Highlights of the 28th International Toronto Film Festival

Article posted Wed Sep 17 09:37:12 2003

A feature article on my weekend at the 28th International Toronto Film Festival was posted earlier (and available in the "article archives," above). Here is a brief rundown of some highlighted films:

The Cooler, starring William H. Macy and Alec Baldwin, tells the story of a Las Vegas casino “cooler”— a person who, by various shady means, “cools” down a lucky gambler on a winning streak. Macy is perfectly cast as an unusually unlucky sad sack who can give his misfortune to others with a mere touch. When he finds love and happiness with a waitress, his luck begins to turn around. This is good news for him—but not for the casino manager (Baldwin) because Macy’s reverse-Midas touch goes on the blink. Part fantasy, part romance, and part Vegas mafia story, The Cooler is one of the better films of the year.

In the 170-minute documentary Los Angeles Plays Itself, director Thom Andersen examines the ways in which the City of Angels has been depicted in cinema. The film is largely footage from dozens of films set in or depicting Los Angeles, such as Blade Runner, To Live and Die in L.A., Chinatown, L.A. Confidential, and so on. Though the film is interesting and occasionally funny and insightful, it is a little too ponderous and self-indulgent for anyone other than cinema buffs and Los Angeles historians. Andersen’s film is a labor of love (and an amazing achievement in film rights clearances), but—at damn near three hours—will not find a large audience.

Set in mid-1990s Ireland, Veronica Guerin tells the true story of a courageous journalist who risks her life to write about a topic most other reporters won’t touch: the drug trade. Though the country is ravaged by addiction and drugs, the topic is rarely broached and the kingpins operate almost openly. When Guerin does some investigating in her town, she hits a nerve and gets death threats from local drug lords—one of whom carries out the threat. Veronica Guerin was directed by Joel Schumacher (of Falling Down and Phone Booth, though also of Batman Returns). A good film about an important and oft-overlooked topic: freedom of the press and the danger to journalists who are just doing their jobs. Cate Blanchett is memorable as the title character.

An Austrian film, Free Radicals tells the story of a young Austrian woman who survives a plane crash after she leave Brazil on vacation. She survives, only to be killed in an accident back home. The film then shifts to the friends and family she left behind, though since we didn’t get a good idea of how they were before her death, their reactions to the loss are murky. Free Radicals is a strange (and not especially successful) blend of genres. It begins as a drama, but throws in an ostracized but psychic teenager (think Carrie); a kinky, creepy barfly who may have captured or killed some local boys; and even a romance or two. It really is all over the map, and the payoff tying the meandering threads never appears.

One of the best documentaries I’ve seen in recent years is Dying at Grace, a film by Canadian documentarian Allan King. The film follows the lives of five patients in the palliative care ward at Toronto’s Grace Memorial Hospital. An Italian matriarch is the first to go; she asks to get last rites and an Italian-speaking priest is sent for. A lifelong biker, thug, and drug addict finds humility in his situation as lung cancer finishes the job that a lifetime of gang fights and drugs couldn’t do. People often talk of being afraid of dying in a car accident; after seeing what it’s like to die slowly over the course of weeks or months (even in hospital, with the best of care) they may have a change of heart. Dying at Grace is often heartbreaking as we see patients who are lucid and talkative degenerate into skeletal shells. In at least one case, we actually see a person die while we watch; the experience is at once terrifying, sad, and even in some ways comforting. After all, as difficult as dying may be, we only have to do it once. The film is shot entirely without narration; no one talks to the cameras as we see the hardworking hospital staff try to make death as palatable as possible. Dying at Grace is an important, unflinching, and respectful examination of death and dying.

Among a series of Canadian short films:

• The twenty-minute Guest Room tells the story of a family who rents out a room to a grad student. The wife and teen daughter are intrigued by this quiet, studious, and handsome student, causing disruptions in the family fabric. A good script, funny, and insightful.

• The six-minute Animal Nightmares is a bizarre and intriguing film, devoid of dialogue but rich with color and texture. I can’t even really describe the film; it is a surreal blend of odd set pieces, curious costumes, and arresting visuals. One one level it may be taken as a vegetarian anti-meat statement; at one point a large mound of meat and organs sits in a white, sterile room.

• The seventeen-minute Terminal Venus follows an attractive young mother who has cancer. Though not especially vain, she is worried about what the chemotherapy will do to her beauty. An interesting, if ultimately superficial, look at the little-discussed (but real) losses of sexual function and affection that can accompany medical treatment.