WINNER (2024)

The story of Reality Winner a former soldier and NSA translator who tossed into jail after leaking a report that the Russians interfered with the 2016 election.

This is a nicely entertaining little film. It's a film that tells gives us Winner's story in form that isn't particularly taxing. No matter what happens there is always a humorous edge to the proceedings.

I think how you are react to the film will depend upon how you feel about the film's humor. I mention this because having seen several other versions of Winner's story which were very serious about the events, I found the light touch a bit at odds with the story. It's not bad but it takes a bit of the edge off  the tale.

Don't get me wrong, this is a really entertaining movie, it just doesn't have the weight it probably should have.

ANYWHERE ANYTIME(2024) Toronto 2024

Illegal immigrant  loses his job working in a market. He takes a job working as a bicycle delivery person using the identity of a friend. His bike gets stolen and he has to scramble.

Driven by one of the best scores I’ve heard this year, it seems to be primarily jazz but it mixes in other styles, this little drama was not one I was certain I was going to like. I’ve seen three other seeming variations on the BICYCLE THIEVES in the last few months and another one was not on my list of things I wanted to see.  Fortunately like two of the three earlier versions this film stakes its place as its own wonderous thing.  Helped not only by the score but a great cast and most importantly a sense of life and of place ANYTIME moves at it’s own pace and pulls us in.  Sure we have seen similar tales before, but director Milad Tangshir​ very forcefully makes the case that we haven’t seen this tale with these people and we had better sit up and pay attention.

This film is a stunner. One of the best at TIFF.

Highly recommended when it plays near you.

So Surreal:Behind the Masks (2024) Toronto 2024

One of the best docs playing at TIFF this year, SO SURREAL: BEHIND THE MASKS (co-written and co-directed by Neil Diamond and Joanne Robertson) is a look at the masks used by Native Americans in rituals, as well as their connection to the surrealist artists who collected them.

This film is a joy. It's a film that is so alive that it makes us feel that way by the end.

Focusing on director Neil Diamond's journey to understand why and how the surrealists became interested in the masks, it's a film that opened my eyes to how the masks were collected and used, and the power they contain (I did not know that masks were often burned after ceremonies because it released the magic and spirits).

Using differing styles to tell the story, SO SURREAL transcends the typical doc form to become something truly special. This is told in the manner of the best raconteur you've ever heard - one who changes things up as the story changes. I was enraptured. 

Honestly, I was watching this film late at night and figured I would watch a little bit before going to bed, and instead found myself wide awake and leaning in, wanting to know more. When it was done, I was popping online to do more reading.

Yeah, the film is that good... and then some!

Highly recommended, not only for anyone who is interested in the subject, but for anyone who wants a great story expertly told.

QUOTA (2024) Toronto 2024

Wicked short film about everyone being told that they now must watch their carbon output which will be monitored by a phone app- and what happens when it runs out.

This is a very clever little film with a nasty sting in its tale. Running a breezy three minutes it’s kind of hard to write on since there isn’t much I can say without spoiling it.

That said, this is destined to be kicking around the festival circuit so definitely make an effort to see it.

Brief thoughts on THE PARTY'S OVER (2024) Toronto 2024

 

A Senegalese woman tries to sneak into Spain. Caught on the beach by police, she breaks free and ends up hiding in the garden of large home. The woman living there takes her in, but there are complications.

Comedy of manners and biting social commentary mix in a look at how we see each other. It’s a frequently amusing tale that, while not always successful (it’s a bit too obvious in the points it’s making) does entertain.

I don’t have much to say beyond that.

Brief thoughts on Wolves Always Come At Night (2024) Toronto 2024

Documentary/narrative hybrid about a shepherd in Mongolia forced to change his life and move to a village because of climate change.

This is an uneven film. The documentary parts of the film are an eye opening look at the life herding animals in Mongolia.  However the mixing of life on the plains with the story of a forced change doesn’t wholly work. While it’s not bad but the inclusion of created narrative results in some moments that don’t feel natural. The ending didn’t work for me for that reason.

While not bad, the film isn’t what it could have been if it was either purely a narrative or purely a documentary.

The Man Who Could Not Remain Silent (2024) Toronto 2024

Based on a true story this short film follows what happens when a group of paramilitary soldiers stop a train in the Balkans hoping to ethnicly cleanse it.

This film is way too short for its subject. Telling the vitally important story of one man who was willing to speak up the film stands as a testament to those fighting not to let us slip into darkness.  Thi is too big a story and we need to see more because a feature version would break us

Recommended

Sad Jokes (2024) Toronto 2024

 

Fabian Stumm’s SAD JOKES never clicked with me. The story of a filmmaker, played by Stumm, trying to deal with his career, single fatherhood (his son’s mom is in a hospital for depression)  and romance always kept me at arms length.

The problem is that Stumm isn’t that an engaging actor. He is a good looking guy who never really seems to have anything going on beyond looking good. His expression rarely changes. This is problem when the first person we see is Sonya played by Haley Louise Jones whose whole being is on display in everything she says and does. You can feel the waves of emotion washing over her and into the audience, you don’t get that from Stumm. You want to follow Jones or any other character other than the one played by the writer director.

It might have worked for me if Stumm had shot the film differently. Shot in longer takes with few close ups the film trades the intimacy of close ups and varied shots for sequences playing out in real time. If you have actors to pull it off it can result in emotional moments, but Stumm never manages to pull it off.

I never really cared.

A miss.

Sweetheart Deal (2022)

Sweetheart Deal is really good. I’m still working on how good, but for now that’s enough to get assure that you make an effort to see it either in person or streaming when the film plays Hits theaters Friday.

The film is the story of four women who are doing sex work along Aurora Avenue in Seattle. The quartet are desperately trying to get their lives together, get off drugs and deal with the things that life is throwing at them. The area where they are working is becoming more and more dangerous and their options are becoming complicated.

There was a moment early on in Sweetheart Deal where I wasn’t sure if I liked the film or not. It was a moment early on where the rawness of the presentation had me wondering what I was seeing. This seemed to be an almost too intimate sort of a film where we are watching someone’s home video, I was wondering if I should be seeing this because the moment didn’t feel entirely like a “movie” moment. It felt like I was intruding on real life. And then reality and reason crashed in and a I leaned forward into the film because I realized that it was this sort of raw “you are there” moment that made the film transcend being just another documentary.

I know some of you are going “no duh” but when you see as many documentaries for review as I do every year you tend to do a couple of things. First you often get lazy. You want things to break a certain way so you can breeze through it before you move on to the next thing.  At the same time, you want films to surprise you and do the unexpected, so you engage more fully. They are exact opposites of each other and there are times like the present when a film doesn’t do what’s expected and surprise you in such a way that you are thrown off until you can find your way. It took me a moment to find my way and then I did, and I found myself in a really cool cinematic place.

I really liked this film a great deal. I liked that the film takes a side. Directors Elisa Levine and Gabriel Miller are clearly on the side of the women, and they want us to be. While normally there should be some detachment in a documentary, there are times when a film should take a side. It should rally for its subjects so that we feel more for the women and their plight.

Co-directors Elisa Levine and Gabriel Miller have made a super film.

Recommended.

Brief thoughts on Lazaro At Night (2024) NYFF 2024 Toronto 2024

Three friends all try to get the same acting job. Afterward they get together and discus when they first met.

Dry art house comedy is not going to be for all audiences. Its a low key film  about largely bland people. Well except for Lazaro who is a bit of dick. He's the sort of a guy  you wonder how he he has any friends. 

To be honest I didn't much care for this. I kept  waiting for something exciting to happen or for me to feel something for someone on screen. it never happened.

For art house hounds only.

VIKTOR (2024) Toronto 2024

Deaf man who loves samurai films  wants to fight for his home land Ukraine after the Russian invasion, but his lack of hearing keeps him out of the army.

Moody expressionistic black and white cinematography mix with a soundtrack put together to mimic Viktor’s hearing to make a film that plays more as a cinematic essay than documentary. It’s a hypnotic and compelling viewing experience that is even more so in a darkened theater with no distractions.

The problem is that as a documentary the subject gets overwhelmed by the presentation and there comes a point where you want the cinematic tricks to stop and just focus on Viktor. I’m not certain if the film tells us enough or not because there are some facets to this story about which I want to know more and others aspects we get to know too much. The film doesn’t seem to know what it wants to be.

While I think the film is worth a look for the presentation It’s not a must see.

NIGHTCAP 9/8/24: Brief Festival News: the Camden FF starts this week in person and runs September 16-30 online, NYFF notes, and I'm skipping Drive-in Monsterama

The always wonderful Camden International Film Festival starts this week. It's just over two weeks of some of the best documentaries of the year. I'm hoping to get some coverage up.

Right now I've seen:

REAS

DRIVER

For information on the fest either in person or online go here.

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The press schedule for NYFF was released this week and I ran into the problem of being able to see most of the films I want to see at the press screening and not needing the ticket package I purchased. There was only one film that was a real conflict and I'd need a ticket. 

Yea I know that's a "bad" problem- but I spent a chunk of change on the package- now my problem has become what do I see that doesn't leave 4 to five hours between screening.

It's going to be a weird year and such I'm not sure where there will be time to actually write up the films.

Keep reading because this could be interesting

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I am not going to the Drive-In Monsterama this month. They bumped the dates back a week and it complicated things- and the life complicated things even further.

The real problem is the first night is all Roger Corman films and 3 were in heavy rotation as part of tributes. We are not going to drive 8 hours to sit and not watch films.

Hopefully April will be okay.

Querido Tropico (2024) TIFF 2024 San Sebastian Film Festival 2024

In Panama a caregiver for the elderly takes a job working for a rich family in order to care for the matriarch who is slipping away with Alzheimer’s.

I am not going to lie an say we haven’t seen this story before. We have, but that’s okay. The reasons that it’s okay, actually much more than okay are the performances of the cast, particularly Paulina Garcia and Jenny Navarette who set this film way above most other films of this sort.  These are performances for the ages.

What makes this film work is that this is a film where the performances take what is said and amplify it. Sure we can see what is happening and the bond that forms between the women. However at the same time it’s the small things, the tiny gestures, the looks, a shift in posture or a change in walk that says so much. A late in the game thank you is crushing, not for what is said but for the welling up of tears in the eyes. Nothing is said but the depth of emotion damn near broke me.

If there is justice this film  will result in the leads winning many many awards.

This is as good as film acting gets.

Highly recommended.

Shepherds (2024) Toronto 2024

Shepherd should not work. Everything about the this film should make this just an okay film that is exactly the sort of thing we’ve seen before in other forms, and yet director Sophie Deraspe and her crew have made a film that you will fall in volve with and want to see over and over again, especially on a big screen.

Based on a true story SHEPHERD is the story of a marketing writer who “goes on vacation” to France, never intending to go home. He falls into becoming a shepherd, falling in love with a beautiful civil servant he meets along the way.

As I said at the top this film hits so many of the  expected notes for a story like this and yet this so well done it is a perfect example of how important an artist is in creating a work of art. Deraspe takes a great script, a note perfect cast and some of the most beautiful images you’ve ever seen and mixes them together into a film that is like a siren song for your soul. When one character says late in the game “I don’t want to go back” you feel the exact same way, you don’t want to go back to reality, you want the film to go on forever. Barring that you want to jump on a plane and fly to France to herd animals.

You need to see this film as soon as you can, preferably on a he screen, not just because it’s a great film but because it will leave you feeling like me, with no words, only with emotions.

One of the truly great films of 2024.

Go see it.

A pointer toward There WIll Be Dust (2024) Toronto 2024

This is a pointer toward THERE WILL BE DUST. It's only a pointer because the subject matter and it's handling were not remotely anything I would have willingly watched. I say this because I have unprocessed issues with the death of my dad.

THERE WILL BE DUST is the story of an older couple toward the end of the of their lives. When she is diagnosed with a terminal condition the couple decides to travel to Switzerland where they will end their days together. It is never really maudlin, and is frequently funny. And if I didn't have personal baggage I think I would have really liked this.

Sadly the personal has put a wall up between myself and the film.

Don't let my issues stop you from seeing this. It raises some important issues and it has some great performances.

U ARE THE UNIVERSE (2024) Toronto 2024

Ukrainian space trucker Andriy takes cannisters of nuclear waste to one of Jupiters moons. When the earth is destroyed (seemingly by nuclear war)  he is left all alone with limited time since the fragments of the destroyed earth are coming towards him. Unexpectedly he gets a call from Catherine who is on a distant space station orbiting Saturn. Deciding to change his fate he switches course to get to her- uncertain that he will make it.

Containing several stunning sequences, one of which is one of the most soul stirring and beautiful endings I have ever seen in any film, U ARE THE UNIVERSE is probably destined to be hailed as one of the great genre films ever made. Sure it’s bumpy and bits aren’t perfect but the emotional impact of it’s sound and images have left me grasping for words.

No lie this film is an absolute stunner. Sure it may remind you of other films about a lone man in space, but what writer director Pavlo Ostrikov has done with this is simply to transcend the genre. This is a film that proves if you give us characters we like and sense of genuine humanity we will follow you anywhere.

I am truly somewhere beyond words.  Sure this is a film I shouldn’t like, it’s a film about the possible end of humanity, but the story is so full of life that when the end credits rolled I couldn’t help but feel connected to everything and everyone.

And as for that ending- WOW.

I’m sorry if I don’t say more. I need to sit with it and sit it again- but I am in a festival crush and all I can do is record my first impressions.

One of the tip top best films of 2024- if for now other reason because of how far I was moved, U ARE THE UNIVERSE is a film you must see on a big screen.

Highly recommended.

A pointer toward Seven Days (2024) Toronto 2024

An Iranian activist is quietly released from prison so she can get medical treatment and to see her family. During the trip the woman has to decide if she is going to flee.

This is a good political drama involving Iran that has the unfortunate problem of being one of an increasing number of similar films.  On it’s own terms it’s a solid piece of filmmaking, however if you are someone like me  it is also similar to a number of recent films (Including other films also playing at TIFF). Because of this I can’t honestly say anything that this is a good film and if the subject interests you it’s worth seeing.

Worth a look

MR K (2024) Toronto 2024

 

Crispin Glover gives a surprisingly affecting performance as a magician who ends up trapped in a hotel from which he cannot leave.

This is a great looking film which contains some great performances. It’s a film which moved me and caused me to lean in because not only does Glover give one of his best performances, but also because the film gives us some truly magical moments. It’s a film where the  filmmakers move us a long in a typical Kafka-esque way misleading us in some way or another , only to drop a truth bomb or show us a fleeting bit of magic that suddenly make us see the world and the film in an entirely new way.

What is killing me is that I so want to tell you what all the little great bits are, but at the same time I don’t want to point out what I think you should be seeing. I mean if we were traveling to a place of wonder I wouldn’t spoil the scenery for you.

It is appropriate that the main character is a magician because there is so much magic and wonder in MR K.

This is great example of what movies can do in the hands of a master filmmaker.

Recommended.

A pointer toward EXILES (2024) Toronto 2024

A mother and daughter  circle each other after the death of the patriarch. Both are hurting but neither can come to terms to reach out to the other to start the healing process.

This is a good low key drama.

Forgive me if I don’t say a great deal on the film, but being a guy and raised in a house with two other brothers I don’t always connect to mother daughter stories. I can tell you this is a good film but I also am very aware that I did not get some of the resonances that are at play.

My reservations or not , this is worth a look.

Space Cowboy (2024) Toronto 2024

This is a look at cinematographer Joe Jennings who makes his living by throwing things, like living room sets and cars, out of planes and shooting footage as it falls to earth.

To really appreciate this film its best to see this on a big screen so that Jennings images can overwhelm you.  The thought of seeing all of the sky diving footage on a truly big screen is truly compelling…

…largely because it will overpower the rather run of the mill story telling of the whole affair. Don’t get me wrong this is a good story with lots of great images, but the director doesn’t really do anything with it. He thinks that the images will carry the film, and they largely do, but after a while there is only so many images of flying cars and things that shouldn’t be falling from the sky before the novelty wears off and you are forced to ponder if there is anything here. It’s too much of the same thing.

While not bad, a little goes along way.

Worth a look on a big theater screen. Less so on TV