TIFF '09 Review: 'Eccentricities of a Blond Hair Girl'

"Eccentricities of a Blond Hair Girl," 100 year-old Portuguese master Manoel de Oliveira's latest and quite likely last directorial effort (how much work do you think you'll be doing following your first centennial?), unfurls briskly and delicately, like a great short story, over the course of an economic 64 minute run time during which not a frame is wasted and each sequence is impeccably composed and choreographed. The film is adapted from a short story of the same name by 19th century realist author Eca de Queiroz ("The Crime of Padre Amaro"), and is considered by Oliveira to be an homage to the writer, updating the material to present day, but composing the film in a very classical way, with Oliveira's trademark long takes and minimalist plotting.

The film begins on a train, as young and handsome Macario (Ricardo Trepa) engages in a conversation with the woman sitting to his right. He tells her of his life as an accountant, working at his father's clothing store, and of the titular blond, Luisa (Caterina Wallenstein), who beguiled him with her exotic Chinese fan as she sat temptingly in the window adjacent to his own. In the story, it takes a mutual friend to finally introduce Macario to Luisa who, it turns out, returns his affection. They meet at a party, where a man recites a poem and his words resonate throughout 'Eccentricities.' His verse concerns a man of virtue, who wants only what he needs and knows that to desire more is to be unhappy. Shortly after the party, Macario decides to wed Luisa, but when his uncle gives him an ultimatum – stay single, or lose your job and home – Macario chooses his lover, and must look for work elsewhere; and when he's unable to find any, he becomes impoverished and too ashamed to ask for Luisa's hand. Finally, Macario is offered an undisclosed assignment in Cape Verde, where he's promised he can make a small fortune.

That's roughly 40 minutes of the film's 64. The last 20 or so brings some surprises and while revealing them certainly wouldn't ruin the film, to experience 'Eccentricities' unexpected conclusion and utterly haunting, soon-to-be-legendary, final shot yourself is something we wouldn't deprive you of.

Leave it to a director from another era to so well capture ours; this socioeconomic fable is so in tune with the current global climate that it's a wonder it seems so vintage. Oliveira is able to infuse the film with class tension and the pressures of familial expectation, themes very much linked to his own generation, and modernize them, finding the role they play today. Further, he bests Jason Reitman's similarly themed Toronto favorite "Up in the Air," which uses the slimming job market largely as window-dressing for its otherwise straightforward rom-com template. Here, Oliveira gives his commentaries a weight visible in the characters eyes, the weight of financial instability and the gravity of its consequences. It's no wonder why Oliveira is so revered among devoted art house audiences, and though that's partly because of his status as the only living filmmaker from the silent era, the less novel reason is that he's a disciplined and intelligent formalist who deserves to be mentioned with Eric Rohmer and Jacques Rivette as one of the last living masters of their era. [A] –Sam C. Mac

Joel Schumacher's Latest Dumped Into Theaters This Weekend?

It is, of course, universally accepted that Joel Schumacher completely sucks in every way. Even his best films ("The Lost Boys"? "The Client"? Help us out here) are elevated by decent scripts, and would be far more watchable in the hands of a director who cared more about, hm, shot composition, canny music choices, proper lighting, focus on strong thematic content - really everything. Still, it's a bit of a surprise that not only has he fallen far from the A-list, but his films can be relegated to a near direct-to-DVD status.

Such is the case with "Blood Creek," which was released by Lionsgate very very quietly this weekend. Like last year's "Midnight Meat Train," "Creek" is a genre project that's been quietly shuffled into theaters in nowheresville, second-run theaters in Dallas, Memphis and a handful of other cities. However, "Midnight Meat Train" was a well-known and anticipated film, with a website, a trailer and several release dates. There are virtually NO promotional materials available for "Blood Creek"- even IMDB cryptically lists it as "Town Creek." As a result, no one knows exactly how many theaters Lionsgate has shuffled "Blood Creek" off to.

The movie stars Dominic Purcell, Henry Cavill and Michael Fassbender and appears to involve Nazis and occult experiments, but good luck finding much further information, even in the one IMDB review available. Our guess is that LG made some sort of theatrical committment to Schumacher and co. to give this stillborn film some sort of theatrical release, but this is a bit insulting, no? Maybe they finally saw "The Number 23"? Whatever the case, Lionsgate has scrubbed every mention of this film from their website. Their shame is palpable - it's like this movie called the President a liar during one of his speeches or something.

While the studio seems dedicated to releasing SIX "Saw" movies, this castoff will probably be on DVD in the next couple of months, though if the scant early notices are to be believed, this isn't on par with "Midnight Meat Train," which received some minor praise from horror lovers. If you've seen this under-the-radar effort from the director of "Batman and Robin," please post some information about it in the comment section. So we can mock you.

TIFF '09 Review: 'My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done'

Never let it be said that Werner Herzog isn't ambitious. He's pulled boats over mountains ("Fitzcarraldo"), and documented his exploration of every kind of environment imaginable (see: the contrast between his documentaries "The White Diamond" and "Encounters at the End of the World," just for one example). Now, he's challenged us all again, dropping two bizarre concoctions of comedy and violence during the course of one film festival. Both attempt to defy expectation: one looks to utilize the deadpan humor and quiet intensity of star Nicolas Cage in a way few director's have, while the other teams the veteran German master with Producer David Lynch, and looks to channel the off-kilter melodrama and psychological-horror of the latter's most elusive films.

Unfortunately, Herzog breaks his streak with "My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done" (no question mark, curiously) which plays like a parody of a David Lynch film; it has many Lynchian characteristics in tone and performance, but with Herzog's own fascination with nature as an added conflict, here regarding a young man's decent into madness and paranoia. Sounds pretty great from that description, but we assure you it's not, and in fact with this pedigree and considering what a mess this is, 'My Son' should probably be considered the biggest disappointment of the festival this year.

It's all intriguing in theory: Two cops (Willem Dafoe, Michael Peña) negotiate a possible hostage situation when Brad (Michael Shannon, crazier than in "Revolutionary Road" but not quite as delirious as he was in "Bug") kills his mother (the immortal Grace Zabriskie) with a sword during morning coffee at the neighbor's, and then holes up in his pink house, barking orders for pizza and proclaiming he's keeping company with God from behind drawn shutters. The film also features Chloë Sevigny and Udo Kier as Brad's fiance and former theater director, respectively, who tell the cops of Brad's inexplicable behavior, originating when he returned from a fated kayaking trip in Peru. But instead of getting an unhinged, down-the-rabbit-hole experiment like "Inland Empire," we get a flashback-heavy melodrama (haphazardly linked to the Greek tragedy "Orestes," discussed and rehearsed for during the film) that plays like a tamer, stilted and altogether less coherent take on "Blue Velvet's" suburban madness.

There's lots of ideas here, and maybe some of them will stick more on a second viewing, but so much of this is just poorly acted and scripted that it can't be seen as anything less than a misstep in the career of a great and ambitious filmmaker. [C-] - Sam Mac.

TIFF '09: Day Four

Ok, we're beginning to wind down. This debacle is almost over. Last year we somehow cranked out reviews two-three hours after every screening like clockwork. That's kind of insane and it's no wonder we didn't do it again.

Today was only three pictures. The day started out with Drew Barrymore's directorial debut "Whip It" which turned out to be enjoyable after a very dull and rough start that almost forced a walk out on our part. But it rallied. Someone said to me, "better than 'Juno' " which is patently untrue (not that "Juno" is sacred or genius or anything). Thank god for Daniel Stern, Marcia Gay Harden and some actual meaningful scripting because, at first, the thing felt as slight as a chihuahua fart. Barrymore proved she could actually direct too, but it took some time to make anyone care about what was going on.

After that it was the English school-girl drama, "Cracks," by Ridley Scott's daughter Jordan Scott. Clearly everyone in this family knows how to put together exquisite looking and well-crafted films and Jordan's directorial debut was no different. Eva Green and Juno Temple were both excellent, but we're not sure if we totally bought where the ending went (though Scott was just following the book it was based off).

Lastly we had Tim Blake Nelson's "Leaves Of Grass," starring Ed Norton as a pair of twins, one a successful academic, famous thinker and published author, the other a crook and pot-dealer. This one had to be the surprise of the festival simply because it was so much more than the stoner pot comedy we thought it would be. Uhh pot comedy, family identity drama, anti-semitism commentary, violent drug thriller and intolerance parable with deep philosophical themes? Holy shit, this was not what we expected. Easily the nuttiest picture we saw during the festival and perhaps because we were expecting something much, much different and far less multi-layered and complex.

Tomorrow is TIFF '09's last day. We have Jason Reitman's "Up In The Air," Nicolas Winding Refn's "Valhalla Rising," the Cannes-picture, "Dogtooth," and if we're lucky, "The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus." Email us if you have an extra ticket to the latter because we'll buy it up immediately.

TIFF Review '09: 'The Bad Lieutenant'

Reviews so far on Werner Herzog's "Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans" have been mixed.

The trailer looked like a ludicrous parody of a B-Movie, the poster, a straight-faced direct-to-DVD cover and various reviews have called it loony, ridiculous and over-the-top, in a bad way. Could it still be successful in an ironic manner or are the reviews just missing the wonder in the odd Herzogian sensibility?

Mmm, no. Let's say, for arguments sake, that Nicolas Cage's improv/outburst-heavy performance is amusing, and let's also say that the now-infamous random Iguana POV scenes, seemingly seen through Cage's drug-induced haze, channel absurdist profundity, but great highlights do not equal a great or successful picture.
Even if you steel yourself for the fact that Herzog's weirdo noir is going to be a comedy starring a manic lead within a B-movie plot and nothing more, "Bad Lieutenant," still falls flat. The odd pacing, shoddy construction and thrown-together tone are seemingly all in service of wild moment lets-see-what-happens laughs and not a lot else.

Ridiculousness and wild flailing do not make for genius, even if some moments are amusingly absurd and occasionally near brilliant. Nic Cage tries to channel the "Vampire's Kiss" or "Raising Arizona" mad genius of yore, but falls short, despite some admirably ludicrous improvised moments. But the picture is really just catch-as-catch-can delights of nonsense than it is a remotely fully realized film.

Similar to what the life of a drug addict must be like, 'Port Of Call New Orleans' is full of crazy highs (some of them genuinely glorious, but most silly and not as fun as advanced ironists claim they are) and lifeless, gray lows, where we wait anxiously for the next hit, while the picture itself becomes oddly sedate.
At the post-screening Q & A, Herzog boasted that the picture was made for a song and still came in under-budget, and it shows. The set design is cheap and the cinematography generally ugly. While this does occasionally fit with the post-Katrina slums, New Orleans is not this gaudy.

The director also boasted about a confused crew who didn't know what the hell he was up to and again, this feels evident. Rarely does one get the impression that a scene has been carefully blocked out. It seems much more likely that the camera was turned on and following the action as it happened and spasmed around.

But, let's get to the "plot." Nicolas Cage stars as Terence McDonagh, a homicide detective decorated for risking his life to save a prisoner in post-Katrina New Orleans. While jumping into the water to assist a trapped and water logged prisoner, he evidently injures himself and sustains a back injury. The event itself is an afterthought, never really shown and seemingly a pitiful excuse to get a story in motion, as this all spirals into painkiller abuse. But not that it really matters, Terrence already has a hooker girlfriend (Eva Mendes), gambling debts (Brad Dourif) and mounting drug habits. Or wait, did they come in the wake of the back accident? It's not entirely clear, nor does it seem like the filmmaker cares, it's all simply a hinge to support the impending madness.
During his promotion to Lieutenant, Terrance is tasked with heading up an investigation that involves a slain family from Senegal and also heroin trafficking. Val Kilmer gets some screentime as Cage's partner/underling, but unfortunately is severely underused.

As the investigation builds, a witness is found that Terrence must protect while at the same time his wild habits and debts begin to surge out of control. He gets a handjob from a girl in front of her boyfriend as a way to get out of a drug charge, he blackmails a football player caught buying pot to throw a game and uses a state trooper friend (Fairuza Balk) to canvas their seized items room for drugs. And these are only random examples from a myriad of ridiculous, out-of-control situations Terrance gets himself into (he also beats on a customer that has abused his hooker girlfriend, which causes surmounting payback issues, and of course threatens an old lady by messing with her oxygen tube, leading to an internal affairs situation).

And this doesn't even take into account the hallucinogenic scenes with a crocodile and lizard that, while zany and funny, basically don't make an ounce of sense.

The mess builds to impossible levels, with Terrence crossing several of the wrong people (including a feared ruthless drug kingpin played by rapper Xzibit). Yet, several deus ex machinas manage to neatly wrap up everything in a hysterical little bow.

What ever happens to the murderer? The witness? Does any of it really matter? You're just here to see Nic Cage laugh like a feral asshole, right? (Yes, there are countless bon mots delivered, but they're as guffaw-inducing as they are only occasionally enjoyable).

Vacillating between rote cop procedural moments, predictably debased drug moments and interspersed with flashes of dementia, 'Lieutenant' can be loony at times, but is also not as batshit crazy as you've been lead to believe. Perhaps this IS meant to represent the highs and lows of the drug addled protagonist, but mostly it feels like haphazard filmmaking. They might have been better off not even trying to build an excuse for a story, really.

At its best, 'BLT' is "Leaving Las Vegas" as filtered through a bizarre Herzog take on mainstream crime noirs and at its worse, a Cinemax B-movie with low production values you'd probably flip past. Nowhere does it feel like a genuine article Werner Herzog picture and most of the time it gives off the air of the director trying to mischievously squeeze in his strange, catch-lightning-in-a-bottle alchemy proclivities while trying to obey the basic rules of the road in everyday cinema.

Plot, pace and character don't seem to matter and it's to the detriment of the whole. Less discerning audiences who just want to see Herzog's grinning smirk on a genre and watch Nicolas Cage chase the wild boar of ecstatic truth with mixed results, should be satisfied well-enough, but those looking for a fully-realized Herzog film should rightfully be disappointed.

Herzog referred to himself and Cage as "good soldiers of cinema," in the post discussion of the film and while that remains to be seen with Nic Cage's career this decade, it certainly applies to the German auteur, but if he's going to continue the good fight -- which we hope he does to his dying day -- we hope it's in service of his own films and original works and not the work-for-hire (with creative freedom) that this one essentially is. [B-]

*Yes, Herzog admitted that the producers of the film came to him and he had no credit in the script. He even said, while nothing in the film was changed, he was slightly worried about being too out there as he did not have final cut.

Sigur Rós' 'All Alright' Plays Central Role In Neil Jordan's 'Ondine'

Ok, so we already reported months ago that Sigur Rós' keyboardist Kjartan Sveinsson was hired to compose the score to Neil Jordan's sea-nymph fairytale picture, "Ondine," starring Colin Farrell and comely Polish actress Alicja Bachleda.

We saw the film the other night and the magical picture was one of our favorites of the festival so far (even if it's not entirely 100% problem free; a full review hopefully soon). The score by Sveinsson was as typically, ethereal, elegiac and beautiful as you'd probably expect. In many ways, it made the film and lent it a gorgeous, romantic air perfectly in step with "Ondine"'s wondrous fable-like qualities.

But what we were unprepared for, was just how big a certain Sigur Rós song would play in the film. A central musical motif in the picture was the swooning lullaby, "All Alright" from the Icelandic quartet's 2008 album, Með Suð í Eyrum Við Spilum Endalaust or With a Buzz in Our Ears We Play Endlessly, as it translates into English.

Without spoiling too much, it's sung several times by the sea nymph Bachleda and the band are even shown playing it on TV in a central reveal near the end of the film. The song itself must play, all in all, about a half a dozen times, it even has it's own film credit, after "music by" it reads, "featuring Sigur Rós' 'All Alright.' " It's a wonderful song, but man, in the context of the film, the visuals and music really, really soar. Anyhow, check out the song if you haven't heard it; it's sublime. "Ondine" doesn't have North American distribution that we know of, but hopefully that changes once the Toronto Film Festival is all said and done.

Sigur Rós - "All Alright"

TIFF '09: Day Three

It's the same running-ragged story with little chances to write. One can only hope to survive and stay in the game.

Day 3 began with Jean-Pierre Jeunet's "Micmacs," picking up exactly where the magical, whimsical world of "Amelie," left off, but whether you'll find that predictable and derivative, well, that might just be up to your subjective taste.

Werner Herzog offered a two-fer: the odd, noir comedy, "Bad Lieutenant," and the existential horror "My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done," and both weren't entirely successful, and while we suppose one of them did provide some manic, ironic laughs, this would not prove to be his day or his festival. More full reviews later...

New Nike Ad: Bringing You A Fincher Fix

While waiting for "The Social Network" to get rolling, David Fincher's been keeping busy going back to his old trade: directing TV ads. This spot for Nike Pro Combat features Vikings running back Adrian Peterson as a half-man/half-pigskin gladiator in a snowy, black and white clash of man-flesh. Produced by Anonymous Content for the Wieden + Kennedy Agency, this minute and a half clip might not be enough to tide you over, but at least it's something. Don't say we never gave you anything.

'X-Men: First Class' To Shoot Next Year?; Bill Hader Compares 'Paul' to Early Spielberg

- Tim Pocock, who replaced James Marsden as Cyclops in "X-Men Origins: Wolverine," and somehow managed to be even blander (don't get us wrong, we like Marsden a lot, just not in the "X-Men" movies), wrote on his Twitter account a few days back "Currently shooting Australian TV series till February 2010... then X-men first class ;)". This suggests that he's been officially asked to reprise his role in the long-in-development script from Josh Schwartz ("The OC", "Chuck") following a number of the X-Men characters as teenagers. "X-Men: First Class" has always seemed like a best bet for the next film in the franchise, but it's interesting to know it's moving ahead - a shoot next year would make it likely for release in the summer of 2011, going up against "Spider-Man 4," "Thor" and "Captain America."

- Another sharp-eyed Twitter find came from Devin over at CHUD, who spotted an announcement from director Scott Stewart (the upcoming "Legion") that Christopher Plummer and Brad Dourif have joined the cast of comic book adaptation "Priest," which stars Paul Bettany as a warrior priest who goes rogue to track down the vampires who kidnapped his niece. The picture also stars Maggie Q, Karl Urban and vampire alumni Cam Gigandet ("Twilight") and Stephen Moyer ("True Blood"), as well as Madchen Amick ("Californication"), who Variety announces will play the mother of the kidnapped girl.

- The new trailer for Chris Columbus' Harry Potter-aping family adventure, and winner of the 2010 'Title Least Likely to Fit on the Marquee' award, "Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief" has hit. The adaptation of a successful book series focuses on a boy who discovers his father is Poseidon, the god of the sea. The cast includes Pierce Brosnan, Steve Coogan, Uma Thurman, Catherine Keener and Sean Bean.

- Katey Rich over at Cinema Blend sat down with the great Bill Hader while he was promoting his new animated film "Cloudy With Chance Of Meatballs," which opens today (and is apparently pretty good), and he talked up "Paul," in which he plays an agent pursuing the title character (Seth Rogen), an alien hitching a ride with two comic book geeks (Simon Pegg and Nick Frost). It sounds like director Greg Mottola has gone for some interesting stylistic choices: "Greg has kind of changed up his whole style for that movie. It's like an early Spielberg movie. I don't think I was in a single shot where the camera wasn't moving, which isn't normal for Greg. Greg usually keeps the camera pretty still. But this movie is totally different." Supposedly, the Spielberg influence is pretty heavy on the film, and Hader says the specific films drawn upon include not only, ""Close Encounters," but a lot of "Sugarland Express" or "Duel," there's a lot of car stuff in it. And "E.T." obviously, all into one big thing. The tone of that." The script for this is pretty great, not quite on a par with "Hot Fuzz" and "Shaun of the Dead", but pretty close, and Mottola's choices sound perfect for the material.

- Paul Giamatti has officially signed on to the period action film "Ironclad," which he's been circling for over a year now. The independent film, which begins production in Britain in October, is about a group of Knights Templar defending a castle from the villainous King John (Giamatti), in 13th Century England. James Purefoy is confirmed to play the lead, and Jonathan English ("Minotaur") will direct. Earlier in the year, the film was reported to have a pretty starry supporting cast, including Bob Hoskins, Robert Carlyle, Pete Postlethwaite, Richard Attenborough, William Moseley, Colm Meaney and Angus McFayden, but it's unclear how many of these actors have remained attached as the film's slipped.

- First Showing point us towards Quiet Earth, who have uncovered the trailer for Jay Baruchel-starrer "The Trotsky," which looks fun, in a kind of Ferris Bueller/Rushmore hybrid sort-of-way. Curiously, though it doesn't mention the film's central conceit - that Baruchel's character believes he's the reincarnation of Leon Trotsky... You can also hear a track from ace Montreal indie band Malajube, who, as we revealed a little while back, are providing the score for the film.

Matt Damon to See Dead People with Clint Eastwood in 'Hereafter'

Riding high on his virtuosic performance in "The Informant!," comes the news that Matt Damon will star in his "Invictus" director Clint Eastwood's next project, "Hereafter." The news dropped yesterday as a small mention in this USA Today profile on Damon.

The Peter Morgan ("Frost/Nixon") scribed script had been picked up by Spielberg at DreamWorks/Paramount in March 2008, and he held onto it when those two companies parted ways. He finally lured Eastwood onboard to direct last November.
It's been described as a thriller in the vein of "The Sixth Sense," though this Movie Line post seems to think "thriller" is a bit of a misnomer, unless there have been some major changes to the script they got their hands on last spring. It does have a supernatural bent, though, as Damon plays a character named George, a factory worker with the ability to commune with the dead, not a talent he's so thrilled about (Haley Joel Osment, all grown up!) There are two other plotlines involving a French journalist coping with the aftermath of a near-death experience during the 2004 tsunami, and a 12-year old British boy searching for a way to contact his dead twin. ScriptShadow has a more extensive review, and it sounds like three people who are each trying to understand their experiences with death and the afterlife, and feeling very alone in the process. Damon's dance card is full for the foreseeable future- he's shooting "The Adjustment Bureau" with Emily Blunt, then 'Hereafter,' and THEN he will re-team with his 'Informant!' director Steven Soderbergh to play Liberace's lover, opposite Michael Douglas as the be-sequined pianist. And maybe, just maybe, he'll get to Bourne 4 sometime after that?

Review: 'Ponyo'; A Wonderous, Big Hearted Fantasy From Japanese Master Hayao Miyazaki

"Ponyo" came out earlier this year and kind of came and went. We wanted to give it a second look.

For anyone who says that traditional animation is dead, I point them to Hayao Miyazaki, the Japanese master responsible for such works as 1984's "Laputa: Castle in the Sky," 1998's "Princess Mononoke" and 2002's masterpiece "Spirited Away." Miyazaki is one of the few remaining holdouts who stubbornly refuses to rely on CGI, and his films are all the better for it. Nothing against computer animation – Pixar has been making quality films in this medium for years – but there's just something appealingly organic about the hand drawn aesthetic.

Knowing that artists have spent months or even years producing each and every frame of a film is simply more impressive than knowing it was all composed of pixels and wire frames on a computer.

 Miyazaki's latest, "Ponyo" (or "Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea" as it's known internationally, a title I much prefer to the simplified English version), opens with one of the most visually stunning sequences I've seen in any film this year, and some of Miyazaki's most breathtaking work to date: his colorful vision of a vast undersea kingdom provides a glorious indicator of the film to come.

 Unlike Miyazaki's last few films, "Ponyo" is aimed at a much younger crowd, with protagonists who are little more than toddlers, harkening back to director's earlier films such as 1988's "My Neighbor Totoro."

"Ponyo" was inspired by the original story of "The Little Mermaid," and centers around Sosuke, a little boy who finds a goldfish princess in the sea near his home on a cliff. Quickly becoming attached to his find, he names her Ponyo and soon discovers that she has the ability to talk, and that she longs to become human. The daughter of a powerful wizard and a beautiful goddess, Ponyo has stolen some of her father's magic and begun to transform into a human girl. She forms a friendship with Sosuke, who vows to help her, even though her absence from the sea begins to create great chaos as her parents use their powers to find her no matter the cost, sending out great waves and storms to bring her back.

Like most of Miyazaki's films, "Ponyo" is a wholly original and wondrous work of art. One could point out problems with the "love" story between the two five year-old protagonists and the commitment they're diving into at such a young age, but to do so would be to miss the inherent sweetness of the story. Miyazaki has always had a sharp eye for detail, and never is that more on display than it is here.

Watch the subtle ways in which Ponyo changes into a human – she slowly dissolves into an almost half-girl half-chicken creature, the lines in her face becoming less and less defined, less a human and more a blob with legs. It's a gradual transformation, almost unnoticeable at first, but that's testament to the great subtlety of Miyazaki's craft: he's able to transport his audience into another world, one of fully realized characters and relationships, with real stories and believable flaws.

It's such a rare thing to see a children's film, let alone one geared toward children this young, that actually takes the time to understand the world from their perspective. Miyazaki, as ever, treats children to entertainment both intelligent and involving.

And though "Ponyo" may not be quite as rich emotionally as 'Laputa' and "Spirited Away," that's not what Miyazaki's latest is really aiming for anyway – it's just a good story, with great empathy toward its innocent characters and meticulous craftsmanship. It's hard not to hear the sweeping strains of Joe Hisaishi's joyous score, along with the gorgeous imagery, and not get caught up in Miyazaki's grand fantasy. It may go down as being a minor work in Miyazaki's esteemed canon, but if everyone else lived up to Miyzaki's minor works, then the animation medium would be far better off. [A-] - Matthew Lucas - courtesy of InReviewOnline.

TIFF '09 Review: Believe The Hype Of 'A Single Man'

The buzz is clearly humming loudly on Tom Ford's deeply engaging, visually exquisite and emotionally rich "A Single Man," and with good reason. If there was an Oscar category for first feature-film, the fashion magnate (Gucci director) turned filmmaker would easily be a shoo-in.

For now the director will have to be content with The Weinstein Company going whole hog during Oscar season (step aside campaigns for "Inglourious," "The Road," "Nowhere Boy," and possibly even "Nine," which is being rumored as a potential film bumped into 2010), "A Single Man," is their real Oscar meal ticket and it'll be interesting to see if/when these other pictures get neglected by the reportedly cash-strapped company; seriously, if "Nine," is bumped this is essentially telling us Ford's picture is way better.

The expressive, immaculately shot and impeccably well-groomed film — it's not Tom Ford for nothing, the costuming, set design and camera work is the utter beauty of detail and precision — stars Colin Firth as George, an English professor who desperately struggles to get on with life in early '60s Los Angeles after the sudden death of his life partner, Jim (Matthew Goode). Julianne Moore plays Charlotte, George's booze-sozzled, pill-popping depressed neighbor, best friend and even ex-lover from his younger, confused days in London when he thought he might be straight (or like many closeted young men, tried to be straight).

One could go on all day about the stylishness and aesthetics of the striking and tragic picture — a lyrical and allusive quality sometimes reminiscent of "The Diving Bell & The Butterfly" — but in many ways that would do a huge disservice to the wonderful actors, the incredible performances Ford coaches out of everyone (Firth has never been this commanding and spectacular) and the deep emotional gravitas seemingly effortlessly channeled by the director. It is an adapted story from a Christopher Isherwood novel, but it bleeds genuine anguish from loss and quietly devastated sadness like it's the most personal work of Ford's career so far. Perhaps these emotions and feelings are all too universal and this is why the picture is such a bold knock-out.

Firth's George lives in his pallid, ashen world of depression and mourning, the blood from his cheeks seemingly evaporated with the death of his longtime love. The teacher attempts to sleepwalk through the day, lecturing like a hollow, sullen ghost in his classes, but all he can do is barely manage, sometimes with the aid of alcohol.

While not flashback-burdened, the past is used as a framing device for George to reminisce and daydream about his lover, yet every instance feels genuine with white-hot verisimilitude and of course always looks like a dream sequence- lovely. Firth's vacant and steely facade belies the quivering heartache that lies underneath and the way he subtly conveys his soul-crushing hurt is masterful — his deeply felt yet near subterranean heartbreak is heartbreaking and devastating.

Ford has worked with the world's greatest photographers — Richard Avedon, Steven Meisel, Helmut Newton, Herb Ritts — and it shows. The texture-rich lensing by Spanish cinematographer Eduard Grau is incredible, deftly using color, contour and well-defined camera arrangement, which further underscores the somber, but never dour tenor.

Polish composer Abel Korzeniowski's score must also be given high plaudits. It's gorgeous, heartrending and hopefully already has easily given him a surefire Oscar nomination for Best Score. We (I) have never really cared for Colin Firth before, he always seemed able and serviceable, but nothing more, but Oscar and awards surely await his near future, because he is terrific in every moment onscreen.

Homophobes shouldn't worry either, though Ford does capture the chiseled male form in flawless and admirable beauty, the ultimately life-affirming picture is largely chaste and benign in terms of sex scenes. What he does express elegantly and hungrily is masculine red-hot desire and lust, and it is really something to watch.

While the closeted themes might draw some comparisons to Julian Schnabel's "Before Night Falls," and there are some vague similarities, "A Single Man," is largely its own film with its own distinct voice. The identity issues, however, are never about conflict. George, while closeted, only does so out of the concern for the fear and intolerance of others, but he is acutely aware of who he is. What really comes into play is the question: who are you and what is the further meaning of life when your one true love is gone? Is life worth living? So in the end, "A Single Man," is a forlorn love story, but it never misses a second in male-to-male adoring translation. The melancholy and despair is universal, heartfelt and incisive.

At the end of the day if you've ever deeply longed for someone, straight, gay or otherwise, "A Single Man," should prove to be penetrating and immensely moving. It's an extraordinary first film and a thing of beauty. [A]

How Can There Be 'Mamma Mia! 2' With No ABBA?

We are all for more female friendly fare at the box office. We understand the necessity in Hollywood to try and turn a successful film into a franchise. And boy do we like music. When you put all those things in a blender well...let's just say you don't get a smoothie (you get a shit smoothie).

Benny Andersson of ABBA has made it perfectly clear in interviews that he does not intend to license ABBA's catalog for any further "Mamma Mia"-ing. He gave the idea of a sequel a flat no. Now that's gotta put a crimp in the plans of Universal Pictures who reportedly have put the idea of "Mamma Mia 2" into development - and seemingly Meryl Streep is on board to return, as is Colin Firth. In fact, Firth confirmed to Collider.com that he'd been approached about "Mamma Mia" part deux.

So they're possibly, maybe doing this but with no ABBA. So who'd be a prime candidate to license their music to this sort of narrative (er that's still carrying the title of an ABBA song, AWKWARD!)? Time to speculate! Here's a list of whose music we'd like to see scoring this potential sequel:

1. Neil Diamond - It's lame but the film industry has been going through a love affair with Diamond since "Saving Silverman." He's certainly got the back catalog and covers enough topics to string some sort of pathetic narrative together.

2. Madonna - Let's face it, Madonna could use this kind of attention on her back catalog so kids realize she's more than just the blonde old lady with man arms who likes to show her thighs. You could easily string together a female friendly story from Madonna songs, but the movie might come out just a wee bit raunchier.

3. Elton John - Talk about having a plethora of songs to choose from! If they went with Elton's songs they could follow it up with about 50 sequels. He covers that much territory.

4. Jay-Z - Eh, we just wanna see Colin Firth's epic fail at rapping.

Brothers, Can You Spare A Dime? Weinsteins Delay 'Youth In Revolt'

The recent economic downturn has hit everyone hard (this writer can be found dancing for pennies at subway stations most lunchtimes), and Hollywood is no exception. The likes of Picturehouse, Warner Independent and the Bob Yari Group have all closed in the last year, and rumors have been have been flying about the health of The Weinstein Company for a while. About a month ago, Harvey Weinstein admitted that the company were in tricky financial waters in a New York Times article, saying "The ships' riding on the slate." Since then, they've opened "Inglourious Basterds" and "Halloween 2," both to reasonably profitable ends — the former is now the company's biggest ever film, taking in over $105 million to date, while "Halloween 2" has doubled its production budget.

However, neither has rescued the company (and to be fair, no film could on its own, except for perhaps a super-profitable, once-a-decade surprise hit like "My Big Fat Greek Wedding"), and the company made significant lay-offs at the beginning of this month. Now, it's been a big week for the company, with their purchase of Tom Ford's "A Single Man," which became the big surprise hit of the Venice and Toronto festivals, for a seven figure sum. At the same time, rumors were flying earlier in the week that the company's big musical, "Nine" could be delayed to next year, and last night brought the news that Michael Cera vehicle "Youth In Revolt," already long-delayed, has been moved to January 15, 2010. The same article reveals that "Nine" will be released this year, but will have a more gradual release than originally planned, opening in limited release on November 25, then going wider a month later.

The truth is, these moves are clearly connected. The Weinsteins are likely not in any worse state of crisis than they were a month ago, but, by purchasing "A Single Man," which Harvey has high Oscar hopes for, the company need to free up money, both for its release, and for the Oscar campaign. "Youth In Revolt," which had stronger-than-expected reviews at Toronto this week, is clearly not an awards hopeful, and may fare better at the box office in the quiet season of January. It's important to remember, too, that the Weinstein Company are not the only ones to delay a film for these reasons - the delay of Martin Scorsese's "Shutter Island" has been put down to similar factors, and Paul Greengrass' "Green Zone" was also moved into next year.

Speaking of Universal, the studio behind "Green Zone," Variety reported today that the company has halted all development on projects for the rest of the year, stating that "The studio doesn't need to spend money on future projects right now because it essentially knows which pictures are going to get made over the next two years". None of these studios are about to go down overnight, but it's clear that belts are being tightened all over town.

New Banners For 'Where The Wild Things Are'

As we get closer to the release of "Where The Wild Things Are," internet buzz is reaching fever pitch - any conversation between movie geeks about the movie is a bit like talking to children on Christmas Eve. Not that we're immune - some of us here at The Playlist start to well up every time we watch the trailer. Which is pretty much daily... Cinematical landed some new character banners, which complete the set that was begun a few weeks back, and you can see a couple of them here, featuring Forest Whitaker and Paul Dano's characters, and head over there to see the rest.

Michelle Monaghan Joins 'Due Date', First Trailer for 'Valentine's Day'

- In news that will delight Harry Lockhart fans the world over, Michelle Monaghan is to re-team with "Kiss Kiss Bang Bang" co-star Robert Downey Jr. in Todd Phillips' "Due Date," where Downey Jr. will play a man desperately trying to return to his pregnant wife (Monaghan) before she gives birth. Zach Galifianakis will play 'a mismatched traveling companion,' or, essentially, the John Candy role in "Planes, Trains and Automobiles." We've got the script lying around somewhere, but if "The Hangover" is anything to go by, the script will bear almost no resemblance to the finished project anyway...

- We reported a few weeks back that Jesse Eisenberg was likely to play Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg in David Fincher's "The Social Network," and, while talking to MTV on the "Zombieland" press tour, Eisenberg gave an artful non-denial, saying "They are rumors. That is true". He's a perfect choice for the part, and, with the shoot set to kick off next month, we'd expect an official announcement soon.

- The first teaser trailer for "Valentine's Day" has hit over at Yahoo! The romantic comedy, set in a bizarre fantasy world where neither Jessica Alba or Jessica Biel can get a date on Valentine's Day, appears to be a sort of riff on "Love Actually," and features an all-star cast, including Alba, Biel, Anne Hathaway, Julia Roberts, Bradley Cooper, Ashton Kutcher, Jennifer Garner, Emma Roberts, Jamie Foxx, Shirley Maclaine and Taylor Swift (cue obligatory Kanye West joke...). The trailer also features a Black Eyed Peas song that will make you wish you were deaf.



- Rebecca Hall may join Kat Dennings in Richard Linklater's "After A-E," with a script from novelist Emma Forrest. The comedy, which Variety claims Forrest wrote in three days following her break up with Colin Farrell, follows a woman (Hall) dumped by her boyfriend on the night of Barack Obama's election victory, and takes a road trip to Washington to see the inaugaration with a friend (Dennings), and to visit various ex-boyfriends. Hall's a tremendous actress, and teaming her with Linklater is a pretty enticing prospect.

- After Spain announced their shortlist earlier in the week, the French selection committee have chosen Jacques Audiard's "A Prophet", which won the Grand Prize at Cannes this year, as their entry to the Foreign Language Academy Awards. The film is, by all accounts, outstanding, and Audiard's "The Beat That My Heart Skipped" is arguably one of the best films of the decade, so this must be a front-runner for the prize at this stage. The trailer can be found below.



- Finally, in deeply sad news, screenwriter Frank Deasy died yesterday of liver cancer, aged 49. His credits include a great deal of British TV work, as well as the screenplays for Tim Roth starrer "Captives" and the adaptation of Elizabeth Wurtzel's "Prozac Nation." His final project, "Gaza," featured on the Black List a few years back, and is set to film next year starring Helen Mirren. Deasy had been on the transplant waiting list for some time, and wrote a moving article in The Observer only last weekend, urging more people to become organ donors. If you read anything today, make it this.

In Theaters: 'The Informant!,' 'Jennifer's Body' & 'Bright Star'

Mid-September and fall is looking up. After a couple of dreadful weeks of cringe-worthy options, the multiplex has become a bit less frightening. Get out there and show your support for good work, so the dry spells won't last this long in the future. We can only hope, right?

In Wide Release: The most notable release this week has got to be Steven Soderbergh’s “The Informant.” We’ve been excited to see him get back to the quality and stylish comedy of “Out of Sight” or the “Ocean’s” movies and he has certainly delivered. We just caught the film at TIFF and thought that it was deliriously enjoyable, if a bit slight. Another Playlister caught the film up north as well and found the film "wholly unique and powerful (and, yes, goofy)." The soundtrack alone is worth the price of admission but this black comedy starring Matt Damon as a bumbling whistleblower deserves your time and money this weekend all around. Just look at the great supporting cast: Scott Bakula, Joel McHale, Melanie Lynsky, and “Arrested Development”’s Tony Hale. Rotten Tomatoes has the film at 67% fresh and counting.

“Juno” and “The United States of Tara” scribe Diablo Cody returns this week with her second film after her smash debut, “Jennifer’s Body.” Notable whiner Megan Fox stars alongside “Mama Mia”’s Amanda Seyfried as a demon-possessed high school student with an insatiable appetite for men. Though we quite liked the screenplay, we just caught the flick at Toronto and found it tart, largely humorless and tonally challenged. Anyhow, something major was lost from page to screen, and we can’t help but place the blame on “Aeon Flux” director Karyn Kusama, though the emo-tastic Fueled by Ramen soundtrack doesn’t help. JK Simmons, Adam Brody, and Johnny Simmons costar in the 34% fresh rated film.

Maybe it's Hollywood’s renewed obsession with 3D, but it seems as if animated films are released just about every month these days. This weekend, the kid in you can rejoice over “Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs,” based on the book most of us read as kids, even if it was never anywhere near as beloved as “Where the Wild Things Are.” The psychedelic story of a town where food starts falling in the place of rain stars the voice talent of Bill Hader, Anna Faris, Andy Samberg, and Bruce Campbell with a score by Devo’s Mark Mothersbargh. The critics are mostly pleased with the cuisine with the film scoring an 91% fresh rating on RT.

If you’re desperate for a RomCom fix this weekend, your only real option is “Love Happens” from writer-director Bryan Camp. The presence of Aaron Eckhart makes us hope that its a better option than whatever Sandra Bullock led vehicle is still lingering around in theaters, but then again, it stars Jennifer Aniston, so we can’t be sure. She’s done good work in the past, “Office Space,” “The Good Girl,” but it is precisely this type of pedestrian drivel that stops her from being a legitimate actress. Or maybe this will be really good and we'll all be eating our shoes, Herzog style. With a 23% fresh rating, we won't start boiling the water just yet.

In Limited Release: We’ve been championing Jane Campion’s latest, “Bright Star” since we saw it at Cannes earlier this year and it finally arrives on 19 screens this week. It is certainly Campion’s best work since “The Piano,” hell, Tarantino loved it and so should you. It's a devilishly funny anti-masterpiece theater story of John Keat’s secret love affair with Fanny Brawne, the stylish minx of a girl next door. Their unlikely friendship and then budding romance is then threatened by an insurmountable illness that befalls Keats. Starring Ben Whishaw, Abbie Cornish, Paul Schneider, and Kerry Fox, “Bright Star” is currently 82% fresh on the tomatoes site.

But all is not quiet just yet on the indie front as Guillermo Arriaga, writer of “Babel,” “21 Grams,” and “Amores Perros” makes his directing debut this weekend. “The Burning Plain” stars Charlize Theron as a beautiful waitress whose sexually confused past inextricably links her to other mysterious characters. We reviewed the movie a few days back and thought it was a gimmicky retread of Arriaga’s past work. Next time out he’ll need to prove he’s more than a one-trick pony. The cast also includes Kim Basinger and John Corbett and it is 42% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes.

Arthouse titan Claire Denis’ new film “35 Shots of Rum” gets a limited release today. We’ve been looking forward to the film since last year’s TIFF. The sure to be meditative film concerns a retired metro conductor living in a Paris suburb with his beautiful grown daughter, the object of a neighbor’s romantic interest. Like many of her films, cult English group Tindersticks have collaborated on the soundtrack. Alex Descas, Mati Diop, Nicole Dogue, Gregoire Colin star in the very favorably reviewed film, coasting in with a great 93% fresh rating.

“Disgrace” is an adaption of South-African born author J.M. Coetzee’s Booker-prize winning novel. Steve Jacobs directs John Malkovich as a professor of Romantic Literature who begins an affair with a mixed-race student in post-Apartheid South Africa. The buzz has been pretty good on this film since it premiered in Toronto last year and won the Prize of International Critics. Alongside Malkovich, the cast includes Jessica Haines, Eriq Ebouaney, and Fiona Press and is a very less than disgraceful 85% fresh on RT.

Other options this week include the Juliette Binoche-led love-letter film "Paris." Directed by Cedric Klapisch, the movie has a 71% fresh rating. Have fun at the movies this weekend and get ready for a fall that will hopefully do wonders to cancel out the disastrous last few weeks.