Manufactured Landscapes - beauty and the beast

The hit documentary Manufactured Landscapes of 06 Toronto International Film Festival and now making a splash in the realm of Sundance this year typifies what TVO and the NFB do best - produce very insightful documentaries with a deep message that leave with you wonder.

China is going through a new industrial revolution as it attempts to keep pace with the demands of a burgeoning populace. The demand for power, fuels, supplies is far greater than their present technologies.

The opening shot of Manufactured Landscapes is a long tracking shot from one end of the factory floor to the other, the camera taking in all the men and women doing their little repetitive tasks as they make toys, or sensors. There is little mechanization, this is assembly line by human labour.

China has become the vast dumping ground of the world's discarded and recycled parts: things such as computer monitors, motherboards are discarded by the millions and end up in China by the hillsideful and are stripped by hand for anything useful: the metal, the wiring, for example.

It is the eye of photography Edward Burtynsky that sees composition amidst the chaos, beauty is in the eye of the beholder amidst the debris - the beauty is in the details.

Director Jennifer Baichwal follows Burtynsky as he clambers amongst the hillside, or perched atop scaffolding or ladders, carrying his 4x5 camera he looks for the composition and the light. The director's cinematographers will dwell on a part of the picture which in itself is beautiful and telling and then zoom back to show the enormity of scale - it's like seeing Blow-Up in reverse. The centre is just a speck in the macrocosm that is China.

The manufactured landscape is a different type of landscape - the kind that is the product of man and his relationship with industrialization. It is industry versus nature. Despite the photographer's intent that he is not trying to take a stance, where at the exhibition that he lets the viewers come their own conclusion, the pictures he say do not try to condemn or glorify what is happening but the pictures speak for themselves.

Manufactured Landscapes goes outside of the country too to see the effects of globalization of industry elsewhere. The two words oil epiphany are two words that come to him. The building blocks of industry come from oil, and China as the new factory of the world is an endproduct. He pictures the deep digs into the earth, the levels of the scars of the quarries and mines which are the accumulation of time are like tree rings. Industrialization is placing a tremendous toll on the natural landscapes, and even more devastating effects upon the people and the quality of their lives. The scavengers on the hillsides dig for the metals in order to work and survive and earn their pay. The leeching of the metals into the ground affects drinking water. Rivers are deadly. The enormous scale of the Three Gorges Dam which is going to level an enormous part of China and sink cities in the process - and the Chinese government is paying its own people to tear down their own homes and cities brick by brick. The people who are being resettled find themselves in new settlements but they are becoming the new impoverished peasants in a new land with nothing to do. There are tragic portraits of old ladies who are reduced to doing nothing but menial tasks : sorting or stripping the parts to survive. Or the lady who refuses to leave her apartment while the tenements around her are demolished for new construction. Burtnysky and Baichal capture this all leaving you to find the shock and awe in all the splendour of manufactured landscapes.

VOLVER - Hot mama Penelope Cruz and Almodovar magic

After the hot buzz of Volver which we attended at the 2006 Toronto International Film Festival, Volver returns albeit currently in limited engagement at just the Varsity so far. Volver is Penelope Cruz's third movie with her favourite director and mentor[since she was 13 and saw Almovodar's Tie Me Up Tie Me Down] following Live Flesh and All About My Mother. Somehow now she is playing an overworked mother in Volver!

Almodovar returns after Bad Education with Volver - a continually unfolding mystery. Overly haunting and lyrically rhythmic music abounds that come out of the likes of a 1950s Douglas Sirk melodrama. Volver plays as a comedy about family values underscored with darkness and warmth. Very much a movie about sisters doing it for themselves, it's amazing how Almodovar knows the women's ways, of women's guile, beguile and wiles.

Spanning the relationship from mother to daughter to her daughter, these generations of women and daughter deal with life on their own terms - without a dominant man around - it's like the Eurythmics song Sisters Are Doing It For Themselves.

Raimunda [ Penelope Cruz ] and her sister Soledad [ or Sole for short - rhymes with ole ! ] lose their parents at an early age in a fire - and now Raimunda's husband Paco has left the family to look for work or so she claims. So the already overworked Raimunda is left alone to raise her daughter Paula.

La Mancha is a poor dusty windy town with more fires and insanity per capita - and the East wind drives everyone crazy literally. As Volver opens the women are going through the customary cleaning of the graves of their loved ones on a very windy day. The women have a close kinship with each other - Raimunda, her daughter and Sole go to visit their their aunt at her home - she is ailing and wobbly yet she has wafers and sweets ready for them to eat and take with them back to their homes in Madrid. It is rumoured in the superstitious village that the ghost of Raimunda's mother has been seen and even Soledad runs in fright when she sees the ghost.

Back in Madrid the overworked Penelope has to do with the daily duties at the hospital - cooking, laundry, mopping floors while also dealing with the news her husband has been fired which gets on her nerves. "We are a poor family and we will live like a poor family!" she shouts at her daughter who is asking for more phone credit.

Each of the women in Volver each deal with how to live without a man in her life - Raimunda is always trying to stay one step ahead as she nimbly deals with all the situtations piling upon her: the "missing" husband who has gone away because he has found a job or left after a huge fight between them, forced to miss the funeral of her suddenly departed Aunt while scrambling to earn money to live and cater for a film company in the area, helping her neighbour sell a restaurant that she takes over herself, not to mention the Trouble With Harry type situation situation she is in and on top of everything Raimunda has been plied with her friend's dying request to find out if her mother is still alive.

While the camaraderie between the women is strong, and how they deal with their plight is heart tugging and comedic, the sweeping arc is of sadness, loss and much darkness. "We deal with our dirty laundry ourselves," it is vowed.

Of course it’s a comedy about family underscored with darkness and warmth. Very much a movie about sisters doing it for themselves, it's amazing how Almodovar knows the ways of women's guile and wiles.

Which begs the question that we dare ask of Almovodar: What are the dirty little secrets of Volver? You will not be prepared for the answers.



Our observations from Day 3 of 06 TIFF:

DAY 3
SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 9, 2006

It was just one of those perfect days at 06 TIFF

VOLVER
9:30 A.M. !
RYERSON


Pedro's back! Volver is an Almodovar ghost story – dirty secrets should be handled on the inside. Hot Penelope Cruz is amply present and her mind is always thinking on the fly as she has to cope with the tragedies that have befallen. Of course it’s a comedy about family underscored with darkness and warmth. Very much a movie about sisters doing it for themselves, it's amazing how Almodovar knows the ways of women's guile and wiles.

Opening this weekend : Bobby - /* our lives on this planet are too short */

Way back in September with the 2006 Toronto International Film Festival in its 9th day with one day to go, we felt privileged to see the debut of Emilio Estevez's take on the last days of Bobby Kennedy. Robert Kennedy, the brother of Jack, was a beacon of hope in the 1960s, running for the leadership of the Democratic party. This is the review from Friday on Day 9 [along with another wild film seen afterwards: Suburban Mayhem with a New Zealand talent to be reckoned with: Emily Barclay, who is also in 06 TIFF film The Silence, and was also in Toronto for her 2004 stellar debut In My Father's Den].

Bobby
9:30 a.m.
Ryerson

Bobby Kennedy was the voice of a generation of American youth - his ideals and his speeches were emblematic of a time of hope in the air and he stirred the nation disenchanted by a war that was claiming too many American soldiers. After the assassination of Martin Luther King, Robert Kennedy represented America's last chance for hope. This view of history helmed by Emilio Estevez in his first writer / directorial role and dream project is a bold, strong, and compassionate statement looking at the events and the stories of the staff and guests at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles on that June day in 1968 while RFK is campaigning for the 1968 Democratic leadership and the Presidency. The cast has been noted as being the size of a Robert Altman film with many notable names: William H Macy and Helen Hunt, Sharon Stone and Demi Moore, Laurence Fishburne, Lindsay Lohan and Elijah Wood, Joshua Jackson and others. Their sequences flow along, sometimes intersecting. The earnestness of the youthful campaign organizers and workers in their quest to get Bobby elected kindles that excitement in the air. The spirit of Bobby is everywhere, spurring moments of great deeds and sacrifices even in small moments. In one of the more noble scenes, Laurence Fishburne delivers a moving speeches about his kitchen staff colleague who has had to surrender his ticket to the Dodgers game, not just any Dodgers game but on the night of Koufax going for history - his sixth consecutive shutout, because he has had to work a doubleshft at the last moment. Fishburne compares his worker to a young, selfless King Arthur: "the once and future king" - which will reference the ending of the movie as well. As in Death of a President a foreboding overshadows the events of the day as they move along to the climactic moment. Bobby Kennedy's presence is always seen and felt in the background through television coverage, speeches and references from the cast. After Kennedy finishes delivering his California primary victory speech in the ballroom, the denouement is imminent while the speech of RFK plays over scenes of the lives of America: "Our lives on this planet are too short."

Bobby is a stirring and unrestrained movie with the punch of a worthy consideration.


Our lives on this planet are too short and the work to be done too great to let this spirit flourish any longer in our land. Of course we cannot vanquish it with a program, nor with a resolution.

But we can perhaps remember, if only for a time, that those who live with us are our brothers, that they share with us the same short moment of life; that they seek, as do we, nothing but the chance to live out their lives in purpose and in happiness, winning what satisfaction and fulfillment they can


Suburban Mayhem
11:45 a.m.
Varsity 6


"I knew the grandmother, she was mad - I knew the mother, she was madder. It's genetics I reckon, that's the only thing I can come up with. You can't get clean water from a dirty tank."

After Bobby meant less than 15 minutes to get up to the Varsity for the very last chance to see Emily Barclay in Suburban Mayhem. Timetable conflicts by the 06 TIFF schedulers has thwarted all previous attempts to see this movie which was at the very top of the list of movies had to be seen at 06 TIFF [after Candy].

Pretty Beach is suburbia nowhereswville up the coast north of Sydney in New South Wales, Australia. Emily Barclay is 19 year old Katrina Skinner, the young mother partying and living out of control. A contented housewife with a kid? No. This is not the mere disaffectation of American Beauty suburbia. This is full on carnage - starting with her brother Danny she loves so much who was sent to jail for life for decapitating the head of his murder victim. Danny was a leader among his wildstyle friends. Katrina is conniving and irresponsible, but wants to hold on to it all including her baby. Nonetheless she leaves in the hands of her beautician school friend Lilya for days while she goes out partying and looking for money to pay for a lawyer for her brother. Katrina is not reluctant to use her body and her wiles to keep sway over her boyfriend Rusty and their mentally challenged friend Kenny. As she plots to get the money to get Danny out of jail, the question arises: can she get away with the murder of her father? Suburban Mayhem is just that and more - and one wild and crazy ride we are so glad to be a part of.

DAY 9 - Our lives on this planet are too short - BOBBY, "I underestimated Katrina, that was mistake #1" - Suburban Mayhem, Hottest State, Magic Flute

cue Zero 7 - In The Waiting Line - Garden State

The September antsiness is in the air - the cloudy skies and the cool air nipping at the jacketless who hold onto their summer statements.

Bobby
9:30 a.m.
Ryerson

Bobby Kennedy was the voice of a generation of American youth - his ideals and his speeches were emblematic of a time of hope in the air and he stirred the nation disenchanted by a war that was claiming young American lives. This view at history directed by Emilio Estevez is a strong, bold and compassionate statemen looking at the events and the stories of the lives of the staff and guests at the Ambassador Hotel on that June day in 1968 where RFK is campaigning for the 1968 Democratic leadership and the presidency. The cast has been noted as being the size of a Robert Altman film with many notable names: William H Macy, Sharon Stone and Demi Moore, Laurence Fishburne, Lindsay Lohan and Elijah Wood, and others, their sequences flow along, sometimes intersecting. In one notable scenes, Laurence Fishburne delivers the most moving speeches about his kitchen staff colleague who has had to surrender his ticket to the Dodgers game on the night of his sixth consecutive shutout because he has had to work a doubleshft at the last moment. Fishburne compares his worker to a young, selfless King Arthur: "the once and future king" = which will reference the ending of the movie as well. As in Death of a President a foreboding overshadows the events of the day as they move along to climactic moments. Bobby Kennedy's presence is always seen and felt in the background through television coverage, speeches and references from the cast. After delivering his California primary victory speech, the denouement is tragic. "Our lives on this planet are too short."

Bobby is a noble movie with the punch of a worthy Oscar contender.

Suburban Mayhem
11:45 a.m.
Varsity 6


"I knew the grandmother, she was mad - I knew the mother, she was madder. It's genetics I reckon, that's the only thing I can come up with. You can't get clean water from a dirty tank."

After Bobby meant less than 15 minutes to get up to the Varsity for the very last chance to see Emily Barclay in Suburban Mayhem. Timetable conflicts by the 06 TIFF schedulers has thwarted all previous attempts to see this movie which was at the very top of the list of movies had to be seen at 06 TIFF [after Candy].

Pretty Beach is suburbia nowhereswville up the coast north of Sydney in New South Wales, Australia. Emily Barclay is 19 year old Katrina Skinner, the young mother partying and living out of control. A contented housewife with a kid? No. This is not the mere disaffectation of American Beauty suburbia. This is full on carnage - starting with her brother Danny she loves so much who was sent to jail for life for decapitating the head of his murder victim. Danny was a leader among his wildstyle friends. Katrina is conniving and irresponsible, but wants to hold on to it all including her baby. Nonetheless she leaves in the hands of her beautician school friend Lilya for days while she goes out partying and looking for money to pay for a lawyer for her brother. Katrina is not reluctant to use her body and her wiles to keep sway over her boyfriend Rusty and their mentally challenged friend Kenny. As she plots to get the money to get Danny out of jail, the question arises: can she get away with the murder of her father? Suburban Mayhem is just that and more - and one wild and crazy ride we are so glad to be a part of.

The Hottest State
3 p.m.
Paramount

Once upon a time Ethan Hawke was in a movie called Reality Bites.

That philosopher poet character prevails over Ethan Hawke's latest written and directed movie based upon his own novel The Hottest State.

My heart is gold
What will you give me for it?
he declares to his lady love

The Silence
6 pm
Royal Ontario Museum

My second viewing of this Cate Shortland piece is full of atmosphere and brooding. The Silence deals Richard Roxburgh so perfect coping with his suspension from active duty, who froze in the line of fire. He now works now at the Museum of Police History with his young sassy colleague played by ta-da! Emily Barclay. Referential to the imagery in pieces such as Michelangelo Antonioni's Blowup, The Silence is a photographic mystery. Who was the lady in the silk dress?


The Magic Flute
8:30 pm
Varsity 8

Mozart is magic, and hearing and seeing The Magic Flute was a magical way to end the evening. Kenneth Branagh's take on the opera and setting it in the background of World War I, it works as a plea for peace and the end to war, due to the magnificent singing, the libretto sung entirely in English and the acting talents of all the cast who deliver the pathos and humour, including our own Canadian in the lead role of Tamino.