Month: September 2019

2019 TIFF Movie Review: JOJO RABBIT (USA 2019) ***1/2

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Jojo Rabbit Poster
Trailer

A young boy in Hitler’s army finds out his mother is hiding a Jewish girl in their home.

Director:

Taika Waititi

Writers:

Christine Leunens (novel), Taika Waititi (screenplay)

Stars:

Roman Griffin Davis, Thomasin McKenzie, Taika Waititi

JOJO RABBIT follows the protagonist, a German boy, a Nazi fanatic given the nickname of JoJo Rabbit (Roman Griffin Davis) during a Nazi training camp for failure to kill a rabbit in order to prove his loyalty to the Führer. 

 It is not an easy task to make a tasteful film with Nazi Germany in the setting and a fanatic Führer young boy as the lead.  But director Waititi’s film succeeds due to is clever brand of humour.  The film contains many laugh-out loud moments demonstrating director Waititi’s keen sense of humour.  

Roman Griffin Davis is a real find as the 10-year old boy while Australian comedienne Rebel Wilson keeps popping up multiple points in the film as different characters ranging from Nazi trainer to Nazi secretary to Nazi masseuse providing additional laughs.  All the actors appear to speak english with the perfect German accent. 

 JOJO RABBIT turns out to be a harmless really funny comedy with a message to boot.

Trailer: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2584384/videoplayer/vi2663366425?ref_=tt_ov_vi

2019 TIFF Movie Review: SAINT MAUD (UK 2019) ***

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Saint Maud Poster
This psychological horror film from first-time director Rose Glass follows a pious nurse who becomes dangerously obsessed with saving the soul of her dying patient.

Director:

Rose Glass

Writer:

Rose Glass

Stars:

Jennifer Ehle, Turlough Convery, Morfydd Clark

A psychological horror in which the protagonist descends into madness is  an occasionally recurring theme since  Roman Polanski’s REPULSION.  In SAINT MAUD, the film is appropriately titled as the protagonist, Maud figures she is a saint as she gives palatial care to a dying old woman (Jennifer Erle). 
 She figures that her seemingness meaningless job would have more meaning if he saves her patient’s soul  Trouble is  that the dying woman plays around pretending to be saved.  As the nurse, Maud slowly grows crazier, the film’s  terror increases, towards it expected climax.  
 The trouble with SAINT MAUD is that it is a straight forward story straight forwardly told with the expected ending.  But director Glass shows promise in creating an excellent imagined claustrophobic atmosphere, delivering some genuine scares at the same time.  
Morfydd Clark who plays Maud is to be commended for her bravura performance (including some sex scenes) displaying vulnerability and outright obsessive craziness.  The film is set in the North Sea British seaside town of Scarborough.

2019 TIFF Movie Review: ENDINGS, BEGINNINGS (USA 2019)

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Endings, Beginnings Poster
Clip

A 30-something woman navigating through love and heartbreak over the course of one year. During that time, she will unlock the secrets to her life in a sudden turn of events and in the most surprising of places.

Director:

Drake Doremus

Writers:

Drake Doremus, Jardine Libaire

Stars:

Shailene Woodley, Jamie Dornan, Sebastian Stan

ENDINGS charts disappointments in relationships from a female point of view.  An idealistic woman (Shailene Woodley) attempts to get her life on track financially and romantically, but gets caught in a love triangle with a free-spirited bad boy (Sebastian Stan) and his more stable, scholarly best friend (Jamie Dornan).  

With little money, she lives in her sister’s guesthouse, she regularly witnesses her sibling and her brother-in-law fighting, which only exacerbates the once-idealistic Daphne’s growing despair regarding long-term love.  One can tell that she is going to pay for playing the two men, which she does.  But the way she gets everything back in focus is questionable especially when there are no catalyst put into by the script.  Worst is director Doremus’ fondest for closeups with the background often blurry.  

The trouble is that most of the film’s images are generally more blurry than usual making the production values look cheap.  The film is aimed at demonstrating how one can still come out strong despite total hopelessness all round.  Woodley plays the part despite the unconvincing script.

Trailer: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9147456/videoplayer/vi1420214041?ref_=tt_ov_vi

2019 TIFF Movie Review: THERE IS SOMETHING IN THE WATER (Canada 2019) ****

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There's Something in the Water Poster
The injustices and injuries caused by environmental racism in her home province, in this urgent documentary on Indigenous and African Nova Scotian women fighting to protect their communities, their land, and their futures.

Directors:

Ian Daniel, Ellen Page

Stars:

Ian Daniel, Ellen Page

Born and raised in Nova Scotia, JUNO star Ellen Page does right to bring audiences to the awareness of environmental racism in her home province in this urgent documentary on Indigenous and African Nova Scotian women fighting to project their communities, their land, and their futures. Based on Ingrid Waldron’s incendiary study, the film follows Page as she travels to rural areas of the province that are plagued by toxic fallout from industrial development.

  She interviews Ingrid, Louise Shelburne and Michele, other activists in Nova Scotia.  The devastation of places such as Boat Harbour, once a sanctuary for Indigenous people, now plagued by toxins spewed by a pulp and paper mill is recorded in images and on drawings on screen.  Page tackles the problem head on but simply and effectively.  

The film includes segments where the government and companies talk but do nothing.  There is a clip of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau just saying: “Thank you for telling us your problem.”  A remarkable simple and extremely powerful documentary.  I did not expect not expect to be moved to tears.

Trailer: (unavailable)

2019 TIFF Movie Review: MADE IN BANGLADESH (France/Bangladesh/Denmark/Portugal 2019)

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Made in Bangladesh Poster
Shimu fled her village as a child when her stepmother threatened to marry her off to a middle-aged man. Now 23 and living in the capital, she works grueling hours for paltry sums at a textile factory while her husband searches for work.

Director:

Rubaiyat Hossain

Writers:

Rubaiyat Hossain, Philippe Barrière (co-writer)

Stars:

Rikita Nandini Shimu, Novera Rahman, Parvin Paru

Yet another female organizing a union in male managed dominated abuse factory (NORMA RAE, THE COUNTY) but set in the little seen city of Dhaka in Bangladesh.  The unfamiliar setting and authenticity of the somewhat simple look at poverty and abuse allow Hossain’s film to stand on its own without the usual cheap theatrics or Hollywood cliches.  
After a fire in a cramped garment factory takes the life of a co-worker a 26-year old begins the difficult task of starting a union facing threats from her employer, disapproval from her unemployed husband and scared fellow-workers not to mention the corrupt officials that need to approve the union application.  Hossain realizes that the strength of his film is Bangladesh itself and he shoots plenty of local scenes with the crowded streets and people.
  
Hossain also manages to rile up his audience in the fight against exploitive labour practices in an entertaining enough film.  But if you want to see the real thing, there is a doc with the same title that ran on THE FIG+FTH ESTATE TV series.

2019 TIFF Movie Review: HEARTS AND BONES (Australia 2019) ***

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Hearts and Bones Poster
In Ben Lawrence’s beautifully acted debut feature, a war photographer Hugo Weaving and a refugee Andrew Luri discover a photograph that threatens to destroy them both. Daniel Fisher Weaving… See full summary »

Director:

Ben Lawrence

Writers:

Beatrix Christian, Ben Lawrence

Stars:

Hugo Weaving, Andrew Luri, Hayley McElhinney

A fictional account of an odd relationship between two men of different backgrounds each forced to come to terms with the horrors of war.  One is an Australian photojournalist (Hugo Weaving) and the other a South Sudanese refugee (Andrew Lori).  Both take refuge in each other’s company rather than their female companions.  

Director Lawrence tells his tale in a plain and straight forward manner which works well getting the message across on the trauma of war.  There is one twist in the otherwise simple story.  This is Ben Lawrence’s first feature.  

He elicits superlative performances from both veteran Weaving (PRISCILLA QUEEN OF THE DESERT) and newcomer Lori.  Ben, the son of veteran Aussie director Ray Lawrence who has made minor classics like BLISS shows promise and is a future talent to be reckoned with.

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e99MLUN6TLA

2019 TIFF Movie Review: ABOMINABLE (USA 2019)

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Abominable Poster
Trailer

A magical Yeti must return to his family.

Directors:

Jill Culton, Todd Wilderman (co-director)

Writer:

Jill Culton

Stars:

Chloe Bennet, Albert Tsai, Tenzing Norgay Trainor

Having fled the secret laboratory where he’s been detained, a young Yeti, that is named Everest (non-speaking, just making abominable snowman sounds) frantically scurries through the streets of Shanghai before hiding on an apartment rooftop, where he takes solace in a billboard advertisement for travel to Everest. It’s also where he meets Yi(Chloe Bennet). Yi and the Yeti discover a shared fondness for Yi’s grandma’s dumplings — which the Yeti consumes in crazy quantities — and a love of music.

  Yi quickly surmises and turns correct that her new companion is being hunted by a squad of ruthless militiamen, led by wealthy collector Burnish (Eddie Izzard) and the zoologist Dr. Zara (Sarah Paulson). with red hair looking like an animated Tilda Swinton who usually has roles of this nature in films. Recruiting two cousins as accomplices (Chinese have large families – stereotyping?), Yi determines to help the Yeti get away. 

 The film draws from other films like E.T. (also from Dreamworks)  and HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON.  Animation from Dreamworks is great as expected though there is not much excitement in anything in terms of insight or innovation.  Strictly for kids.

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XrgVtuDRBjM

2019 TIFF Movie Review: THE COUNTY (Iceland/Denmark/Germany/France 2019)

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The County Poster
A widowed farmer begins a new life on her own terms by fighting against corruption and injustice in her community.

Director:

Grímur Hákonarson

Stars:

Arndís Hrönn Egilsdóttir, Þorsteinn Bachmann, Þorsteinn Gunnar Bjarnason

Icelandic director Grímur Hákonarson whose best known film the 2015 RAMS that won the top prize at Cannes in the Un Certain Regard section returns with a female protagonist film.  An Icelandic woman takes on the corruption of her local co-op and the outdated, exploitative system that supports it.  Inga (Arndís Hrönn Egilsdóttir) has always questioned the slavish devotion of her husband, Reynir (Hinrik Ólafsson), to the co-op, even as the co-op’s debt has spiralled out of control and their prices remain much higher than those of their competition.

When disaster strikes, Inga decides to openly take action against the co-op via social media. As her campaign progresses, she soon finds out just how low her adversary is willing to go.  Themes of the underdog versus the establishment make good small movies like THE CASTLE ( a farmers fights for his house to be bought over for a new airport runway, women seeking unionization NORMA RAE, MADE IN BANGLADESH) and THE COUNTY is no exception.  

Iceland like most Scandinavian countries has been admired for their advancements and the film shows an uglier seedier side of it, like the harsh conditions Icelanders face for their land.  Hákonarson’s uncompromising film ends with a realistic ‘unhappy’ ending that makes his film even more effective in getting his message across.

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6xalJXBc82s

2019 TIFF Movie Review: THREE SUMMERS (TRES VEROES) (Brazil/France 2019)

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Three Summers Poster
Over a trio of summers, a caretaker for luxury condominiums relies on her resourcefulness and her eye for opportunity to take advantage of whatever comes her way as her employers are caught in major corruption scandals.

Director:

Sandra Kogut

Writers:

Iana Cossoy Paro (screenplay), Sandra Kogut(screenplay)

Stars:

Regina Casé, Rogério Fróes, Gisele Fróes

Co-written and directed by veteran Sandra Kogut (CAMPO GARNDE), the film is set during the times of Brazilian scandals when politicians and the wealthy were arrested for crimes like money laundering and theft. But Kogut is not interested in these crooks but in what happened to the people caught in their web – like their employees.  The protagonist chosen is the caretaker for luxury condominiums (Regina Casé) owned by a wealthy Rio family when arrests  are being made.  

The caretaker, Madá relies on her resourcefulness and her eye for opportunity to take advantage of whatever comes her way.  Unfolding over the course of three consecutive summers — 2015 to 2017 — the film follows Madá as she invests in a roadside snack kiosk while tending to the every need of her condescending employers, becomes bystander in a major money-laundering scandal, and eventually launches a whole new career.  

The film is aided by the sorted and lively performance of Regina Case who basically makes the movie.  Kogut has a keen observation of people and relationships.  She could have concentrated on more characters than just the caretaker.

Trailer: (unavailable)

2019 TIFF Movie Review: WET SEASON (Singapore/Taiwan 2019)

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Wet Season Poster
A teacher and student at a Singapore high school form a special, self-affirming bond.

Director:

Anthony Chen

Writer:

Anthony Chen

Stars:

Yann Yann Yeo, Jia Ler Koh

WET SEASON is the follow up of Singaporean writer/director Anthony Chen after his successful ILIO ILO which was also screened at TIFF a few years back.  This time around, he takes the forbidden romance between a student and his Chinese language teacher while concentrating on the family problems of the teacher, Mrs. Lim.  Mrs.Lim has to take care of her invalid father-in-law while her husband carries out an inter-marital affair.  

The film is slow paced and one-sided and no one really knows what the film’s aim is or what message Chen is trying to convey.  One never gets to see the student’s family in all these troubles.  

Chen loves to show the poorer side of Singapore compared to the architectural marvels seen in other films set in Singapore like CRAZY RICH ASIANS.  Chen is capable of much better!

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X-LsF7q4t_k