Year: 2019

March 2019 Screenwriter Interviews

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Read interviews with top screenwriters from around the world.

Interviews conducted by Matthew Toffolo

Interview with Screenwriter David Sabbath (Dancing in the White Room)
https://matthewtoffolo.com/2019/02/25/interview-with-screenwriter-david-sabbath-dancing-in-the-white-room/
 

Interview with Screenwriter Ian White (AMARIS)
https://matthewtoffolo.com/2019/02/25/interview-with-screenwriter-ian-white-amaris/
 

Interview with Screenwriter Kristina Rezek (YOUR ROARING TWENTIES)
https://matthewtoffolo.com/2019/02/25/interview-with-screenwriter-kristina-rezek-your-roaring-twenties/
 

Interview with Screenwriter Ray Cecire (The Prophecies)
https://matthewtoffolo.com/2019/02/25/interview-with-screenwriter-ray-cecire-the-prophecies/
 

Interview with Screenwriter ML De La Garza (Indigenous)
https://matthewtoffolo.com/2019/02/25/interview-with-screenwriter-ml-de-la-garza-indigenous/
 

Interview with Screenwriter Gustavo Freitas (Lies, Hamburgers, and Cufflinks)
https://matthewtoffolo.com/2019/02/25/interview-with-screenwriter-gustavo-freitas-lies-hamburgers-and-cufflinks/
 

Interview with Screenwriter Gregory Allen (HE IS GONE)
https://matthewtoffolo.com/2019/02/25/interview-with-screenwriter-gregory-allen-he-is-gone/

TIFF Cinematheque Presents – MEXICAN Cinema (Capsule Reviews)

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TIFF Cinematheque presents  Mexican cinema that includes many rare Mexican films never or seldom screened before.  The program of films is co-selected by Mexican director Guillermo del Toro, now living in Toronto whose favourite film, Luis Bunuel’s LOS OLVIDADOS changed his life, as so he claims.

Capsule Reviews follow below and are listed in the order of their screenings at the Lightbox.  The screening links are provided y kid courtesy of TIFF Cinematheque.

This program is a rare treat and in my opinion, one of the best programs delivered at TIFF for a long time.

CAPSULE REVIEWS (in order of Screening)

CRONOS (Mexico) ****
Directed by Guillermo del Toro

Del Toro’s (THE SHAPE OF WATER, PAN’S LABYRINTH) feature debut is an impressive classic horror take re-set in Mexico.  An antique dealer (Ferderico Luppi) comes across a strange device  that is revealed to grant its owner the eternity of life.  But it comes with a price.  The owner would have to undergo severe pain for the device to take effect and the owner would have an insatiable taste for blood.  American actor Ron Perlman plays the role of the violent nephew of an old wealthy uncle (Claudio Brook) who knows about this CRONOS device.  CRONOS bears del Toro’s trademark for blood and gore that would guaranteed to have audiences turn their faces away.  Still CRONOS is a very scary and horrifying tale of the extent some people will go through to live forever.  Del Toro also creates an impressive gothic atmosphere.

Screening: Feb 28th

LOS OLVIDADOS (Mexico 1950) ***** Top 10
Directed by Luis Bunuel

Compelling and uncompromising look at Mexican street youth that won the director the Best Director prize at Cannes.  Shot in black and white around the dirty city streets around the countryside, the drama follows several youth including the perpetually bad Jaibo, recently released from jail, the generally good but impressionable Pedro among others.  The action begins when Jaibo accidentally kills a fellow street kid while he complicates Pedro.  Jaibo has no qualms against robbing or beating up cripples or blonde beggars.  Pedro is guilty as hell incurring nightmares in one of Bunuel’s another unforgettable surreal dream sequence involving a chicken and his floating mother.  Pedro alos longs for his mother’s missing love, so much so that he takes on a job as an apprentice to help support the family.  “Why did you not give me meat to eat that day?” is the important question Pedro asks his mum to which he gets no reply.  Compelling drama of poverty and one that the audience can feel for.  This one of Bunuel’s best – a story with a powerful message, worthy of Victor Hugo’s LES MISERABLES.

Screening: March 1st

THE EXTERMINATING ANGEL (Mexico 1962) ****

Directed by Luis Bunuel

What might seem like an episode of THE TWILIGHT ZONE where guests at a lush dinner party are unable to leave for reasons totally unknown, THE EXTERMINATING ANGEL turns out to be Bunuel’s quiet surrealistic classic.  Thought things are weird, everything looks normal from the outside.  Though there are no barriers to leave, whenever the guest leave, they are prevented by one reason after another- like “we should have a coffee before we go..” and then they never leave, staying for days leading to weeks to longer when each guest gets on each others’  nerves.  Animals like sheep and goats show up for no reason.  The servants mysteriously leave the premises the night before again, for no reason and the chief valet refuses to take orders.  How will all this end?  It really does not matter, as the events that take pale are what makes tis unrealistic movie.

Screening March 16

THE SKELETON OF MRS. MORALES (Mexico 1960) ****
Directed by Rogelio A. Gonzales

A noir comedy that very couple should see.  The Morales are a couple from hell.  She, Gloria (Amparo Rivelles) is a bitching, nagging wife who would not let her husband, a taxidermist enjoy his meal while denying him her marital duties.  He, in theentime has taken to drink while looking at dirty magazines.  To make matters worse, she is a religious woman who has her priest taking her side.  Things reach boiling point when Gloria breaks the expensive camera her husband has saved the money for years to get.  This is the last straw.  What happens next has to be seen so ask not to have the delicious plot spoilt.  The film is little seen Mexican gem that should not be missed.

Screening March 16

Other Films (not reviewed)

The Realm of Fortune dir. Arturo Ripstein | Mexico 1985 | 135 min.

Sunday, March 3

This adaptation of a short story by Mexican author Juan Rulfo marked the first collaboration between director Arturo Ripstein and talented screenwriter Paz Alicia Garciadiego. Town crier Dionisio Pinzón (Ernesto Gomez Cruz) rescues an injured fighting cock and nurses it back to health, and is rewarded when the bird returns to the ring and scores a series of victories, making its formerly impoverished owner into a wealthy man. Dionisio’s love life improves along with his fortunes, and he soon marries the lovely singer La Caponera (Blanca Guerra) — but his newfound prosperity does not necessarily connote a happier future. Incorporating elements of magical realism into their unsparing look at everyday poverty, Ripstein and Garciadiego forged a signature style that they would continue to develop in over a dozen subsequent features.

Sólo con tu pareja dir. Alfonso Cuarón | Mexico 1991 | 98 min. 

Friday, March 29

Premiering at TIFF in 1991, the first feature by Oscar-winning filmmaker Alfonso Cuarón is a dark screwball comedy about love and sex at the height of the AIDS crisis. Playing sick from work one day, unlikely Casanova Tomás Tomás (Daniel Giménez Cacho) has to juggle two rendezvous when his flirty boss and a nurse he has been romancing show up at his pad at the same time. Armed with the keys to his out-of-town neighbour’s apartment, Tomás ushers the unknowing women into the adjoining rooms and flits back and forth between them via the balconies. From up on high, he spies the lovely neighbour who has moved into the flat below his, but the first pangs of this new love are rudely interrupted by the wrathful nurse, who plays a nasty trick on him by changing the results of his recent HIV test. Financed through a state film-funding system, Cuarón’s debut was originally denied a release by the government, but went on to great worldwide festival success and became a hit at home when it was finally granted a domestic release.

El Compadre Mendoza dir. Fernando de Fuentes | Mexico 1933 | 81 min.

Sunday, March 31

Poet turned exhibitor turned filmmaker Fernando de Fuentes was a pioneer in the Mexican film industry of the 1930s, working across many genres and masterfully adapting his cinematic language to the advent of sound. The second film in the director’s famous trilogy about the Mexican Revolution, El Compadre Mendoza centres on a wealthy landowner who plays both sides of the conflict in an effort to maintain his status. When the Zapatistas come to town, he hangs a portrait of the rebel leader in his dining room and drinks to his health; when the government forces arrive, a portrait of General Huerta goes up instead. The landowner’s duplicity finally catches up to him, and it is a Zapata general who ends up coming to his aid. Acidly commenting on the mores of the upper class, El Compadre Mendoza offers a cutting social critique even as it captures a crucial moment in Mexico’s modern history.

Film Review: TRIPLE FRONTIER (USA 2019) ***

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Triple Frontier Poster
Trailer

Five former Special Forces operatives reunite to plan a heist in a sparsely populated multi-border zone of South America. For the first time in their prestigious careers these unsung heroes… See full summary »

Director:

J.C. Chandor

Writers:

Mark Boal (screenplay), J.C. Chandor (screenplay) | 1 more credit »

Stars:

Ben Affleck, Charlie Hunnam, Adria Arjona

Written by director J.C. Chandor (A MOST VIOLENT YEAR, MARGIN CALL) and Mark Boal, TRIPLE FRONTIER is an American action thriller filmed in Hawaii but set in Colombia where drugs and drug lords rule.  Mark Boal also wrote the Oscar winning THE HURT LOCKER which explains Kathryn Bigelow serving as executive producer for this film.  The film involves a drug money heist from unseen drug lords.  The film is not so much a robbery caper but an escape caper and more than half of the film involves the gang trying to escape from Colombia with the money.  TRIPLE FRONTIER is a Netflix original movie.  Netflix movies have the reputation of having scenarios that Hollywood studios are afraid to touch.  There are reasons that can be imagined studios would not touch this none.  It is not the conventional action film but the less said is better so that no spoilers may be revealed.

Five former Special Forces operatives reunite to plan a heist in a sparsely populated multi-border zone of South America.  For the first time in their prestigious careers these unsung heroes undertake this dangerous mission for self instead of country.   But when events take an unexpected turn and threaten to spiral out of control, their skills, their loyalties and their morals are pushed to a breaking point in an epic battle for survival.

The film looks at both greed and sacrifice, the former coming across more convincing than the latter.  In fact it is greed for money that accounts for the major part of the group’s problems.  As expected, loyalties are tested with  big fights resulting from the clash of personalities.  As stated at the start of the film when one of the Special Forces claim, as he lectures a new class of recruits on what it means to be a warrior; “We are trained to achieve an aim at the expense of any human being.”   The script ensures that this is reasoning behind how the five robbers behave and act during their escape.

The script, story-wise is nothing spectacular and leaves many holes in terms of credibility.  But the script leads to a few excellent action setups, most of these leaving the audience at the end of their seats.  The cinematography by Roman Vasyanov is stunning, especially the shots from the helicopter of the jungles and mountains.  The big crash of the chopper in the middle of the Colombian countryside in the midst of panicking horses is truly well executed.  The other action segment where the mules passing along a narrow mountainside path carrying large bags of money is cliff-hanging suspense.

Music is by Disasterpeace and contains few neat songs that suit the action of the film.

The five stars playing the Special Forces include Ben Affleck, Oscar Isaac, Charlie Hunnam, Garrett Hedlund and Pedro Pascal do a fair job and could be replaced by any other.  Oscar Isaac fares the best paying the lead character that keeps everything in check, while Affleck plays the wild card asshole in the group effectively.

The film scores strong points on the authenticity of the setting especially in the scenes set in Colombia even though the film was shot in Hawaii.  But why would these Colombian villagers go chasing after the 5, risking their lives in the process?

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fo3yRLLrXQA

Film Review: TYLER PERRY’S A MADEA FAMILY FUNERAL (USA 2019) ***

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A Madea Family Funeral Poster
Trailer

A joyous family reunion becomes a hilarious nightmare as Madea and the crew travel to backwoods Georgia, where they find themselves unexpectedly planning a funeral that might unveil unsavory family secrets.

Director:

Tyler Perry

Writer:

Tyler Perry

Stars:

Tyler Perry, Cassi Davis, Patrice Lovely

The trouble with the Tyler Perry films is that they could be quite awful, from a critic’s point of view.   But critics do not pay for tickets at the box office.  Perry’s films are often all over the place, preachy, rude, cheap and politically incorrect.  But they do bring on good laughs despite the complaint that the jokes are the same.  The latest and 11th of the MADEA film series  proves more of the same.  And the last one featuring Madea, though I hardly doubt that.  It has garnered generally negative reviews from critics but went on to be one of his most successful films to date.  Lionsgate Company is still enjoying the cash cow, though the company has not got a string of hits for some time.

This is arguable the laziest of Perry’s films.  Tyler Perry has opened his Tyler Perry studios and this film was shot there in a week.  Most of the acts consist of people sitting around in a room complaining and bitching.  Most of the time two or more of the characters are played by Perry himself.

One of the few scenes that take place outside the house involves Madea and the family being stopped by a white cop for no reason.  Madea tells the Tyler Perry character he wheel to drive and speed off but he insists on doing what is right.  The white cop, of course turns unnecessarily rude and gets everyone in the car worked up and someone might get shot accidentally.   The rest of the film takes place in the house, which means the film is extremely low budget.

There is hardly any plot or story in the film.  The two loose stories are one involving Madea’s dead relative. the unseen Anthony who is caught dead in the act while having S & M sex with a whore.  The reason of death is attempted to be kept secret from the other members of the family.  The other subplot evolves A.J. (Courtney Burrell) cheating on his fiancé for her sister during the wedding.  Of course, Madea has a say in all these 2 events – that is the reason Madea exists, to offer her loud opinion.

Tyler Perry introduces a new character into the movie, a crippled war veteran called Heathrow.  As expected, this character is loud, obnoxious sexist and plain nasty.  Not only is Heathrow (played by Very of course) in a wheelchair but he has to use a vibrator to speak because he has a hole in his throat due to cancer.  And Madea has to remark that she get an orgasm from the speaking vibrator.  Heathow is one of Perry’s funniest and rudest characters.

Madea also organizes the funeral to great hilarity.  Eulogies are kept to a minimum time like the Academy Award acceptance speeches,  No jokes will be revealed in order not to spoil your entertainment.

Nothing much else need be said about this Tyler Perry movie.  Those who know the Tyler Perry movies get what they expected.  No surprises but yes, plenty of laughs.

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=id61hcbdMZA

Film Review: CAPTAIN MARVEL (USA 2019) ***

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Captain Marvel Poster
Carol Danvers becomes one of the universe’s most powerful heroes when Earth is caught in the middle of a galactic war between two alien races.

Directors:

Anna Boden, Ryan Fleck

Writers:

Anna Boden (screenplay by), Ryan Fleck (screenplay by)| 6 more credits »

Stars:

Brie Larson, Samuel L. Jackson, Ben Mendelsohn

CAPTAIN MARVEL turns out to be more a franchise moneymaker in the Marvel Comics Universe than a film.  At the end, the audience reads that CAPTAIN MARVEL will next be seen in the AVENGERS: ENDGAME film while a sequel is likely already in the process (the film ends with the Kree promising: we will return for the woman).  Exiting the theatre and immediate in sight are a row of empty ready to use buckets of popcorn with the Captain Marvel imprinted around its sides that tells it all.

The film opens with Carol Danvars, an ex-U.S. Air Force fighter pilot and member of an elite Kree military unit called Starforce.   Her DNA was fused with that of a Kree during an accident, imbuing her with superhuman strength, energy projection.   Danvers is a believer in truth and justice and a “bridge between Earth and space, who must balance her “unemotional” Kree side that is an “amazing fighter” with her “flawed” human half that is the thing that she ends up leading by.  This is tested by her mentor played by Judd Law, all buffed up and looking good for this role.

Danvars cannot remember her past but it is revealed later on in the film that everything she had believed in is a lie.  Even those she thought were the villains were not.  As such, the film suffers the lack of a true evil villain.

Though the film has a very weak storyline, the film puts emphasis on the relationship between Danvars and other characters – like her and her mentor and her and her best friend, Maria Ramveau  (Lashana Lynch) in the airforce.  Unfortunately, the result is still quite un-engaging.  

The film benefits from it its leading stars – Brie Lawson (from ROOM) and Samuel L. Jackson.  Larson took judo and wrestling classes before taking on the role.  Jackson lifts the spirit of the film with his comic and somewhat over-the-top portrayal of Nick Fury, the future leader of S.H.I.E.L.D.  He is seen here without his eye patch before he lost his eye.  Watch out for that part, which makes the film’s most hilarious moment.   This is where Jackson gets to utter his signature ‘motherf*****’ phrase.  (Jackson utters this phrase in almost every movie he is in.)
The big question then is whether the film is any good.  CAPTAIN MARVEL has a very thin plot and a story that really does not mean anything despite saving the earth and Universe in some form or other.  The special effects and CGI take over, and the film establishes the woman CAPTAIN MARVEL as yet another action super hero – and a strong one at that.  So, the film achieves its aim of establishing CAPTAIN MARVEL in the Marvel Universe while making lots of money, but the answer to whether it is really any good is debatable.  But the film should bring 2019’s box-office, currently in the doldrums up several notches after the film debuts the first two weeks.  And audiences will flock to see these action hero films, even when they are plain awful like BATMAN V. SUPERMAN or AQUAMAN.
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z1BCujX3pw8

Film Review: WHAT WALAA WANTS (Canada 2018)

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What Walaa Wants Poster
Raised in a refugee camp in the West Bank, while her mother was in prison, Walaa is determined to survive basic training to become one of the few women on the Palestinian Security Forces – …See full summary »

Director:

Christy Garland

Waala is the pre-teen daughter of an imprisoned woman, jailed for 8 solid years for terrorist activities.  When the film opens, the mother’s house was entered during her arrest, one of the soldiers yelling at her: “You are not a mother, you are no one, you are shit!”

The mother is released 8 years later and reunited with her family, namely her 2 daughters  and the younger son.  The mother seems to have tamed down, but one daughter, Waala  appears full of sprite.  What does Waala want?  Waala is rebellious at school, creating mischief that could result in delinquency detention, but she now wants to become a police woman in the Palestinian Security Forces.  Toronto filmmaker Christy Garland follows Waala from the ages of 15 to 21.

WHAT WAALA WANTS has garnished rave reviews including being selected as Canada’s Top 10 films of the year.  This an example of a case where a film is praised for its subject rather than its merit, though it is clear that there is still considerable merit in the film despite glaring flaws.  This is also a woman’s film with a woman director and producer and subject with the aim of showing how a young female can defy formidable odds to get what she wants.

For one the film’s continuity comes into question right at the beginning.  When arrested, the woman answers ‘no’ to the question posed by the solder if she is a mother.  Why then is there a son and 2 daughters present at her release.  No details are given as to what the mother was arrested for, except that she intended to drive a suicide bomber to his target  but got caught before.  Not much of the political climate is explained as well.  The film assumes the audience familiar with the current situation.  The film also uncomfortably shifts its subject from the mother to the daughter.  

The conflict scene between mother and Walaa looks weird as the two are never shown in the same frame.  The segment loses its effectiveness.  Question is why the two were unable to be filmed together.

The film contains lengthy middle section showing the details of the rigours undergone by Walaa during boot camp Palestinian training.  This is the most watchable segment where director  shows that What Walaa wants is not so easily obtained.

The film’s seemingly misguided narrative amplifies the fact that director Garland is indecisive as to what the film’s real goal is.  At one point, it is a story of a family undergoing hardship.  Then it becomes one about a girl’s coming of age.  Or is it one about the rigours of boot camp training?  The film never questions the gravity of the mother’s crime.  For Garland, being imprisoned is the crime against her and her family.  Should the mother serve life sentence for being part of a terrorist act that could have killed dozens of innocent people?

Tough WHAT WAALA WANTS falls into the documentary category, it hardly feels like one.  It feels more like a fiction film based on true incidents.

So does Waala get what she wants in the end?  It does not take a genius to determine the answer.  Despite illustrating life of a Palestinian teen in hardship, director Garland has more sympathy for her heroine than she deserves in a film that could do with clearer direction.

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=psmv9pe6RmM

The 91st Academy Awards 2019 – Winners List

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The 91st Academy Awards Ceremonies takes place on February the 24th Sunday at the Dolby Theatre at the Hollywood and Highland Centre in L.A.

Movie fans worldwide will tune as they seek to see who will come up with top Honors as well as what blunders that might occur.

This year marks one of the rare times the ceremonies will be without a host after comedian Kevin Hart got fired for making homophobic remarks.  The organizers promise a more dependable list of presenters.  As expected, quite a few jokes were made of the fact.

The ceremonies began with Adam Lambert’s rendition of “We Will Rock You” from the Best Picture Oscar Nominee BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY.  The first presenters Maya Rudolph, Tina Fey and Amy Poehler did a short stand-up spill to replace the usual 10 minutes opening routine by the host,

Changes are not necessarily be for the good.  One of the silliest, in my opinion is to have a total of 8 films nominated for Best Picture instead of the old 5.  This means more disappointments and there is no point, in my humble opinion to have more films listed only to be shunned.

Another change proposed was for the prizes for cinematography, film editing, live-action short and makeup and hairstyling to be presented during TV commercials.  This proposal was met with outrage and reasonably so.  Film editing and cinematography are key to a great film.  This year’s Oscar nominees for Best Live Action Short are nothing short of phenomenal.

Last year’s Oscars was the lowest rated ever.  The 91st should prove better.

The funniest speech was from Olivia Colman winning from THE FAVOURITE, though Spike Lee comes a close second.

Otherwise, a rather mediocre but noticeably shorter Oscar night.  Till next year…..

The full LIST:  Winners are indicted with asterisks.

Best Picture:

“Black Panther”
“BlacKkKlansman”
“Bohemian Rhapsody”
“The Favourite”
“Green Book” ***
“Roma”

“A Star Is Born”
“Vice”

Lead Actor:

Christian Bale, “Vice”
Bradley Cooper, “A Star Is Born”
Willem Dafoe, “At Eternity’s Gate”
Rami Malek, “Bohemian Rhapsody” ***
Viggo Mortensen, “Green Book”

Lead Actress:

Yalitza Aparicio, “Roma”
Glenn Close, “The Wife”
Olivia Colman, “The Favourite” ***
Lady Gaga, “A Star Is Born”
Melissa McCarthy, “Can You Ever Forgive Me?”

Supporting Actor:

Mahershala Ali, “Green Book” ***
Adam Driver, “BlacKkKlansman”
Sam Elliott, “A Star Is Born”
Richard E. Grant, “Can You Ever Forgive Me?”
Sam Rockwell, “Vice”

Supporting Actress:
Amy Adams, “Vice”
Marina de Tavira, “Roma”
Regina King, “If Beale Street Could Talk” ***
Emma Stone, “The Favourite”
Rachel Weisz, “The Favourite”

Director:

Spike Lee, “BlacKkKlansman”
Pawel Pawlikowski, “Cold War”
Yorgos Lanthimos, “The Favourite”
Alfonso Cuarón, “Roma” ***
Adam McKay, “Vice”

Animated Feature:

“Incredibles 2,” Brad Bird
“Isle of Dogs,” Wes Anderson
“Mirai,” Mamoru Hosoda
“Ralph Breaks the Internet,” Rich Moore, Phil Johnston
“Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse,” Bob Persichetti, Peter Ramsey, Rodney Rothman ***

Animated Short:

“Animal Behaviour,” Alison Snowden, David Fine
“Bao,” Domee Shi ***
“Late Afternoon,” Louise Bagnall
“One Small Step,” Andrew Chesworth, Bobby Pontillas
“Weekends,” Trevor Jimenez

Adapted Screenplay:

“The Ballad of Buster Scruggs,” Joel Coen , Ethan Coen
“BlacKkKlansman,” Charlie Wachtel, David Rabinowitz, Kevin Willmott, Spike Lee ***
“Can You Ever Forgive Me?,” Nicole Holofcener and Jeff Whitty
“If Beale Street Could Talk,” Barry Jenkins
“A Star Is Born,” Eric Roth, Bradley Cooper, Will Fetters

Original Screenplay:

“The Favourite,” Deborah Davis, Tony McNamara
“First Reformed,” Paul Schrader
“Green Book,” Nick Vallelonga, Brian Currie, Peter Farrelly ***
“Roma,” Alfonso Cuarón
“Vice,” Adam McKay

Cinematography:

“Cold War,” Lukasz Zal
“The Favourite,” Robbie Ryan
“Never Look Away,” Caleb Deschanel
“Roma,” Alfonso Cuarón ***
“A Star Is Born,” Matthew Libatique

Best Documentary Feature:

“Free Solo,” Jimmy Chin, Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi ***
“Hale County This Morning, This Evening,” RaMell Ross
“Minding the Gap,” Bing Liu
“Of Fathers and Sons,” Talal Derki
“RBG,” Betsy West, Julie Cohen

Best Documentary Short Subject:

“Black Sheep,” Ed Perkins
“End Game,” Rob Epstein, Jeffrey Friedman
“Lifeboat,” Skye Fitzgerald
“A Night at the Garden,” Marshall Curry
“Period. End of Sentence.,” Rayka Zehtabchi ***

Best Live Action Short Film: 
“Detainment,” Vincent Lambe
“Fauve,” Jeremy Comte
“Marguerite,” Marianne Farley
“Mother,” Rodrigo Sorogoyen
“Skin,” Guy Nattiv ***

Best Foreign Language Film:

“Capernaum” (Lebanon)
“Cold War” (Poland)
“Never Look Away” (Germany)
“Roma” (Mexico) ***
“Shoplifters” (Japan)

Film Editing:

“BlacKkKlansman,” Barry Alexander Brown
“Bohemian Rhapsody,” John Ottman ***
“Green Book,” Patrick J. Don Vito
“The Favourite,” Yorgos Mavropsaridis
“Vice,” Hank Corwin

Sound Editing:

“Black Panther,” Benjamin A. Burtt, Steve Boeddeker
“Bohemian Rhapsody,” John Warhurst ***
“First Man,” Ai-Ling Lee, Mildred Iatrou Morgan
“A Quiet Place,” Ethan Van der Ryn, Erik Aadahl
“Roma,” Sergio Diaz, Skip Lievsay

Sound Mixing:

“Black Panther”
“Bohemian Rhapsody” ***
“First Man”
“Roma”
“A Star Is Born”

Production Design:

“Black Panther,” Hannah Beachler ***
“First Man,” Nathan Crowley, Kathy Lucas
“The Favourite,” Fiona Crombie, Alice Felton
“Mary Poppins Returns,” John Myhre, Gordon Sim
“Roma,” Eugenio Caballero, Bárbara Enrı́quez

Original Score:

“BlacKkKlansman,” Terence Blanchard ***
“Black Panther,” Ludwig Goransson
“If Beale Street Could Talk,” Nicholas Britell
“Isle of Dogs,” Alexandre Desplat
“Mary Poppins Returns,” Marc Shaiman, Scott Wittman

Original Song:

“All The Stars” from “Black Panther” by Kendrick Lamar, SZA
“I’ll Fight” from “RBG” by Diane Warren, Jennifer Hudson
“The Place Where Lost Things Go” from “Mary Poppins Returns” by Marc Shaiman, Scott Wittman
“Shallow” from “A Star Is Born” by Lady Gaga, Mark Ronson, Anthony Rossomando, Andrew Wyatt and Benjamin Rice   ***
“When A Cowboy Trades His Spurs For Wings” from “The Ballad of Buster Scruggs” by David Rawlings and Gillian Welch

Makeup and Hair:

“Border”
“Mary Queen of Scots”
“Vice” ***

Costume Design:

“The Ballad of Buster Scruggs,” Mary Zophres
“Black Panther,” Ruth E. Carter ***
“The Favourite,” Sandy Powell
“Mary Poppins Returns,” Sandy Powell
“Mary Queen of Scots,” Alexandra Byrne

Visual Effects:

“Avengers: Infinity War”
“Christopher Robin”
“First Man” ***
“Ready Player One”
“Solo: A Star Wars Story”

2019 Oscar Nominated Shorts- Live Action (Reviews)

festreviews 2019 Movies, movie, Movie Review, Short Film Movie Review, Uncategorized

2019 Oscar Nominated Shorts (Live Action)  **** Highly Recommended

Oscar nominated shorts will be screened at the Bell Lightbox from now (Feb 8th) till Oscar Presentation Day – on February the 24th.  There are 3 categories – animated; live action and live action documentary.

Watching shorts is a real treat and less tiring than watching a full length feature. Plus, not knowing what these shorts are about, one will surely be in for a nice surprise as well.

One thing about this program of shorts is that they are the most gut wrenching.  The subjects of two of these involve children, boys before the age of puberty.  DETAINMENT and FAUVE are two my favourites for the fact that they are both totally engrossing from start to finish.  Total length of this program around 109 minutes.  

All the shorts are about delinquent kids except one that is centred on a senior.

 

DETAINMENT (UK 2018) *****Top 10

Directed Vincent Lambe

Liverpool, England.  A baby has been murdered.  Caught on video surveillance are two boys and friends, suspect for the murder.  Each are questioned by the police act different locations in the presence of their moms, as the interrogation tears away the layers of lies to reveal what really happened.  DETAINMENT is harrowing because it is hardly imaginable that murder could be committed by two young lads and that test Live -Action short.  The actors playing John and his mother deserve Oscars for their vivd portrayals.  DETAINMENT gets my vote as the best of the program.

FAUVE (Canada 2018) ***** Top 10
Directed by Jeremy Compte

FAUVE sees two mischievous boy playing a game of points to see who wins by coming up with  6 points first.  The game consists of showing who is the toughest one.  The game leads the boys to a quarry where one is pushed into grey mud that functions like deadly quicksand.  This scene is extremely well filmed.  In a moment, the fun and games turn into tragedy while the two pubescent boys learn go through their rites-of-passage.  The  figure of the fox that appears to the boys serves as a metaphor that makes the proceedings all the more chilling.  A difficult but excellent watch!

MADRE (Spain 2018) ***

Directed by Rodrigo Sorogoyen

A single mother while with her mother received a call from hr 7-year old son vacationing with his father on some beach in France.  The child is concerned that the dad has not returned and have left him alone for a while.  Things get worse, when pedophile goes after the boy.  All the terror is conveyed through the cell to the madre who is at wit’s end as to what to do.  It is a neat concept of terror conveyed through talk but the open ended ending is a disappointment.

MARGUERITE (Canada 2017) ***
Directed by Marianne Farley

It is never too late to come out.  The film begins innocently enough with a nurse washing an elderly lady.  The friendship develops both to disclose secrets and longings.  The short shows the trails of growing old and the need to come to terms with the past and present.  Sad and happy at the same time!

SKIN (USA 2018) ****

Directed by Guy Nattiv

SKIN is the most disturbing of all the shorts about kids.  There are two difficult to watch scenes.  One is the brutal beating of a black man for no reason that takes place in front of the victim and attacker’s two sons in  parking lot.  SKIN is about a skinhead family.  The second scene has the father reaching the son how to use a weapon as it it was a toy.  The skinhead father finally gets what is coming to him in a climax that would leave the audience satisfied.

Film Review: RUBEN BRANDT, Collector (Hungary 2018) ***1/2

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Ruben Brandt, Collector Poster
Trailer

A psychotherapist suffers violent nightmares inspired by legendary works of art. Four of his patients, expert thieves, offer to steal the works, since he believes that once he owns them, …See full summary »

Director:

Milorad Krstic

Writers:

Milorad Krstic (screenplay), Milorad Krstic | 1 more credit »

Stars:

Iván Kamarás, Gabriella Hámori, Zalán Makranczi

RUBEN BRANDT, COLLECTOR the film is so called as it is named after the two famed painters.  RUBEN BRANDT is one of the recent sprout of films on artists.

The film begins with a priceless fan stolen from the Louvre in Paris.  The backward somersaulting Mimi is the thief and an elaborate car chase takes place along the streets of Paris with Inspector Kowalski in pursuit.  The story is eventually revealed that Mimi is one of the patients of a psychotherapist who suffers from nightmares where famous paintings come to life (Velázquez’s Infanta Margarita or Boticelli’s Venus) to kill him.  His therapy theory is to own the problem and thus cure it.  He recruits his patients to steal the rare paintings that haunt him taking the audience  around the animated worlds of the famous museums of the Guggenheim to the Louvre to the Tate Modern.

The film’s animation is no Pixar or Disney but is of a different style that celebrates painters, particularly Picasso.  Many characters in the film have cuboid faces, with many containing three eyes or two mouths.  Director also loves to play with swaying shadows, giving his film a distinct artistic look.  The film contains a few scenes of graphic violence, acceptable as the target audience for the animated feature is adults and not children.

The spectacular car chase at the start of the film demands mention.  The chase is animated as if the camera was placed on the dashboard of a real car during the chase giving the sequence a realistic while stylistic look.  The background of the chase encompasses shops and lots of steps looking very much like typical Paris in a painting,

As with the T-shirt worn by one inconsequential person proclaiming “I Love Nothing”, the film contains a lot of ‘nothing’ humour.  These include the numerous innocent bystanders caught in the crossfire of the car chase.  But the most notable of these nothings is a three-minute inconsequential sequence dedicated to a mosquito.  The camera shows the animated mosquito. looking very much like a real one,  drawing blood from the arm of Inspector Kowalski.  The mosquito is subsequently smashed and killed with his saying: “He was the first to draw blood.”  Not really a funny or meaningful segment by the director but by no means a less entertaining one.  Such are the film’s pleasures.

But the single and most hilarious scene is when the therapist conducts a session involving role playing around a fire.  Each patient is required to play the role with one complaining about having to play Little Red Riding Hood.  The therapist insists he plays her for his problem is being too timid and unable to relate in an office work situation.

The film has an amazing soundtrack that includes music and songs from American country and western to contemporary to classical.  There are lots of classic film references from Hitchcock to the director’s own short he directed.  Stay for the end credits as all the references are lists as well as all the paintings and painters where are the inspirations or lookalikes in the film are taken from.

For a 66-year old director whose first film is this stunning, one can only eagerly await for his next project.  This might surely be a Best Animated Best Feature Oscar nominee for next year.

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OWI9KvPaOEE

Full Review: CLIMAX (France 2018) ****

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Climax Poster
Trailer

French dancers gather in a remote, empty school building to rehearse on a wintry night. The all-night celebration morphs into a hallucinatory nightmare when they learn their sangria is laced with LSD.

Director:

Gaspar Noé

Writer:

Gaspar Noé

Stars:

Sofia Boutella, Romain Guillermic, Souheila Yacoub

French auteur Gaspar Noé excited audiences with his first two films, the excellent CARNE and the sequel SEUL CONTRE TOUS which were both an hour or so long.  But Noé pushed the limits with ENTER THE VOID and IRREVERSIBLE and he continues to do so with his new film CLIMAX about a troupe of dancers on acid.

What can one do with a troupe of real dancers?  Noé proves that more than everything can be done.  His film can be divided into 5 parts – the interviews; the group dance; the mingling of the dancers; the individual dances; the sex that occurs after the acid takes effect and the climax (aftermath).   Even if all else fails, the dance choreography is so good, many done with one long take, that watching these dance segments is worth more than the ticket price.  I myself, would watch the film again just for the dance sequences.

The film begins with the dancers being interviewed by an unseen male and female interviewer.  This sequence takes about 15 minutes and the audience sees the obsession of the dancers. “Dance is everything.” “I will commit suicide if I cannot dance.”  “I would do anything to be able to dance in the troupe.”  To the last comment, Noé pursues the implications further, bringing light to the current sexual abuse in the entertainment industry, but with an intelligent difference.  The two dancers who make the identical last comment are probed further to the point that their sexual offers might be accepted.  Noé uses the males instead of the females to be accosted and the possible guilty party to be one male and one female.

The troupe’s dance number is nothing short of stunning.  Forget the dances in any other television show or dance movie.   This is the real thing – real dance from the streets, expertly choreographed by gifted dancers.

When the dancers start mingling, the audience discovers more about each individual, their sexual orientation, who each has the hots for and how one might be related to another.  This is the time the dancers take to the spiked sangria. The LSD (acid)  takes about a hour to take effect.

The film breaks out into dance again.  This time it is individual dance where each dancer is given the chance to perform solo.  Noé uses the overhead shot.  The camera displaced above and each dancer moves in a and then out of the spot, with the dance performance seen from a bird’s eye view.  It is uncommon to shoot dance numbers this way, but it is nevertheless inventive and effective.

The last two segments are not so easy to watch.  Once the dancers start to feel the effect of the drug, their emotions come loose and sex begins leading to the films climax which unfortunately is not so entertaining as the dance sequences.   Noé’s camera goes upside down with lighting going on and off so that not every scene can be deciphered clearly.

Noé never fails to shock and to push his filming limits.  CLIMAX shows Noé at one of his most effective, disturbing though not disgusting.

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2AuDB8pskGs