Initially, this writer was planning on giving full-blown reviews of every film he saw at the Toronto International Film Festival, but then realized that nine out of ten times he pretty much exactly agrees with our original reviews, and full pieces could be redundant. So, here’s some capsule thoughts of films we’ve already reviewed. Take note: grades may vary slightly from original takes.
Critics seemed to be divided on Mark Romanek’s “Never Let Me Go,” and while it’s his finest feature-length effort to date, this writer agrees with our review; the lovely picture is exquisite-looking, with gorgeous painterly aesthetics of bucolic England, and a lovely impressionist-like score (Rachel Portman), but the picture is emotionally remote and distant, as charged, and keeps the viewer at arm’s length. Oscar nods could come from cinematography and score, but its doubtful the Oscar-friendly cast (Carey Mulligan and Andrew Garfield) or the rest of the picture will receive any noms (if, for example, you’re looking for Academy context from where this film might fall). We do give points to its heart-rending conclusion which is incredibly melancholy, tragic and shot with strikingly sad beauty, but emotionally it arrives a little too late. We’ll say this much though, better to be subtle and nuanced, as this film clearly is, than to be overt and loud like, “One Hour Photo,” so at least Romanek is clearly moving in the right direction. [B]. Here’s our original review.
Danny Boyle’s “127 Hours” is tremendous, so believe the hype. Our full-blown TIFF review said, “Deeply humane, rawly felt and astonishingly executed ‘127 Hours’ is one of the best films of year,” and you know what? This is absolutely true. Boyle has done it again and the film is exactly as good as everyone — including us — says it is. Boyle pulls every move in the playbook that allows him to keep a man pinned under a rock for almost two hours seem interesting, but never does it feel like he’s cramming myriad aesthetics and tricks down our throats. Visceral and inspirational, the film might make some squeamish, but the arm scene honestly isn’t that bad (though yes, some have already fainted in the middle of theaters) and there’s an amazing amount of tension and anxiety that leads up to this moment that you have to credit the filmmaker for. The film’s climax at its conclusion — set to the end of Sigur Ros’ heavenly and epic, “Festival” — might be the most rousing, moving and cathartic emotional moment of any film this year and this writer quivers just thinking about. James Franco, Boyle and the picture are Oscar bound (probably the editing , cinematography and score as well) once again and there’s no two ways about it. Having not seen “The King’s Speech” yet, this picture feels like the Oscar front runner as of right now (things will obviously change as they always do). At some point there will probably be a backlash and we can assure you, it will be as ignorant and dumb as they usually are. [A]
While not quite as impressed with Derek Cianfrance’s “Blue Valentine” as our original review from Cannes was, there’s no denying that Michelle Williams and Ryan Gosling deliver powerhouse, Academy-worthy performances that are split into two parts: their sweet, falling in love intro and their eventual heartbreaking disintegration years later. Perhaps a wandering narrative takes a few notches off the grade — there’s an ineffable thing we can’t quite place about the movie being slightly off, maybe its too self aware — but the observational, documentary-like camera is aces and again, the performances are superb. The film also boasts an incredibly tragic ending that explodes with emotion into its fantastic ending credit sequence (the year’s best). And that Grizzly Bear score is perfect. [A-]