Day 2 Tiff Blog

The fall of the American Empire. Story of a quirky young man, who finds millions of dollars, when he stumbles upon in a bungled robery. At least, that what I thought the story was. In reallity, it is Denys Arcand’s social and critical commentary on what money does to everyone, and goes into the wasteful and corrupt governments, heavy taxation etc etc.. He even takes a veiled jab at the Montreal Canadiens (It is a French Canadian movie), which was funny. I got to ask a question about this reference in the Q an A, which was met with a few laughs from the director. Maybe the best French Canadian Film I have seen to date.

Stockholm. Actually a 4 pt miniseries made for tv. I had some big expectations for this Israeli movie, and it was good, but not wonderful. Story follows 4 close friends, who try to ‘keep alive’ a close friend who dies, just before his potential award of the Nobel Peace Prize, and the nonsense that insues. The premise is that you are dead, even one day, you aren’t eligible (not sure about facts here), so the friends want the dead friend to get the acknowledgement, and the prize money of $1 Million Euro.

Her Job. Foreign language (Greek) small film which is really a look at a personal human story of a middle aged woman, who gets some autonomy from her overbearing and underappreciating husband when she gets a cleaning job in a mall.

Hotel Mumbai. Oh boy. This was one terrific movie. Based on facts regarding the Muslim terrorist attacks on Mumbai in 2008. We all likely were aware of this story, but this depiction looks at the events from the view of the guests of the Taj Oberoi hotel, which had a particulary long drawn out battle. It is just fantastic, imho. Great action, wonderful acting, including Dev Patel. On a side note, I have a soft side for Dev.. he blew Maddie a kiss during tears after I asked a question regarding adoption in the movie Lion 2 years ago (which if you haven’t seen, do yourself a favour, see that one too). Dev returns to an Australian director as he did with Lion, ,this time Anthony Maras.. whom we met after the premier. Really interesting look at, despite India’s history, Mumbai was completely,, and I mean completely unprepared, and slow to deal with what happened that day.

The Hate You Give. This is an adaptation of a novel by Angie Thomas, following one black family, and the strength the teenage daugter must muster to speak out about what she witnessed when a close friend shot dead by a gittery police officer. (See Monsters and Men yesterday). It was OK, but could have provided so much more. In the end, while it provides a good commentary in the Black Lives Matter era,, it disappointed as it didn’t even mention, let alone delve into the different dangers that police officers face in different neighbourhoods. While the ‘profiling’ stop which resulted in the shooting was appalling, I think the movie lost it’s relevancy to much of the audience as a result.

Day 3 Tiff Blog

Girls of the Sun. French language film following the true story of a battalion of women, who escaped rape and being sold several times is ISIS occupied Iraqi Kurdistan, and then returned to fight to regain their homes, and children stolen as child warriors. Some 7000 women were stolen this way, with less then half returning. A really strong women story, which is a theme this year at Tiff. Three different Kurdish factions depicted honestly, I believe. Worth more reading. Excellent small budget film.

This Changes Everything. Tiff doc driven by Geena Davis and others to help drive gender equality in Hollywood. Learned many things. It is worth seeing when it hits Netflix. Remarkable stats don”t lie. I am against ‘quotas’ for sake of quality, but perhaps we have lost quality at the expense of gender equality.

Everybody knows. Story of an abduction in a small family. Spanish movie staring Javier Bardem and Penelope Cruz. Good film, albeit a bit slow. Slow twists. Slow turns.

Life Itself. Intricately woven story following several people, over a long period of time and continents. Stared Annette Bening, Antonio Bendaras, Oscar Isaac, Mandy Patinkin. Very good movie. Looked like a chick flick in the first few minutes.. but really came together. Strong and complex story.

Widow. Story of the Widows of criminals who need to do a ‘job’ as a result of obligations their husbands left after they were killed during a job. Good twists here too.. enjoyable.

Halloween. Special post coming!

Tiff Day 3 special Midnight Madness Blog. in 1978, when I was in university, the first Halloween was released, staring Jamie Lee Curtis, Mustapha Akkad, John Carpenter, which is regarded by most as one of the best original horror movies ever made. While it hasn’t survived the test of time in terms of fright factor, I can tell you, in 1978, we had to drop the ladies who went to it with us like Grace, Nora, Vera etc to their doors with highbeams. Akkad’s son, and Carpenter are back with “Halloween” 40 years later with.. Jamie Lee Curtis, still running from yer another Michael Myers escape from haddenfield Illinois. I rushed to this after seeing 5 films already yesterday, dressed as Michael Myers, sitting in the front row. Jamie was there, and came up and gave me a high 5 after the QandA, and I got a selfie with her. My scary movie idol along with Sigourney Weaver. Movie itself has the same look and feel as the original, the first slashed babysitter movie, written by this Akkad’s father. Movie really a 6/10. Event itself, 8/10. First MM. so much fun.