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The Signal is a pretty cool movie that I’ve been reading about for a few months. It’s a horror/zombie movie and what’s interesting is that it’s split up into three parts, each written/directed by a different person. The zombies concept was kinda cool, but it’s probably not entirely accurate to call them that, since they aren’t simply undead. After receiving some kind of “signal” either through the television, cell phone or radio, people are infected with a murderous rage that actually seems rational to them at the time.

Each third is clearly marked but I kinda wish it hadn’t been as I was looking forward to trying to figure out where each section began. Even with the sectioning, though, the different writing and directing styles are pretty obvious. The first third is a bit spooky, the second part is in a small setting and dialogue-heavy (and funny!), and the final section is a bit bigger as it climaxes and concludes the film.

This one is definitely worth watching and was great for me because I love zombie movies as well as non-conventional filmmaking styles. The story concept isn’t super brilliant, but the three writer/director thing really makes this an interesting and enjoyable watch. Lots of blood and guts doesn’t hurt, either!

I went to see Cloverfield (written by Drew Goddard; directed by Mat Reeves) on opening night with Colin, Ian and Steve. I’d been looking forward to it since I saw the vague but extremely exciting teaser months and months ago, in front of Transformers (which was a terrrrrrrible movie). Although I followed a bit of the relatively elusive online marketing campaigns (such as Slusho and 1-18-08), I managed to steer clear of anything that would ruin it for me.

I did, however, read a couple of spoiler-free reviews over at Twitch and I’m glad I did. I didn’t know what I would see, and after reading the reviews I realized that I shouldn’t go in expecting a full-out “monster movie“. Yes, there’s a big monster (and friends) invading New York, but we all knew that already. What I was glad to know in advance was that this is not simply a story about the monster.

I gotta say, I loved this movie. It was a lot of fun and a great 85 minutes of entertainment. Lots of bangs and creatures and running around and things blowing up and blood and long shots and improvised-style acting… plus it was nice and noisy. Sure, it was a bit cheesy at times, and the handheld-camcorder type of filming has been done before, but I think they did an amazing job. I was alternately (and sometimes simultaneously) gripping the armrests and getting goosebumps! I loved the crazy-shakey-handheld-”camcorder” camera work and the CGI was great. (As far as the camera goes, here’s a little post about it.) I have a strong stomach so I was fine, but some people were clearly uncomfortable with the jerky camera movements.

It’s been a while since I’ve been so hyped for a movie and not have it disappoint me. It was damn cool.

Here’s an interview with director Matt Reeves. It’s got a fair bit of interesting stuff in it. And here’s one of many Cloverfield blogs.

This was our first TIFF film of the year, and it was a nice way of easing us into a fairly busy 9 days. Les chansons d’amour was directed and co-written by Christophe Honoré, and co-written by Gaël Morel. After looking these guys up, it would appear that I am quite a fan. Of the films that Honoré has written and/or directed, I have seen Le clan, Ma mère, Novo and Tout contre Léo. Morel co-wrote Le clan and I have seen one of the films he directed, À toute vitesse.

Les chansons d’amour is a musical, and a rather unconventional one. Honoré wrote the film around songs that Alex Beaupain had already written. Also, the musical numbers kind of float in and out of the story - and actually feel quite natural - as opposed to being grand productions. Of this, Honoré explains that “this film is a musical because the characters can only express their feelings by singing.”

We’re introduced to Ismaël (Louis Garrel) a few weeks into a newly-evolved relationship with his girlfriend, Julie, as they have recently adopted a third person to their mix: Alice. This situation is quite funny and introduces us to some of the film’s questions: What is love? Who can I love? Who could love me? What kind of love do I want?

Things happen and Ismaël finds himself alone. Well… almost alone. He now has a stalker, a young student named Erwann (played by Grégoire Leprince-Ringuet, first seen four years ago in André Téchiné’s Les Égarés). This young man’s advances cause Ismaël to ask himself the same questions as he did in the beginning of the film, but out of an entirely different situation. Or maybe it’s not so different…?

I really enjoyed this movie. It was very charming, and I found myself smiling almost the entire time. It was a combination of the songs, the characters, the stories, the actors… and maybe also by watching them run around Paris…

Here are the films that I am seeing this year, in screening order:

1. Friday, Sept 7, 7:15pm
Le chansons d’amour (Love Songs) (France, Christophe Honoré)

2. Saturday, Sept 8, 9:00am
Control (UK/USA, Anton Corbijn)

3. Sunday, Sept 9:15am
Boy A (UK, John Crowley)

4. Monday, Sept 10, 2:00pm
Silent Resident (Weisse Lilien) (Austria/Germany/Luxembourg/Hungary, Christian Frosch)

5. Monday, Sept 10, 9:45pm
El Pasado (The Past) (Argentina, Hector Babenco)

6. Tuesday, Sept 11, noon
Vexille (Japan, Fumihiko Sori)

7. Tuesday, Sept 11, midnight
Sukiyaki Western Django (Japan, Takashi Miike)

8. Wednesday, Sept 12, 9:45pm
Import/Export (Austria, Ulrich Seidl)

9. Thursday, Sept 13, midnight
Flash Point (Dao huo xian) (Hong Kong, Wilson Yip)

10. Friday, Sept 14, 12:15pm
Déficit (Mexico, Gael García Bernal)

11. Friday, Sept 14, 5:00pm
Hengbok (Happiness) (South Korea, Jin-ho Hur)

12. Friday, Sept 14, 9:30pm
Chrysalis (France, Matteo Botrugno, Daniele Coluccini, Julien Leclercq)

13. Saturday, Sept 15, 6:30pm
Shadows (Koski) (Republic of Macdeonia, Milcho Manchevski)

14. Saturday, Sept 15, 10:00pm
Ex Drummer (Belgium, Koen Mortier)

The only film that I didn’t get tickets for yet is Jar City (Mýrin). I’ll be checking the box office but may need to rush it on Thursday afternoon.

My boss is kind enough to allow me to make up time for daytime weekday screenings. I can’t see anything in the afternoon or evening of this weekend (Sept 8 and 9) because of my comp tickets to Virgin Fest. Regardless, I’m seeing at least 14 films this year and Seana and I are going to have a blast!

Documenting the band Acrassicauda in Heavy Metal in Baghdad (Eddy Moretti and Suroosh Alvi) was a “risky, dangerous, and really fucking stupid” undertaking, according to journalist Suroosh Alvi, and those words are certainly descriptive enough for this film. I was expecting a relatively light-hearted, fun and even novel documentary on the only heavy metal band in Baghdad. And yes, there are more than a few “light” moments, but this is a sober and emotional blow to the head of the reality of what is happening in Iraq as seen through the eyes of people just like me: regular, working class guys who are also passionate about music. And it’s nothing like you’ve ever seen on the news.

The filmakers’ involvement with Acrassicauda began in 2003, when VICE Magazine ran a short piece on them. What followed was a gig set up by VICE two years later, which marked the band’s final performance in Baghdad. After that gig, the band members weren’t heard from again, until a year later when Alvi and Moretti traveled to Baghdad to “see if they were still alive”. This is where the film takes a turn from an already atypical band bio to a “meeting the band” that you have never experienced before (thankfully without the airplane nosedive). Firas, the band’s bassist, plays tour guide for a few days as Alvi and Moretti document both a country and a band that war has torn apart. What follows is a journey through the streets of Iraq, with bulletproof SUVs and a slew of armed bodyguards as company.

As they talk, we learn a lot about these men - about their fears, hopes and dreams. They want to have families. They want to wear their Metallica and Slipknot t-shirts, grow their hair long and have goatees, but any of these things could get them shot, even if they are walking outside before the 9pm curfew. They want to headbang without the fear of being mistaken as Jews in prayer, and killed. They want to flee Baghdad and live in freedom, but they don’t want leave their families behind or be alienated elsewhere. They want to, as the band’s friend Mike puts it, “fly and be free.” But most of all, they want to rock - but how can you do that in a country with a government legislature banning “music filled parties and all kinds of singing”?

With songs like “Massacre”, “Between The Ashes” and “Under World”, Acrassicauda’s song titles seem to be typical of many a metal band’s; the sad truth, however, is that these titles are completely literal, and their lyrics describe the reality of their world. After seeing things through the eyes of these men (both the filmmakers and the band members), who are really not so unlike me and my friends, I feel much closer to understanding what is really going on over there. I am a music lover, and this angle (for lack of a better word) was extremely effective and emotionally stirring. It was a very sobering experience, watching this film, and it will surely stick with me for a long time.

I was able to see this film at a pre-festival press screening at Bovine Sex Club.

I finally found a trailer of Michel Gondry’s next film, Be Kind Rewind! It stars Jack Black and Mos Def and looks absolutely amazing. I love Gondry’s very hands-on style of directing and how he is able to give us what I’m sure is just a glimpse into his vivid imagination. I can’t wait to see how his two leads re-enact these classic (or not-so-classic) films of the past twenty-five years or so (including Ghostbusters, Rush Hour 2 and Driving Miss Daisy). It seems as if one of Gondry’s goals is to show us that the wonders of filmmaking can be experienced by the average person (whether Jack Black and Mos Def count as “average”, I don’t know…).

I’ve never even heard of this movie and it opens in a couple of weeks (August 17). It looks like this could be an awesome teen comedy… and with all of the episodes of Arrested Development that I’ve been re-watching recently, it’s nice to see Michael Cera again!

Here’s a hilarious R-rated clip - catch it while it’s still up! (Mom, you might not want to click on it.)

Thanks to /film for the link.

Kargaran mashghoole karand (Men At Work) (2006, written and directed by Mani Haghighi; first story by Abbas Kiarostami) begins with four middle-aged men driving home to catch an important football match on television. Three of them are talking and joking around while the other naps. He wakes up and bugs them until they finally pull over and allow him to make a pit-stop on the side of the road on the edge of a canyon. While they are stopped they discover a tall, narrow rock formation sticking out of the ground. This film is about their attempts at trying to figure out how it got there, but ultimately how to knock it down.

It doesn’t sound like a very intriguing story, but somehow it is. And funny. The situation these men impose upon themselves can surely be a metaphor for any kind of obstacle that one may face in life, or it could really be about how difficult it is to dislodge a big rock from the earth.

Through alternating moments of silence, comedic and almost slap-stick antics, emotional outbursts and acts of desperation, we learn of these mens’ relationships with women (two of which conveniently show up, join the challenge for a while, and then leave) and each other, but mainly we see how differently they each deal with this “problem”.

I have seen a few Iranian films from the past few years, and most of them are about women and their struggles within their culture. This film, however, may focus on the possibly neglected point of view of the men, and perhaps this is why the offensive rock is quite, well, phallic. Is this a commentary on the different attitudes that some Iranian men may have about their male-dominated society? If so, then how does one explain the relatively passive attitudes of the women who show up? (One can make a metaphor of anything, I suppose.)

In the end, after periods of working together and then literally giving up and leaving someone behind, the four friends learn that sometimes problems can solve themselves.

Pablo’s nickname is Pellet, hence the title of this film: El Bola (2000, written by Achero Mañas with Verónica Fernández; directed by Achero Mañas). I didn’t know anything about this film before popping it in the DVD player, so I had no idea what kind of a ride I was in for.

The ride was great. Performances are authentic and at times, appropriately subtle. The actual subject matter doesn’t arise until almost halfway through the film; a style that doesn’t always work, but definitely does here.

Pellet loiters around town with some of his misfit, daredevil peers and befriends the new kid at school, Alfredo. Alfredo provides Pellet with a simple camaraderie that Pellet seems to never have known before, and he is obviously needy for this kind of friendship. Still, he initially feels out of place in certain situations, such as spending time in Alfred’s family environment; granted, Alfredo’s family environment may not be the most “normal”, but we soon see why Pellet is tentative.

The film touches indirectly on a lot of themes and situations that are not very developed, but I appreciate the realistic snapshot of time-and-place that this method provides; they also work to advance characters rather than plot. We never really get the story on some of the supporting characters but it ends up not really mattering; somehow the subtle oddities of certain people and events gives the film a “truth is stranger than fiction” sort of backdrop.

I was very impressed with the lead actor Juan José Ballesta, who played this title character at only thirteen years of age. I didn’t recognize him at first, but later realized that I saw him in person a couple of years ago at TIFF when he was in town to promote the film 7 vírgenes.

El Bola is a powerful film that deserves the many awards and nominations that it received. It is a moving story that is painful at times and heartwarming at others. It authenticates itself through its photography, characters, performances and sadly, the story itself. I think that Jay would consider this to be a “Jason Chu film”, so it’s no surprise that many moments of it recall Truffaut’s Les Quatre cents coups.

I saw Red Road (2006, written by Andrea Arnold with characters devised by Anders Thomas Jensen and Lone Scherfig; directed by Andrea Arnold) back in September as part of TIFF, and it was definitely one of my favourites. The director was on hand to explain the concept behind “The Advance Party“, a project/concept for a trilogy of three films of which Red Road is the first.

I didn’t know anything about The Advance Party before seeing the film, nor did I realize that Lars von Trier was involved at all, so that was a pleasant surprise. It is an intense, riveting piece and I really enjoyed how the themes and plot slowly rolled out. It was especially interesting afterwards, too, to read the character descriptions/restrictions that Arnold and the next two films’ directors were given to work with.

As the film is concluding its festival tour, Indiewire has a short article which details Red Road’s success and also sheds some light on The Advance Party, including some challenges that Arnold faced working within its structure.