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I don’t know how I feel about Gaspar Noé. I find that he has skill, some pretty interesting ideas, great technique… and completely over-the-top shock-value works that kinda make you shake your head and think about how you would have totally gotten the point without all of the CGI-penises, 20-minute rape scenes and extreme violence.

But then, he wouldn’t be Gaspar Noé. He’d be somebody who wasn’t as arrogant and filthy and also, not as memorable.

Enter the Void (2009; written by Lucile Hadzihalilovic and Gaspar Noé; directed by Gaspar Noé) is probably one of the most visually striking films I have every seen. The opening credits were an attack and absolutely amazing and tone-setting. After they finished, there was applause. You can view them here.

The first act of the film takes place in real-time and had me pretty riveted, including the really long, totally trippy and psychedelic drug-trip that could have lasted anywhere from 5 to 15 minutes. You’re inside this guy’s head as he takes drugs and trips out… you hear his thoughts, and see through his eyes. It’s quite some time before he looks into the mirror and you actually get a look at who you are.

Then… the rest of the film. It keeps going on and on… you’re Oscar’s soul/spirit, and he’s either floating above Tokyo or you’re seeing everything (mainly memories) from behind his head. Somewhere in his past is an extremely loud and sudden car crash which is showed over and over again. It made me jump every time and I started to hate it.

It was a pretty exhausting experience, watching this film. Technically and visually, it was stunning… but it was a total assault to the senses. The themes about death and reincarnation were a bit boring but definitely act as the catalyst for the “story”. As things were winding down (and I mean a wind-down of about 30 minutes), a bunch of us in the audience started to laugh at how ridiculous and predictable he is… but at least he followed through!

My friend John was with me and he couldn’t take the attack on his body from the sights and sounds, so he went to go take a break and hyperventilate in the restroom. Then he entered the theatre and another car crash happened, and he was like “Ok, I’m out!”. Apparently he almost left me there, but decided against it, so I didn’t have to get myself home in the rain in the middle of the night. Thanks for the ride, John!

I’d like to preface the following comments with the justification of why I saw this movie. I like to watch movies that are really popular, even when I know they’re going to suck. This is because even though I am a fan of good movies, I try to be aware of and on top of what the majority of people are watching and what’s going on in the general market.

I saw the first Twilight film with a good friend who loved the books. We watched with a third friend and, you know, that movie wasn’t so bad. Then we decided that the three of us should watch all of the Twilight films together, so we saw New Moon and it was pretty bad. This one, though I had slightly higher hopes for, because I figured that they wouldn’t allow the movies in this undeservedly huge franchise to get worse. I also think I enjoyed 30 Days Of Night and thought that maybe this film would have a darker feel to it and perhaps even a workable script or even some decent performances.

The Twilight Saga: Eclipse (based on the book by Stephenie Meyer; screenplay by Melissa Rosenberg; directed by David Slade) is a terrible movie. The dialogue is painful and slow and boring. The scary bad guys are not scary at all, especially the Volturi, who, headed by an extremely not-scary Dakota Fanning, look like a bunch of pathetic goth kids who got lost in a forest. The music isn’t bad (Howard Shore has proven himself many times) but the themes felt very inappropriate for this type of film. The story wasn’t very interesting. Taylor Lautner as Jacob seems to have just realized that he’s in movies, acting, and has decided that he needs to act now, and does so very intentionally (read: badly). The love scenes were long and tedious and not even remotely bearable.

I can go on, but I won’t. My biggest issues with these Twilight films are that, sure, the source material is pretty terribly written, but there are hundreds (if not thousands) of incredible writers out there who will work for cheap and could write an amazing adaptation. There are directors out there who actually care about good storytelling who will create films that aren’t embarrassing. But most of all, I’m actually offended that studios put so much money into, and then make so much money on, films that are clearly not good. I have no problem with blockbusters or cultural phenomenons; sometimes they’re not that good, but at least you can see that they tried. Eclipse feels like they were like, “We’re going to make hundreds of millions of dollars from this regardless of how good it is, so let’s make it suck.” THAT is what I disliked the most about this film.

I’ll still finish watching the series, though.

Samson and Delilah (2009, written and directed by Warwick Thornton) took me for an intensely emotional ride with glimmers of both hope and humour. It takes place largely in one of many Australian Aboriginal communities, which are characteristically defined by poverty, alcohol abuse and violence.

There are long sequences with no dialogue as we simply observe the characters go about their daily, monotonous routines. The terrible conditions in which they live are incredibly striking and discomforting, and it appears that they have essentially nothing to do – no jobs, no school, no purpose… except for those who are responsible for caring for the sick and elderly.

A big part of what makes Samson and Delilah so tragic is that stories such as this are rooted in fact. The horrific living conditions combined with the exploitation and abuse from within and especially outside the community are both heartbreaking and enraging.

The acting is amazing, especially considering that it is mainly dialogue-free. Thornton’s pacing is good and despite it being relatively slow, it is riveting. It is delivered in a very matter-of-fact manner and I was pretty blown away by this film – it had a great impact on me and its imagery and tone are still with me months later.

Fish Tank (2009, written and directed by Andrea Arnold) is Arnold’s second feature film (her first being Red Road, which I saw at TIFF07 and absolutely loved). This is an exceptional film. It takes place in ghetto UK (not sure where but it reminded me of some of Little Britain’s skits) and concerns a teenaged girl named Mia, amazingly portrayed by newcomer Katie Jarvis.

Mia is introduced to us brilliantly and you know right away not to mess with her – she’ll beat the crap out of you – but we’re also quickly exposed to her softer, vulnerable side: This is the side that loves to hip-hop dance, a major cultural phenomenon that proves to be not only a creative outlet but a powerful element necessary to communicate with in her family setting.

The plot is set up quite well and even though it contains some generic elements, it still kept me feeling like I didn’t know what was going to happen next. Arnold definitely learned the language of her subjects and both recognizes and acknowledges their cultural symbols, which include shouting profanities and dancing to hip-hop. Although it’s easy to feel that these elements are a bit weird, they are handled so straight-faced that you soon realize that what you’re watching is very real, and is probably as strange to us as our way more conventional and “nice” way of life is to them. These people pull no punches – they call it as it is; they’ll punch you in the gut and then let you know why – or not.

Michael Fassbender is brilliant as usual and it was great to see him deliver another fine performance, sandwiched between his grueling portrayal of Bobby Sands and his equally intense LT. Archie Hicox.

Andrea Arnold is 2 for 2 now and I can’t wait to see what’s next from her!

(UPDATE: This is what’s next from Andrea Arnold. Amazing!)

My fourth film of this year’s festival, Cracks (2009, written by Ben Court & Caroline Ip, directed by Jordan Scott), was also pretty unremarkable. Eva Green’s performance didn’t blow me away (and now that I think of it, none of them really have since her debut in The Dreamers).

The story was not very interesting to me and the boarding school film has been done many times before, and much better. It didn’t have an emotional effect on me the way other films in this genre did, such as Dead Poets Society and School Ties, to name a couple. But it was nice and moody, with a slight element of mystery.

It was also beautifully shot, although I felt that the luscious landscapes had some more potential than was used (unless that was intentional, as some kind of metaphor for the misdirected potential of the students..?). I saw the climax of the story coming from a mile away so there wasn’t even a worthwhile payout at the end. I don’t understand why this movie had so many great reviews. I was pretty bored while watching it and also felt kind of disappointed that Eva Green’s career hasn’t seen a high point since it began with a bang. She was there, though, and pretty striking, so maybe it was worth it, after all!

Also, what’s up with Juno Temple? She was in three of the TIFF films I saw this year. I think we’ll be seeing a lot more of her in the next few years.

Nestyda (Shameless) (2009, written by Jan Hrebejk & Jirí Machácek, directed by Jan Hrebejk) is a Czech comedy that was rather unremarkable. It was legitimately funny at times and the lead character was indeed shameless in his self-centred actions. The situations he found himself in were often pretty funny but I really just thought he was an idiot and didn’t really care what happened to him.

There’s a scene at the end involving a fish and his son which was an excellent metaphor for how he was changing and more “alive” than he even realized. Sometimes, I suppose, we make the best decisions in the worst of ways.

Eyes Wide Open (2009, written by Merav Doster and directed by Haim Tabakman) is a gay love story / tragedy that takes place in a traditional Hasidic Jerusalem community. It is a relatable story of a man who considers his fleshly lust for other men to be something that, by constantly overcoming it, makes him stronger in his faith. He is so screwed up by his feelings that he fools himself into believing that this is something that sets him above others; this of course leads him to a place where he finds himself out of control, but ultimately, happy.

The film is not necessarily sympathetic but probably will be interpreted as so. The performances were was great. The pacing was slow but intentionally so and riveting nonetheless. There some amazing shots, too – one of them, a shot of a reflection in the window of a van, is still strong in my memory. Nothing in this story was especially surprising yet it was still satisfying and powerful. It was also pretty erotic in a pretty unconventional way.

We saw Antichrist (2009, written and directed by Lars von Trier) on the opening night of 2009′s Toronto International Film Festival. What a way to start my 30 films! I had been totally into the hype surrounding this film, from its early announcements, trailers and then crazy feedback from its Cannes screening, including the awesome “I am the best film director in the world” statement from Lars von Trier (youtube).

I became increasingly more nervous as the screening approached. I don’t know why… I have never anticipated a film with such conflict before! I am not a fan of spoilers but I couldn’t stop myself from reading article after review after interview about it.

The film is about many things: Chaos, Grief, Pain, Despair, misogyny, Nature vs. Nature vs. Nature vs. Nature… all pretty uplifting stuff. The prologue was absolutely brilliant. Shot in B&W and in slow-mo, with some opera music playing (clearly I do not know what piece it was)… it was both beautiful and terrible as we see two very conflicting things happening. I am not going to get much into the story as you can easily find spoilers elsewhere.

It was beautifully shot. It features some incredible shots of nature and a very dream-like and hypnotizing use of slo-mo. There are disturbing images of animals in perverted states. Do they help him, or do they help her? The extreme images of torture and mutilation were well led-up to. I felt it was a pretty powerful study of some dark themes. And then there was “The Scene” – even though I kind of knew what to expect, I still felt like it was pretty shocking. There were moans and groans throughout the audience and apparently somebody near the front threw up on people. Awesome!

Dafoe was good; actually he was pretty unspectacular and bordering on annoying until around the time the torture began… but maybe that was intentional. Gainsbourg was amazing but I did find her to be pretty bad in the scene where she’s running around screaming “You bastard!” over and over again. She was, however, playing a crazy person…

Willem Dafoe was present for a Q&A in which most questions were about von Trier. That’s fair enough, though, and Dafoe was very gracious with his answers and candor. He talked a lot about how he became involved with the project and also the clearly dark and depressed state that von Trier when he wrote the screenplay.

All in all, I think this is an important film but I don’t necessarily recommend it. I’m very glad that I saw it and I think it’s safe to say that von Trier remains one of my favourite directors – not really because I think he makes the best films, but because he consistently challenges not only his audience, but also himself.

How I loved this film! Kisses (2008, written and directed by Lance Daly) is the story about of Kyle and Dylan, a couple of kids who run away from home and have an adventure in nearby Dublin. First-time child actors Kelly O’Neill (Kylie) and Shane Curry (Dylan) are brilliant and were an immense pleasure to watch.

I don’t know what to say about it except that everything about it worked. The setup, the adventure, tragedy, themes of friendship and love, excitement, humour… it was truly an immense pleasure to experience this film. It was at once charming, sad, exciting and horrific to journey with these children into the inner-city depths of Dublin. The kindness of strangers and then the horrible things that some people are capable of never cease to amaze me. But right when I needed him, in an uncredited role as “Bob Dylan”, Stephen Rea shows up on the screen and I could take a minute to breathe.

Coming-of-ages films are among my faves and this one definitely joins The 400 Blows, Y tu mamá también, C.R.A.Z.Y. and Stand By Me on my list (although I don’t have an actual list).

One technique that I have never seen used to this extent was that the film’s top and tail are in black & white while the middle section is in colour. While the children journey to Dublin as they escape their broken homes, colour slowly seeps in until before you know it, everything is different. Then as they return home, the colours fade away and we return to their stark reality of black & white.

This was one of my favourite films of TIFF08 and if you ever get the chance to see it, do it! The director and two kids were present for a Q&A after the film, and they were just as delightful to watch off-screen. Here is a photo and video clip that I took:

For some comments that are completely opposite to mine, read this (second review down).

One of the worst films that I saw in TIFF08 was Dangkou (2008, written by Fernando Bonassi, Fendou Liu [screenplay]; directed by Nelson Yu Lik-wai). It was bizarre and I do not mean that to be a compliment.

Really, I have no idea what this movie was about. There was the Taiwanese mob, and an orphan, some really weird fighting and a tiger, I think?… Somebody lost an arm and there was a woman with weird tattoos. It was shot in Brazil and some of it was in a jungle. This film was all over the place and at one point turned into a skateboarding video. There was some amazing photography and colour grading going on, but then it’s like, wow they are fighting on this big… concrete structure thing in the middle of a field, and I didn’t even know why they were fighting.

I remember that there was an actual reason why I selected this film, but I can’t remember what it was. I do remember that it was really long and I was sleepy. I can say, though, that I do recall many images from it, so it’s got that going for it, at least.