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Wednesday, September 12, 2007

DAY 6 - /* girl */ - double bill of Evan Rachel Wood Across the Universe & King of California, first love in Naissance des pieuvres & Peter Greenaway!


DAY 6
Tuesday, September 11


cue The Beatles Hold Me Tight

Score! Just landed a ticket tonight for King of California at 7 p.m. Which means we can see Lars and the Real Girl on our Thursday schedule. 21 films down, so far to go.

Tuesday is marked by double bill Evan Rachel Wood day with her starring in Across the Universe at the Elgin and King of California down at Scotiabank. Miss Wood is the busiest actress here actually appearing in four movies at TIFF07 with the addition of In Bloom [ which we had a ticket for but conflicted with Juno ] and a voice in the indie animation Terra [ again with the time conflict ]. Miss Wood is in tow and been seen partying and dining throughout the celebrity hotspots with a certain
M Manson.

ACROSS THE UNIVERSE
11:00 a.m.
Elgin

Across the Universe

The Elgin is the best place in the world to see Across the Universe - an exuberant and thoroughly delightful lookback at "the gory glory of the 1960s" [as director Julie Taymor in attendance for the question and answer put it]. The Beatles anthology is the stepping stone to the story between a boy Jude and a girl Lucy who live on opposite sides of the ocean : he in Liverpool, and she somewhere in America. Jude comes to America and in specific Princeton University in search of his birth father who met his mother in England during the War. He meets up with Max who he saves from being caught by the authorities after an evening's travails. Max invities Jude to his house for Thanksgiving weekend, and on that one star-crossed night Jude and Max's sister Lucy meet and connect.

Everyone in the cast can truly sing, and most of the singing is indeed "live". Across the Universe starts off with Jude's plaintive singing by the seaside of Girl then the movie really launches with a rousing rendition of Lucy [with thoughts of her boyfriend] singing Hold Me Tight complete with homage to a certain young leatherclad band at the Cavern. Taymor warned if you thought Evan Rachel Wood could act, you would be astounded to hear her singing voice as well. The songs of the Fab Four are the narrative to this story of three fateful years in America in the late 1960s marked by the dying of the young in Vietnam, the assassination of Martin Luther King, Timothy Leary and Ken Kesey references - and the growing of consciousness of Lucy from innocent schoolgirl who spends a summer at a New York City tenement with Jude who becomes an artist, her brother Max unsuccessfully trying to escape the draft and new friend and landlord Joplinesque / Robert Plant style singer Sadie and Hendrix-like guitarist Jojo in New York City - and alas, Lucy's boyfriend is killed in action. Lucy becomes a radicalized war protester. After many adventures including one magical mystery tour aboard the Koolaid Express bus, Jude and Lucy find themselves separated not just by politics but by immigration who after one incident during the Columbia riots Jude is arrested and deported. The choreography and presentation of the 33 songs used in Across the Universe often left the audience clapping at the end of each episode. The Beatles songs have been rescored and reinvented - certain Beatles trademarks are there but "one chromosome away" from being The Beatles itself - otherwise it might as well just be The Beatles. Jude and Lucy find themselves separated not just by politics but by immigration who after one incident at the Columbia riots Jude is arrested trying to save her and he is subsequently deported back to Liverpool. Of course by the end love triumphs because after all: all you need is love.

The question and answer session with Julie Taymor was detailed with stories of the rehearsal process, the casting search for all "her children", the emphasis on the live performance, the pre-records but always ready to do the song live.


NIGHTWATCHING
2:30 p.m.
The Elgin

I was watching the night - I was nightwatching

Back to the Elgin again - this time for Peter Greenaway's Nightwatching. Maybe the one miscalculation of the day because we could have been or should have been at Sleuth at 3:45 p.m. at Ryerson. But there is just a certain fortitude and stick-to-itness that is always necessary to endure Peter Greenaway. [ You try six hours of The Tulper Suitcases at the Varsity - we remember one morning screening of The Tulper Suitcases 1 and 2 in Varsity 8 at 9 in the morning and there were 8 people tops in the whole floor. That was the year of Intermission when Colin Farrell was at the top of his game].

The year 1642. At the behest of his wife Saskia, Rembrandt mindfully agrees to a commissioned group painting of the Amsterdam Musketeer Militia in a group portrait that would become The Nightwatch.

The story behind Rembrandt's famous painting The Nightwatcher is explored - hypothesizing a murder has been committed and amongst the characters on the canvas is the killer himself. The consequences of Rembrandt's audacity after this painting was done - on commission by the group itself! - are a detrimental blow to his life and career.

Nightwatching the movie is a stagey presentation with Rembrandt and various critics breaking the fourth wall convention to directly speak out to the audience - and Greenaway gives them close-ups and latitude. Rembrandt is far from a saint but deeply in love with his wife while consorting with the help. Of course in every Greenaway movie nudity abounds. Old fat people, young maids, and Rembrandt himself [played as an arrogant, profane, yet caring - no man has just one facet after all by Martin Freeman].

Nightwatching turns out to be an audacious or pretentious but grand disappointment.

THE KING OF CALIFORNIA
7:00 p.m.
Scotiabank 1

Michael Douglas just had to show up and the theatre was packed. As narrated by the precocious Evan Rachel Wood as Miranda, the daughter of Charlie who she never calls "dad", who is forced to fend for herself at home for two years as her father has been in a mental hospital for the past two years.

After Charlies comes home, he tells Miranda about a book. From a diary Charlie read in the hospital library, he deduces that a certain Father back in ancient California left behind a treasure and all the clues are in the maps and the pages of the diary. And willingly or unwillingly, Miranda is on the ride of her life as she joins in his quest for the gold. Of course the search is the foundation for the father and daughter to search for their own meanings of their life that has encroached upon their previously isolated territory which is now dominated by the ever expanding and pervasive world of Costco and McDonald's and Chuck E Cheese. Michael Douglas's crazed personality of Charlie is convincing enough to take Miranda and the audience along for his adventurous fixation on finding the gold.

There is a high hilarity and comedy in this first time effort from Chuck Cahill and produced by the Sideways team led by Alexander Payne which will guide this movie to a enviable first step niche.

NAISSANCE DES PIEUVRES
9:45 p.m.
Scotiabank 14

A look at first love in the lives of three young French girls in the world of synchronized swimming. All being fifteen years old, Naissance des Pieuvres [ Water Lillies ] strikes a sensitive and provocative chord as the gamine and reserved Marie attends a synchro swim competition. Marie is friends with the plump Anne who is on the team, but Marie longs for first kiss and is drawn to the perfect blonde Floriane as a way of getting into the synchronized swim classes. Floriane has a reputation of being a flirt and a slag, and she is the eye of the handsome boy on the boy's swimteam.

Floriane lets Marie into her world of the pool and her relationship with her boyfriend. The overtones of F****** Amal or Show Me Love ring bells but there is the subtle wit of first time director and writer Céline Sciamma that gives this movie a real pleasing charm.

Now we have to grab one hour of sleep before the day begins. And more to come ...and just in case you were interested our initial schedule has changed several times - just keep scrolling down























































EVENT TITLE DAY DATE TIME FINISH TIME
RYERSON THE BRAVE ONE THU 9/6/2007 09:00pm
Scotiabank 1 Les Amours d'Astree et de Cela FRI 9/7/2007 09:30am 11:19AM
Ryerson The Brave One FRI 9/7/2007 11:45am 1:44pm
Scotiabank 4 The Mourning Forest FRI 9/7/2007 12:00pm 1:37PM
Scotiabank 3 Joy Division FRI 9/7/2007 02:45pm 4:18pm
Scotiabank 4 THE MAN FROM LONDON FRI 9/7/2007 06:00pm 8:15pm
Ryerson THE VISITOR FRI 9/7/2007 09:00pm
Scotiabank 2 Control SAT 9/8/2007 09:00am 11:01am
Scotiabank 3 Captain Mike Across America SAT 9/8/2007 11:45am 1:22pm
Ryerson Battle in Seattle SAT 9/8/2007 03:00pm 4:40pm
Ryerson JUNO SAT 9/8/2007 06:00pm 7:36pm
Varsity 8 IN BLOOM SAT 9/8/2007 07:00pm 8:30pm
Scotiabank 1 Chrysalis SAT 9/8/2007 09:45pm 11:14pm
Scotiabank 1 The Visitor SUN 9/9/2007 09:00am 10:43am
Scotiabank 2 Starting Out in the Evening SUN 9/9/2007 1:00pm 2:51pm
Scotiabank 1 Les Chansons d'amour SUN 9/9/2007 03:30pm 5:05pm
Ryerson The Girl in the Park SUN 9/9/2007 06:00pm 7:49pm
Ryerson Chaotic Ana SUN 9/9/2007 09:15pm 11:15pm
Ryerson No Country for Old Men MON 9/10/2007 09:00am 11:02am
ELGIN The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford MON 9/10/2007 11:00am 1:40pm
ELGIN Elizabeth: The Golden Age MON 9/10/2007 03:00pm 4:55pm
Scotiabank 1 UNE VIELILE MAITRESSE MON 9/10/2007 06:30pm 8:24pm
Scotiabank 2 NORMAL MON 9/10/2007 09:00pm 10:44pm
ELGIN Across The Universe TUE 9/11/2007 11:00am 1:13pm
ELGIN Nightwatching TUE 9/11/2007 02:30pm 4:51pm
SCOTIABANK 1 KING OF CALIFORNIA TUE 9/11/2007 07:00pm 8:45pm
Scotiabank 14 Naissance des pieuvres TUE 9/11/2007 09:45pm 11:10pm
Scotiabank 3 Bill WED 9/12/2007 09:00am 10:37am
ELGIN Cassandra's Dream WED 9/12/2007 11:00am 12:48pm
ELGIN Atonement WED 9/12/2007 02:30pm 4:33pm
ELGIN La Fille coupee en deux WED 9/12/2007 06:00pm 7:55pm
Ryerson I'm Not There WED 9/12/2007 08:30pm 10:45pm
Ryerson Silk THU 9/13/2007 09:00am 10:48am
ELGIN Margot at the Wedding THU 9/13/2007 12:00pm 1:32pm
Scotiabank 14 King of California THU 9/13/2007 02:15pm 3:51pm
Scotiabank 1 Lars and the Real Girl THU 9/13/2007 02:30pm 4:16pm
ELGIN Angel THU 9/13/2007 06:00pm 7:59pm
Scotiabank 1 Smiley Face THU 9/13/2007 10:00pm 11:24pm
Scotiabank 2 MARRIED LIFE FRI 9/14/2007 09:15am
Cumberland 3 The Tracey Fragments FRI 9/14/2007 12:45pm 2:02pm
Scotiabank 1 MAD DETECTIVE FRI 9/14/2007 03:00pm
ELGIN Chacun son cinema FRI 9/14/2007 06:00pm 7:59pm
Varsity 1 Les Bons Debarras FRI 9/14/2007 09:30pm 11:24pm
Scotiabank 1 Le Voyage du ballon rouge SAT 9/15/2007 10:00am 11:53am
ELGIN Amazing Journey: The Story of The Who SAT 9/15/2007 02:30pm 4:30pm
Ryerson NOTHING IS PRIVATE SAT 9/15/2007 06:00pm
Cumberland 3 Joy Division SAT 9/15/2007 08:15pm 9:48pm
Cumberland HELP ME EROS SAT 9/15/2007 09:15pm
Varsity 8 Lou Reed's Berlin SAT 9/15/2007 11:45pm 1:10am

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