Day 5: September 12

Already film prospects are drying up, and I'm trying to see things that fit the schedule and venue that I'm residing in at any given time. Often that has worked (Rushmore was one very happy accident a few years back), but tonight's Lebanese silliness showed that sometimes things just suck. Did manage to stick around to see Richard E. Grant's project that for all intents and purposes should have played as a vanity project, but instead came across as quite an accomplished film. Doesn't hurt when you have folks the likes of Miranda Richardson and Gabriel Byrne in the flick, both on hand to answer Q&As.

At the earlier screening of the Guy Ritchie flick, his famous wife was nestled offstage, and you could see wisps of her blondeness and a finely tailored suit to give hint that the Material girl was there, but not wishing to upstage hubby.

The balcony was closed off and there were plenty of seats available, but genre fans missed out on an absolute riot tonight. Perhaps Colin's hesitance came through in his review, fearing it'd be too "inside", requiring encylopedic knowledge of Thai comedic tropes to get the jokes. He shouldn't have worried.

The Squid and the Whale
Directed by: Noah Baumbach

Grade: A-

Coming on the heals of many a Wes Anderson directed success, Squid may seem more of the same - you'll either like it, or not, depending on your reaction to films like Tenenbaums and Life Aquatic. I for one seem to really respond to those type of films, so this tale of divorce and how it affects the children of a distant academic and his stifled wife hit me in a positive way. The script is delightful, and the banter between the family members is fresh without seeming too scripted. Anna Paquin turns up as, of all things, an object of flirtacious desire, and the rest of the cast is uniformly excellent. I thoroughly enjoyed the ride the film took me on.

Revolver
Directed by: Guy Ritchie

Grade: C+

'm finding a somewhat distressing new trend at this year's fest. Usually I find that films tend to know where they are going, so the ending is the most fleshed out, worked over part. The punchline is the key, in otherwords, with the rest just a process of getting there. It may be a shift in my mood, but I'm finding more and more that certain flicks start out well, only to begin slowly unravelling until the end is just a silly mess. Sadly, Revolver does just that, takes an interesting start, flights of metaphysical fancy mixed in with gangster genre staples, and fucks it all up. By the end, when the voices cry over and over to either kill or be killed, we're forced to just want somebody to die allready to get it over with...

Brokeback Mountain
Directed by: Ang Lee

Grade: A

Much celebrated at Venice, talked about with great anticipation, I had nothing but dread about this "gay cowboy" flick. I couldn't have been more wrong.

This is simply a masterful telling of star crossed love, with all the complications of any affair. Neither gratuitous nor shying away from the hidden pasion, Lee crafts a sublte and quite beautful film. All the trappings I was expecting, and I was left with a marvelous, subtle and, for lack of a better word, clean tale, free from distraction or artifice. The actors do rise to the top of their games, and the Alberta countryside has rarely been filmed in a better light. Cold, at times bitter but with a great deal of warmth and caring, this is a mountain that's clearly worth visiting, and should likely do well come Oscar time.

A Perfect Day
Directed by: J. Hadjithomas and K. Joreige

Grade: FAIL

There are films that play the fest that would make most casual festival goers shudder. Long, lugubrious takes of out-of-focus streetlights. Contemplative, dialogue-free scenes with actors simply staring off into the distance, inscrutable. Marginally, the film attempts to tell what I'm sure is a powerful story about coming to grips with the dissapearance of a husband/father some 15 years after the Lebanese civil war. 16,000 are unaccounted for, and many still don't know how to grieve for the missing.

Well, fine, somewhere in there you can create some compelling drama about memory and loss. But, lordy, this ain't it.

I'm not sure about the sarcastic title, but the day basically consists of boy text messaging girlfriend that just dumped his ass, and mom calling him incessantly. So, lack of communication on all sides, got it. Later in the film, the girl gets drunk and jumps on the guy while driving (in the most rediculous driving-while-snogging scene I've ever experienced), and then turns all manic and runs away in the middle of the city down some dark alley. Oh, and she's taken out her contacts, that he puts in and (oooh) the world gets fuzzy.

The key, funilly enough, is that the guy suffers from sleep apnea (there's a whole scene with a Dr. in a sleep clinic). He spends much of the time fighting off falling asleep, something that I'm sure much of the audience could relate to. The lack of applause at the end of the film (with the directors waiting for a Q&A in a half empty theatre) spoke loads about the flick.

Wah Wah
Directed by: Richard E. Grant

Grade: B

Grant's film tells the twisted, autobiographical tale of a childhood spend in Swaziland as it neared independence. With a schizoid mother and alcoholic father, what's remarkable aout the film is that it maintains its sense of humour. Emily Waston is delightful as the American step-mother, as is the rest of the ensemble. Grant widely focusses on the perspective of the one family, with the country's political turmoil only reflected when it directly affects the family in an intimate way. The scenery is majestic, and, while not a home-run, this is certainly a worthwhile contribution to thiss year's programme.

Bankok Loco
Directed by: Pink

Grade: A+

Genius.

Loco finds Drumline meeting Ong Bak, with a dallop of insanity thrown in. References abound, from a Star Wars-style crawl in Thai, Run Lola Run frantic running, to Requiem for a Dream splitscreen goodness, but this is its own thing from the mad mind of Mr. Pink.

Instead of Kung Fu, the battles are musical in nature, with drum sets conveniently located in VIP suites all over town. From the opening sequence where a body is chopped to hamburger meat in the midst of a drum solo the story takes a million turns. References trip over themselves, many lost to us poor Western audiences. Still, the style, bravado and sillyiness make up for any elements that may seem more confusingly funny than referential. From what I understand, Thai audiences equally at many of the "inside" jokes the filmmakers bring to the fore.

Crazy rock-musical tunes litter the film, and the closing drum battle is glorious. This is perhaps the oddest film to play in any MM slot in years, and it rocked the house in a way no other film did. A joy to behold from the begining to the end, this is the type of insanity that MM was made for. Downright awesome.