34th TIFF

[Johann]

It's time to put up a thread for the 34th TIFF, the biggest film festival in North America. It will run from Thurs. Sept. 10th to Sat. Sept. 19th. Can't wait. Should be a really exciting event.

This year we have new films from:

Werner Herzog (Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans)
Neil Jordan (Ondine)
Pedro Almodovar (Broken Embraces)
Jane Campion (Bright Star)
Manoel de Oliveira (Eccentricities of a Blond Hair Girl)
Tsai Ming-liang (Face)
Bruno Dumont (Hadewijch)
Alain Resnais (Wild Grass)
Todd Solondz (Life During Wartime)
Bruce Beresford (Mao's Last Dancer)
Danis Tanovic (Triage)
Joe Dante (The Hole)
George A. Romero (Survival of the Dead)
Drew Barrymore (Whip It)
Apichatpong Weerasethakul (A Letter to Uncle Boonmee)
Jean-Luc Godard (Une Catostrophe)
and
we have the World-Premiere of Michael Moore's latest,
CAPITALISM: A Love Story. Awesome. Hope to meet the man and express my admiration for what he's done for the world.

And of course almost 300 other films will be shown. (That's a whole lotta film, BROTHER!)

I'm also looking forward to seeing the documentary on the White Stripes' cross-Canada tour.


Most excellent.
With almost 20 separate programs to choose from, filmgoers have a smorgasbord of films to indulge in. For listings, see the website linked below.

Go here for all news, events and programme information:

www.TIFF08.ca

[Johann]

Also screening is Terry Gilliam's still-without-a-distributer Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus, one film I'm very keen to see.
We miss ya Heath Ledger...

And a brand-new print of Atom Egoyan's The Adjuster will be screened, along with his latest feature.

[Johann]

I read in the paper yesterday that Isabella Rosellini will be at TIFF (to showcase more of her Genius marine life pornos), and so will Neil Young, who will be performing free at Dundas square, to promote his new film with Jonathan Demme.

[oscar jubis]

A very exciting lineup. Toronto is so huge that no matter how many films you watch you grieve over what you missed. At least that was my reaction. Especially what you missed that might not get a chance to watch anytime soon, if ever. I missed SATANTANGO at Toronto '95 and I haven't quite forgotten myself for it (it didn't sellout). I figured it's 8 hours long (including the intermission) and I can see three movies instead. Now I dream of having a chance to watch it in a theater someday. It's a personal favorite and no TV set can ever do it justice.
Enjoy the fest!!!

[Johann]

I'm pretty excited about the festival, no doubt about it.
Yes, missing Satantango would be unfortunate.
But don't feel bad, my employer made sure I didn't get to use my already-bought tickets for Berlin Alexanderplatz at the cinematheque last december. 40 bucks down the drain...a night I would've never forgotten...what can you do?
I have to earn a living in order to support my movie addiction...

I'll be as "vivid" as I can be with my reporting at TIFF.
Glad you get something out of my scribbles.

[oscar jubis]

*Of course I meant to say that I haven't forgiven myself for missing the North American premiere of SATANTANGO.

*That's a very compassionate post. Missing BERLIN ALEXANDERPLATZ and 40 bucks feels even worse than missing SATANTANGO.

*Why is it that the best television series ever made in the whole wide world, BERLIN ALEXANDERPLATZ and THE SECOND HEIMAT, are German?

[Chris Knipp]

How about Dekalog? That was made for TV. Actually I'm quite happy with some TV series in English. Again, I'm not that into making lists and laying it on the line about what is "the best . . .in the whole world." I find that a bit stifling.

[oscar jubis]

I don't find it stifling. DEKALOG is great, no doubt. But I'd rather rewatch the two German series I mentioned. Or the expanded version of Dekalog's Fifth Commandment (Kieslowski opted for the numbering of the Commandments used by Catholics and Lutherans so the fifth would be "Thou Shall not Kill"): A Short Film About Killing (1988).

[Chris Knipp]

I'd rather watch "Skins." I like to be cheered up. Not that all episodes of "Skins" are upbeat. Now maybe "The Thick of It," the source of "In the Loop." My friend forced me to watch "The Wire," but I gave up early because it's too grim.

[Johann]

The more I read about Fassbinder the more I want to see all of his films. He died young (age 37) and Berlin A. is considered his masterpiece. There was a nice article in the Jarmusch (May-June '09) issue of Film Comment by Chris Chang:
Burn After Reading, Peer Raben's shock tactics.

In it he talks about "The Third Generation", a film "Shot on Kodak ECN II in West Berlin, from November 1978 to January 22, 1979".
I want to it see bad. There's an image of the poster along with the article and it looks awesome.
Peer Raben was Fassbinder's composer on nearly 30 films of his 43-film filmography. Apparently he had to explain to Fassbinder on the set of Berlin Alexanderplatz that the song "Radioactivity" by Kraftwerk wasn't sacred. Fassbinder thought it was a religious, Holy song. I love learning shit like that. That's why I buy Film Comment. For articles like Chris Chang's.

[oscar jubis]

I haven't seen this caustic, prescient political satire. It has Eddie Constantine and Bulle Ogier in addition to RWF's stock company. It's Fassbinder so any self-respecting film buff must watch it sooner or later. It's been available on German and British DVD for a while. So I think it's only a matter of time before it's released here. New Yorker Films had the North American theatrical rights but didn't bother to release it on home video. Shot in 35 mm but the original aspect ratio is 1.33:1, which I believe is meant to facilitate the satirical take on terrorism as covered on TV news broadcasts.

Film Comment is great. Maybe some day I will be publish something there. That would be a dream come true.
For the time being, I have just received my first serious assignment. Have you heard of Film International magazine? It was published in Swedish from 1973 until about five years ago, when it adopted English. The editor has assigned me to review BAD BOY BUBBY, Rolf de Heer's Venice-winner recently released here and in the UK in deluxe blu-ray editions. Have you seen it?

[Johann]

No. haven't seen it. or heard of it.
Looking forward to reading about it.
I like the title.

[oscar jubis]

It is a highly controversial film. It was not released in the States because of scenes of incest and animal cruelty. It has interesting experimental qualities. For instance, de Heer used 32 different cinematographers for this film. They were under contractual obligation not to meet with each other and not to watch the rushes of each other's scenes. The film was released in the UK in a censored version. However, the film has a strong cult following and it has a good reputation among critics and film academia, besides its Venice award.

[Johann]

Great. My kind of film project.
I like it when directors really take it to another level.
Since you recommended "Decasia" I've been trying to find it.
No luck. Or the Puppetmaster. Which I thought I could easily do in Toronto.


M. Night Shyamalan's newest film looked amazing from the trailer.
I haven't really liked anything he's done since "Sixth Sense".
He has immense talent, and this new film looks beautiful, like something I'll really dig.

[oscar jubis]

Since Film International prohibits me from publishing my review of BAD BOY BUBBY here or anywhere else, I will provide a link to it. If promises are kept, review will appear on the November/December issue of the magazine. Perhaps it would motivate members to check the film out.

Both are available on DVD, Johann. I would recommend to wait until Hou's THE PUPPERMASTER is restored and release in a version that adheres to the correct aspect ratio. The available DVD is a total fucking disgrace. Conversely, I do recommend the DECASIA dvd available here: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/AS...Y/imdb-button/. The score itself is worth the price of admission. Perhaps the best of any film I've seen this decade. The Alloy Orchestra's score for Dziga Vertv's silent masterpiece MAN WITH A MOVIE CAMERA is its sole competition in my opinion.

Not a Shyamalan fan.