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I just saw The Island (Michael Bay). We chose this one because we had AMC passes and it was one of the only ones that didn’t have a “No Passes” restriction. Anyway, I thought it kinda sucked. The acting was uninspired and although the special effects and other visuals were pretty cool, they weren’t enough to make the film. Sometimes I found myself thinking, “That shot looks nice,” but Bay never holds his shots long enough to actually get a good look at them. Perhaps that is because he’s afraid that you may start to think about what you’re watching, and realize that it is garbage.

It felt like a bad, bland and boring TV-movie, and there was so much product placement that there may as well have been commercials. The absolute worst one was when Scarlett Johansson’s character (named Alpha Deep Space Nine or something) saw her “real” self… and it was a clip from a recent Calvin Klein commercial starring her “real” “real” self.

On three separate occasions, I thought the movie was going to end. On the third, there was a great opportunity for the film to stop and leave room for a sequel (which I would not have seen), but alas, it went on and actually finished (terribly).

I was disappointed to learn that Bay is directing the as-yet-untitled Transformers movie, set for release in 2007. Maybe I’ll have some AMC coupons again.

While introducing the (almost) world premiere of April Snow (it had opened two days previous in its native South Korea), director Hur Jin-ho warned us (through a translator) that it was “a little bit slow, so hopefully you don’t get bored”. He was right, but in no way is this a complaint! This is a subtley told story about how love can both hurt us and heal us. The premise: A man gets a phone call while at work and rushes to the hospital, where his wife is in a coma after a bad car accident. Also there is a woman, and we learn that she is there because her husband was in the same accident… in the same car. While gathering their spouses’ belongings, it is unmistakingly evident that their respective partners were lovers. The film is about how these characters face their shared situation, and the relationship that develops between them.

The dialogue was sparce, but that didn’t hinder these characters from being totally believeable and affecting. The actors’ body language and facial expressions communicated more than words could have. They exuded a brilliant blend of love, hope, sadness, compassion, anger, resentment and relief.

The film was very pleasing to look at: nice perspectives, sensitive photography, warm textures. It felt very intimate. There was a good combination of close and far shots. The music was very pretty and complimented the various moods. I think it’s safe to say that although I may not watch it a second time, I loved it.

Hur Jin-ho is a relatively well-known director from South Korea - there were plenty of excited Korean women in the Paramount, that’s for sure. Then again, after a few minutes of Googling, I decided that perhaps they were hoping that the actor who played the film’s protagonist, Yong-jun Bae was going to be there, instead. He is a huge Asian celebrity, who made his star in a Korean soap opera. It’s interesting to watch these movies and then find out that their stars are incredibly huge in another part of the world. It definitely puts a different perspective on things, as so many people in North America go to movies just for the stars. Is it possible, then, that some of “our” superstars are actually good actors, too, just like Yong-jun Bae? Would Korean movie-goers be of the opinion that Gwenyth Paltrow is a good actress? How about John Travolta? I certainly hope that they have better taste than we do!

Another world premiere, this time at Paramount Cinema downtown. 7 vírgenes (Alberto Rodríguez) takes place in Seville, Spain, and is a coming-of-age film about a teenager named Tano who has a 48-hour pass from juvenile detention hall so that he can attend his brother’s wedding. The tone is set fairly early on as his brother drops him off somewhere after driving him from the centre and ironically says, “Stay out of trouble.”

Tano vows to do as much on his leave as he can’t do in the detention centre. He bums around with his friend as well as his girlfriend, and actually does attend his brother’s wedding. What makes this film riveting is that during these few hours of freedom, Tano become a man. And no, his becoming a man has nothing to do with what you think the title means.

I really liked the way that Rodríguez told a lot of stories by allusion. You never find out exactly what happened to land Tano into the juvenile hall - there is a brief conversation about an accident, which ends abruptly. Also, Tano’s older brother, the one to be married, seems to be struggling with his own situation and I think that he, possibly against his will, lives vicariously through Tano.

The director was present for this debut screening, as well as the two main actors. Juan José Ballesta, who plays Tano, was the only one who spoke English; the other two were aided by a translator. A large chunk of the audience spoke Spanish. The young actor who plays Tano is apparently a Spanish star, and at 18 years old has appeared in over eight feature films.

Rodríguez explained that “7 vírgenes” refers to a ritual in which a near-adult adolescent counts to sixty while standing in front of a mirror in a room lit only by two candles. If done correctly, the reflection will tell you about your future life as an adult. He used this as a coming-of-age motif, as one of the scenes depicts a character attempting it (curiously, it is the character who seems like he isn’t ready to grow up). The director also said that he wanted to show the “real” part of Seville - not just what you see on vacation or in magazines. The film had a beautiful grainy resolution as well as some great shots.

I noticed a few similarities to Truffaut’s definitively French New Wave Les quatre cents coups (The 400 Blows) - I wasn’t surprised when the final scene completed the film with a freeze-frame of our protagonist looking back while running.

Tonight we screened the world premiere of Neil Jordan’s Breakfast On Pluto at the Ryerson theatre/auditorium. The film is based Patrick McCabe’s novel of the same name. The room holds 1200 people, so even though we were part of a huge lineup, we had pretty good ground-level seats. You could feel the excitement and anticipation in the room, and when my friend told me that he saw Cillian Murphy in the lobby, that partially explained it. I went out and almost bumped into Liam Neeson, and later I found out that Bono was there (no big deal for me, though - actually, it’s kind of annoying).

Anyway, this was the second TIFF screening for me, but this one had a bunch of celebrities there, too, so it made it a bit more exciting. Neil Jordan introduced the film and brought onstage his producers as well as Neeson and Murphy. The applause was thunderous and finally the movie began.

Overall, I really liked it. There were a few things that I didn’t like, but overall I felt that Jordan had complete control over his film. So, even if I didn’t like something (i.e., the talking robins), I felt as if I was still watching something that was completely intentional and purposeful. It was interesting to see how good Murphy’s comedic instinct is, since I’ve never seen him in this kind of role. Neeson doesn’t have much screen time, but he was brilliant as ever. The 70’s were recreated amazingly. Murphy’s costumes were striking.

One thing that I liked was that the cross-dressing thing wasn’t really a major theme. It was presented as part of the character, rather than being treated as a gimmick. Apparently some details were changed considerably in many parts, but author McCabe co-wrote the screenplay (which makes it okay…?). I will need to see it on DVD with subtitles, though, because I always have a bit of trouble understanding Irish accents.

Tonight I saw my first ever Toronto International Film Festival movie - the world premiere and Gala presentation of L’Enfer (Danis Tonovic). It screened at Roy Thompson Hall. We were of the lucky few who were asked if we wanted to move down from the second balcony to the 3rd row on the floor. It made the experience even better! The film was introduced by the director, producers, music composer and two of its stars, Marie Gillain and Karin Viard.

I loved it. It was a very bleak story with appropriate moments of humor. It deals with three sisters whose lives are drastically different, but are all influenced by a shared family tragedy which occured when they were children. Tanovic tells the story brilliantly through a sort of slow-release of character development. It climaxes as we see a well-placed flashback of the event which shaped each of their adult lives. Each of the sisters has their own unique dysfunctional relationships, one of which resembles the one that they had to endure in childhood.

The screenplay was written by Kieslowski and Piesiewicz, the two Polish men responsible for the acclaimed Three Colors trilogy from the mid-1990’s. L’Enfer is the second of another trilogy - not realized due to Kieslowski’s death in 1996 - which is thematically based upon Dante’s concepts of Heaven, Hell and Purgatory; Heaven (Tom Tykwer, 2002) was the first part.

Tanovic won the “Best Foreign Film” Oscar in 2002 for No Man’s Land. I haven’t seen it, but I definitely will, and soon. I loved his imagery and visual metaphors. He uses a lot of very cool camera moves to both segue between segments as well as add mood and persepective. The actors’ performances were extremely convincing, and they worked together so well, despite their very few minutes of shared screen time.

What I really like about this thematic trilogy so far is the many ways that the titles can be interpreted: we are presented with the themes before the film even starts, so it’s almost like analyzing them backwards.

One down, six to go!