From Zeitgeist films, two things struck me about this epic film – the incredibly personal footage that the filmmaker captured amidst the pandemonium and sheer size of this movement, and the insight it affords into one of the most powerful but least understood countries in the world. In spite of its scope, it focuses on the individuals and tells a powerfully intimate human story.

Last Train Home – official US trailer:

Sweetgrass (2009)
“As much a work of cultural anthropology as it is a documentary, this unique film traces the path of a family of Montana sheepherders as they drive their flock down from the treacherous and beautiful Absaroka Beartooth mountain range. With no guiding narration, filmmakers Ilisa Barbash and Lucien Castaing-Taylor let the natural images speak for themselves, capturing the danger, pathos and humor in this haunting elegy to a bygone way of life.”

If there is a thing that links the five films I have selected together, it is the ability of the filmmakers to render from seemingly abstract subjects, legitimately engaging stories focused on the people inside of their contexts. On the surface, Sweetgrass may appear a remote subject to city dwellers, and yet it works as an analogy that in spite of the incredible feats of which we are capable, the greatest obstacle is often within our own minds. An awe-inspiring document of a reality leaving the modern world perhaps forever.

The trailer for Sweetgrass:

The Cool School (2007)
“In the late 1950s, when Pollock and de Kooning were being hailed as revolutionary artists in New York, Los Angeles was still dealing with a blacklist that gutted creativity in all media. This is the story of the two men who changed all that. Recording a pledge on a hot dog wrapper to open a cutting-edge gallery, Walter Hopps and Ed Kienholz took the West Coast art world by storm, embracing artists from Marcel Duchamp to Andy Warhol.”

Los Angeles is a city like no other. It is a lens and a megaphone, a magnet to the luminaries of so many small villages scattered around the world that transforms and ignites their minds. And yet it is often looked upon as a vapid cultural cesspool. In The Cool School we explore the transformation of a dustbowl into a hotbed of cultural significance that would be exported and impact perceptions of popular culture irrevocably.

The Cool School trailer:

Superheroes (2011)
“Filmmaker Michael Barnett takes on the ultimate odd job in this eye-opening documentary about real-life “superheroes,” ordinary people who don capes, masks and alter egos in their spare time to right wrongs and make criminals pay for their actions. Among other characters, you’ll meet a tight-knit Brooklyn foursome that tackles tough cases as a squad dubbed the New York Initiative and a San Diego security officer who calls himself Mr. Xtreme.”

We collectively pay a lot of money into the blockbusters centered around the fantastical comic book heroes that raised us. Some take these examples of benevolence, courage, public service and yes, pageantry to heart, and in a quest to emulate them, find ways to substantiate their obsession by attempting to make them real. Beyond the rubber-necking curiosity that these real-life characters may elicit, comes a poignant message about being proactive and taking the risk to make a change in the world as opposed to a passive onlooker, judging their often dangerous lifestyle from the sidelines. A parable about taking responsibility and not simply being an innocuous voice of dissent.

Here is the trailer:

Samsara
“A nonverbal film described by the makers as a “guided meditation”. The film uses very high quality images, scenes of nature and mankind to stimulate the viewer. The film contains no plot or actors, although there are several performers in the film. Samsara is Ron Fricke’s 2011 follow-up to Baraka.”

In the picture-is-worth-a-thousand-words spirit of Baraka or Koyaanisqatsi, “Samsara” affords us yet another lovingly executed, desperate look at our beautiful planet. At present, Samara, which had its world premier at the Toronto International Film Festival is awaiting distribution. You can help coordinate a screening at the official site.

The post Five great documentaries you should watch and why appeared first on TheCulturepin.com.

The Illusionist (L’Illusionniste) | Sylvain Chomet

Country: United Kingdom
Year: 2010
Language: English

The Illusionist is based on a script that was ultimately never produced by filmmaker Jacques Tati, auteur of one of my personal favorite film from the New Wave of French Cinema – Playtime. Here is the drilldown:

“From the director of The Triplets Of Belleville comes a film of grace and unique beauty. [Written by] Jacques Tati for his daughter, Chomet tells the story of a magician who was pushed aside by rock and roll, yet finds one young girl who appreciates his magic. The film stars Jean-Claude Donda and Eilidh Rankin.” ~ Cameron Bailey

The film only has two precious screenings at the Toronto International Film Festival, so if you are present, get thee to the ticket office pronto!

Sunday September 12 2:30:00 PM VISA SCREENING ROOM (ELGIN)
Sunday September 19 6:30:00 PM Tiff Bell LightBox 2

Watch the trailer for The Illusionist at the Official TIFF site now

The post TIFF 2010 – don’t confuse The Illusionist with the 2006 pic starring Ed Norton – you’ll miss a very special treat appeared first on TheCulturepin.com.

This is my fifth year publishing my own lists here at the Culturepin.com because I find that in sharing them, it exposes me to further insights furnished my readers. It not only helps me organize my thoughts in a turbulent sea of information, but it also serves as insight-bait to attract further tips from anyone who may know something about the catalog that I don’t. And ultimately I hope that it will help you to navigate it all and have an amazing film going experience.

So if you will indulge me a few moments, and permit me to be your sub-curator, I will share with you the fruit of my labors thus far.

Here are my first-draft picks for films to see at TIFF 2010. Please, I implore you to comment away!

Aftershock | Feng Xiaogang

Country: China
Year: 2010
Language: Mandarin

My choice to position this film at the top of my list should give an indication not only of the caliber but also the intensity of the choices available at this year’s festival. TIFF’s programmers pull no punches, and in narrowing down my first round picks, I trust I have twisted the winch even further. Aftershock is truly an explosive but also deeply emotionally rooted grand work. It may be as difficult for me to sit through as was 2008’s Hunger.

The most successful Chinese movie of all time, Aftershock is based on the novel of the same name by Chinese Canadian author Zhang Ling. An intimate epic, the film sweeps across three crucial decades in recent Chinese history and explores the resilience of a family devastated by 1976 Tangshan earthquake.

Watch the trailer for Aftershock at the tiff website.

Cave of Forgotten Dreams | Werner Herzog

Country: USA
Year: 2010
Language: English

For anyone cynical about the new 3D movement, Werner Herzog offers a new promise for its utility and meaning. Alas, here is a real reason to not wait it out for a VOD release, but instead to actually get your butt off the couch and go out to the movies for what will undoubtedly be an uplifting cinematic experience.

Werner Herzog gains exclusive access to film inside the Chauvet caves of southern France, capturing the oldest known pictorial creations of humankind in their astonishing natural setting. He puts 3-D technology to a profound use, taking us back in time over 30,000 years.

Over Your Cities Grass Will Grow | Sophie Fiennes

Country: United Kingdom, France, The Netherlands
Year: 2010
Language: French, German

Rivers and Tides, the documentary about the time-based work of artist Andy Goldsworthy affected me so deeply that I have been looking for its successor ever since. I suspect this to be a contender. But because I have not seen it and can only suspect, I will rely on Noah Cowan’s summary from the official tiff website:

“Anselm Kiefer’s monumental artwork explodes into the spaces it inhabits. Dirt and twisted metal, wildly thick impasto and found garbage compete in grand painterly gestures. His themes are volatile and confrontational, often addressing his native Germany’s Nazi past and the ravages of the Holocaust through the lens of poetry (Paul Celan is an acknowledged influence) and the Kaballah. In an era dominated by clever conceptualism, his work consistently evokes strong emotions in the museums and galleries where it is exhibited. It is common to find patrons transfixed and deeply moved by his work.” – Noah Cowan

Machete Maidens Unleashed! | Mark Hartley

Country: Australia
Year: 2010
Language: English

Blood, breasts, beasts – the three B’s form the subject to Mark Hartley’s follow up to one of my favorite Midnight Madness films in 2008: Not Quite Hollywood, this time with a focus on genre films out of the Phillipines. I grew up on really bad b-movies and the thought of going behind the scenes with the people that made them for a couple of hours is just irresistible.

Watch the trailer for Machete Maidens Unleashed! at the tiff site.

Biutiful | Alejandro González Iñárritu

Country: Spain, Mexico
Year: 2009
Language: Spanish

From the director that brought you Amores Perros, 21 Grams and Babel, comes an intense, small-scale intimate nerve-gripper starring the man who made a coin toss creepier than your alcoholic uncle Jimmy. Javier Bardem plays a former drug dealer with a bi-polar wife who works as a prostitute in Iñárritu’s first film in his native Spanish since his startling debut.

Check out the killer trailer for Biutiful at the tiff site.

Tabloid | Errol Morris

Country: USA
Year: 2010
Language: English

The director of The Thin Blue Line and the Academy Award®-winning The Fog of War tells the story of a former Miss Wyoming whose quest for one true love led her across the globe and onto the pages of tabloid newspapers.

Errol Morris doing what he does best: an examination of the dark side of society in this examination into how we are shaped by the media.

The Trip | Michael Winterbottom

Country: United Kingdom
Year: 2010
Language: English

Reprising their hilariously fictionalized roles from Tristram Shandy: A Cock and BullStory, which screened at the festival, Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon reunite with director Michael Winterbottom for an acerbically witty trip through the English countryside.

Winterbottom makes a road trip movie? The guy who brought us 24 Hour Party People? The same guy who depicted a woman giving her lover a footjob until he shot a load, all on camera in 9 Songs? Something tells me this isn’t going to stay inside the margins.

Rabbit Hole | John Cameron Mitchell

Country: USA
Year: 2010
Language: English

I had the good fortune to meet John Cameron Mitchell when he was casting Hedwig and the Angry Inch. Little did I realize at the time that he would move from an underground subculture superstar into a refined, measured powerful directorial figure in the modern American film landscape. I can’t admit that that happened with his sophomore release Short Bus, but with Rabbit Hole, he has Aaron Echkart and Nicole Kidman under his watchful gaze doing what some call among their finest work as a couple struggling to deal with the immense sense of loss from the death of their son.

Based on the Pulitzer prize winning play by David Lindsay. I include this film here because the package is most certainly well worth viewing, however, I trust this will get a US theatrical release due to the cast and source so I will not work too hard for a ticket on this one during the festival.

Film Socialism | Jean-Luc Godard

Country: Switzerland
Year: 2010
Language: French

I did a double take on this one. Godard is alive? Alive and well and making films? I’m so out of the loop – I mean, I read tomes about this guy and the influence his films had when he made them over a half-century ago.

This so-called “symphony in three movements,” that attempts to make sense of a world beyond comprehension, seems to confirm that he is alive and kicking. Undeniably an experience not to be missed.

The Promise: The Making of Darkness on the Edge of Town | Thom Zimny

Country: USA
Year: 2010
Language: English

Never-before-seen archival footage substantiates the bulk of this behind the scenes look by Grammy and Emmy Award-winning director Thom Zimmy’s at Bruce Springstein’s fourth and much beloved album. The Boss himself is scheduled to attend. For fans, this is like dying, going to Heaven, and then dying in Heaven and going to the one beyond that.

Edge | Alexey Uchitel

Country: Russia
Year: 2010
Language: Russian

Anyone who knows me even remotely has likely heard me extol the virtues of Andrei Tarkovsky’s surreal post-apocalyptic masterpiece The Stalker. In fact, I often put it at the very top of my list of favorite films of all time. So when I see a description like:

“Fusing steampunk aesthetics with selective fragments of Russian history, director Alexey Uchitel hurls his new love-laced war epic straight into post-apocalyptic territory”

…you had better believe I will be rolling my sleeping bag out onto the sidewalk to get a ticket.

Daydream Nation | Mike Goldbach

Country: Canada
Year: 2010
Language: English

I <3 Kat Dennings, and this Canadian film from Mike Goldbach (director of Childstar) doesn’t yet appear to have an American distributor so it might be one that could otherwise be overlooked once it arrives on the Netflix list.

The Housemaid

Country: South Korea
Year: 2010
Language: Korean

Essentially a remake of director Kim Ki-young’s original film Hanyo made over 50 years ago and recently restored by Martin Scorsese’s World Cinema Foundation, The Housemaid under director Im Sang-soo’s vision alters the dynamic from vengeful femme fatale, to a startling showdown between a high-powered wealthy family and an ordinary women who enters their world. Adding a healthy helping of international cinema to the tiff menu is a must, and to my taste, this Korean fare looks like a perfect pairing with the rest of this list.

Watch the trailer for The Housemaid at the tiff site.

Black Swan | Darren Aronofsky

Country: USA
Year: 2010
Language: English

OK, for what it’s worth my friend Daniel Waters (writer of Heathers and Sex and Death 101) told me personally that his own buddy Darren Aronofsky (Requiem for a Dream, The Wrestler) has made a near-perfect masterpiece of a film; a film that he, Daniel himself, wishes he had written. With a cast that includes Natalie Portman, Barbara Hershey and Winona Ryder, Black Swan is a chilling exploration of the psyche of a young ballerina “whose starring role as the duplicitous swan queen turns out to be a part for which she becomes frighteningly perfect.”

Interestingly enough, Aronofsky told MTV in a recent interview that Black Swan and the Wrestler began as one project:

“I was actually developing a project that was about a love affair between a ballet dancer and a wrestler, and then it kind of split off into two movies. I realized pretty quickly that taking two worlds like wrestling and ballet was much too much for one movie.”

Why is it a “must” ticket for me at the fest? Not because it won’t get a release, but because I just can’t goddamned wait any longer to see it.

Watch the trailer for Darren Aronofky’s “Black Swan” at the tiff site.

And I haven’t even touched on the excellent Midnight Madness fare…

Agree? Disagree? Know something I don’t? Post your comments below!

The post TIFF 2010 – The Toronto International Film Festival – My First Draft Film Picks appeared first on TheCulturepin.com.

Videocracy

Director: Erik Gandini
Country: Sweden
Year: 2009
Language: English, Italian
Runtime: 85 minutes
Format: Color/35mm

Disinformationist and cultural watchdog director Erik Gandini, whose previous films include Surplus: Terrorized into Being Consumers (2003) and Gitmo – The New Rules of War (2005) that won the best documentary award at the Seattle International Film Festival, (sounds like my kind of guy) now brings us a film that explores the strange and astonishing world and influence of Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi – owner of the country’s television empire. The following synopsis explains:

“In a late evening of 1976, a local Italian television broadcasts a quiz where viewers at home have to answer questions. For each correct answer, a housewife takes off a garment and does a brief dance. The format is simple and very successful.

Unaware viewers did not know that the show was the beginning of a complete change on the way of doing television. A revolution that would forever change the entire Italian political system, changing the values and becoming a powerful instrument of government for the nation.”

As if that isn’t enough to get any reader of the CulturePin.com to make a date for this screening, here is a trailer:

PUBLIC SCREENINGS
Tuesday September 15
10:00PM
VARSITY 3

Thursday September 17
8:00PM
VARSITY 1

Saturday September 19
2:30PM
VARSITY 4

Buy Tickets

Valhalla Rising

Director: Nicolas Winding Refn
Country: Denmark/United Kingdom
Year: 2009
Language: English
Runtime: 90 minutes
Format: Color/35mm

European director Nicolas Winding Refn is probably best known for the Pusher trilogy that migrated the gangster film genre to Copenhagen on an epic scale. His latest film Valhalla Rising tackles the Viking genre – typically heavy with mutton eating and battle axes gleaming in the reflection of the moon off of glaciers, he raises the roof high and takes us deeper inside the world of these powerful warriors who preceded Christopher Columbus arrival to North America by several hundred years.

From the programme:
“The film’s landscapes look so foreign and desolate that Valhalla Rising might as well have been shot on the moon.”

Looks like a lot of visual eye candy and excitement to me.

PUBLIC SCREENINGS
Tuesday September 15
4:00PM
WINTER GARDEN THEATRE

Saturday September 19
12:15PM
SCOTIABANK THEATRE 3

Buy Tickets Now

Midnight Madness Programme 2009 – Pt. II

Solomon Kane

Director: Michael J. Bassett
Country: France/Czech Republic/United Kingdom
Year: 2009
Language: English
Runtime: 104 minutes
Format: Color/D-Cinema
Rating: 14A

Continuing with our list of gory epic sagas started with Valhalla Rising, director Michael J. Bassett, whose previous films including Deathwatch (2002) and Wilderness (2006) – films that in hindsight appear to have prepared him for undertaking the famous pulp-fiction story of 16th century Puritan Solomon Kane, is shot in a gritty and irreverent manner invoking a return to high-spirited action and adventure. Interestingly enough it is part of the Midnight Madness programme which can only mean that the action and adventure quotient is high indeed.

PUBLIC SCREENINGS
Wednesday September 16
11:59PM
RYERSON

Thursday September 17
3:15PM
SCOTIABANK THEATRE 1

Buy Tickets

Bitch Slap

Director: Rick Jacobson
Country: USA
Year: 2009
Language: English
Runtime: 104 minutes
Format: Color/35mm
Rating: 14A

Bitch Slap director Rick Jacobson has directed over 100 episodes of television including the series Xena: Warrior Princess, Hercules: The Legendary Journeys and Baywatch. The movie is called Bitch Slap. If you are a fan of Russ Meyer’s big-boobie-desert-romps or Tarantino’s instatiable lust for grindhouse fare mixed with really really bad bluescreen, then what are you waiting for? It’s Midnight Madness, it’s happening now, get a ticket and get there. If any of the above sound offensive or abhorrent to you, then for goodness’ sake stay home and watch reruns of Friends.

PUBLIC SCREENINGS
Monday September 14
11:59PM
RYERSON

Wednesday September 16
3:15PM
SCOTIABANK THEATRE 3

Buy Tickets

If you get a chance to see any of these films, please let me know what you thought of it. Also I would love to hear any other film recommendations you may have by posting a comment on this article. Have a great TIFF 2009!

The post Film Picks Part 2 – Toronto International Film Festival – TIFF 2009 appeared first on TheCulturepin.com.

Karaoke

Director: Chris Chong Chan Fui
Country: Malaysia
Year: 2009
Language: Malay
Runtime: 75 minutes
Format: Color/35mm
Rating: 14A

Karaoke juxtaposes a young man’s idealism with the reality of a changing Malaysia through karaoke videos, humorous, poetic and filled with fascinating imagery from the country.

PUBLIC SCREENINGS
Monday September 14
5:30PM
AMC 6

Wednesday September 16
03:00PM
AMC 5

Saturday September 19
6:30PM
JACKMAN HALL – AGO

Buy Tickets

Down For Life

Director: Alan Jacobs
Country: USA
Year: 2009
Language: English
Runtime: 92 minutes
Format: Colour/HDCAM
Rating: 14A

Director Alan Jacobs, whose last film at TIFF was the buzzworthy Nina Takes a Lover (1994) directs this adaptation of a New York Times article, revolving around a single day in the life of a 15-year-old Latina gang leader. When she decides to get out of the gang life, she discovers, that leaving is more difficult than joining. The film stars local youths from the neighborhoods of South-Central Los Angeles where it was shot.

PUBLIC SCREENINGS
Saturday September 12
9:30PM
AMC 7

Monday September 14
3:30PM
AMC 7

Friday September 18
6:15PM
AMC 7

Buy Tickets

Midnight Madness Programme at TIFF 2009

One of the highlights at TIFF every year is the amazingly diverse and bizarre Midnight Madness series held at the Ryerson University theater.  The crowd that packs the house every night at midnight is like hardcore Deadheads repainted for a Rocky Horror Picture Show birthday party screening.  Typically horror and gross-out oriented, here are some of this year’s more unusual Midnight Madness picks:

A Town Called Panic (Panique au village)

Directors: Stéphane Aubier, Vincent Patar
Country: Belgium/France/Luxembourg
Year: 2009
Language: French
Runtime: 75 minutes
Format: Color/35mm
Rating: G

Playfully charged with Belgian surrealism and a rock ‘n’ roll sensibility, A Town Called Panic, based on the warped Belgian television series (think something along the lines of Robot Chicken) feels as Monty Python’s Flying Circus hijacked the world of Pingu. Sounds too good to be true. And note the “G” Rating.

PUBLIC SCREENINGS
Friday September 18
11:59PM
RYERSON

Saturday September 19
3:45PM
AMC 3

Buy Tickets

Symbol (Shinboru)

Director: Hitoshi Matsumoto
Country: Japan
Year: 2009
Language: Japanese
Runtime: 93 minutes
Format: Color/35mm
Rating: PG

Hitoshi Matsumoto’s made a huge spalsh at Midnight Madness 2007 with his superhero-versus-giant-monsters comedy DAINIPPONJIN. He returns to TIFF 2009 with his second film, Symbol – Shinboru in Japanese – a surreal journey into the imagination. It will be interesting to see Mr. Matsumoto’s take on the subject as compared to Terry Gilliam’s Dr. Parnassus.

PUBLIC SCREENINGS
Thursday September 17
11:59PM
RYERSON

Saturday September 19
12:00PM
CUMBERLAND 1

Buy Tickets

The post Film Picks – Toronto International Film Festival – TIFF 2009 appeared first on TheCulturepin.com.