Month: September 2018

TIFF 2018 Review: THE INNOCENT (Der Unschuldige) (Switzerland/Germany 2018) ****

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Movie Reviews of films that will be playing at TIFF (Toronto International Film Festival) in 2018. Go to TIFF 2018 Movie Reviews and read reviews of films showing at the festival.

The Innocent Poster
Ruth is committed to her work, her family, and her faith, but when an ex-lover is released from prison and comes back into her life, her convictions are threatened.

Director:

Simon Jaquemet

Writer:

Simon Jaquemet

Stars:

Judith Hofmann, Christian Kaiser, Anna Tenta

Director Simon Jaquemet’s surreal, horrific, imaginative and indescribable THE INNOCENT tells the story of a emotionally disturbed Ruth.  The audience can tell something is definitely amiss when Ruth collapses during a religious meeting and after recovering on a patient bed, the camera catches a glimpse of the pastor zipping up his trousers.  

 Ruth is devoted to her work conducting clinical trials for spinal-cord research, and to the monkeys her lab uses for experiments. With the reappearance of a former lover, who was imprisoned for murdering his aunt decades earlier, the ground starts to shift under Ruth’s feet. As she enters an increasingly dark and troubled world, Jaquemet casts a mesmerizing web of uncertainty around his narrative. Ruth’s husband and daughter turn to religion for help against the forces that threaten to unravel their lives. 

 The film contains some really scary segments like the one Ruth experiences, a sort of take-off of Stanley Kubrick’s EYES WIDE SHUT when Ruth enters a worshipping cult.  This film has to be seen to be believed.  In Swiss German.

TIFF 2018 Review: KILLING (Japan 2018) ***

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Movie Reviews of films that will be playing at TIFF (Toronto International Film Festival) in 2018. Go to TIFF 2018 Movie Reviews and read reviews of films showing at the festival.

Killing Poster
Set during the tumultuous mid-19th century Edo period of Japan Killing is the story of a masterless samurai or ronin named Ikematsu Sosuke. As the prevalent peace and tranquility are sure … See full summary »

Director:

Shin’ya Tsukamoto

Writer:

Shin’ya Tsukamoto (screenplay)

Stars:

Shin’ya Tsukamoto, Yû Aoi, Sôsuke Ikematsu

KILLING is a samurai action flick set in the era when samurais were roaming the land seeking for Masters to serve and to pay them for fighting (for them).  Samurais were still highly respected and many men wanted to become one.  Killing tells this familiar story but with more drama and authenticity. 

 The film looks like Akira Kurosawa’s RASHOMON where a large part of the action takes place within a forest with the sun shining through the trees  Director Mokunoshin Tsuzuki (Sosuke Ikematsu) is one such samurai, a warrior without a war to fight. Impoverished by the long-lasting peace of mid-19th-century Japan, he makes a living by helping farmers in a small village.  Life in the countryside flows uneventfully, between farming chores and playful daily sparring with Ichisuke (Ryusei Maeda), the hot-blooded farmer’s son who dreams of one day becoming a valiant samurai played by director Tsukamoto himself.  But the peaceful surface of the days belies hidden passions, an unspoken attraction for Ichisuke’s sister Yu (Yu Aoi), a looming sense of danger, and many doubts.  

The swords fights are edited too fast for one to really discern what is going on, but the excitement is still present.

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1&v=Ev53MlEVIIU

TIFF 2018 Review: SKIN (USA 2018) ***

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Movie Reviews of films that will be playing at TIFF (Toronto International Film Festival) in 2018. Go to TIFF 2018 Movie Reviews and read reviews of films showing at the festival.

Skin Poster
A destitute young man, raised by racist skinheads and notorious among white supremacists, turns his back on hatred and violence to transform his life, with the help of a black activist and the woman he loves.

Director:

Guy Nattiv

Writer:

Guy Nattiv

Stars:

Jamie Bell, Danielle Macdonald, Bill Camp

Nothing about the KKK on film and all of a sudden two films about infiltration of the Kuklaxklan, though SKIN does not specifically refer to this clan but a general neo-Nazi group.  The other difference is that the infiltrator in this one is white, and goes by the name of Byron Widner (Jamie Bell).  

He is caught on camera brutally attacking a black by the feds and forced into snitching or face jail time and losing everything he has.  At the same time he falls for a single mother, Julie (Danielle Macdonald) with three kids.  Nattiv’s film follows Byron as he slowly but surely gives up his racism.  His neo_Nazi mother and father go all to to prevent him from doing so.  Every time he disposes of one aspect of racism, he has a particular part of a tattoo on his face removed, a very painful process.  

Though based on a true story, the relationship between Byron and Julie is just not believable that he would give up all for her, for obvious reasons as seen on the screen.

Trailer: (unavailable)

TIFF 2018 Review: ROJO (Argentina 2018) ***1/2

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Movie Reviews of films that will be playing at TIFF (Toronto International Film Festival) in 2018. Go to TIFF 2018 Movie Reviews and read reviews of films showing at the festival.

Rojo Poster
Set in Argentina during the mid-1970s, Benjamín Naishtat’s hypnotic drama follows a successful lawyer whose picture-perfect life begins to unravel when a private detective comes to his seemingly quiet small town and starts asking questions

Director:

Benjamín Naishtat

Writer:

Benjamín Naishtat

Stars:

Alfredo Castro, Diego Cremonesi, Andrea Frigerio

Director Benjamín Naishtat is clearly an expert at creating tense situations.  The beginning 10 minute sequence jet before the title ROJO appear on the screen tells it all.  The protagonist, a lawyer is rudely singled out in a restaurant by a mysterious stranger to leave his table.   

The lawyer lets him have it saying that he is rude and would in life never get what he wants because of his behaviour that he cannot help because he is a victim of his upbringing.  This causes an alteration outside with the stranger shooting himself and the lawyer dumping the body ithe desert.  A detective shows up asking questions.  The lawyer is shown to be nit that well brought upeithr, psychologically abusing his wife so much that she cannot even tell him comfortably that she has to go to the lady’s.  ROJO is an event driven character study set in

Argentina during the mid-1970s, when the military dictatorship, the “Dirty War,” the disappeared.   The 70’s atmosphere is effectively created with everything from clothes to the cars and props.  A tense and absorbing film from start to a satirical finish.

Trailer: http://www.cineuropa.org/en/video/rdID/357258/f/t/

Read Poem: Hopeless Wonder by Bradford Lee Mace

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poetryfest's avatarPOETRY FESTIVAL. Submit to site for FREE. Submit for actor performance. Submit poem to be made into film.

I opened my book
invited you in
your character evolved
the plot thickened

Happy ending in sight
no end to our love
the pages had hope
even life from above

But you smeared the ink
before it could dry
not even whiteout
could save our goodbye

The dagger my soul
thrust deep within
I was lost for words
my heart left broken

I knew I was wrong
my first inclination
I surrendered to love
despite my hesitation

I gave you the benefit
despite having doubt
left now to wander
lifelessly without

No explanation why
not even a plea
is this really over
how can it be

No thoughts of your own
not even a word
your silence my death
all I wanted your love

By Bradford Lee Mace
http://www.bradfordleemace.com

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Read Poem: Oh Summer! Don’t Leave Me by Lateefah16

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poetryfest's avatarPOETRY FESTIVAL. Submit to site for FREE. Submit for actor performance. Submit poem to be made into film.

I’m going to miss your warm days
that filled me with iced tea
I wish you weren’t leaving
handing me over to fall with ease
dark clouds with hints of mint and harvest trees
dances and festivals to commence its release

I’m going to miss your calm lakes and strong waves
that brought me to the beach countless days
the steaming rays of your sun
tanning me brown
no matter the linen I wear

I’m going to miss the smell of your wild roses
sunny daisies, red tulips, pink lilies
the touch of each crisp oak bark
maple rich and fresh like from the stars
OH!
don’t get me started on your summer nights
lit to my fearless heart’s delight
engulfed with striking possibilities
Hershey’s kisses and skinny dipping
peach ice cream that have me licking

I’m going to miss each endless moment wrapped together
sipping margaritas and martinis
dry…

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