By: Henry J. Fromage –
Day 4 of TIFF was the one I finally got to some public screenings and got to see a star or three (and some good movies, of course).
659. Head to Head
Head to Head drops us into an unsanctioned film shoot, in which Bahar, a female director renowned on the international circuit, is shooting a film in which men recreate famous Iranian movie scenes by playing the women in them, all the time wearing the mandatory head scarves. When the police are tipped off what the shoot, they go on the run. This is a satire, yes, but very much also a film driven by female rage at the gender-based repression of her society. Two Beers.
Take a Drink: for movies within movies
Take a Drink: for each messed up take
Take a Drink: whenever the topic of cell phones come sup
Do a Shot: for every complaint about the clothes
660. Four Seasons in Java
Four Seasons in Java sees a young Indonesian woman, Pertiwi (Indonesian superstar Putri Marino), return home after a long absence. She committed a horrible yet not unjustified deed back then, and is now back to reclaim her place in her hometown. This isn’t really a revenge drama (until it really, spectacularly is), but rather an immersion in corruption and the outsider families that emerge from its survivors. It takes some big swings, not all of which connect, but there’s moxie aplenty here. Two Beers.
Take a Drink: for each reunion
Take a Drink: for harrowing flashbacks
Do a Shot: for literal monsters
661. Paradise Lost
The first big swing and a miss for TIFF comes from Yeon Sang-ho, who made my least favorite film last year in The Ugly. You think I’d learn (but the ‘director of Train to Busan‘ power is strong). Here he devises the tale of a woman whose child disappeared alongside an entire busload, some of whom were found murdered and the others presumed dropped to the bottom of an abandoned mine. Thankfully a benevolent A.I. corporation creates a digital version of her child, but that’s complicated by her son returning 9 years later. You can see all the interesting places this material could be taken, and Yeon goes none of those places. Her lost son is established as evil pretty much from the jump- before they have even a single conversation- and moral dilemma that is set up here is even more risible than you’d imagine. Could have done with about 75% fewer wailing fits as well. Five Beers.
Take a Drink: for crying fits
Take a Drink: for visits to the mine
Do a Shot: for that fuckin soccer ball
662. Silenced Nights
This Filipino drama drops us in one of the poorer neighborhoods of Manila, home to the all too common sight of masked police officers roughing up and even murdering drug addicts and dealers during the Duterte presidency (there’s a reason the man’s at The Hague now). When one schoolboy is ruthlessly executed during one of the raids, a witness decides he has to say something no matter what, teaming with an intrepid reporter to get the truth out- which proves much more difficult than you’d even imagine. Director Lawrence Fajardo makes you sit in powerlessness here- a sensation you unconsciously rebel against, but one it’s essential feel to understand what living like this is really like. Two Beers.
Take a Drink: for funerals and remembrance
Take a Drink: whenever we actually see drugs
Do a Shot: for the official line
663. Closing Night
This is an absolute actors’ showcase of a familial drama, dripping with bitterness and past sins as a family reunites at the Broadway play of their famous daughter/sister/aunt (Sarah Paulson) who’s basically been a stranger for 30 years. There’s a lot of buried resentments, some of which are buried awfully shallow- it’s a pleasure seeing her, Naomi Watts, and the inimitable Dianne Wiest trade jabs, and Toby Wallace and Odessa A’zion also do great work as Watts’ son and his girlfriend. Two Beers.
Take a Drink: for petty thievery
Take a Drink: for biting remarks
Take a Drink: for signs or mentions of Alzheimers
Do a Shot: for butts
664. Babies
Seth Rogen has been married to Laura Miller Rogen for 15 years, and they don’t have kids, and don’t plan to. It’s clearly a question a they get a lot, as they pretty made this film about it- Laura Miller Rogen writes and directs, and her hubby stars alongside Anna Kendrick as a couple that has never really decided. When a friend and her kid move in after a split heading for divorce, they get to “test drive” parenthood with their adorable moppet. A refreshingly frank and evenhanded (and quite funny) look at what drives people to have kids, and what drives them to not do so. Two Beers.
Take a Drink: whenever anyone asks if they’re having kids
Take a Drink: whenever anyone says how hard parenthood or any aspect of it is
Do a Shot: for tokin’ up
665. Alpha Gang
The latest from the Zellner brothers is as delightfully unique and absurd as we’ve come to expect from them. A group of alien invaders deemed Alpha Gang and kitted out in the nattiest 50s garb possible conspire to take over the planet when not having dance parties or discussing the “emotion disease” that affects all humans but they’re terrified of contracting. It’s weird in always entertaining ways (Chris Pine and Cate Blanchett really go for it), although it’s a bit hard to ascertain the target of satire here- probably just the entire human race and all our maddeningly inconsistent war-mongering ways (and our entertainments that glorify the same). Two Beers.
Take a Drink: for talk of emotions or disease
Take a Drink: for dance parties
Take a Drink: for gunfights
Do a Shot: mutherfuckin’ Periwinkle
666. Krux
Krux immerses us in a rural Eastern German community with women, children, and the few remaining men deemed unfit for service. The war is drawing to an end, though, and the approach of the Red Army will puncture any bubble of peace and safety they may yet feel. This has a bit of the aesthetics of Michael Haneke, operating in a similarly removed, increasingly hopeless meter as these people either realize the lie they’ve lived or prepare to go down with the ship instead. Two Beers.
Take a Drink: for dead bodies
Take a Drink: for cats
Do a Shot: for kittens
667. The Beloved
Rodrigo Sorogoyen’s latest is a familiar drama with, at least on the surface, a lot in common with last year’s Sentimental Value, with Javier Bardem in the role of the great director and deadbeat father who offers a lead role in his next film to his estranged daughter (here played by Victoria Luengo). It’s very much a different animal, though, letting emotions and words not said build and resisting big cathartic releases- perhaps a more realistic approach. The acting, of course, is superb, and the movie set they share is a fascinating political battleground in its own right. Perhaps a felt it was a tad too withholding myself, and, tiny quibble that it is, I didn’t quite get the thought behind the random shifts to black and white cinematography. Three Beers.
Take a Drink: for mention of past films or awards
Take a Drink: for spoonfuls of food
Do a Shot: for calling “cut”
