gilbert seah

TIFF 2016 Movie Review: IXCANUL (VOLCANO) (Guatemala, France 2015) ***1/2

festreviews 2016 movies, Movie Review, Short Film Movie Review, TIFF 2016 Movie Reviews, Uncategorized , , , , , , ,

Movie Reviews of films that will be playing at TIFF (Toronto International Film Festival) in 2016. Go to TIFF 2016 Movie Reviews and read reviews of films showing at the festival.

ixcanul_.jpgIXCANUL (VOLCANO) (Guatemala, France 2015) ***1/2
Directed by Jayro Bustamante

Starring: María Mercedes Coroy, María Telón, Manuel Antún

Review by Gilbert Seah

It i the age old story of a human being’s quest for a better life despite mounting odds. Here is Maria’s desire to marry the one she loves and to escape to a better place, where the grass is greener. But she is betroth to someone else, while she gets pregnant in the meantime by her jilted lover. This story has been told many times in many films before but never in this new and mesmerizing and dreamlike fashion.

Maria is the daughter born into a poor family that work the plantations under a stern landlord who is never seen. Maria is match-made to Ignacio, the boss’s favourite. But Maria has someone else she desires – Pepe. But Pep is fond of drinking and not the chivalrous hero one would imagine. After getting drunk one night and impregnating poor maria, he abandons her while he takes off illegally to cross the border to the U.S. Maria’s mother attempts to, but fails to abort the baby.

The occasionally brilliant debut by Guatemalan filmmaker Jayro Bustamante is a mesmerizing fusion of fact and fable, a dreamlike depiction of the daily lives of Kaqchikel speaking Mayans on a coffee plantation at the base of an active volcano. The title of the film IXCANUL means volcano, which the family prays to and give offerings, hoping to begat wealth, happiness and if not, at least a decent living.

Bustamante immerses his audience into its characters’ customs and beliefs. IXCANUL chronicles with unblinking realism, a disappearing tradition and a disappearing people.

IXCANUL emerges an impressive chronicle of the lives of a people as seen by the observation of the hardships o a single family. This kind of film seldom earns a commercial release. Shot in the languages of Kaqchikel and Spanish. Entertaining and mesmerizing!

Also, Free logline submissions. The Writing Festival network averages over 95,000 unique visitors a day.
Great way to get your story out: http://www.wildsound.ca/logline.html

Deadlines to Submit your Screenplay, Novel, Story, or Poem to the festival:http://www.wildsound.ca

Watch recent Writing Festival Videos. At least 15 winning videos a month: http://www.wildsoundfestival.com

TIFF 2016 Movie Review: ZOOLOGY (Russia/France/Germany 2016) ****

festreviews 2016 movies, Movie Review, TIFF 2016 Movie Reviews, Uncategorized , , , , , , ,

Movie Reviews of films that will be playing at TIFF (Toronto International Film Festival) in 2016. Go to TIFF 2016 Movie Reviews and read reviews of films showing at the festival.

zoology_.jpgZOOLOGY (Russia/France/Germany 2016) ****
Directed by Ivan I. Tverdovsky

Starring: Masha Tokareva, Natalya Pavlenkova, Aleksandr Gorchilin

Review by Gilbert Seah

My personal favourite of the festival so far, ZOOLOGY which won the Special Jury Prize at this year’s Karlovy Vary Film Festival is part comedy of errors, part social satire, and part tender love story.

The film follows Natasha (an excellent low keyed performance by Natalia Pavlenkova), a lonely middle-aged woman who still lives at home with her mother, unfolds in an ordinary, uneventful manner at first. Stuck behind a desk at the local zoo, ignored by her malicious, clucking colleagues, Natasha lives her solitary existence in withdrawn defeat.

That is, until something unexpected turns her life upside down: one day she discovers that she has grown a tail. The comedy comes from how she reacts with the tail. She tucks it in her panties and dances with it. It is hilarious how it does not bother her though rumours are going on about the town of a demon human with a tail.

The satire comes from the runarounds she is given when she gets X-Rays for her tail as well as her work at the zoo. Her love arrives unexpectedly from a hospital staff who has a tail fetish. Funny, intelligent and totally unpredictable, this surreal comedy is a total delight from start to finish.

Also, Free logline submissions. The Writing Festival network averages over 95,000 unique visitors a day.
Great way to get your story out: http://www.wildsound.ca/logline.html

Deadlines to Submit your Screenplay, Novel, Story, or Poem to the festival:http://www.wildsound.ca

Watch recent Writing Festival Videos. At least 15 winning videos a month: http://www.wildsoundfestival.com

TIFF 2016 Movie Review: JEAN OF THE JONESES (Canada 2016)

festreviews 2016 movies, Short Film Movie Review , , , , , ,

Movie Reviews of films that will be playing at TIFF (Toronto International Film Festival) in 2016. Go to TIFF 2016 Movie Reviews and read reviews of films showing at the festival.

jean_of_the_jonesesJEAN OF THE JONESES (Canada 2016) **
Directed by Stella Meghie

Starring: Mamoudou Athie, Gloria Reuben, Shailyn Pierre-Dixon

Review by Gilbert Seah

Writer/director Stella Meghie’s comedy concerning three generations of vibrant, vociferous, unforgettable women in the Brooklyn-based Jones family is the kind of film that is too smart for its own good.

Likely set in Brooklyn in order to be more commercial, the film would do better to be more originally set as an African Canadian film in a black Canadian neighbourhood. The film is slanted black all the way. When a man who shows up at the family home dies, the paramedic, Ray (Mamoudou Athie) who shows up in the ambulance is black. Whites are clearly a minority here and other minorities are absent.

The lead character is Jean (Taylour Paige) who falls for this annoying paramedic. The question is what she sees in him, or vice versa. Jean cannot get along with her sister or anyone she is trying to get a free place to stay with.

There is hardly anything to be learnt nor anything really humorous in this so-called comedy about an annoying family no one wants to meet. The only funny part is the segment where the sisters are caught smoking up in the car by their grandmother (Michelle Hurst) outside her house.

 

Also, Free logline submissions. The Writing Festival network averages over 95,000 unique visitors a day.
Great way to get your story out: http://www.wildsound.ca/logline.html

Deadlines to Submit your Screenplay, Novel, Story, or Poem to the festival:http://www.wildsound.ca

Watch recent Writing Festival Videos. At least 15 winning videos a month: http://www.wildsoundfestival.com

TIFF 2016 Movie Review: CHRISTINE (USA 2016) *** Directed by Antonio Campos

festreviews Movie Review, TIFF 2016 Movie Reviews, Uncategorized , , , , ,

Movie Reviews of films that will be playing at TIFF (Toronto International Film Festival) in 2016. Go to TIFF 2016 Movie Reviews and read reviews of films showing at the festival.

christineCHRISTINE (USA 2016) ***
Directed by Antonio Campos

Starring: Rebecca Hall, Michael C. Hall, Tracy Letts

Review by Gilbert Seah

Based on real life on the suicide of Christine Chubbuck (Rebecca Hall) a Sarasota (Florida) news reporter, this realistic but grim account of events leading to her death is a hard watch. “If it bleeds, it leads.” – is is the newsroom’s unofficial motto for successful news ratings.

What begins as an ordinary person’s struggle for recognition leads to her downfall after many failures. Director Campos also shows failures in Christine’s personal life with her inability to get a date, her lost love with anchorman, George (Michael C. Hall), her virginity and her relationship with her mother, Peggy.

It turns out that she lets out all her troubles to work, finally coming head to head with her boss, Michael (Tracy Letts, delivering another winning performance after playing the Dean in INDIGNATION). Hall delivers a knock-out performance especially in the confrontation segment with Letts. Credit also should be given to the creation of the outstanding period atmosphere of the 70’s.

But one does go away with the feeling that the film has been over-dramatized in an otherwise humourless film. It would be interesting also to watch the documentary on Christine Chubbuck called KATE DOES CHRISTINE, also released this year.

Also, Free logline submissions. The Writing Festival network averages over 95,000 unique visitors a day.
Great way to get your story out: http://www.wildsound.ca/logline.html

Deadlines to Submit your Screenplay, Novel, Story, or Poem to the festival:http://www.wildsound.ca

Watch recent Writing Festival Videos. At least 15 winning videos a month: http://www.wildsoundfestival.com

TIFF 2016 Movie Reviews: TONI ERDMANN (Germany 2016) ***1/2 Directed by Maren Ade

festreviews 2016 movies, Uncategorized , , , , ,

Movie Reviews of films that will be playing at TIFF (Toronto International Film Festival) in 2016. Go to TIFF 2016 Movie Reviews and read reviews of films showing at the festival.

Toni Erdmann.jpgTONI ERDMANN (Germany 2016) ***1/2
Directed by Maren Ade

Stars: Peter Simonischek, Sandra Hüller, Michael Wittenborn

Review by Gilbert Seah

German director Maren Ade’s third movie that was the toast of Cannes is that rare German comedy that has much to enjoy. Germans are more known for their rigidity than for their sense of humour, so TONI ERDMANN the film makes a welcome departure from there Germans we know.

The name in the title belongs to the father, a practical joker who means well. But no one really likes a practical joker least of all the one that the joke is on. That one happens to be his daughter, an important oil consultant in the international business world. So, her patience is tested up to the cry last reel. The humour in the film is sly and sometimes laugh out loud funny, many of them being the practical jokes that Toni puts on her daughter.

Despite the rather predictable ending, TONI ERDMANN ends up a charming film about a father and daughter relationship. Based on the director’s real practical joker father who also wore fake teeth, the ones she gave to him to play practical jokes with.

Trailer: https://www.youtube. com/watch?v=tHiBr8OrpKI

 

TIFF 2016 Movie Reviews: JULIETA (Spain 2016) *** 1/2 Directed by Pedro Almodovar

festreviews 2016 movies, Movie Review, Uncategorized , , , , ,

Movie Reviews of films that will be playing at TIFF (Toronto International Film Festival) in 2016. Go to TIFF 2016 Movie Reviews and read reviews of films showing at the festival.

julieta.jpg JULIETA (Spain 2015) *** 1/2
Directed by Pedro Almodovar

Stars: Adriana Ugarte, Rossy de Palma, Emma Suárez

Review by Gilbert Seah

A film being looked forward to, as it is based on Canadian author and Nobel Prize Winner Alice Munro’s short stores from her book “Runaway”.

Written and directed by Pedro Almodovar, his 20th film marks a departure from his signature melodrama to more high drama. Three short stores are combined into a strong narrative, told largely in flashback with a voiceover by the lead character, obviously called Julieta (Emma Suárez and Adriana Ugarte as older and younger versions of the film’s protagonist)

Film cineastes will be delighted to connect with film references from anything from the recent WINTER’S BONE seen in a poster to STRANGERS ON A TRAIN with a nod to author Patrician Highgate.

The film contains more dialogue than the standard Almodovar movie, and it is for this reason the director opted not to do the initial English languanger version with Meryl Streep in the title role. Aldmodovar’s use of bright colours is still felt throughout tho colourful story of life and regrets.

Trailer: https://www.youtube. com/watch?v=NHkGsbz8rLY

TIFF 2016 Movie Reviews: ELLE, Director Paul Verhoeven

festreviews 2016 movies, Movie Review, TIFF 2016 Movie Reviews, Uncategorized , , , ,

Movie Reviews of films that will be playing at TIFF (Toronto International Film Festival) in 2016. Go to TIFF 2016 Movie Reviews and read reviews of films showing at the festival.

elle.jpgELLE (France/Germany 2016) ***1/2
Directed by Paul Verhoeven
Stars: Isabelle Huppert, Laurent Lafitte, Anne Consigny

Review by Gilbert Seah

Paul Verhoeven is known for both his Dutch foreign films (SPETTERS, THE FOURTH MAN, SOLDIER OF ORANGE) and Hollywood blockbusters (TOTAL RECALL, ROBOCOP, SHOWGIRLS).

His first feature film in 10 years proves to be a critical success as already celebrated at Cannes. Based on the novel Oh… by Philippe Djian, and written by David Birke, the film trails the life of a businesswoman, Michèle (brilliantly portrayed by Isabelle Huppert), who is raped in her home by an unknown assailant and stalks him back.

Michèle rules her company like a tyrant but faces personal problems like her failed marriage to Richard (Charles Berling), her slacker son (Jonas Bloquet) and a lacklustre affair with Robert (Christian Berkel). But she has not come to terms with her father’s crime.

Her father is a serial killer who is still in prison without parole. Her mother is getting re-married to a young buck makes matters worse. Verhoeven plays his film slick and efficient, but the films slags a bit before picking up again. All of Michèle’s problems eventually come together in the solid narrative with a bang-on message. The rape scene is played several times, each time just as (but necessarily) gruesome. The film is Verhoeven at his twisted and perverted best.

Trailer: https://www.youtube. com/watch?v=OVBEV1w7too

IN ORDER OF DISAPPEARANCE (Kraftidioten) (Norway/Sweden/Denmark 2014) ****

festreviews movie, Movie Review, Uncategorized , , , ,

Deadlines to Submit your Screenplay, Novel, Story, or Poem to the festival:http://www.wildsound.ca

in_order_of_disappearanceIN ORDER OF DISAPPEARANCE (Kraftidioten) (Norway/Sweden/Denmark 2014) ****
Directed by Hans Petter Moland

Review by Gilbert Seah

Can an ordinary man kill a drug lord? The answer is ‘yes’, if he is pushed beyond the limit, as this awesome Norwegian film attempts to prove, in a very violent, way.

Nils (Stellan Skarsgård) is a snow plough driver somewhere in Norway. He learns that his son, Ingvar has died, supposedly of a heroin overdose. Nils knows his son was no addict (his wife believes otherwise, though) and starts his own personal private investigation after his beaten up son’s friend confesses to Nils that his son was unknowingly involved in a drug delivery. Soon Nils finds out the local drug lord, known as ‘The Count’ (Pal Sverre Hagen) is behind the crime. He hunts down the two killers and kills both of them, but not before they confess. Based on this information, he goes after their boss, the Count, but finds himself in the crossfire between two rival gangs: one local, the Count and the one “imported” called Papa (Bruno Ganz) from Serbia.

The film contains more observational nuances than the normal action thriller that makes the story more interesting. An example is the scene of Nils asking his wife whether she knows where he had been. Nils is just proud that he had just disposed of one of the men in the chain that caused the death of their son. His wife just looks on nonchalantly.
The film plays like DIRTY HARRY with Skarsgard in the Clint Eastwood role. When the cops are useless and provide no answers into the truth of the son’s death, Nils takes matters into his own hands. The script proves the adage that a man will murder to protect his family.

The Norwegian landscape is used effectively. The film has repeated scenes of a body rolled up in chicken wire and tossed over the grand falls. Nils is also the champion of a huge snowblower that clears the roads of ice and snow. The wintry atmosphere adds to the bleakness of Nil’s situation.

The villain of the piece, the Count is also set up to be a ruthless father. The film spends again more time that the average action thriller on the villain. While showing him to be a ruthless maniac, he is also shown to be a father who wants the best for his son. He tells his bullied son to beat up the bully. He intimidates his driver for not fixing 5 organic fruits in his son’s lunch box and then warns him against talking business (he tells the boss that a worker has gone missing, the one who has just been killed by Nils). The encounters between him and his ex makes the funniest parts. Director Moland is expert in the creation of these wickedly devilish yet violent set-ups.
Skarsgard makes the unlikely but believable hero. He is comfortable in the role and it shows, having worked with director Moland in two other notable films ABERDEEN and ZERO KELVIN, also worthwhile films to catch.
The film is extremely violent. Those who love graphic violence as in horror films are in for a real treat. The humour is very black. For example the sign to the small town where Nils lives, “Welcome to Tycos” is shown half a dozen times as Nils drives in and out of the town to do his nasty business.

IN ORDER OF DISAPPEARANCE is a film that proves that a well-worn story of revenge can still be made intriguing given a little inventiveness even if it comes with a bit of nastiness. This film is my personal favourite of the year!

 

 

Also, Free logline submissions. The Writing Festival network averages over 95,000 unique visitors a day.
Great way to get your story out: http://www.wildsound.ca/logline.html

Deadlines to Submit your Screenplay, Novel, Story, or Poem to the festival:http://www.wildsound.ca

Watch recent Writing Festival Videos. At least 15 winning videos a month: http://www.wildsoundfestival.com

ETOILES DE JOUR (STARS IN BROAD DAYLIGHT) (Syria 1988) ***

festreviews Movie Review, Uncategorized , , , ,

stars_in_broad_daylight
ETOILES DE JOUR (STARS IN BROAD DAYLIGHT) (Syria 1988) ***
Directed by Ossama Mohammed

Review by Gilbert Seah

ETOILES DE JOUR (STARS IN BROAD DAYLIGHT) screens on Saturday, August 27 at 4 p.m. as part of TIFF Cinematheque’s Syria Self-Portraits: Chronicles of Tyranny, Chronicles of War, running from August 26 to September 4. Video introduction by Rasha Salti.

This is my first Syrian film and I am sure it will be the first for most others. Mohammed’s film has an artsy experimental grainy look, being shot in black and white. If commercial Hollywood blockbusters is your cup of tea, better avoid this film like the plague.

Some more background information about the film: Premiered in the Quinzaine des Réalisateurs (Directors Fortnight) at the 1988 Cannes Film Festival, Ossama Mohammed’s first feature remains banned from screening in Syria due to its subversive critique of how the arbitrary and absolute power arrogated to men in a patriarchal society engenders a violence that pervades both familial and intimate relationships.
The film is set in a small village where a double wedding is about to take place. The first scene is a chicken through the window while a man chants about his dream during the night. The lead character is an all-powerful family patriarch, who dictates the fate of his family and kin with absolute authority and administers violence almost arbitrarily.

The film is a hard watch and demands concentration to figure who is who and what is going on. All Syrians sort of look alike, which is a problem. The humour is mostly Syrian and deadpan. It takes a while to get into the film, but once in, the film will captivate in its simplicity and subtlety. It is high drama – Syria style. One bride runs away and the other refuses the marriage. The eldest corrupt son makes a good villain.

The film is quite direct in its political views. The characters outwardly declare their hatred towards Jewish Israel. The film is also male chauvinist oriented. So political correct audiences should beware! See the film at your own risk!

WAR DOGS (USA 2016) ****

festreviews 2016 movies, movie, Movie Review, Uncategorized , , , , , ,

Deadlines to Submit your Screenplay, Novel, Story, or Poem to the festival:http://www.wildsound.ca

wardogs.jpgWAR DOGS (USA 2016) ****
Directed by Todd Phillips

Starring: Jonah Hill, Miles Teller, Steve Lantz

Review by Gilbert Seah

If you enjoyed the hectic style championed by Scorsese’s THE WOLF OF WALL STREET and David O. Russell’s AMERICAN HUSTLE and JOY, then you can expect more of the same in Todd Phillips’ (ROAD TRIP, THE HANGOVER films) WAR DOGS. WAR DOGS is a black hilarious no holds-barred type comedy, farcical, loud and into-ones-face. Not every topic is suited to this kind of treatment. The hectic pace of Wall Street traders, the madness of the falling real estate market and the rise in fame of an inventive mop heiress made perfect subjects. WAR DOGS deals with two 20-somethings striking it rich with arms dealing through the internet with dangerous wheeling and dealing – again a perfect subject. Director Phillips graduates to his first serious comedy after apprenticeship in madcap nonsense comedies like THE HANGOVER. And WAR DOGS, surprisingly is both a fantastic entertaining comedy and a farce on the American military arms sourcing.

The film is aided by the performances of two terrific young actors – Jonah Hill, twice Oscar nominee for Best Supporting Actor (MONEYBALL and THE WOLF OF WALL STREET) and Miles Teller, best known for THE DIVERGENT series and who has proven his acting mettle in WHIPLASH. Hill is expert as portraying smart and crazy while making his dislikable character likeable and one to be somewhat admired. Not many actors can achieve this feat. Teller carries the other lead role confidently, proving himself to be one of the the hottest actors with talent. The film is told from David’s point of view, with him narrating the entire film.

The film follows two arms dealers, Efraim Diveroli (Hill) and David Packouz (Teller), who get a government contract to supply weapons for U.S. troops in Afghanistan. The film is heavily fictionalized and dramatized.
The story is based on true events, but events so crazy, they have to be seen to be believed. But a key segment, the drive through Iraq (the triangle of death) depicted in the film never actually happened. Their first major job runs into trouble when the guns are stuck in Jordan. They solve their problem while Teller keeps the arms dealing a secret from his wife Iz (Ana de Armas). When this problem is solved, they hit another huge project. They enlist the aid of a mysterious American, Henry Girard (Bradley Cooper, who co-produced the film). The family scenes with David and Iz tone down the madness and put all the mayhem into perspective.
It is difficult to imagine how the film would have gone if the original actors Jesse Eisenberg and Shia LaBeouf were hired. But I would rather see Teller than Eisenberg who is now over-exposed with too many films already (CAFE SOCIETY, NOW YOU SEE ME). LaBeouf is too crazy and Hill brings a needed maturity to the role.

The company formed is called AEY, the letters not meaning anything. When told that IBM stands for International Business Machine by an employee, Effraim fires the guy in disgust claiming that only geeks know this fact. Phillips sets up this entire scene (running 5 – 10 minutes) for this one joke. But he funniest scene is the one where the two attend a military meeting totally stoned out of their minds, Phillips intersperses the film with titles/sayings and there are about 5 of them. (Examples: When does telling the truth ever helped anybody? God bless Dick Cheney’s America.) The neat thing is that a character would ultimately utter the exact saying out in the segment.

A puzzling point in the film is Henry Girard thanking David for not exposing him in the Rolling Stone article by Guy Lawson. If that is true, how come his character exists in the movie?

WAR DOGS is smart, funny and edgy entertainment. It marks a brilliant debut from Todd Phillips who now proves himself a talented director to watch.

 

Also, Free logline submissions. The Writing Festival network averages over 95,000 unique visitors a day.
Great way to get your story out: http://www.wildsound.ca/logline.html

Deadlines to Submit your Screenplay, Novel, Story, or Poem to the festival:http://www.wildsound.ca

Watch recent Writing Festival Videos. At least 15 winning videos a month: http://www.wildsoundfestival.com