Cinematical

CINEMATICAL'S 2008 TORONTO INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL PREVIEW

TIFF 2008 is coming up fast; now that the full schedule's been announced, we thought we'd give you a preview of the films we're most excited about catching at this year's fest. With over 300 films to choose from, TIFF has something for everyone, but there's so much to choose from, it can be hard to decide what you want to see.

Cinematical will be at Toronto from start to finish, and you'll be able to read all our coverage on our TIFF hub. Meanwhile, to aid you in your own TIFF planning, here are the ten films we're looking forward to most. To get started, just click on any of the images below to find out more about that film ...

Special thanks to the stellar folks who run the unofficial TIFF guide, TOFilmFest.ca, who once again bring you the best-organized guide to this massive festival ...

One of the more controversial and polarizing films at this year's Sundance Film Festival (and last year's Toronto fest) was Towelhead, a dark and uncomfortable comedy about a 13-year-old Lebanese-American girl living in Texas during the first Gulf War. It was directed by Alan Ball, who showed with American Beauty (which he wrote) and HBO's Six Feet Under (which he created) that he has a knack for finding humor in the sinister corners of suburbia.

The film is set for limited release on Sept. 12 (here's Cinematical's review from Toronto), and the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) is calling on Warner Bros. to change the title before it comes out. A press release from the Greater Los Angeles Area office of CAIR said, "The word ('towelhead') is commonly used in a derogatory manner against people of the Muslim faith or Arab origin." Furthermore: "The use of such a derogatory term by a major film studio will serve to increase its acceptability in public discourse."

Really, CAIR? "Towelhead" is a slur? Then I wonder why the filmmakers would use it as a title -- unless -- you don't think -- nah -- could it be that the whole point of the movie is that this girl is trying to find her identity, and that "Towelhead" is one of the epithets she has to deal with while living in a redneck town during the Gulf War? Could it be that one of the movie's messages is that slurs like that are unacceptable? Could it be that only the most bigoted and idiotic of viewers could come out of it thinking, "I'm gonna start sayin' 'towelhead' more often!"?

The dog days of summer hit the indie box office this weekend, as the top earner was a film in its third week of release. Elegy, directed by Isabel Coixet and starring Ben Kingsley and Penélope Cruz, expanded from six to 92 theaters and grossed $5,546 per screen, according to estimates compiled by Box Office Mojo. The adaptation of a novel by Philip Roth has not been universally praised, but maintains a strong 74% positive rating at Rotten Tomatoes. I can't help but conclude that Penélope Cruz is the art house crowd's answer to Megan Fox, because . . .

. . . Cruz also stars in Vicky Christina Barcelona (pictured), which made $4,339 per screen in its fairly wide (692 theaters) second week. Woody Allen's latest features other pretty people such as Javier Bardem and Scarlett Johansson, of course, and has very good reviews behind it, yet it's silly to ignore the current Cruz heat factor.

As Eugene has already noted, Andrew Fleming's Hamlet 2 got a jump start on its wide release by opening on 103 screens, but its average of $4,223 "doesn't inspire confidence for the expansion." Will this slow down star Steve Coogan?

Suspense drama Transsiberian ($4,157 per screen, 38 theaters, 6th week), tense drama Frozen River ($4,048 per screen, 41 theaters, 4th week), and mystery thriller Tell No One ($3,643 per screen, 101 theaters, 8th week, $3.8 million total) continued to draw well, while debuting debt doc I.O.U.S.A. made $3,461 per screen at 18 locations.

TITLE: Me and Orson Welles
DIRECTED BY: Richard Linklater
STARS: Zac Efron, Claire Danes, Christian McKay

WHAT IT'S ABOUT: In 1937, a young actor (Efron) gets the chance of a lifetime when he's invited to join the cast of a new production of Shakespeare's Julius Caesar ... directed by the young, brash boy genius Orson Welles (Christian McKay). Of course, the scheming, plotting and tragedy isn't confined to the stage. ...

WHY WE'RE EXCITED ABOUT IT: A number of reasons: Welles has always made for great drama on-screen; Efron may finally demonstrate there's more to him than endless iterations of the High School Musical formula; Danes is turning into a truly interesting actress with the passing of time. But ultimately, the reason we're most psyched to see this comes down to director Linklater -- who's proven he can handle both the energy of youth (Dazed and Confused, Before Sunrise) and the technical challenges of period pieces (The Newton Boys). Linklater's a filmmaker looking for a mainstream hit, and the mix of high-class material and Efron's star power may be just what's needed to shove him into the mainstream.

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TITLE: JCVD
DIRECTED BY: Mabrouk El Mechri
STARS: Jean-Claude Van Damme

WHAT IT'S ABOUT: Jean-Claude Van Damme, washed-up action star plays ... Jean-Claude Van Damme, washed-up action star. Trying to deal with a career in decline and various personal crises, the Muscles from Brussels stumbles into a bank robbery -- and has to explain to everyone around him that life is not, in fact, like the movies.

WHY WE'RE EXCITED ABOUT IT: Believe it or not, this was actually one of the most buzzed-about films in the marketplace at Cannes this year -- and the idea of Jean-Claude going meta and post-modern can't help but bring a smile to anyone with memories of the actor's '80s heyday. Plus, JCVD's also the opening film for Midnight Madness -- and sounds like the perfect pick for the maniacs who stay up late at Toronto.

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TITLE: Religulous
DIRECTED BY: Larry Charles
STARS: Bill Maher

WHAT IT'S ABOUT: Stand-up comedian Bill Maher tours the globe, talking with people of faith ... to question, deride and challenge their beliefs. While big-name atheism is big on the bestseller charts recently thanks to Christopher Hitchens, Richard Dawkins and Sam Harris, Religulous is the first big-name documentary to take on the world of faith. Directed by Larry Charles (Borat), Religulous seems to promise a mix of thought-provoking commentary and laugh-inducing uncomfortable silences.

WHY WE'RE EXCITED ABOUT IT: After months of Presidential candidates droning on about what their faith means to them, doesn't a sharp shot of pointed questions and cold, hard logic sound refreshing? Maher's also far smarter than his shtick seems, and after Borat, we'd watch anything Charles offered as a follow-up. We're also looking forward to counting the number of times the phrase "preaching to the converted" gets used in Religulous's reviews.

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TITLE: Miracle at St. Anna
DIRECTED BY: Spike Lee
STARS: Derek Luke, Laz Alonzo, Joseph Gordon-Levitt

WHAT IT'S ABOUT: In 1944, a group of black American soldiers were trapped behind enemy lines in occupied Italy ... and their ordeal is the key to unraveling a mysterious murder in the present day. With James McBride adapting his own novel for the big screen, Miracle at St Anna would already be intriguing ...

WHY WE'RE EXCITED ABOUT IT: ... But the fact Spike Lee's in the director's chair seals the deal to make this one of the must-see films this year at Toronto. All controversy aside (and that's saying a lot, considering how firmly Lee challenged Clint Eastwood's judgment about race and representation in Eastwood's World War II films), Lee's great with actors, tackles tough material head-on and has even turned into a great action and suspense director in recent years. If any filmmaker's been able to turn their complicated, complex, challenging love for America into fascinating moviemaking, it's Lee -- and we can't wait to see this film.

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TITLE: Rachel Getting Married
DIRECTED BY: Jonathan Demme
STARS: Anne Hathaway, Rosemarie DeWitt, Debra Winger

WHAT IT'S ABOUT: Habitual rehab recidivist Kym (Anne Hathaway) comes home for the wedding of her sister Rachel (Rosemarie DeWitt), and to the complicated embrace of her mom (Debra Winger) and dad (Bill Irwin) . Any and all promises of best behavior are, of course, certain to go awry in this comedy-drama scripted by Jenny Lumet, the daughter of directorial legend Sidney Lumet.

WHY WE'RE EXCITED ABOUT IT: Because this is a classic example of a star-director pair worth looking forward to. After a recent series of great documentaries and glossy entertainments, Jonathan Demme looks to be settling in for a fierce, frank drama about people ... and Hathaway, too often sidelined in light comedy, may finally have a chance to flex the acting chops she demonstrated in her brief-but-bold turn in Brokeback Mountain.

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TITLE: Goodbye Solo
DIRECTED BY: Ramin Bahrani
STARS: Souleymane Sy Savane, Red West, Diana Franco Galindo, Lane 'Roc' Williams

WHAT IT'S ABOUT: William, an elderly man (West), hires Solo (Savane), a charming taxi driver, to drive him in two weeks to a mountaintop so he can jump to his death. Solo befriends William, and decides to try to stop him from ending his life.

WHY WE'RE EXCITED ABOUT IT: Bahrani is one of the most exciting young directors working in indpendent film. His film Man Push Cart, played numerous fests and was picked by Roger Ebert as one of the films for his Overlooked Film Festival in 2005, and his 2007 film, Chop Shop, also played well on the fest circuit and was one of the best indie films of that year. With Goodbye Solo, Bahrani works once again with cinematographer Michael Simmonds, who did fantastic work on Bahrani's previous two films. This one is a must-see for indie film lovers at TIFF.

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TITLE: Nothing But the Truth
DIRECTED BY: Rod Lurie
STARS: Kate Beckinsale, Vera Farmiga, Alan Alda, David Schwimmer, Noah Wyle, Angela Bassett, Matt Dillon

WHAT IT'S ABOUT: A political reporter (Beckinsale) writes a story about a government scandal, revealing the name of a covert CIA operative (Farmiga), and ends up behind bars when she refuses to divulge her source. The story parallels the real-life drama surrounding CIA agent Valerie Plame, whose status as a covert operative was outed after her husband, Ambassador Joe Wilson, wrote an op-ed piece for the New York Times charging the Bush administration with manipulating intelligence information to justify a war with Iraq.

WHY WE'RE EXCITED ABOUT IT: A solid ensemble cast and a script written and directed by Lurie should keep this real-life drama firmly out of dreaded "movie of the week" territory. Alda, as the lawyer who fights to keep the reporter out of jail, should have plenty of opportunity for brow-knitting and dramatic courtroom scenes, and we can't wait to see Dillon's turn as the prosecutor who goes after Beckinsale -- his performance was the best thing about 2005's Factotum. We're loving seeing him reinvent his career as a solid indie actor.

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TITLE: Zack and Miri Make a Porno
DIRECTED BY: Kevin Smith
STARS: Seth Rogen, Elizabeth Banks

WHAT IT'S ABOUT: Down on their luck, lifelong friends and roomies Zack (Rogen) and Miri (Banks) embark on a quest to make a fortune by shooting and starring in an amateur porn flick. But if they really go through with doing the deed on camera, will their friendship sustain?

WHY WE'RE EXCITED ABOUT IT: Kevin Smith may not hit it out of the park every time, but when he's on, his films are solidly funny. We can't wait to see how the combination of Smith and Rogen works on screen, and to see how Smith pulls off a film about the making of a porn film while still keeping in "R" territory (the film reportedly undwernt cuts to keep it out of the dreaded "NC-17" zone). Still, just the words "Seth Rogen as a porn star" in the same sentence make this one worth a view, and Smith as the director gives us hope that Zack and Miri will be a fun, quirky romp.

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TITLE: The Wrestler
DIRECTED BY: Darren Aronofsky
STARS: Mickey Rourke, Marisa Tomei, Evan Rachel Wood

WHAT IT'S ABOUT: A big-name pro wrestler back in the 1980s, Randy "The Ram" Robinson now bides his time with performances at high schools and community centers. A heart attack threatens early retirement, but Randy the lure of one more chance to get back in the ring with his biggest rival forces him to choose between his health and another shot at the spotlight.

WHY WE'RE EXCITED ABOUT IT: Aronofsky just missed the mark with the ambitious but over-reaching The Fountain; his direction of that film, nonetheless, was intriguing enough to make this a film worth catching. Tomei has been one of our faves for years, turning in particularly solid performances in 2001's In the Bedroom and last year's Before the Devil Knows You're Dead, and the prospect of her and Evan Rachel Wood in the same film would make this one worthwhile, even if we didn't want to see it just to see Rourke in long hair and wrestling outfits.

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TITLE: I've Loved You So Long
DIRECTED BY: Phillipe Claudel
STARS: Kristin Scott Thomas, Elsa Zylberstein, Laurent Grevill, Serge Hazanavicius, Frederic Pierrot

WHAT IT'S ABOUT: After being estranged from her family by and act of violence for 15 years, Juliette (Kristin Scott Thomas) returns to move in with her younger sister, Lea (Elsa Zylberstein), her husband, father-in-law, and two young daughters.

WHY WE'RE EXCITED ABOUT IT: Always a solid actress worth watching, Thomas is already getting end-of-season awards buzz for her performance in this French-language film. The intriguing trailer promises a intelligent, suspenseful film with a focus on character and relationships, and Thomas's performance looks to be outstanding.

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Do you really want to get an IRA mole mad? British spy drama Fifty Dead Men Walking has stirred the ire of Martin McGartland, its real-life inspiration, according to The Hollywood Reporter. McGartland "threatened legal action against the Canadian-British co-production ... on grounds that the feature infringes his moral rights." On the same day that McGartland made his threat, a scheduled press screening was canceled by Canadian distributor TVA Films, which claimed "a print problem."

The film is scheduled to have its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) on September 10 -- a splashy, red carpet Gala Presentation. But McGartland says that the film "is an entirely false and distorted account of what took place." He is also "reserving all [his] legal rights and remedies in this matter." But one has to wonder -- didn't he already sign off by selling the film rights? Or was that out of his hands and up to his publisher (Hastings House)?

McGartland infiltrated the IRA for the British police in the 1980s and then had to go on the run when his true identity was uncovered. Kari Skogland (Chicks with Sticks, The Stone Angel) adapted McGartland's 1998 book for the screen and also directed. Ben Kingsley, Rose McGowan, Jim Sturgess (21) star. The prospect of Kingsley (in a bad hair piece) and Sturgess facing off somehow -- is Kingsley his police "control"? a member of the IRA? -- sounds very enticing, as does the prospect of Sturgess tackling a serious subject, so let's hope this gets resolved quickly.

The Asian Film Festival of Dallas wrapped up last week with actor/action choreographer Tak Sakaguchi (Versus) in attendance to screen his directing debut, Be a Man! Samurai School. Unfortunately, I missed that night, but two films that screened earlier in the fest stood out for their unique visions.

Indonesian movies are hard to come by in the US, so I confess my total ignorance about the country and its cinema. Is Kala (AKA Dead Time) representative in any way? I don't know, but I very much liked its mix of dramatic mystery and supernatural lore. Director Joko Anwar has a great eye for composition -- he's really good with looming shadows -- and harbors no fear of traveling down well-trodden paths before adding his own odd twists. The film doesn't completely hang together in the narrative sense, and the ending is probably too apocalyptic for its own good, but any movie that features a narcoleptic journalist, a world-weary cop, and a serial-killing spirit deserves attention.

When I describe Muay Thai Chaiya as "insane," it is with all due respect for a movie that begins as a straightforward tale of three ambitious boxing buddies before nearly drowning in soapy melodramatics. What rescues it from terminal dampness is writer / director Kongkiat Khomsiri's complete embrace of a go-for-broke, everything-but-the-kitchen-sink aesthetic that's reminiscent of trashily enjoyable, "C"-level, late 80s Hong Kong action pictures. Toss in sincere regret, romantic betrayal, and more self-sacrifice than you can shake a stick at, and Muay Thai Chaiya edges into "very watchable, never boring" territory.

Unfortunately, neither film is available right now on Region 1 DVD. Muay Thai Chaiya will be playing at Fantastic Fest next month. Both Kala and Muay Thai Chaiya also have official sites.