TIFF 08 reviewed part 1
September 14th, 2008
And after one week I bit the dust with my posts around Toronto International Film Festival. Too tired, also a little tired of the festival, a little unwell too – not really sick, anyway – and after all not completely satisfied with my posts,particularly the language. English is not my native language and you see that, well, I can.
But, ok, the festival ended and it’s now time for a final review.
First the second week. I saw less screenings, but some highlights:
- New York, I love you. Because it’s a “work in progress” – not finished yet – I am not supposed to report about this one, but let’s say the “tone” of the movie is very pleasant and nice; and also very up to the minute, I saw my first white iPhone 3g in a movie here; no rating (out of competition)
- The Hurt Locker, from “maverick“ Kathryn Bigelow. How close you can get in a feature film to reality, in this case the reality of defusing bombs in Baghdad? Very close, i can tell you. At the start of the movie – well, not completely the start – you see rocks coming up from the grounds and it’s feeling like you experience yourself the overpressure of the explosion. In the very informative Q&A Kathryn told that that part was shot with a special digital camera (the Phantom) that can shoot about 10.000 frames per second. For an excellent report of that Q&A, see this excellent blog tifftalk. Rating ****1/2
- A Year Ago in Winter, from 2003 Oscar winner Caroline Link (Nowhere in Africa). “small” movie, beautiful painted, as much in screening as in reality, an splendid leading roles from Karoline Herfurth and Josef Bierbichler. The beautiful portraits created by (yes, that I couldn’t find, an update will follow). Rating ****
- Slumdog Millionaire. Overwhelming in every way and also the public favorite. I enjoyed, but had a very bad place in the theatre, third row or so, so I like to see the movie again asap. Rating: ****1/2
- Snow. The reality of the “women of Srebrenica“, about the reality one year after the genocide. A society without grown boys and men, fathers and sons. “Juicy” detail: co-produced by an Iranian company. Rating: ****
- A Time to Stir, Paul Cronin’s 4+ hours documentary about not may, but april 1968, the student revolts at Columbia University, NYC. A nice ending of my festival time, using my only voucher, while skipping two other screenings. No rating, out of competition.
