Rating Legend
5 – See it at TIFF
4 – See it when it’s released
3 – Wait for it to turn up on iTunes
2 – Wait for it to turn up on Torrentz
1 – Ignore it when it turns up on a flight
Carancho
Fans of Academy Award winner The Secret in Their Eyes would do well to check out this follow-up from star Ricardo Darin. Directed by the talented Pablo Trapero (Rolling Family, Lion’s Den), Carancho is about a conflicted lawyer who haunts emergency rooms hoping to make clients of traffic accident victims. Some who’ve seen it say it nails the gritty urban realism that Martin Scorsese only partially captured in Bringing Out the Dead.
Score: 4
Cave of Forgotten Dreams
Werner Herzog! Spelunking! France! Ancient art! In 3-D!
Score: 100!
The Conspirator
Nobody seems to know much about this Robert Redford–directed gala film, which, as of right now, doesn’t even have a release date. Of course, that hasn’t stopped Oscar prognosticators from predicting a best actress nod for Robin Wright, who stars as a mother accused of aiding her son in the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. We’d feel more confident, however, if Redford had ever displayed an aptitude for period pictures. (Remember The Legend of Bagger Vance? Neither do we.)
Score: 2
Conviction
The trailer for this Hilary Swank legal drama has every single Oscar-baiting cliché known to man. Based on the undoubtedly inspiring true story of working mom Betty Ann Waters, who put herself through law school for the sole purpose of defending her brother from wrongful imprisonment, Conviction looks set to join Amelia and Freedom Writers in Swank’s growing catalogue of unendurable biopics.
Score: 1
Everything Must Go
First, it got Robin Williams. Then Tom Hanks and Jim Carrey. And now it’s claimed Will Farrell: the dramatic acting bug. In this adaptation of a Raymond Carver short story, Farrell stars as a motivational speaker whose wife has locked him out of the house and thrown all of his belongings on the lawn. Consequently, he makes the lawn his permanent residence. Farrell will likely get to do some funny stuff here, but it’ll almost certainly be muted. And isn’t muted Will Farrell missing the entire point of Will Farrell?
Score: 2
The First Grader
This supposedly true story about an uneducated 84-year-old Kenyan man who enrolls in a remote primary school has “heartwarmer” written all over it, but will it be too cloying for its own good? Director Justin Chadwick didn’t show much talent for understatement in his debut, The Other Boleyn Girl, so we’re skeptical. On the other hand, we can easily see this winning the People’s Choice Award, so what do we know?
Score: 2
Hereafter
Director Clint Eastwood makes his first appearance at TIFF in more than 20 years with this three-pronged tale of a reluctant psychic (Matt Damon), a journalist who survives the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami (Cécile de France) and a London boy who loses someone close to him around the time of the 2005 Tube bombings. If that sounds like a lot to pull together, keep in mind the script is by Peter Morgan, who wrote The Last King of Scotland, The Queen and Frost/Nixon—swell pictures all. The buzz is so loud around this one that we can barely hear Clint calling it his “French movie.”
Score: 4
I Saw the Devil
South Korean director Kim Ji-woon (A Tale of Two Sisters; The Good, the Bad, the Weird) returns with this thriller about a rogue secret agent on the trail of a depraved serial killer. This being a Kim Ji-woon film, however, the hero reveals himself to be nearly as depraved as his antagonist. Expect some real directorial flair, but don’t expect a morally edifying night at the movies.
Score: 3
The Illusionist
French animator Sylvain Chomet’s hand-drawn follow-up to The Triplets of Belleville, based on an old, unproduced Jacques Tati screenplay about a struggling magician, received raves in Britain when the film was released there in August. Expect similarly enthusiastic notices here.
Score: 5
I’m Still Here
Does it even matter if this thing—Casey Affleck’s long-awaited fly-on-the-wall account of Joaquin Phoenix’s bizarro 2008 transformation into a humourless, monosyllabic hip-hop artist—is good or bad? We want to see it simply to find out if the whole thing was a put-on. Then again, we can probably save ourselves the trouble by simply reading about it on-line the day after the screening.
Score: 2
Incendies
If you were one of the many people who couldn’t get tickets to Wajdi Mouawad’s hugely acclaimed play Scorched when it was performed at the Tarragon in 2007 (and again in 2009), here’s another chance to see what all the fuss was about. This adaptation was helmed by Montreal filmmaker Denis Villeneuve, whose recent Polytechnique won the 2010 Genie Award for best film.
Score: 4
It’s Kind of a Funny StoryEarly word of mouth on this comedy-drama—a major departure for directing duo Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck (Half Nelson, Sugar)—is that it’s a gamble that paid off. Psych ward inmate Zach Galifianakis (the breakout star of The Hangover) plays mentor to a stressed-out 16-year-old kid who’s been placed in the adult ward while the youth ward undergoes renovations. We want to see it based on its kooky, confident trailer.
Score: 4
What an arrogant little piece of tripe this is. Some of the so called film summaries seem to be based on rumor and/or first impressions instead of facts and/or studied opinion.
September 1, 2010 at 4:40 pm | by PatsThis kind of writing really bothers, it suffers from both lack of research and baseless claims. Did the writer blindly throw darts at his rating legend when deciding on each movie? And when he says “our picks” who does that refer to? Does the entire writing staff stand behind these arbitrary previews/ratings?
September 1, 2010 at 10:44 pm | by AndyThis kind of writing really bothers me, it suffers from both lack of research and baseless claims. Did the writer blindly throw darts at his rating legend when scoring each movie? And when he says “our picks” what does “our” refer to? Does the entire writing staff stand behind these arbitrary previews/ratings?
September 1, 2010 at 10:45 pm | by AndyI’m agreeing with the comments above.
September 2, 2010 at 8:10 am | by anonAlso, some spoilers are mentioned – really they should say spoiler alert!
Way to ruin a movie-going experience.
Commenters, puhleese! You expect thoughtful insights into 300 films that haven’t been screened yet? This is about THE BUZZ about these films. Entertaining speculation, period.
September 2, 2010 at 9:10 am | by Ben LawsonWhen I saw the comments, I figured this right-up can’t be that bad…well, in fact it is! Trite, biased, spoiling, and lacking. Articles like this do nothing but hamper the film industry and indeed, the movie-going experience.
September 2, 2010 at 9:10 am | by ChrisTo all the people hating on this article: do you know how a film
festival works? The films have very limited viewing before TIFF
(usually at other festivals), so when they come here, the only way to
separate the sh*t from the brilliance is to go on what’s been said
before. This writer clearly follows these things more closely than
most people. Do you people actually feel like we shouldn’t talk about
movies before they screen?! Or maybe you’re one of the studio hacks
who are trying to discredit people who tell the truth about your
movies?
Haters, get a grip (or at least a sense of humor). These are
September 2, 2010 at 9:40 am | by GFpreviews, not reviews. They’re meant to be fun and helpful. You don’t
like ‘em? Go back to picking movie titles out of a hat.
See the movies and make your own judgment rather than read what someone else thinks.
September 2, 2010 at 2:46 pm | by DebbieYes, I do expect thoughtful analysis.
There are plenty of press screenings of many of the TIFF films, and those writers with some credibility and integrity who are prepared to spend some time at their jobs actually go to see those films before they write their thoughtful analysis.
The original commenters were right.
September 2, 2010 at 9:54 pm | by to-musicDear GF, you’re an idiot. The writer gave Black Swan a 3 and Biutiful a 2. Both these movies look brilliant and all early signs point to these being great movies of the year. The writers sense of humor is smug and jaded, not the least bit funny. “it seems like a patriotic duty to at least pretend to like it,” f*** off Scott Macdonald.
September 3, 2010 at 1:08 am | by AndyHey, at least Scott MacDonald gives reasons why he writes what he writes. “These movies look brilliant” doesn’t tell you anything. All your arguments are ad hominem. Calling me “an idiot” and calling the writer “smug and jaded” doesn’t make Black Swan and Biutiful good movies. What does?
I’m not saying Macdonald is right on every count, but even if he’s totally wrong, he makes a much stronger case than you do.
September 5, 2010 at 11:31 am | by GFI realize that many of your people are film buffs who probably follow all the buzz yourselves. Sounds like you’ve already decided what movies you want to see at the festival, which makes me wonder why you read this article at all. I don’t follow the buzz and I certainly don’t have time to see everything. I appreciate an article like this which gives me some tips so I can narrow it down. And I think it’s an amusing piece. Hugs!
September 6, 2010 at 4:19 am | by BillThis piece is so Canadian. Shit all over everything without even seeing it. Good job, amateur.
September 6, 2010 at 2:14 pm | by irkedLove your rating system, especially the torretz. lol
September 7, 2010 at 11:06 am | by LXOnly one of the movies listed got a “5″ rating so according to the writer’s rather shoddy ranking system, there is a whopping ONE movie that is worth seeing at TIFF? I don’t think so.
September 7, 2010 at 1:34 pm | by huh?