Category: TIFF

La Pianiste (Austria/France, 2001, Michael Haneke, director) reinforces the “Austrians=grim” thesis I’m formulating. Isabelle Huppert won a well-deserved Best Actress award at Cannes for her portrayal of a woman who, in her efforts to attain the artistic ideal, loses her humanity. Trapped by her talent, she suppresses her emotions and her sexuality until they can only be expressed in twisted and terrifying ways. When a younger student falls in love with her, our hopes rise, but are soon dashed by the realization that she cannot experience love the way others can. It is too late for her, and the film’s final 30 harrowing minutes are, tellingly, devoid of the beautiful music that carried the first 90 minutes. The message seems to be that the music itself is not enough without the life and beauty it’s describing. 9/10

Rain (New Zealand/USA, 2000, Christine Jeffs, director) was a beautifully shot first feature, set at a beachfront cottage in New Zealand. Lots of melancholy, but also strangely disturbing close ups foreshadowing tragedy: soapy dishes being washed, a man cutting the lawn in his bare feet. Sort of a coming of age story, very moving. 8/10.

Japanese Devils (Japan, 2001, Minoru Matsui, director) was almost three hours long, but compelling all the way through. This documentary features the confessions of 14 Japanese soldiers, detailing their atrocities against the Chinese in the war that Japan waged for most of the thirties and forties. At times hard to listen to, it was nonetheless an exercise in bravery for these men to speak out when the overwhelming majority of soldiers did not. A deeply difficult film to get made and shown in Japan. 8/10

Tape (USA, 2001, Richard Linklater, director) was another film that dealt with the issue of confessing our sins. Ethan Hawke and Robert Sean Leonard play two old high school friends reunited in a seedy hotel room ten years later. One character coerces the other to confess to a rape he committed in high school, then informs him he has taped their conversation. It gets even more complicated when Uma Thurman, the victim, shows up. Shot in six days on digital video, the medium is used brilliantly to reinforce the seediness and claustrophobia of the setting, as well as the characters’ unstable relationships. Adapted by Stephen Belber from his play. 8/10

Waterboys (Japan, 2001, Shinobu Yaguchi, director) was another crowd pleaser. It follows five misfits who start a synchronized swimming team at their all-boys high school. Much hilarity ensues, including a flaming afro, some electrocuted dolphins, and a breathtaking Esther Williams-esque finale. Despite that, there are still some quirks about Japanese culture which elude me, so this rates 8/10.

Elling (Norway, 2001, Petter Næss, director) has me grasping for words and coming up with lame stuff like “triumph” and “joy” and other stuff from the movie ads. Nevertheless, it’s amazing. Two mental patients are released to live semi-independently together in their own apartment. It’s like the Odd Couple in a halfway house, with note-perfect performances from the two leads, especially Per Christian Ellefsen as the title character. This turned around my icky mood from the earlier film with some to spare for tomorrow! Needless to say, it’s a 10/10!!

Models (Austria, 1998, Ulrich Seidl, director) was my first film of the festival. It was a thoroughly unpleasant tale, shot in a documentary style, about coked-up and unhappy models in Vienna. The excruciatingly long scenes alternated between existential longings for love and meaning, whining about physical imperfections, real or imagined, and hedonistic pursuits. It made its points in the first ten minutes, then kept making them over and over and over for the next hundred and ten. Maybe that was the point. Not sure if I’m grading the film only or the whole experience, but I gave it 5/10.