What an incredible day! 11 hours and 43 minutes of film - again, 5 in total. The first was a Canadian, "Barney's Version", based on Mordecai Richler's last novel of the same name. It was perhaps the best Canadian film I have seen in years; funny, intelligent, fascinating, upsetting and heart-wrenching at a couple points--definitely a 5-star.
The second was "A Somewhat Gentle Man", a Norwegian comedy/drama, worth a 4-star rating. The third was "An Inside Job", an American doc about how the current financial crisis came to be. It was informative but the director tended to cut off the answers of those he wanted to vilify to make them seem speechless, without explanations or alibis for the crimes they are accused of. He definitely he had too much rage to handle the subject fairly, not that I blame him, but that's only worth 3 stars.
The fourth, China's rural comedy called "Single Man", was playful, daring, ribald and terribly acted and directed. Some good scenery and delightfully stupid scenes. 3 stars. That was the last film I had seen when I called you, Danzante.
The last film, "Cell 211" from Spain, about a first day guard trapped in a riot in a cell block in a Spanish prison. It totally kept me on the edge of my seat. Perhaps the best action/suspense movie I've ever seen. My adrenaline was still pumping on the way home.
So there is was, two own-able films (which almost never happens on the same day), one other recommendable film, and 2 so-so films. Not bad! There's a great start to this year's festival: seven very good films out of 14.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment