My Winnipeg, with Live Narration by Guy Maddin

It is thrilling news to hear that My Winnipeg will have a special one night only presentation with live narration by Guy Maddin himself on Thursday June 19/08 at the Royal in Toronto Ontario, Canada.

My Winnipeg is a phenomenal 'docu-fantasia' film which I had the joy to see at during TIFF 07, was one of my favourites of the festival as well as 2007 as a whole. The film was one of the selections for Canada's Top Ten 2007 and won Best Canadian Feature Film at TIFF 07. Guy Maddin films are truly unique works of art and seeing his film Brand Upon the Brain! with live narration last year was one of the highlights of the year. Don't miss out on this opportunity!

The screening is presented by The Images Festival and Maximum Films with ticket priced as follows:
$20 in advance/$25 at the door (I'd recommend buy in advance)
$40 for "Hall of Fame", including reserved seating and My Winnipeg gift bag.

Tickets can be purchased online here.

My Week In Film

This is a bit of a time delayed for My Week in Film as I saw a bunch of mostly limited releases before covering the Inside Out Toronto Lesbian and Gay Film and Video Festival. It was great to spend some time with current releases, and thankfully I enjoyed all of them. Although I do on occasion get bustled into the hype of a big film and then end up disappointed, I actually have quite a strong internal radar for films I like and I felt that way about all four films I set out to see on this run.

The first from the lot I saw was Redbelt, written and directed by David Mamet and starring Chiwetel Ejiofor. Previous to Redbelt the films I had seen by David Mamet were State and Main and House of Games and I was aware of the fact that he has a particular style going into the film but no more details than that. I would say it's mostly the dialogue which I wonder if is on par with this other films as it's termed as rhythmic, and I can see that but I found the repetition so stylized. It did make me pause to think throughout, and sometimes it worked better than others. Also, the film felt like it was billed as a martial arts film and although that is a strong element to it, martial arts brought the setting to life in what was really a drama. Overall I thought the acting was great, story was interesting and I was captivated throughout.

Next up I sought out an unlikely double bill of My Blueberry Nights and Son of Rambow. Although the films had almost nothing in common I loved them both. I was slightly worried about the bleak reviews for My Blueberry Nights and I can say with confidence I disagree with all of them. Wong Kar Wai creates yet another wonderful, textural film that is an emotional journey for the characters and the viewer. I was impressed by Norah Jones' debut performance and I was thrilled to say Jude Law was great as well. It was a great start to the double bill, and next up was Son of Rambow which had been on my radar since early 2008 and it delivers as promised. It is a funny and touching film centred on an unlikely friendship of two boys in the 80's set out to create their own sequel to Rambo. This truly is a gem of a film.

I also got out to see the Then She Found Me with Danette, who is always lovely movie going company. I was so happy to see this film, and mystified that it had received so little attention. It's a fantastic film, with stellar acting and the story was compelling and real. I enjoyed the performances by both Bette Midler and Colin Firth. As for Helen Hunt, she was awesome. In fact, Danette wrote an great letter to Helen Hunt that really hits all the right notes. Fantastic film.

Oh, there is one more film I caught up with, and you can see my full review for it: S&M: Short and Male. This is one of the documentaries I missed at Hot Docs and I found it to be very interesting.

As I ended up in the theatre a lot I was bombarded by preshow looped advertising, commercials and previews. I have to ask what is with the new eyeball vs tongue commercials? A world of gross. More interesting were some of the new trailers: The Wackness where brought some nostagia to '94 which I'm not sure I can handle yet. American Teen which looks fascinating and I couldn't tell if it was a doc or drama especially after seeing the poster which replicates The Breakfast Club. It is however, a documentary. Also seen were many trailers for Sex and the City.

The Wackness Trailer - I saw teaser 2, spoiler free until about 3/4 way through
American Teen Trailer - You get the gist of the film by the 1/2 way point
Sex and the City Trailer - has tons of spoilers

Next week: Postal, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, Hard Core Logo, Lucky You and hopefully a few Toshirô Mifune films.

Film Reviews - Biopics

Is it bi-opic, or bio-pic? According to Merriam Webster online (press the little speaker icon), it's bio-pic. Biopics are biographical films that dramatically show the life of a person or people (see Wiki definition). Often these films can also be historical films as well.

Agora
Alexander
Angel at My Table, An
B1
Bright Star
Bronson
Cleopatra (1963)
Citizen Architect: Samuel Mockbee and the Spirit of the Rural Studio
Creation
Damned United, The
Factory Girl
Fighter, The
Gandhi
I Love You Phillip Morris
Ip Man 2
JCVD
Joan Rivers - A Piece of Work
Julius Caesar (1953)
Kill the Irishman
Last Station, The
Little Ashes
Invictus
King's Speech, The
Mao's Last Dancer
Mongol
Nowhere Boy
Public Enemies
Red Baron, The
Rocket, The / Maurice Richard
Runaways, The
Savage Grace
Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll
Social Network, The
Soul Surfer
Soundtracker
Spartacus
Vie en Rose, La / Ma Mome
Woman with the 5 Elephants, The
World According to Ion B., The

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Mongol

Dir: Sergei Bodrov (Bear's Kiss)
Cast: Tadanobu Asano, Khulan Chuluun, Honglei Sun
Germany/Kazakhstan/Russia/Mongolia, 2008

Seen: September 10, 2007 at TIFF 07

Reason to See: How often do you get to see a co-pro from Germany/Kazakhstan/Russia/Mongolia? Add to that epic historical? I’m there.

Gorgeous landscapes and an epic production in this 12th century period piece about the quest for change of the Mongols. It is a grand tale of enemies and allies with many action and fighting sequences. Pretty impressive. Thrilling performance by Tadanobu Asano at Temudjin.

This is also a film that kept me thinking well past the first viewing as it has many thought provoking issues involving power, responsibility, social dynamics and the right to choose.

Shannon's Overall View:
I enjoyed it
I'll buy it
I recommend it

Return to Film Reviews

© Shannon Ridler, 2007

Film Reviews - Mongolia

Mongol *

*indicates co-production

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Film Reviews - Kazakhstan

Mongol *
Ulzhan *

*indicates co-production

Back to Countries List

Toronto Film Festivals June - August 2008

The summer months start of remarkable strong for film festival with 8 so far in June alone. But then it tapers off as I'm sure the city will be full of many summer activities in July and August. There are also a fair number of listings here that showcase more than just film, but many arts or special interests.

June 2008

Luminato

June 6 - 15, 2008

Toronto Festival of Arts + Creativity
2008 'Film and Art' Schedule

World Wide Short Film Festival

June 10 - 15, 2008

2008 Schedule

Festival Coverage at Movie Moxie

Toronto Italian Film Festival

10th Annual festival presenting films from Italy and the Italian Diaspora

June 11 - 15, 2008

2008 Schedule

North by Northeast Music and Film Festival & Conference

June 12 - 15, 2008

2008 Film Schedule

ReelHeART International Film Festival
The Filmmakers Film Festival
June 16 - 21, 2008
2008 Schedule

Queer West Film Fest
June 18, 2008 at Good Catch General Store in Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Bicycle Film Festival
June 18 - 21, 2008

Generation D.I.Y. 'anti-festival' film series

Presented by filmswelike.com

This is a touring film series of mumblecore film that will visit Toronto as well as Winnipeg, Edmonton and Vancouver

Toronto dates: June 19 - 22, 2008

Online Schedule

Toronto International Portuguese Film Festival
June 26 - 29, 2008

2008 Schedule

Parkdale Video + Film Showcase
June 27 - 29, 2008

July 2008

CaribbeanTales
Fokus Jamaica: A celebration of film and television from Jamaica
July 10 - 13, 2008
2008 Schedule

August 2008

Filmi
South Asian Film Festival
August 13 - 17, 2008

Rue Morgue Festival of Fear National Horror Expo

August 22 - 24, 2008

Know of a festival not on the list? Email me at moviemoxie at gmail dot com, and I'll add it to the list!