speak) and go to Vegas for a weekend. Husband too tired for sex? Have a lesbian lover. Girlfriend getting married and you're not ? Don't worry, she's paving the way so you will have great advice when you meet Mr. Right. Got business and depression problems? Don't worry, Mr. Right will fix them - along with the plumbing I'm sure.

This film is so deeply shallow, I warn you not to jump in.

Tata,

 Dame Velveeta Peron