Andy's Film Journal for
The 26th Annual Toronto International Film Festival (2001)

Sunday September 9th, 2001

Okay on with the review of the films...

Title: No Man's Land
Director: Danis Tanovic
Running Time: 98 min
Country: Bosnia-Herzegovina / Slovenia / Italy / France / UK / Belgium
Internet Movie Database Entry

This film had some buzz coming into the festival having won Best Screenplay nods at Cannes earlier this spring. One of the two galas on my list that I managed to score second screening tickets to I was intrigued by the premise of the film showing two warring sides of a conflict trapped between enemy lines in the proverbial no-mans land.

A class act all the way around, writer/director Danis Tanovic manages to create a balanced picture of not only humour and tragedy, but also a balance of political viewpoints never quite taking a side. Tanovic's background as a front-line cameraman in the Bosnia conflict he brings a much needed realism to the story. The films underscores the west's inaction on the conflict as portrayed by the United Nations Peace Keepers and their bureaucratic high command that would rather keep the status quo than resolve the conflict.

The performances by the main characters are excellent. Neither are faceless agressors or carboard cutouts, but rather real people with real lives and allegiances. During their time in no-man's land they discover that as much differences there are between their views, there is much common ground as human beings caught up in the conflict.

A highly enjoyable film and one I would recommend even for someone put off by the politics of the conflict at the heart of the film.

Fantastic! -- Wow, a film that left me wanting more. Definitely one that I will be talking about for sometime.

Each year at the festival, I try to choose one of the films from the DIALOGUE program. For those unfamiliar with the festival, the DIALOGUE program consists of a handful of directors that are asked by the Festival organizers to choose a film that they feel has had an impact on them either personally or as a film maker and lead a discussion of the movie.

In previous year's I have seen David Cronenberg introduce Todd Browning's FREAKS (1932), Atom Egoyan discussing Luis Bunuel's The Criminal Life of Archibaldo de la Cruz (1955), John Waters waxing on the virtues of the trashy BOOM! (1968) starring Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor, and Tim Roth praising Alan Clarke's powerful film Elephant. All of which have been entertaining, insightful and invaluable glimpses at the film makers as well as a behind the scenes on the films they show.

This year's selection for me was Two Lane Blacktop(1971) as introduced by Richard Linklater (Dazed and Confused, and Slacker) who was at the Festival this year representing not one but two of his own films Waking Life and Tape.

Two Lane Blacktop is one of those mythical American road movies where two young gearheads, The Driver (James Taylor) and the Mechanic (Dennis Wilson)take a 1955 Chevy across country racing in amateur hotrod races for money. They meet up with a man at a gas station (Warren Oates) who driving a G.T.0. challenges them to a cross country race to Washington D.C. The film is less about racing and about the characters as odd as that may sound given the premise. As you may have noticed by the description the characters, like the cars they race are stripped down to their bare essentials. Names are not given nor are they necessary, Taylor and Wilson seldom exchange conversation while driving except when it is absolutely necessary. The ending while puzzling to many, was partially explained by Linklater in his comments. Linklater likened it to the narrative of the story breaking down and as it does so does the film physically.

It was a very dramatic film and well worth the look if you get the opportunity. It has been recently released on DVD with the short "Monte Hellman: American Auteur" (1997).

Linklater in his commentary noted that this one of those films that he discovered as a teenager flipping channels late one night on tv and was mesmerized by it. Upon getting involved in film Linklater actually struck up a friendship with Monte Hellman.

A bonus interview with Director Monte Hellman can be found from 1999 on The Onion site LINK HERE

Fantastic! -- Wow, a film that left me wanting more. Definitely one that I will be talking about for sometime.

One of those films that sounds intriguing on paper, but never comes across as anything coherent on film. An virus that falls in the form of an acid rain erases the memories of all that are infected by it. People make pilgrimages to the ruined city in hopes of contracting the virus and wiping out painful memories. Anna is one such person hoping to erase memories of a lost child, Yuki her guide is accompanied by a taxi driver named K who seeks his family he does not know having been adopted at birth.

I recall being sucked in to choosing this film based on what seemed like an intriguing meditation on the nature of memory, but in the end director Seong-wook has neither the expertise or the patietnce to lead his audience through this film.

By far the worst film I have seen a the festival in sometime and while I did stay for the entire mess, I couldn't help but wonder why in the end.

Just Plain Awful -- What was I thinking choosing this crap! Couldn't flee the screening fast enough!

Again being a sucker for movies on the nature of time I selected "Century Hotel" which takes a look at a number of intertwined stories set in one hotel room over the history of a hotel. Partly sold on the concept and partly on the majority of the Canadian talent involved, I was a bit leary, and rightly so, when I learned Rain Maida of the Canadian rock group Our Lady Peace and his wife singer and song writer in her own right Chantal Kreviazuk were making their acting debuts in this film. While not traumatically bad, Maida's performace as Jim Morrison-like figure holed up in his hotel room shunning contact was amateur at best. Kreviazuk didn't fair much better, relying on her singing ability to squeak through the scene more than her acting ability.

Having said that the performances by such Canadian acting stalwarts as Earl Pastko, Colm Feore, Tom McCamus, and Mia Kirshner more than made up for the directing and weak plot device at the center of this film. Some of the stories stand very well on their own acting as glimpses into various time periods, others that try to play up the interconnected storyline of the hotel have less impact. Worth a rental, but not destined to make any waves on the Canadian cinema scene. Director David Weaver's background in short films shows in this picture and while not neccesarily a liability he needs to branch out beyond the interconnected short story theme.

Screening Note: The film screened at the ISABEL BADER THEATRE at the University of Toronto, a new addition the St. Mike's campus and while it appears to serve double duty as a theatre and a lecture room I found the seats were extremely uncomfortable. I was sure the people sitting next to me were going to ask me to sit still at any moment such was my fidgeting. Friends that saw other screenings at the venue didn't report a similar discomfort level, but between the noisy uncomfortable padding and the cramped quarters, both leg room and width wise, I'll personally be limiting the number of screenings I take in theatre in the future.

Enjoyable but Disappointing -- I enjoyed elements of the movie, but was disappointed with some aspects.