First Toronto Rundown
The Toronto Film Festival starts a week from Thursday -- 11 days from now. This morning I took my first stab at coming up with a short list. 40 films, I mean, which I'd like to see and write about these over a nine-day period. But I'll probably only see two thirds. The truth is that I usually see about 25 TIFF films over nine days, 30 if I really push it.
I probably won't be re-viewing anything I've already seen here (or intend to see here before 9.2), or anything I saw last May in Cannes -- Nuri Bilge Ceylan's Three Monkeys, Rod Lurie's Nothing But The Truth, Bill Maher and Larry Charles' Religulous, Jonathan Demme's Rachel Getting Married, Mike Leigh's Happy Go Lucky, Gavin O'Connor's Pride and Glory, etc. And I've obviously marked off dozens of films that just don't seem or sound good enough.
In no particular order, my priorities are as follows: (1) Neil Burger's Lucky Ones, (2) Joel and Ethan Coen's Burn After Reading, (3) Daniel Burman's Empty Nest, (4) David Koepp's Ghost Town, (4) Ed Harris 's Appaloosa, (5) Guillermo Arriaga's The Burning Plain, (6) Steven Soderbergh's Che (yes, again -- in part because it's 14 or 15 minutes shorter than the Cannes version), (7) Stephan Elliott's Easy Virtue, (8) Barbet Schroeder's Inju, (9) Spike Lee's Miracle at St. Anna, and (10) Guy Ritchie's Rocknrolla.
And then comes (11) Darren Aronofsky's Wrestler, (12) Kevin Smith's Zack and Miri Make a Porno, (13) Kari Skogland's Fifty Dead Men Walking, (14) Michael McGowan's One Week, (15) Richard Eyre's The Other Man, (16) Jean-Francois Richet's Public Enemy Number One, (17) Gina Prince-Bythewood's Secret Life of Bees, (18) Ari Folman's Waltz With Bashir, (19) Phillipe Claudet's I've Loved You So Long, and (20) Laurent Cantet's Entre Les Murs.
The next ten are (21) Rian Johnson's Brothers Bloom, (22) Matteo Garrone's Gomorra, (23) James Stern and Adam Del Deo's Every Little Step, (24) Kathryn Bigelow's Hurt Locker, (25) Bruno Barreto's Last Stop 174, (26) Stephen Belber's Management, (27) Richard Linklater's Me and Orson Welles, (28) Peter Sollett's Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist, (29) Danny Boyle's Slumdog Millionaire, and (30) Matt Tyrnauer's Valentino.
The final group is made up of (31) Max Farberbock's Woman in Berlin, (32) Jerzy Skolimowski's Four Nights with Anna (which I missed in Cannes), (33) Olivier Assayas' Heure de Ete, (34) Nigel Cole's $5 A Day, (35) Anthony Fabian's Skin, (36) Joana Hadjithomas and Khalil Joreige's I Want To See, (37) Scott McHehee and David Siegel's Uncertainty, (38) Cyrus Nowratesh's Stoning of Soraya M., (39) Brian Goodman's What Doesn't Kill You and (40) Kevin Rafferty's Harvard Beats Yale....even if it played at Manhattan's Film Forum last fall.
Anything I should add or subtract or make extra sure that I see? Open to all suggestions, warnings, kills.
Posted by Jeffrey Wells on August 24, 2008 at 8:02 PM
comment #1
Chase Kahn says ...
Hmm...surprised to see THE WRESTLER at #11 even though you're skeptical. I'd have it top 3 for sure, seeing as I'm an Aronofsky nut.
Posted by Chase Kahn at August 24, 2008 8:36 PM
comment #2
scooterzz says ...
nice list....but if you pick up a copy of kaplow's novel, you might consider moving 'me and orson welles' up a few notches....i was a huge fan of the book and linklater seems like he could be the right guy....just a thought......
Posted by scooterzz at August 24, 2008 8:41 PM
comment #3
MiraJeffAICN says ...
My top 30 would look like this, keeping in mind the following: Soderbergh, Spike Lee, Aronofsky, the Coen Bros., Demme and Boyle are all in a league of their own. Appaloosa looks excellent. Burger is overrated and Bigelow is underrated. Smith and Ritchie's movies both look like a lot of fun. Eyre and Lurie have both delivered strong dramas in the past. Because of all the controversy surrounding Pride and Glory, people will be talking about it coming into the fest, but they'll leave talking about What Doesn't Kill You. Ghost Town looks awful. Zac Efron is not a great actor. Arriaga is a brilliant screenwriter but he has unproven chops behind the camera and who know which Kim Basinger we might see. Management (Aniston-Zahn) does not sound good. Buzz on Nick an Norah (despite the smokin' hot Kat Dennings and the Cera Factor) is not good. Rian Johnson's Brick was overrated. And Vincent Cassel is the man.
1. Che
2. Appaloosa
3. Miracle at St. Anna
4. The Wrestler
5. The Hurt Locker
6. Burn After Reading
7. Rachel Getting Married
8. Nothing But the Truth
9. The Other Man
10. Slumdog Millionaire
11. Zack and Miri Make a Porno
12. RocknRolla
13. Pride and Glory
14. What Doesn’t Kill You
15. The Burning Plain
16. Religulous
17. Happy Go Lucky
18. The Lucky Ones
19. Public Enemy Number One
20. Waltz With Bashir
21. Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist
22. I’ve Loved You So Long
23. Entre Les Murs
24. Fifty Dead Men Walking
25. Secret Life of Bees
26. Inju
27. Brothers Bloom
28. Management
29. Ghost Town
30. Me and Orson Welles
Posted by MiraJeffAICN at August 24, 2008 9:03 PM
comment #4
doobiedoo says ...
Sergey Dvortsevoy's Tulpan is fantastic - might be a little too third-world for your tastes, Jeff, but it was one of the most 'transporting' cinema experiences i had at Cannes. Drew a huge reaction from audiences and won Un Certain Regard.
Though maybe you can catch it at NYFF along with the Assayas (Summer Hours), which is easily the best thing he's done in a decade.
Posted by doobiedoo at August 24, 2008 9:04 PM
comment #5
MiraJeffAICN says ...
You know, I forgot Orson Welles was Linklater. Move that one up to 27 and bump the other 3 down.
Posted by MiraJeffAICN at August 24, 2008 9:05 PM
comment #6
Pablo Villaça says ...
Instead of seeing Barreto's film, watch José Padilha's ("Elite Squad") documentary "Bus 174", one of the best documentaries I've ever seen.
Posted by Pablo Villaça at August 24, 2008 9:40 PM
comment #7
gruver1 says ...
Wells to Villaca: Thanks, Pablo -- you're confirming what I've heard and read elsewhere.
Posted by gruver1 at August 24, 2008 10:06 PM
comment #8
Unison says ...
See Wendy and Lucy.
Posted by Unison at August 24, 2008 10:45 PM
comment #9
gruver1 says ...
Wells to Unison: Says who? Why? Whaddaya know?
Posted by gruver1 at August 24, 2008 11:02 PM
comment #10
Nowegian guy says ...
I an from Norway and saw Wendy And Lucy here at the norwegian film festival last week. Do not see it! It is a boring piece of crap movie. Avoid at all cost. The whole movie is Michelle Williams yelling "Lucy!, Lucy!
I also saw Happy Go Lucky and Entre Les Murs. Both very good.
Posted by Nowegian guy at August 25, 2008 12:40 AM
comment #11
guylodge says ...
Surprised not to see Steve Jacobs' "Disgrace" on your list. Magnificent source novel, and the meatiest role for John Malkovich in some time.
Move the Assayas further up your list - it's a gem.
Posted by guylodge at August 25, 2008 2:21 AM
comment #12
calraigh says ...
I thought '' Ghost Town '' looked really interesting, a definite curiosity. Based on the trailer, I don't know how it could be regarded as looking '' awful. '' I agree, '' Summer Hours '' is beautiful, some of the best cinematography I've seen in a while and I'll second Pablo's rec, '' Bus 174 '' is a brilliant, masterful work.
Posted by calraigh at August 25, 2008 6:45 AM
comment #13
PerfectTommy says ...
I like Gervais, but from the trailer I think "Ghost Town" looks awful.
Posted by PerfectTommy at August 25, 2008 7:54 AM
comment #14
hanimal says ...
Steve McQueen's HUNGER
Posted by hanimal at August 25, 2008 8:30 AM
comment #15
Rodrigo says ...
Wells, can you post a little smidgen of info on Rachel Getting Married? You've got impressively zipped lips on that one. It's one of the films I'm looking forward to most.
Posted by Rodrigo at August 25, 2008 10:14 AM
comment #16
ioncinema.com says ...
I'd drop the the latest offerings from Kevin Smith and Guy Ritchie from the list in favor of some quality Cannes fair:
1. McQueen's Hunger
2. Cantet's Entre Les Murs
3. Il Divo
4. Garrone's Gomorra
5. Folman's Waltz with Bashir
6. Replace second viewing of Che for essay/experimental films such as Delta and Tony Manero.
Sight Unseen (would be in my top 10):
Ramin Bahrani's Goodbye, Solo and ZhangKe Jia's DOP's Plastic City.
Posted by ioncinema.com at August 25, 2008 11:11 AM
comment #17
Howlingman says ...
And judging by everyone's lits, Canadian cinema is burnin' up the charts isn't it?
Posted by Howlingman at August 25, 2008 11:37 AM
comment #18
ioncinema.com says ...
One Canuck film worth the detour is Denis Villeneuve's short called Next Floor. Five bucks says this will be among the Oscar nominated shorts.
Posted by ioncinema.com at August 25, 2008 12:52 PM
comment #19
thatmovieguy says ...
I saw GHOST TOWN last week and it's pretty good for what it is. Some very funny lines, amusing performances and an interesting flip on the "earthbound spirit" idea. Gervais, Leoni and Kinnear are all good, but for my money the stand-out performance comes from Kristen Wiig, who is absolutely hilarious as a thoroughly vapid doctor who is more concerned with the shade of her spray-on tan than she is with her patients. She and Gervais have a couple of scenes together that brought down the house.
Posted by thatmovieguy at August 25, 2008 2:33 PM
comment #20
filmfestivalgeek says ...
"(20) Laurent Cantet's Entre Les Murs..."
Originaly announced as a TIFF selection.
However...
...then announced as the Opening night selection at the NY Fest - which has the stipulation that the opening night film must be a NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE, at least.
Please identify where in the current TIFF program this film appears.
It doesn't.
Posted by filmfestivalgeek at August 25, 2008 5:02 PM
comment #21
eoguy says ...
Does anybody have a rundown of movies this year that have either 1) Been released to North American cinemas or 2) Were yanked from the film festival after already being announced?
There's gotta be quite a few at this point.
Posted by eoguy at August 26, 2008 5:34 PM
comment #22
filmfestivalgeek says ...
eoguy says... "Does anybody have a rundown of movies this year...2) Were yanked from the film festival after already being announced?
There's gotta be quite a few at this point."
but how many fests pretend to be as prestigious as TIFF?
Posted by filmfestivalgeek at August 26, 2008 5:54 PM