An early, early start made this one tough, but it was well worth it. The morning started out with the Cannes-picture Yorgos Lanthimos’ “Dogtooth,” which was everything we hoped it would be. The Greek filmmaker’s tale about a sociopathically protective and twisted mother and father who have sheltered their three adult children from society for the entire lives was disturbing, comical, deeply engaging and austerely shot. Twisted games, ritual sex and strange lies that these infant adults believe perpetuate throughout until one of the curious children tries to do the unthinkable: leave the gates of the house that they’ve been taught to never, ever, try and leave. There’s some interesting editorial-neutral and voyeuristic camera work throughout with Lanthimos seemingly saying, “if you want to laugh or feel shocked, it is up to you.”
Next up was Nicolas Winding Refn’s meditative and atmospheric viking film “Valhalla Rising” starring Danish actor Mads Mikkelson (whom we saw roaming Toronto more than any other actor) who delivers an entirely silent performance as a feared slave warrior with one eye. The brooding, unnerving and eerie picture was described by Playlist contribe Luke Gorsham as being a “horror movie as directed by Terrence Malick,” which is not far off the mark. We might even throw in some small Kubrick-esque creepshow tones as well. ‘Rising,’ is slow-moving, but hypnotizing and mesmerizing with no sounds other than haunting winds and rustling trees for minutes at a time. When some fiery, tribal-like guitar does occasionally start up its like a pounding death march to hell. A very audacious and unwavering film in its quiet and ambiguous aims.
From there we finally got a ticket to Terry Gilliam’s “The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus,” which we were very curious to see, but it proved to be a slapped-together nonsensical effort of silliness with “Candyland”-like CGI effects that would be passable in a children’s film, but not the adult world. In fact, dial down some moments a few notches, and ‘Parnassus’ could have been a kids movie. The relationship between Christopher Plummer and Tom Waits as the Devil is mostly engaging, Lily Cole, as the young daughter of Dr. Parnassus, is the stand out and we do feel for Gilliam having to salvage a movie without its star (Heath Ledger is fine, but “The Dark Knight” will always be remembered as his swan song), but it’s just a little too haphazard and goofy (it kind of reminded us of that “Mr. Show,” acid trip/ Sid & Marty Kroft skit). Not terrible by any means, but also probably one of the lesser films we saw all week.
The festival ended for us with much-loved and much-hyped “Up In The Air,” similar in tone and feel to “Thank You For Smoking,” but with darker undertones. It’s a solid effort, subtle and mature, but it did underwhelm somewhat. It’s director Jason Reitman’s best picture, but not leaps and bounds better than his past work. George Clooney and Vera Farmiga are capable and at times very strong, but its Anna Kendrick who surprised us the most, confidently going toe-to-toe with Clooney and matching him every step of the way. A Best Supporting nod is not out of the question.
The economic, job-loss angle definitely resonates loudly, but we almost wish the filmmaker would have opened up the emotional valve a little bit. The goofy score in the first half really left a lot to be desired too, but the song-heavy second half (a very tender Elliott Smith moment to “Angel In The Snow”) makes up for it. With 10 Best Picture slots and so much critical support, it should easily score a nomination, but “Up In The Air,’ being the sure-fire frontrunner remains to be seen from an overall qualitative perspective (there are at least two Oscar contenders that we’d say were better overall, one of them being Tom Ford’s “A Single Man”)
TIFF ’09 might not have been as good as last year’s festival, but there was still a lot to admire. Now its time to get some serious sleep. Full reviews to come, but we’re on an airplane soon, so the capsule, day-recaps might have to tide you over first.