Day 6 Tiff Blog

Better weather returned to Toronto, and there was a real gem or two found today.

One Last Deal is a foreign language film from Finland. It sounded interesting, and boy was it one wonderful movie. The story follows an aging and struggling art dealer as he tries to make ends meet, and with a slow moving inventory. It is a bit of a bunch of things, a treasure hunt looking for a masterpiece, a relationship story with his partly estranged daughter and grandson, a commentary about the art auction houses. Wonderfully shot with strong attention to detail in such a small budget film. Watch Klaus Haro as a director. This was a fraction of the budget of Hotel Mumbai, but I give it the same

Sunset is the latest movie from Laszio Nemes who has a wonderfful movie at Tiff a couple of years ago called Son of Saul (Go see that one). Shot in 35 mm, a somewhat disjointed effort this time though about a young woman from a legendary hat store attempting to uncover her past. Fell asleep a couple of times. Slow. 6

Shadow. This was a surprise. It is one of the Gala’s, but saw second screening. I can’t say I’ve ever liked any of the Chinese cinema I’ve seen before at TIff, but this one was different. In Mandarin, but this was beautifully shot.. and is a story about two groups at conflict with each other, and with ‘insults’ resulting in a small scale war between the two feudal groups. What was particularly engaging was the technology used and depicted including ‘scuba’ equipment, and paddle wheel ‘boat’ used by one group in attacking the other. Really enjoyed this.

Colette is based on the true story about a French novelist during the turn of the century who’s writings are attributed to her husband, due to acceptance and success that wouldn’t be the case if she published them. Great and true to real characters. Husband is somehow likeable, and not stereotypically oppressive in this film which will likely get some Oscar consideration for Kiera Knightley as the lead, and perhaps for best costume. It is very topical right now at TIFF, as the women in film movement gains momentum.

Boy Erased is the story about a gay son of in a very religous family (father played by Russell Crowe is a minister). Also staring Nicole Kidman, I felt this was a strong movie, in particular it will resonate with anyone who is gay, has a gay family member or friends who are gay. It may actually save some lives, and speaks to the fact that in more then 1/2 of the US, ‘gay retraining’ is still practiced, much of it under the auspices of Christian churches. Bound to be some backlash here from both sides.