CADILLAC PEOPLE’S CHOICE AWARD

The Cadillac People’s Choice Award is voted on by Festival audiences. This year�s award goes to David Cronenberg’s EASTERN PROMISES. Cronenberg reunites with his A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE leading man Viggo Mortensen for a new thriller. EASTERN PROMISES follows the mysterious and ruthless Nikolai (Mortensen), a Russian gangster tied to one of London�s most notorious organized crime families. His carefully maintained existence is shaken when he crosses paths with Anna (Naomi Watts), an innocent midwife who accidentally uncovers potential evidence against the family. First runner-up is Jason Reitman’s JUNO and the second runner up is Phil Donahue and Ellen Spiro’s BODY OF WAR. The award offers a $15,000 cash prize and custom award, sponsored by Cadillac. The Cadillac People’s Choice award was presented by Norm Sawula, Cadillac Marketing Manager.

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The Assassination Of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford (dir. Andrew Dominik): Seeing No Country For Old Men early in the day – and admiring the way that it kept moving forward with nary a wasted shot or scene – may have fed some of my occasional impatience with Jesse James, which is languorous by design. In delineating the intertwined fates of an outlaw and his assassin, Dominik doesn’t always choose wisely between what’s important to show and what’s not. Partly that’s due to the mood he’s trying to strike: an immersive old west experience that includes all the idle conversations along with the gunfights. Westerns of the past 40 years tend to be either “ratty hat” (revisionist and dirty) or “natty hat” (iconic and pristine). Jesse James tries to be a little bit of both, and as a result it doesn’t feel stock or familiar. It’s a movie to get lost in, even when the movie gets a little lost itself. (B).

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Source: A.V. Club

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Saturday night marked my first film of the 2007 TIFF, the world premiere of the offbeat dramedy Juno from director Jason Reitman. Playing to a packed crowd at the Ryerson theater, I knew it was going to be one of those nights when I found myself walking in alongside Jason’s dad (and Hollywood heavy) Ivan Reitman.

I’ve gotta say, in settings like this, it’s got to be nice to be a famous director. While the majority of people may know and love your work, not as many are necessarily familiar with what you look like, so you can walk around relatively unnoticed.

Which was most definitely not the case when another kind of Hollywood royalty entered the building.

A few minutes before the screening began, the crowd started buzzing – more so than usual. When my girlfriend and I turned around to see what all the fuss was about, none other than Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner were being escorted down the aisle (Jen’s a principle actor in Juno).

Turns out, their handlers had mistakenly brought the famous couple in the wrong entrance, and now they had to be paraded in front of the entire theater to get to their seats. “This is a disaster,” Jen whispered to Ben as they passed right by us in the front. (I was surprised to see that Jen, who’s never been a favorite of mine, is actually quite pretty in person).

“Affleck, you were the bomb in Phantoms,” somebody shouted. Dammit, why didn’t I think of that first?

Once everything settled down, Juno was actually quite good. Reitman’s follow-up to 2005’s Thank You for Smoking, it focuses on the titular teenager (Ellen Page of Hard Candy fame) who unwittingly gets pregnant by her friend Paulie Bleeker (Superbad’s Michael Cera). But when Juno can’t stomach an abortion, she decides to go through with the pregnancy and give the tyke up for adoption. Enter the aforementioned Jennifer Garner who, along with Arrested Development alum Jason Bateman, make up the yuppie couple who’ll be adopting Juno’s baby.

Much like Reitman’s last flick, Juno is heavy on style, a slick and witty piece of filmmaking. You’re going to hear “the next Little Miss Sunshine” claims bandied about a lot in the coming months, but in truth, they don’t have much in common other than that they’re both funny, and they’re both very good.

The honest family drama and clever dialogue actually makes Juno more reminiscent of some of Wes Anderson’s earlier work, most notably the underrated Bottle Rocket – the hipster soundtrack, heavy on the Belle and Sebastian, doesn’t hurt either.

But Reitman’s style is far more busy and manic than anything Anderson’s done… not that that’s a bad thing. Diablo Cody’s script is handled ably by Juno’s stellar cast, and The Office’s Rainn Wilson makes a hilarious cameo in the opening scene that sets the tone from there on out.

Allison Janney is absolutely amazing as Juno’s stepmother, pairing with an always-great J.K. Simmons (Spiderman, Thank You for Smoking) in one of the first roles I’ve seen him in when he’s not forced to scream at the top of his lungs. And Michael Cera actually wasn’t in the movie as much as I had expected, but got by far the loudest applause of the bunch (what can I say? people love this guy).

Be on the lookout for Juno when it hits theaters in December, and keep an eye on Jason Reitman’s career, because this is one Hollywood brat that’s definitely going places.

Source: TunaFlix

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Movie Of The Day: My Kid Could Paint That (dir. Amir Bar-Lev)A non-critic friend of mine once gave me a good standard for judging documentaries: If reading a description of the movie tells you just as much as watching it will, then maybe it’s not a very good documentary. For about the first 30 minutes, My Kid Could Paint That seems bound to fail that test. Even though director Bar-Lev elaborates on the comically brief biography of 4-year-old abstract art superstar Marla Olmstead with mini-histories of modern art and child prodigies, the relevance of Marla’s rise to success – from a coffeehouse show to NYC galleries – seems at first a little too mapped-out. Just your basic chin-stroker about what the art world fervor over a kid painter says about the validity of modern art, and so forth.

But right around the time Marla turns 5, the story starts to evolve, keyed by a 60 Minutes report that fuels speculation about whether the kindergartner had some outside help with her masterpieces. In an instant, My Kid Could Paint That transforms into a multi-level study of what original creation means, how parents handle gifted children, the cruel voraciousness of the media, and what responsibility documentarians have to the people who allow them into their homes. The implications of all of these questions become cumulatively unnerving, whether you’re a parent, a journalist or an art-lover. (Or in my case, all three.) By the end, Bar-Lev starts crossing the line from passive observer to investigator, culminating in a direct confrontation with the Olmstead family that almost single-handedly raises My Kid Could Paint That from not-bad to great. (A-)

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Source: A.V. Club

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The Orphanage (dir. J.A. Bayona): Bayona and screenwriter Sergio Sanchez deliver a legitimately chilling ghost story, set in a beachfront Spanish mansion that was once an orphanage – and that a young couple and their imaginative adopted son are looking to turn into a boarding school. The Orphanage sags a little at times, mainly because the filmmakers over-explain the premise, and the film suffers -albeit slightly- from some familiar horror movie gimmicks, including the well-worn “kid who sees things that others don’t” bit. But the story is rich and involving, the creep-outs are skin-crawlingly effective, and the ending is pretty devastating. Guillermo Del Toro produced, and his gothic Spanish flavor abounds.(B+)

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Lust, Caution (dir. Ang Lee): This WWII-era espionage drama puts everything it’s supposed to on the screen, from the mixed emotions that Chinese resistance agent Tang Wei feels for her brutish lover Tony Leung (a collaborator with the Japanese) to the westernized milieu that makes `40s Hong Kong and Shanghai such a strange place to be. Lust, Caution’s images are sumptuous, its performances strong, and its plot points carefully strung. And yet the movie just kind of lays there, sucked-dry in ways that are hard to account for. This is a smart movie, but not an especially emotional one. Even the already notorious explicit sex scenes feel more calculated than organic. Call this one a noble misfire from a usually reliable auteur – though I wouldn’t be surprised if some people really go for it.(B-)

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Source: A.V. Club

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No Country for Old Men (Coen Bros, USA)
I usually don’t see films I know will be opening widely in Columbus, but I couldn’t resist seeing this one, with the rave reviews it has been receiving. I’m not sure I have much to add to the accolades the film has already garnered, but Javier Bardem is quite possibly the best heavy in a film in the past ten years and brings to mind Jack Palance in Shane. The story? A man stumbles on a drug deal gone bad, finds a suitcase stuffed with cash, and spends the rest of the film in a battle of wits with the killing machine on his trail. I would be shocked if Bardem isn’t one of the nominees for best supporting actor at next year’s Oscars. Tommy Lee Jones and Woody Harrelson also appear, and it’s based on the novel by Cormac McCarthy (with a Coen bros. twist). (Celebrity sighting: Michael Moore was escorted/inserted in line right in front of me as the line for the screening was about as long as they get. He was very nice and almost apologetic for the VIP treatment and chatted with all around him.)

Source: WexBlog

No Country For Old Men (dir. Joel & Ethan Coen): I actually liked Intolerable Cruelty and thought The Ladykillers had its redeeming qualities, but neither film felt completely on-point. Taking a few years off seems to have done the Coen brothers a world of good. Here, the familiar Coen signifiers are well-deployed, from the seedy motels to the barren landscapes to the slow dollies in to people not quite able to sleep. But No Country For Old Men is also graver than any other Coen brothers movie, despite their trademark deadpan humor and flavorful dialogue (a lot of which is lifted from Cormac McCarthy’s novel). The theme of unstoppable evil and the lengths we’ll go to avoid confronting it seems to have provoked a steely purpose from our Coens. No Country is quiet for long stretches, and the story perversely withholds some major characters (and the stars who play them) until they’re absolutely needed; but nothing about the movie is in the least saggy or superfluous. It’s a fine-tuned anxiety-delivery device, with a menacing jack-in-the box lurking inside.(A)

Source: A.V. Club

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Film Title	Director
DAINIPPONJIN (official website) Friday September 14 Middle-aged slacker Daisato (played by director Hitoshi Matsumoto, one of Japan’s famous comedians) seems an unlikely subject for a documentary crew following his banal daily routine; that is, until he transforms into a giant superhero with tight purple briefs, tattoos and a crazy hairdo to battle outlandish villains and revolting monsters. But with the superhero’s falling TV ratings, noise complaints from citizens, blame for destruction of public property and family problems, he has become the scapegoat of New Japan. A wickedly deadpan spin on Japanese pop-culture and traditions, DAINIPPONJIN is an outrageous comedy destined for cult status. Also starring Riki Takeuchi, UA, Ryunosuke Kamiki and Itsuji Itao.	Hitoshi Matsumoto
THE DEVIL’S CHAIR (official website) Quicktime Trailer Tuesday September 11 Director Adam Mason’s sharp supernatural rollercoaster follows Nick West (Andrew Howard), who has spent years in incarceration for the alleged brutal murder of his girlfriend. Released into the care of a noted psychologist and his students, hell-bent on exposing the truth behind the killing, they return together to the scene of the crime, an abandoned asylum, where a blood-drenched secret is revealed. With the team in mortal danger, the criminally insane Nick is their only hope for survival. Also starring Elize du Toit, Matt Berry, David Gant and Louise Griffiths.	Adam Mason
FLASH POINT (official website) Wednesday September 12 After the success of SPL in Midnight Madness in 2005, director Wilson Yip and actor and fight choreographer Donnie Yen (IRON MONKEY and HERO) hit back with another two-fisted cinematic powder keg. Hot-headed cop Jun (Yen) is after a gang of drug-dealing brothers. His undercover colleague, Wilson (Louis Koo), infiltrates the gang but has his cover blown, which lands one of the brothers in jail. The other members vow to wipe out Wilson, the only witness, and set off a series of high-octane chases and bone-cracking fisticuffs. Also starring Collin Chou, Lui Leung-wai and Fan Bing-bing and Xing Yu.	Wilson Yip
FRONTIÈRES Quicktime Trailer Friday September 07 The debut feature of Xavier Gens (HITMAN) is a bloody head butt into the stiff face of French cinema. Paris’ projects burn where protesters riot against a newly elected extreme right-wing party. Among the chaos, a gang of youths flee with stolen money towards the Luxembourg border. They reconvene at an inn and encounter their hosts, a motley clan of neo-Nazi fanatics only too keen to invite them into their twisted Gothic household. Starring Karina Testa, Samuel le Bihan, Estelle Lefébure, Aurélien Wiik and David Saracino.	Xavier Gens
GEORGE A. ROMERO’S DIARY OF THE DEAD Saturday September 08 In his first independently produced zombie film in over two decades, George A. Romero returns to ground zero in the history of the living dead. When a group of film students making a horror movie in the woods discover that the dead have begun to revive, they turn their cameras on the real-life horrors that suddenly confront them, creating a first person diary of their bloody encounters and the disintegration of everything they hold dear. Told with Romero’s pitch-black humor and an unflinching eye on our post-Katrina world, GEORGE A. ROMERO’S DIARY OF THE DEAD marks the noted filmmaker’s return to his roots. Starring Michelle Morgan, Josh Close, Shawn Roberts, Scott Wentworth, Amy Lalonde and Joe Dinicol.	George A. Romero
À L’INTÉRIEUR (official website) Quicktime Trailer Saturday September 15 Four months after the tragic accident that claimed her husband’s life, a pregnant widow, Sarah (Alysson Paradis, sister of Vanessa Paradis), receives an unexpected knock on her door on Christmas Eve. A stranger (Béatrice Dalle) asks to use her phone, which raises Sarah’s suspicions and she immediately calls the police. They find no trace of the woman. Locking her door after the police leave her home, Sarah unwittingly traps herself in a terrifying, jealous maternal struggle for the life of her baby in this nail-bitting French thriller.	Alexandre Bustillo, Julien Maury
STUCK Monday September 10 Brandi (Mena Suvari) hits Tom (Stephen Rea) with her car on her way home from a night of partying. With Tom still alive but lodged through her windshield, she promises to go a hospital but then decides to leave Tom to die in her garage as she realizes that her future is inextricably tied to her victim. Realizing this plan, Tom knows escape is his only chance for survival. Based on a true incident, director Stuart Gordon (THE RE-ANIMATOR) has made an urban chiller with a jagged edge of black humour.	Stuart Gordon
VEXILLE (official website) Sunday September 09 Dive into the ground-breaking, animated futuristic odyssey of VEXILLE, surface in Tokyo Bay and discover a country sealed off from the rest of humanity. In 2077, Japan has isolated itself from the rest of the world, opposing a United Nations treaty restricting areas of advanced research in biotechnology. Vexille, a female commander in charge of a U.S. Special Forces unit that polices treaty violations, is sent to infiltrate Japan. The revelation of the country’s new reality shakes her when she witnesses the destruction of both land and citizenry by a Japanese mega-corporation and monstrous, android worms. Starring the voices of Meisa Kuroki, Shosuke Tanihara, Yasuko Matsuyuki, Takahiro Sakurai and Romi Pak.	Fumihiko Sori

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