Forget "Pieces"

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It is axiomatic that one must must approach all Canadian-produced films chosen to open the Toronto Film Festival with extreme caution. Jeremy Podeswa's Fugitive Pieces, which I just walked out of, conveys this tendency in spades. I was out the door after 30 minutes, but I was looking at my watch after the first 15 minutes. I don't care if it kicks in at the one-hour mark or whatever -- I won't sit through films like this.

Expelled for the duration of the festival, and perhaps beyond. We will have no more to do with thee..be gone! Snapped in a Cineplex Odeon hallway after excusing myself from Jeremy Podeswa's Fugitive Pieces -- Thursday, 9.6.07, 9:35 am

I guess this means I'm dead meat as far as the film's producer, Robert Lantos, is concerned. If I run into him at at a party I'll say I'm somebody else.

Pieces is a doleful past-and-present drama about a 40ish Holocaust survivor (Stephen Dillane) who finds it difficult coping with the present with so many World War II ghosts swirling around in his head. I can't personally cope with Dillane -- he kills each and every film and play that he's in with his withered, crinkly-faced dweeby-ness. And I didn't believe for a second that a 51 year-old pill like Dillane would entice a 28 year-old blonde hottie (Rosamund Pike, last in Fracture) to hop into bed with him and then propose marriage in fairly short order.

I'm going to catch the last half-hour of Juan Antonio Bayona's The Orphanage. Saw it twice in Cannes, and that wasn't quite enough.

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Posted by Jeffrey Wells on September 6, 2007 at 6:53 AM

comment #1

Hal says ...

I dunno; I'd hop into bed with Stephen Dillane and then propose marriage in fairly short order.

Posted by Hal at September 6, 2007 7:44 AM

comment #2

Wrecktum says ...

Stephen Dillane was great in the underrated Greatest Game Ever Played.

Posted by Wrecktum at September 6, 2007 7:52 AM

comment #3

Howlingman says ...

Interesting reaction, yet hardly surprising. Ironically today's Toronto Star has a typical piece on "Pieces" and its director; not raving, not condemning. It'll be a solid 2 1/2 star movie when it hits cable next year.

http://www.thestar.com/Special/FilmFest/article/253603

It sounds like the typical Canadian film; terribly well-meaning and terribly boring.

And I work in the Canadian Film Industry ...

Posted by Howlingman at September 6, 2007 7:59 AM

comment #4

erniesouchak says ...

I think there's a comparable axiom at Sundance: any movie made by a past festival darling should be approached with the same caution. Those movies seem to be automatically accepted by the fest, regardless of quality.

Posted by erniesouchak at September 6, 2007 8:03 AM

comment #5

bagelfilm says ...

Did you have to pay for your ticket or did they shove it up your arse?

Posted by bagelfilm at September 6, 2007 8:11 AM

comment #6

George Prager says ...

I tried to read the book once. Couldn't do it. It's the typical eat-your-vegetables novel that overeducated women think they should read.

Posted by George Prager at September 6, 2007 8:56 AM

comment #7

Moosehead says ...

Other than the occasional ones coming out of Quebec, I cannot sit through any of these depressing Canadian movies either... and I am a Canadian.... it's weird there are so many comedians from Canada, but the Anglo movie industry is so depressing....

Posted by Moosehead at September 6, 2007 9:17 AM

comment #8

Howlingman says ...

Several years back a pal was working on an international co-production series being filmed in Toronto that (not surprisingly) cratered after its one and only season. Describing the chaos of the production he told me:

"The French partners want lots of pretty colors, the Germans want a female lead who is "fuckable", the Americans wanted lots of violence and action Ã¢â‚¬Â¦ and the Canadians wanted 43 minutes."

Posted by Howlingman at September 6, 2007 9:29 AM

comment #9

Craig Kennedy says ...

"Did you have to pay for your ticket or did they shove it up your arse?" Ahahah! That was funny. Thank you.

Posted by Craig Kennedy at September 6, 2007 9:45 AM

comment #10

bagelfilm says ...

I hate press people who get free tickets, watch only ten minutes or the last half hour of a film and then write negative reviews. But at least Wells is an honourable man, explaining how he gets his well-founded opinion on this film.

Posted by bagelfilm at September 6, 2007 11:56 AM

comment #11

Joe M. says ...

James Berardinelli at Reelviews.net wasn't all that enthused about the movie, either, essentially calling it one of those typically safe, expected titles one opens a film festival with.

Posted by Joe M. at September 6, 2007 12:08 PM

comment #12

BurmaShave says ...

If you do run into Lantos at a party, be sure to ask him for naked stills of Rosamund Pike.

Posted by BurmaShave at September 6, 2007 3:28 PM

comment #13

YND says ...

Can't speak much to his film work, but Stephen Dillane gave the single greatest stage performance I've ever seen in Stoppard's THE REAL THING a few years back. Saw the play 3 times and his work (particularly in the London production) was jaw-dropping. That is all.

Posted by YND at September 6, 2007 9:25 PM

comment #14