I’m not saying there’s a pat “lesson” to be derived from watching Julian Higgins‘ God’s Country, a violent, slow-burn, Straw Dogs-ian melodrama about an angry woke woman (Thandiwe Newton) getting into a territorial blood feud with a pair of yokel hunters who might as well be Trump supporters. But if you insist on a boiled-down message it would be something along the lines of “don’t fuck with the bumblefucks, but if you do fuck with them, you’d better be ready to go full Sam Peckinpah.”
God’s Country, a Sundance film that I saw and reviewed last January, opens on 9.16.
… but at the same time I wouldn’t call it a good one. Because it suggests that Volodymir and Olena Zelensky have social aspirations. Which they’re allowed to have, of course, but it doesn’t feel right. Not in the midst of so much death and devastation. A bit unseemly.
In a 7.28 q & a with Variety‘s Brent Lang, TIFF honcho Cameron Baileysays that Steven Spielberg‘s The Fabelmans “is different from a typical Spielberg blockbuster, but it is just as easily impactful in terms of the emotional effect it’s going to have on people. If you love movies, this is going to be a very powerful film for you to watch.”
Which is almost precisely what a research-screening tipster told me yesterday afternoon: “Anyone who grew up watching movies will be a sure bet to love this. I think [even] Millennials will love it. It’s a film-critic-friendly movie. It’s made for people of the film faith. I enjoyed it tremendously, and this is so rare.”
The teenaged Spielberg (i.e., “Sammy Fabelman”) is played by Gabriel LaBelle. Michelle Williams and Paul Dano plays Sammy’s parents. Seth Rogen plays “Uncle Benny,” who, I’m told, isn’t precisely blood-related but we’ll let that slide. Jeannie Berlin plays Williams’ mom. Julia Butters is Sammy’s sister, Anne.
There’s a vague physical resemblance between the glistening, shimmering Marilyn Monroe of 60 and 70 years ago and the exquisitely coiffed, gowned and made-up Ana de Armas, even though the latter doesn’t really “look” like Norma Jean Baker, an unloved and abused daughter of average Midwestern Anglo-Saxon parents. Ana looks like a beautiful Cuban-born actress trying to do her best and mostly pulling it off, which is fine as far as it goes. Here’s hoping that Blonde, directed by Andrew Dominik and expected to be a difficult sit in some respects, shows up at Telluride after debuting in Venice.
As World of Reel‘s Jordan Ruimypointed out this morning, several hot titles are missing from the just-announced Toronto Film Festival slate — Alejandro Gonzalez Iñárritu’s Bardo, Todd Field’s TAR, Andrew Dominik’s Blonde, Luca Guadagnino’s Bones and All, Paul Schrader’s The Master Gardener and Noah Baumbach’s White Noise.
The media chorus is saying “TIFF is back!” and that’s fine if they want to adopt that attitude, but these six films represent major auteur-level måterial. It’s possible they’ll be announced as TIFF titles down the road, but to me it’s a sign that TIFF has come down two or three notches, esteem-wise.
Non-Attributable Insider: “I think Hollywood has realized it can skip TIFF by doing Venice and Telluride. European/world audience with one, Oscar voters with the other. TIFF is still great for a commercial release like Spielberg’s The Fabelmans. But these are increasingly moving online, right?”
I’m also feeling twinges of concern about Maria Schrader‘s She Said. The trailer, released a couple of weeks ago, convinced me that She Said is a #MeToo-stamped Spotlight, and yet the ’22 Venice Film Festival has blown it off and it’s not in the TIFF rundown either. Something feels “off.”
Do you believe that Olivia Wilde‘s Don’t Worry, Darling, which stars Harry Styles, isn’t playing TIFF because another, modestly scaled Styles film, My Policeman, is also playing TIFF and certain parties don’t want the media’s attention split in two directions? Seems like a weird call.
The following 2022 Toronto Film Festival titles seem more intriguing than most, according to HE standards:
Steven Spielberg‘s The Fabelmans, Peter Farrelly‘s The Greatest Beer Run Ever, Rian Johnson‘s Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery, Nicholas Stoller‘s Bros, Florian Zeller‘s The Son, Sam Mendes‘ Empire of Light, Ruben Östlund‘s Triangle of Sadness (saw it in Cannes), Darren Aronofsky‘s The Whale, Jafar Panahi‘s No Bears, Mia Hansen-Love‘s One Fine Morning and that’s about it — ten films.
I’m also cautiously intrigued by the prospect of seeing Gabe Polsky‘s Butcher’s Crossing, Alice Winocour‘s Paris Memories, Catherine Hardwicke‘s Prisoner’s Daughter, Joanna Hogg‘s The Eternal Daughter, Sarah Polley‘s Women Talking and Sebastián Lelio‘s The Wonder.
...if you're going to hold back on the good stuff...the dirt that everyone wants to hear? Especially if the story happened 19 years ago. Who cares?
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Anthony and Joe Russo‘s The Gray Man wants a little love from the HE community. Open your hearts and show that you care, and if you can’t do that at least be kind in your dismissals.
“Corporations are getting away with price gouging because they face little or not competition, and they’re using the spectre of inflation as a cover. Last year corporations raked in their highest profits in over 70 years.” — excerpted from below video, written and spoken by Robert Reich.
