list http://www.spout.com/ Recent community activity around Three Blind Mice on Spout Copyright 2005-9 Spout, LLC Spout RSS http://www.spout.com/images/SpoutLogoRSS.jpg http://www.spout.com/ 136 30 http://www.spout.com/films/Three_Blind_Mice/386895/default.aspx Title: Three Blind Mice
Year: 2009
Director: Matthew Newton
Plot: A trio of sailors about to be sent off to war hit the town for one last party in this semi-improvised drama from actor and filmmaker Matthew Newton. Sam (Ewen Leslie), Dean (Toby Schmitz) and Harry (Matthew Newton) are members of the Australian Navy who have orders to board the HMAS Dignity and set sail for duty that will eventually send them to Iraq. With twenty-four hours of liberty before they report for duty, Harry suggests they should hit Sydney and party. However, despite plenty of booze and a visit from some friendly hookers, it's hard for the men to relax and enjoy themselves. Sam isn't sure he can handle the stress of war, and has a one-night stand with a waitress (Gracie Otto) while wondering if he'd be better off deserting. Dean takes some time out for a dinner with his wife-to-be and her folks, but drinking loosens his tongue and he says some things he should have kept to himself. And Harry, the wildman of the group, doesn't seem so jovial when his day comes to a close. Three Blind Mice received its world premiere at the 2008 Sydney Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
Times Tagged: 12
Number of Lists: 2
Number of blog posts: 6
SpoutRating: 4
]]>Fri, 20 Mar 2009 15:00:58 GMTThree Blind Mice2009Matthew NewtonA trio of sailors about to be sent off to war hit the town for one last party in this semi-improvised drama from actor and filmmaker Matthew Newton. Sam (Ewen Leslie), Dean (Toby Schmitz) and Harry (Matthew Newton) are members of the Australian Navy who have orders to board the HMAS Dignity and set sail for duty that will eventually send them to Iraq. With twenty-four hours of liberty before they report for duty, Harry suggests they should hit Sydney and party. However, despite plenty of booze and a visit from some friendly hookers, it's hard for the men to relax and enjoy themselves. Sam isn't sure he can handle the stress of war, and has a one-night stand with a waitress (Gracie Otto) while wondering if he'd be better off deserting. Dean takes some time out for a dinner with his wife-to-be and her folks, but drinking loosens his tongue and he says some things he should have kept to himself. And Harry, the wildman of the group, doesn't seem so jovial when his day comes to a close. Three Blind Mice received its world premiere at the 2008 Sydney Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide12Tag Target (>10)264http://www.spout.com/ProductImages/s386895.jpghttp://www.spout.com/films/Three_Blind_Mice/386895/default.aspxFilm http://www.spout.com/blogs/spoutblog/archive/2009/3/20/41143.aspx Post By: SpoutBlog
Post To: SpoutBlog on spout.com
Post Date: 3/20/2009 11:00:58 AM
Body: The SXSW Film Festival is over. We didn’t make it to Austin this year, but we still had a festival experience in our very own home (Paul’s mom’s home, actually), thanks the IFC’s Festival Direct. While Joe Swanberg’s latest offering, Alexander the Last, was premeiring in Austin, we were watching it in a Michigan living room. We discuss how setting influences viewing, and the merits of the film. We also discuss two other SXSW Festival Direct titles, Zift and Three Blind Mice. Be sure to e-mail your most awkward movie watching moments involving sex scenes and your parents, to filmcouch [at] spout [dot] com. 0:00 - Intro 1:51 - Listener feedback 11:16 - Alexander the Last 30:39 - Zift, Three Blind Mice filmcouch-113 Originally posted on:SpoutBlog
]]>Fri, 20 Mar 2009 15:00:58 GMTSpoutBlogSpoutBlog on spout.com3/20/2009 11:00:58 AM The SXSW Film Festival is over. We didn’t make it to Austin this year, but we still had a festival experience in our very own home (Paul’s mom’s home, actually), thanks the IFC’s Festival Direct. While Joe Swanberg’s latest offering, Alexander the Last, was premeiring in Austin, we were watching it in a Michigan living room. We discuss how setting influences viewing, and the merits of the film. We also discuss two other SXSW Festival Direct titles, Zift and Three Blind Mice. Be sure to e-mail your most awkward movie watching moments involving sex scenes and your parents, to filmcouch [at] spout [dot] com. 0:00 - Intro 1:51 - Listener feedback 11:16 - Alexander the Last 30:39 - Zift, Three Blind Mice filmcouch-113 Originally posted on:SpoutBlog http://www.spout.com/blogs/spoutblog/archive/2009/3/17/41092.aspx Post By: SpoutBlog
Post To: SpoutBlog on spout.com
Post Date: 3/17/2009 11:01:17 AM
Body: Both a huge party and something of a petri dish of American independent creativity, SXSW is steadily becoming an invaluable stop on the festival circuit. The Austin festival is also the forerunner of a whole slew of American festivals that are proud to be far from New York and LA, and more importantly, far from Park City. So it’s no surprise that the festival would break even more ground in the decentralization of the independent film experience. This year, SXSW and IFC have teamed to offer five films on-demand via IFC Festival Direct, allowing viewers at home to see festival premieres on the same day the play for Austin audiences. For a midwesterner such as myself, this is tremendously good news. The elephant in the room when talking about any artwork is always access. Who is it for, and who can actually see it? For many, entering the current discussion surrounding independent film is simply an economic impossibility. SXSW is very friendly toward the average-Joe or Jane attendee, especially compared to many other festivals, but a plane ticket and a pass are still a serious expense. It would be easy for the festival organizers to pay lip service to the idea of creating an event for more than just the elite, and then do nothing about it. Instead, they deserve a tremendous amount of credit for actively attempting to engage people who want to attend the festival, but can’t. That said, the “festival at home” experience is far from flawless. Despite the fact that I’m pretty close to the ideal candidate for this type of thing, I don’t have the right kind of cable package required to see on-demand movies. I’ve often considered anteing up for better cable just for IFC, but for the most part a high-speed internet connection and Netflix subscription keep me occupied, and they are a big enough chunk of my monthly budget. So while audiences can technically watch these festival films anywhere, there’s still a large barrier to access, and it still comes down to cost. So I spent the weekend calling up friends, interviewing them about what kind of cable they have, then sheepishly asking if I could invite myself over to watch a few movies. Luckily, I have gracious friends. On Saturday Paul and I went over to his mother’s house to watch Joe Swanberg’s latest film, Alexander the Last. A few business items: Paul is the same Paul with whom I co-host FilmCouch, Spout’s weekly podcast. Also, Spout has collaborated with Joe Swanberg in the past; he and Ronald Bronstein produced an original web series for us called Butterknife, and they provided video coverage of the 2008 Sundance Film Festival. If you’re familiar with Joe’s work, talk of creative cross-pollination comes as no surprise. His productions are intimate affairs made by an ever-expanding group of collaborators. SXSW has played a key role in these collaborations, both by embracing Swanberg’s work (this is the fourth film he’s premiered there), and by providing an atmosphere in which artistic pretense is rejected in favor of sharing passions over beer and BBQ. For me, the SXSW premiere of Swanberg’s previous film, Nights and Weekends, was like an unintentional social network meet-up. I began chatting with the folks around me and recognizing name after name. One person writes for this blog, another guy was the DP on this other movie I saw yesterday, and on and on. Watching a Swanberg premiere at Paul’s mom’s house, on the other hand, was a wholly different experience. As the opening credits rolled, we did find ourselves playing mumblecore bingo, picking out names we recognized. But as the film got underway it was much easier to focus on what was on screen. Even easier, perhaps, than if Joe were sitting two rows in front of me and I were wondering which party to go to later. I’ve often wondered if Joe’s films work as social events more than as actual movies. But I was pleasantly surprised that Alexander the Last still gave me plenty to chew on. The film follows an ensemble of young actors and musicians dealing with temptation, and struggling with how to portray sex and all that goes along with it, while keeping their relationships and themselves intact. The film certainly feels autobiographical, at least in its themes. It’s evident that this is the product of a somewhat insular community of artists, but that subtext doesn’t detract much from the work itself. Seeing the film in a living room adorned with a lacy Victorian pastiche –– complete with Paul’s mom walking in during a pretty explicit sex scene –– helped confirm that Swanberg’s films do work on their own, thousands of miles from the hip little bubble they’ve created. On Sunday I crashed another friend’s place for a double feature of Three Blind Mice and Zift. Three Blind Mice premiered at Toronto this past fall. It’s written and directed by Matthew Newton, who also plays one of three Australian naval officers on their last night home before redeployment. Newton glows with mischievous energy on screen, bouncing between darkly comic disasters. The film could have handled its emotional weight with more skill, but it’s still a nice example of a filmmaker taking stock of the emotional effects of war without dealing directly with its politics. While Three Blind Mice would certainly be fun to see at the festival, it loses very little when translated to the small screen. It strikes me as a film that could enjoy a healthy life through on-demand and video even without the boost of the IFC Festival Direct co-premiere. Zift, on the other hand, felt out of place on the small screen. The film, produced in Bulgaria, is an arty, Eastern Bloc take on conventional film noir. The production value was a little spotty, and despite being in black and white, the lighting was rather flat. It had its moments, especially a gritty noir twist at the end, but I couldn’t help but feel that it would have played much better in a crowded midnight screening, where elements that are cool and weird for their own sake can thrive off of excitement from the audience. Overall, IFC’s Festival Direct is a great step in the right direction. For all the talk about how the internet is forever changing the face of independent film, relatively little has been done to push initial distribution to the scope the web allows. This leads to my one suggestion about how this experience could dramatically improve: let users pay to stream on-demand content online, not just through cable. Seven dollars per film is perfectly reasonable, but many indie film fans don’t have the requisite expensive cable packages. The internet, on the other hand, is far more ubiquitous. Netflix, Amazon, and iTunes have all devised ways to securely stream movies; how great would it be if we could stream them the same day as their festival premiere? Originally posted on:SpoutBlog
]]>Tue, 17 Mar 2009 15:01:17 GMTSpoutBlogSpoutBlog on spout.com3/17/2009 11:01:17 AMBoth a huge party and something of a petri dish of American independent creativity, SXSW is steadily becoming an invaluable stop on the festival circuit. The Austin festival is also the forerunner of a whole slew of American festivals that are proud to be far from New York and LA, and more importantly, far from Park City. So it’s no surprise that the festival would break even more ground in the decentralization of the independent film experience. This year, SXSW and IFC have teamed to offer five films on-demand via IFC Festival Direct, allowing viewers at home to see festival premieres on the same day the play for Austin audiences. For a midwesterner such as myself, this is tremendously good news. The elephant in the room when talking about any artwork is always access. Who is it for, and who can actually see it? For many, entering the current discussion surrounding independent film is simply an economic impossibility. SXSW is very friendly toward the average-Joe or Jane attendee, especially compared to many other festivals, but a plane ticket and a pass are still a serious expense. It would be easy for the festival organizers to pay lip service to the idea of creating an event for more than just the elite, and then do nothing about it. Instead, they deserve a tremendous amount of credit for actively attempting to engage people who want to attend the festival, but can’t. That said, the “festival at home” experience is far from flawless. Despite the fact that I’m pretty close to the ideal candidate for this type of thing, I don’t have the right kind of cable package required to see on-demand movies. I’ve often considered anteing up for better cable just for IFC, but for the most part a high-speed internet connection and Netflix subscription keep me occupied, and they are a big enough chunk of my monthly budget. So while audiences can technically watch these festival films anywhere, there’s still a large barrier to access, and it still comes down to cost. So I spent the weekend calling up friends, interviewing them about what kind of cable they have, then sheepishly asking if I could invite myself over to watch a few movies. Luckily, I have gracious friends. On Saturday Paul and I went over to his mother’s house to watch Joe Swanberg’s latest film, Alexander the Last. A few business items: Paul is the same Paul with whom I co-host FilmCouch, Spout’s weekly podcast. Also, Spout has collaborated with Joe Swanberg in the past; he and Ronald Bronstein produced an original web series for us called Butterknife, and they provided video coverage of the 2008 Sundance Film Festival. If you’re familiar with Joe’s work, talk of creative cross-pollination comes as no surprise. His productions are intimate affairs made by an ever-expanding group of collaborators. SXSW has played a key role in these collaborations, both by embracing Swanberg’s work (this is the fourth film he’s premiered there), and by providing an atmosphere in which artistic pretense is rejected in favor of sharing passions over beer and BBQ. For me, the SXSW premiere of Swanberg’s previous film, Nights and Weekends, was like an unintentional social network meet-up. I began chatting with the folks around me and recognizing name after name. One person writes for this blog, another guy was the DP on this other movie I saw yesterday, and on and on. Watching a Swanberg premiere at Paul’s mom’s house, on the other hand, was a wholly different experience. As the opening credits rolled, we did find ourselves playing mumblecore bingo, picking out names we recognized. But as the film got underway it was much easier to focus on what was on screen. Even easier, perhaps, than if Joe were sitting two rows in front of me and I were wondering which party to go to later. I’ve often wondered if Joe’s films work as social events more than as actual movies. But I was pleasantly surprised that Alexander the Last still gave me plenty to chew on. The film follows an ensemble of young actors and musicians dealing with temptation, and struggling with how to portray sex and all that goes along with it, while keeping their relationships and themselves intact. The film certainly feels autobiographical, at least in its themes. It’s evident that this is the product of a somewhat insular community of artists, but that subtext doesn’t detract much from the work itself. Seeing the film in a living room adorned with a lacy Victorian pastiche –– complete with Paul’s mom walking in during a pretty explicit sex scene –– helped confirm that Swanberg’s films do work on their own, thousands of miles from the hip little bubble they’ve created. On Sunday I crashed another friend’s place for a double feature of Three Blind Mice and Zift. Three Blind Mice premiered at Toronto this past fall. It’s written and directed by Matthew Newton, who also plays one of three Australian naval officers on their last night home before redeployment. Newton glows with mischievous energy on screen, bouncing between darkly comic disasters. The film could have handled its emotional weight with more skill, but it’s still a nice example of a filmmaker taking stock of the emotional effects of war without dealing directly with its politics. While Three Blind Mice would certainly be fun to see at the festival, it loses very little when translated to the small screen. It strikes me as a film that could enjoy a healthy life through on-demand and video even without the boost of the IFC Festival Direct co-premiere. Zift, on the other hand, felt out of place on the small screen. The film, produced in Bulgaria, is an arty, Eastern Bloc take on conventional film noir. The production value was a little spotty, and despite being in black and white, the lighting was rather flat. It had its moments, especially a gritty noir twist at the end, but I couldn’t help but feel that it would have played much better in a crowded midnight screening, where elements that are cool and weird for their own sake can thrive off of excitement from the audience. Overall, IFC’s Festival Direct is a great step in the right direction. For all the talk about how the internet is forever changing the face of independent film, relatively little has been done to push initial distribution to the scope the web allows. This leads to my one suggestion about how this experience could dramatically improve: let users pay to stream on-demand content online, not just through cable. Seven dollars per film is perfectly reasonable, but many indie film fans don’t have the requisite expensive cable packages. The internet, on the other hand, is far more ubiquitous. Netflix, Amazon, and iTunes have all devised ways to securely stream movies; how great would it be if we could stream them the same day as their festival premiere? Originally posted on:SpoutBlog http://www.spout.com/blogs/karina/archive/2008/9/9/34929.aspx Post By: Karina
Post To: Karina on SpoutBlog
Post Date: 9/9/2008 11:00:40 AM
Body: Are we entering the era of the apolitical Iraq film? I won’t see Kathryn Bigelow’s The Hurt Locker until later in the week, but the accounts I’ve heard suggest that it’s an action film that happens to be set in Baghdad, with tunnel-vision on the technical aspects of warfare and an almost complete disregard for the politics of the war being fought there. Similarly, Matthew Newton’s drama 3 Blind Mice is a film about Australian marines en route to Iraq, but the war these boys are heading into could be anywhere and backed by any kind of ideology, so timeless are the film’s ideas about camaraderie and duty. It’s essentially a modern redo of On the Town, with ample fist fights in place of fancy footwork, a much more cynical attitude towards the notion of patriotism, and a completely credible sense of verisimilitude. In fact, the writing and performances create such a life-like mise en scene that when movie-like violence happens, it’s as shocking as it would be in real life. Harry, Sam and Dean, three 20-something boys dressed in full Royal Australian Navy reglia, crash into a Sydney hotel room, where they’ll spend a single night before heading to the Gulf. They fall into three types right away: Harry is the charismatic schemer, Dean is the uptight innocent, Sam the brooder with a secret. Amidst intimations that “something happened out there” which Sam is still recovering from and the other boys aren’t sure how to deal with, Harry calls to arrange a late-night hooker visit as a back-up before the boys head out into the night looking to drink and get laid. Newton’s handheld camera follows them closely throughout the sleepless night to follow, their pale white faces more often than not lit blue by neon street lights, as their interactions with one another and others build slowly towards a shuffling of their moral standings and personal identities. Mice is full of incredibly long dialogue scenes which inevitably attain a natural-feeling momentum, maybe in spite of the rapid-fire edits with which they’ve been put together. The first notable example of this is an epic scene set around a poker table, which begins with the awkwardness of two groups of strangers being thrown together for an activity that, being that it involves a modicum of trust and gauging of sincerity, is probably best kept to friends. Not only does the gradual collision of personalities in this scene allow Newton to reveal what his characters are capable of, but it implicitly comments on the tension between street-smart young men who defend themselves and their own interests every day, and the relatively sheltered navy boys, who are decorated for ostensibly defending their country and its interests, but to this point have only spent months at a time stuck on a boat mired in petty procedure and miles away from any sort of action. But what we think we’ve learned up to that point gets thrown on its head in the film’s centerpiece, a meet-the-folks dinner which an excessive infusion of sake sends off the rails, pushing Dean to confess his role in the incident that may push one of the three to desertion. Newton manages to steer his characters from amiability to rowdiness to dead-serious, straight faced moral bankruptcy in the course of a single long meal without once loosing his uncanny grasp of conversational naturalism. Mice’s final act feels a bit forced and unearned, but on the whole it marks Newton as an exciting new talent to watch. Originally posted on:SpoutBlog » Karina Longworth
]]>Tue, 09 Sep 2008 15:00:40 GMTKarinaKarina on SpoutBlog9/9/2008 11:00:40 AMAre we entering the era of the apolitical Iraq film? I won’t see Kathryn Bigelow’s The Hurt Locker until later in the week, but the accounts I’ve heard suggest that it’s an action film that happens to be set in Baghdad, with tunnel-vision on the technical aspects of warfare and an almost complete disregard for the politics of the war being fought there. Similarly, Matthew Newton’s drama 3 Blind Mice is a film about Australian marines en route to Iraq, but the war these boys are heading into could be anywhere and backed by any kind of ideology, so timeless are the film’s ideas about camaraderie and duty. It’s essentially a modern redo of On the Town, with ample fist fights in place of fancy footwork, a much more cynical attitude towards the notion of patriotism, and a completely credible sense of verisimilitude. In fact, the writing and performances create such a life-like mise en scene that when movie-like violence happens, it’s as shocking as it would be in real life. Harry, Sam and Dean, three 20-something boys dressed in full Royal Australian Navy reglia, crash into a Sydney hotel room, where they’ll spend a single night before heading to the Gulf. They fall into three types right away: Harry is the charismatic schemer, Dean is the uptight innocent, Sam the brooder with a secret. Amidst intimations that “something happened out there” which Sam is still recovering from and the other boys aren’t sure how to deal with, Harry calls to arrange a late-night hooker visit as a back-up before the boys head out into the night looking to drink and get laid. Newton’s handheld camera follows them closely throughout the sleepless night to follow, their pale white faces more often than not lit blue by neon street lights, as their interactions with one another and others build slowly towards a shuffling of their moral standings and personal identities. Mice is full of incredibly long dialogue scenes which inevitably attain a natural-feeling momentum, maybe in spite of the rapid-fire edits with which they’ve been put together. The first notable example of this is an epic scene set around a poker table, which begins with the awkwardness of two groups of strangers being thrown together for an activity that, being that it involves a modicum of trust and gauging of sincerity, is probably best kept to friends. Not only does the gradual collision of personalities in this scene allow Newton to reveal what his characters are capable of, but it implicitly comments on the tension between street-smart young men who defend themselves and their own interests every day, and the relatively sheltered navy boys, who are decorated for ostensibly defending their country and its interests, but to this point have only spent months at a time stuck on a boat mired in petty procedure and miles away from any sort of action. But what we think we’ve learned up to that point gets thrown on its head in the film’s centerpiece, a meet-the-folks dinner which an excessive infusion of sake sends off the rails, pushing Dean to confess his role in the incident that may push one of the three to desertion. Newton manages to steer his characters from amiability to rowdiness to dead-serious, straight faced moral bankruptcy in the course of a single long meal without once loosing his uncanny grasp of conversational naturalism. Mice’s final act feels a bit forced and unearned, but on the whole it marks Newton as an exciting new talent to watch. Originally posted on:SpoutBlog » Karina Longworth http://www.spout.com/blogs/spoutblog/archive/2008/9/9/34928.aspx Post By: SpoutBlog
Post To: SpoutBlog on spout.com
Post Date: 9/9/2008 11:00:28 AM
Body: Are we entering the era of the apolitical Iraq film? I won’t see Kathryn Bigelow’s The Hurt Locker until later in the week, but the accounts I’ve heard suggest that it’s an action film that happens to be set in Baghdad, with tunnel-vision on the technical aspects of warfare and an almost complete disregard for the politics of the war being fought there. Similarly, Matthew Newton’s drama 3 Blind Mice is a film about Australian marines en route to Iraq, but the war these boys are heading into could be anywhere and backed by any kind of ideology, so timeless are the film’s ideas about camaraderie and duty. It’s essentially a modern redo of On the Town, with ample fist fights in place of fancy footwork, a much more cynical attitude towards the notion of patriotism, and a completely credible sense of verisimilitude. In fact, the writing and performances create such a life-like mise en scene that when movie-like violence happens, it’s as shocking as it would be in real life. Harry, Sam and Dean, three 20-something boys dressed in full Royal Australian Navy reglia, crash into a Sydney hotel room, where they’ll spend a single night before heading to the Gulf. They fall into three types right away: Harry is the charismatic schemer, Dean is the uptight innocent, Sam the brooder with a secret. Amidst intimations that “something happened out there” which Sam is still recovering from and the other boys aren’t sure how to deal with, Harry calls to arrange a late-night hooker visit as a back-up before the boys head out into the night looking to drink and get laid. Newton’s handheld camera follows them closely throughout the sleepless night to follow, their pale white faces more often than not lit blue by neon street lights, as their interactions with one another and others build slowly towards a shuffling of their moral standings and personal identities. Mice is full of incredibly long dialogue scenes which inevitably attain a natural-feeling momentum, maybe in spite of the rapid-fire edits with which they’ve been put together. The first notable example of this is an epic scene set around a poker table, which begins with the awkwardness of two groups of strangers being thrown together for an activity that, being that it involves a modicum of trust and gauging of sincerity, is probably best kept to friends. Not only does the gradual collision of personalities in this scene allow Newton to reveal what his characters are capable of, but it implicitly comments on the tension between street-smart young men who defend themselves and their own interests every day, and the relatively sheltered navy boys, who are decorated for ostensibly defending their country and its interests, but to this point have only spent months at a time stuck on a boat mired in petty procedure and miles away from any sort of action. But what we think we’ve learned up to that point gets thrown on its head in the film’s centerpiece, a meet-the-folks dinner which an excessive infusion of sake sends off the rails, pushing Dean to confess his role in the incident that may push one of the three to desertion. Newton manages to steer his characters from amiability to rowdiness to dead-serious, straight faced moral bankruptcy in the course of a single long meal without once loosing his uncanny grasp of conversational naturalism. Mice’s final act feels a bit forced and unearned, but on the whole it marks Newton as an exciting new talent to watch. Originally posted on:SpoutBlog
]]>Tue, 09 Sep 2008 15:00:28 GMTSpoutBlogSpoutBlog on spout.com9/9/2008 11:00:28 AMAre we entering the era of the apolitical Iraq film? I won’t see Kathryn Bigelow’s The Hurt Locker until later in the week, but the accounts I’ve heard suggest that it’s an action film that happens to be set in Baghdad, with tunnel-vision on the technical aspects of warfare and an almost complete disregard for the politics of the war being fought there. Similarly, Matthew Newton’s drama 3 Blind Mice is a film about Australian marines en route to Iraq, but the war these boys are heading into could be anywhere and backed by any kind of ideology, so timeless are the film’s ideas about camaraderie and duty. It’s essentially a modern redo of On the Town, with ample fist fights in place of fancy footwork, a much more cynical attitude towards the notion of patriotism, and a completely credible sense of verisimilitude. In fact, the writing and performances create such a life-like mise en scene that when movie-like violence happens, it’s as shocking as it would be in real life. Harry, Sam and Dean, three 20-something boys dressed in full Royal Australian Navy reglia, crash into a Sydney hotel room, where they’ll spend a single night before heading to the Gulf. They fall into three types right away: Harry is the charismatic schemer, Dean is the uptight innocent, Sam the brooder with a secret. Amidst intimations that “something happened out there” which Sam is still recovering from and the other boys aren’t sure how to deal with, Harry calls to arrange a late-night hooker visit as a back-up before the boys head out into the night looking to drink and get laid. Newton’s handheld camera follows them closely throughout the sleepless night to follow, their pale white faces more often than not lit blue by neon street lights, as their interactions with one another and others build slowly towards a shuffling of their moral standings and personal identities. Mice is full of incredibly long dialogue scenes which inevitably attain a natural-feeling momentum, maybe in spite of the rapid-fire edits with which they’ve been put together. The first notable example of this is an epic scene set around a poker table, which begins with the awkwardness of two groups of strangers being thrown together for an activity that, being that it involves a modicum of trust and gauging of sincerity, is probably best kept to friends. Not only does the gradual collision of personalities in this scene allow Newton to reveal what his characters are capable of, but it implicitly comments on the tension between street-smart young men who defend themselves and their own interests every day, and the relatively sheltered navy boys, who are decorated for ostensibly defending their country and its interests, but to this point have only spent months at a time stuck on a boat mired in petty procedure and miles away from any sort of action. But what we think we’ve learned up to that point gets thrown on its head in the film’s centerpiece, a meet-the-folks dinner which an excessive infusion of sake sends off the rails, pushing Dean to confess his role in the incident that may push one of the three to desertion. Newton manages to steer his characters from amiability to rowdiness to dead-serious, straight faced moral bankruptcy in the course of a single long meal without once loosing his uncanny grasp of conversational naturalism. Mice’s final act feels a bit forced and unearned, but on the whole it marks Newton as an exciting new talent to watch. Originally posted on:SpoutBlog http://www.spout.com/blogs/karina/archive/2008/9/4/34742.aspx Post By: Karina
Post To: Karina on SpoutBlog
Post Date: 9/4/2008 12:01:36 PM
Body: The 2008 edition of the Toronto International Film Festival begins today, and Kevin Kelly and I will be there for the next ten days reporting back. What follows is not exactly an iron-clad preview of our Toronto coverage––in addition to some of the films below, I’m definitely planning to see new works by Claire Denis, Agnes Varda, Jonathan Demme and Richard Linklater, and would of course recommend that anyone on the ground see some of my favorites from past festivals, including Medicine for Melancholy and A Christmas Tale. This is more of a list of predictions of what everyone else is going to be talking about, while I’m pushing my glasses up my nose and rushing to to the next screening of the a South Korean movie about drunken lonliness. Enjoy! If you have your own predictions for what will catch fire in Ontario, let us know in the comments. 1. Zach and Miri Make a Porno (TIFF screening info) Obviously, anything with “porno” in the title has a certain automatic contingent (hello, Google searchers! Sorry to disappoint!) But then, so does anything with the credit “written and directed by Kevin Smith.” And then there’s the leading man. Some perspective: Smith’s last three films have grossed an average of $26 million each; the last three films starring Seth Rogen have grossed an average of $117 million each. With Jay and Silent Bob finally retired (we think/hope), and Rogen in tow for the usual, MPAA-baiting Smithism, Porno could––however ironically––become what Jersey Girl was supposed to be: the tipping point that expands the Smith fan base beyond the longtime Clerks faithful. 2. Slumdog Millionaire (TIFF screening info) Crowdpleasers make me itch. But then, to borrow a line from David Fincher, I’m an asshole. Assuming you are not, you might be interested to know that Slumdog Millionaire shows all the symptoms of becoming The Next Juno. Like Juno, Slumdog premiered in a TBA slot at Telluride, where reaction from all but our own Kevin Buist was enthusiastic, even hyperbolically so. Also ike Juno, it’s a music-fueled piece of pop art in which young love results from unlikely circumstances. And, thanks to Warner Brothers’ loss of faith in this tier of the distribution market, it’s now being distributed by Fox Searchlight––just like Juno. If looking for The Next Juno is now part of our jobs, at least Searchlight is taking all the arduous work out of it. 3. Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist (TIFF screening info) Speaking of two devils…Michael Cera, of course, had a pretty great 2007 as an associate of both Judd Apatow and Diablo Cody, and  I think at this point, he’s star enough to guarantee some festival buzz on his own. But even more interesting is his paring in Nick and Norah with Kat Dennings, the actress who played Catherine Keener’s daughter in the 40 Year-Old Virgin, who is quickly becoming a target of fan worship on YouTube. In a video called Kat Dennings sexiest woman alive, YouTube user concedes that inkamagonkhpjacki Dennings might actually be second to Angelina Jolie, which is fitting; like the young Jolie, Dennings is a little busty, a little reckless-looking, maybe even a little goth, but––and this is *not* like the sometime Gia impersonator––at the same time kind of goofy and totally unintimidating. In the most recent video on her own YouTube channel, she puts a blanket on her head, wraps stuffed animals around her shoulders like a fur stole, then grabs a guitar and shrugs: “I don’t know, I like reading.” More, please. Also: I’m pretending like the character names (based on a book of the same name) are a Thin Man reference. 4. The Dungeon Masters (TIFF screening info) The pedigree: Director Keven McAlester, whose last film was the festival hit Roky Erickson doc, You’re Gonna Miss Me; and Lee Daniel, the cinematographer of Miss Me as well as much of Richard Linklater’s filmography. The hook: a year-long glimpse into the lives of three adults who are really into Dungeons and Dragons. The verdict: irresistible bait for both indie film nerds and nerd nerds, and, if McAlester’s previous work is any indication, likely more probing and sensitive a portrait than the logline might at first glance indicate. 5. Pedro (TIFF screening info) Produced by Wash Westmoreland (whose Quincinera won the grand prize at Sundance in 2006), Nick Oceano’s first feature is an examination of the birth of reality TV as factory for both new celebrities and cultural attitudes, via the life and early death of Pedro Zamora, AIDS activist and cast member of the Real World San Francisco, The Movie. Which sounds very important, as does the fact that this is (I believe) the first fictional film that will ostensibly reenact moments from reality TV. But we’ll excuse you if you read the above and thought only, “OMG, Puck! OMG, the peanut butter fight!!!” 6.  Religulous (TIFF screening info) Why anyone takes Bill Maher’s Borscht Belt-to-Venice Beach schtick seriously I don’t know (I suspect that if he didn’t have a Bush Jr to play off, his primary cause would be Legalizing It), but Religulous hardly needs to convert me, or anyone else. In a year in which Ben Stein’s Expelled has become the top grossing non-fiction film––beating Martin Scorsese and the Stones––by playing in non-traditional venues and appealing strictly to an audience already in its “give intelligent design a chance” wheelhouse, and in which a Republican presidential candidate picks a running mate whose conservative social politics seem like bait for the neo-conservative party wing said presidential candidate used to claim he wasn’t beholden to, it seems clear that faith is the sleeper issue of the day. I may take issue with his cringey jokes, but I still see no reason to underestimate the impact Maher and his Religulous director/savvier comic provacateur Larry Charles will have on the large portion of the typical film festival audience with which their choir overlaps. 7.  Valentino: The Last Emperor (TIFF screening info) Reviews out of Venice grumbled about a lack of depth in Valentino’s setting but offered praise for the poignancy of the characters. For those of us who have been longing for a fully-realized epic fashion doc since Unzipped––or, a semi-serious, semi-guilty pleasure celebrity doc full of cheap but completely satisfying La Dolce Vita references since Truth or Dare––Valentino, directed by Vanity Fair reporter Matt Tyrnauer, shouldn’t disappoint. 8.  Che (TIFF screening info) Steven Soderbergh’s troubled epic might have placed higher on the list had its once-dire distribution situation not recently began to look up, but it’s still by all means impossible to argue against its status as a must-see. Che will have one screening in Toronto in its 262 minute incarnation; Parts 1 and 2 will then screen twice on their own. Just having the ability to Choose Your Che should cause a certain amount of chatter. I’m imagining (and sort of fearing) the arguments from Che completists over The Right Way To See It as we speak. 9.  The Hurt Locker (TIFF screening info) One of a number of films at TIFF dealing with soldiers either in, just returned from, or on their way to Iraq (see also 3 Blind Mice, Lucky Ones). The Hurt Locker has an obvious advantage within a micro-genre of films that have tended to fall pretty flat with both audiences and critics: it’s essentially a big-budget action thriller. And it’s directed by Kathryn Bigelow of Strange Days and Point Break fame, so it’s got a good chance of putting action above ideology without being totally brainless. 10.  Paris, Not France (TIFF Screening info) As Charles Aaron used to say, I give. Originally posted on:SpoutBlog » Karina Longworth
]]>Thu, 04 Sep 2008 16:01:36 GMTKarinaKarina on SpoutBlog9/4/2008 12:01:36 PMThe 2008 edition of the Toronto International Film Festival begins today, and Kevin Kelly and I will be there for the next ten days reporting back. What follows is not exactly an iron-clad preview of our Toronto coverage––in addition to some of the films below, I’m definitely planning to see new works by Claire Denis, Agnes Varda, Jonathan Demme and Richard Linklater, and would of course recommend that anyone on the ground see some of my favorites from past festivals, including Medicine for Melancholy and A Christmas Tale. This is more of a list of predictions of what everyone else is going to be talking about, while I’m pushing my glasses up my nose and rushing to to the next screening of the a South Korean movie about drunken lonliness. Enjoy! If you have your own predictions for what will catch fire in Ontario, let us know in the comments. 1. Zach and Miri Make a Porno (TIFF screening info) Obviously, anything with “porno” in the title has a certain automatic contingent (hello, Google searchers! Sorry to disappoint!) But then, so does anything with the credit “written and directed by Kevin Smith.” And then there’s the leading man. Some perspective: Smith’s last three films have grossed an average of $26 million each; the last three films starring Seth Rogen have grossed an average of $117 million each. With Jay and Silent Bob finally retired (we think/hope), and Rogen in tow for the usual, MPAA-baiting Smithism, Porno could––however ironically––become what Jersey Girl was supposed to be: the tipping point that expands the Smith fan base beyond the longtime Clerks faithful. 2. Slumdog Millionaire (TIFF screening info) Crowdpleasers make me itch. But then, to borrow a line from David Fincher, I’m an asshole. Assuming you are not, you might be interested to know that Slumdog Millionaire shows all the symptoms of becoming The Next Juno. Like Juno, Slumdog premiered in a TBA slot at Telluride, where reaction from all but our own Kevin Buist was enthusiastic, even hyperbolically so. Also ike Juno, it’s a music-fueled piece of pop art in which young love results from unlikely circumstances. And, thanks to Warner Brothers’ loss of faith in this tier of the distribution market, it’s now being distributed by Fox Searchlight––just like Juno. If looking for The Next Juno is now part of our jobs, at least Searchlight is taking all the arduous work out of it. 3. Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist (TIFF screening info) Speaking of two devils…Michael Cera, of course, had a pretty great 2007 as an associate of both Judd Apatow and Diablo Cody, and  I think at this point, he’s star enough to guarantee some festival buzz on his own. But even more interesting is his paring in Nick and Norah with Kat Dennings, the actress who played Catherine Keener’s daughter in the 40 Year-Old Virgin, who is quickly becoming a target of fan worship on YouTube. In a video called Kat Dennings sexiest woman alive, YouTube user concedes that inkamagonkhpjacki Dennings might actually be second to Angelina Jolie, which is fitting; like the young Jolie, Dennings is a little busty, a little reckless-looking, maybe even a little goth, but––and this is *not* like the sometime Gia impersonator––at the same time kind of goofy and totally unintimidating. In the most recent video on her own YouTube channel, she puts a blanket on her head, wraps stuffed animals around her shoulders like a fur stole, then grabs a guitar and shrugs: “I don’t know, I like reading.” More, please. Also: I’m pretending like the character names (based on a book of the same name) are a Thin Man reference. 4. The Dungeon Masters (TIFF screening info) The pedigree: Director Keven McAlester, whose last film was the festival hit Roky Erickson doc, You’re Gonna Miss Me; and Lee Daniel, the cinematographer of Miss Me as well as much of Richard Linklater’s filmography. The hook: a year-long glimpse into the lives of three adults who are really into Dungeons and Dragons. The verdict: irresistible bait for both indie film nerds and nerd nerds, and, if McAlester’s previous work is any indication, likely more probing and sensitive a portrait than the logline might at first glance indicate. 5. Pedro (TIFF screening info) Produced by Wash Westmoreland (whose Quincinera won the grand prize at Sundance in 2006), Nick Oceano’s first feature is an examination of the birth of reality TV as factory for both new celebrities and cultural attitudes, via the life and early death of Pedro Zamora, AIDS activist and cast member of the Real World San Francisco, The Movie. Which sounds very important, as does the fact that this is (I believe) the first fictional film that will ostensibly reenact moments from reality TV. But we’ll excuse you if you read the above and thought only, “OMG, Puck! OMG, the peanut butter fight!!!” 6.  Religulous (TIFF screening info) Why anyone takes Bill Maher’s Borscht Belt-to-Venice Beach schtick seriously I don’t know (I suspect that if he didn’t have a Bush Jr to play off, his primary cause would be Legalizing It), but Religulous hardly needs to convert me, or anyone else. In a year in which Ben Stein’s Expelled has become the top grossing non-fiction film––beating Martin Scorsese and the Stones––by playing in non-traditional venues and appealing strictly to an audience already in its “give intelligent design a chance” wheelhouse, and in which a Republican presidential candidate picks a running mate whose conservative social politics seem like bait for the neo-conservative party wing said presidential candidate used to claim he wasn’t beholden to, it seems clear that faith is the sleeper issue of the day. I may take issue with his cringey jokes, but I still see no reason to underestimate the impact Maher and his Religulous director/savvier comic provacateur Larry Charles will have on the large portion of the typical film festival audience with which their choir overlaps. 7.  Valentino: The Last Emperor (TIFF screening info) Reviews out of Venice grumbled about a lack of depth in Valentino’s setting but offered praise for the poignancy of the characters. For those of us who have been longing for a fully-realized epic fashion doc since Unzipped––or, a semi-serious, semi-guilty pleasure celebrity doc full of cheap but completely satisfying La Dolce Vita references since Truth or Dare––Valentino, directed by Vanity Fair reporter Matt Tyrnauer, shouldn’t disappoint. 8.  Che (TIFF screening info) Steven Soderbergh’s troubled epic might have placed higher on the list had its once-dire distribution situation not recently began to look up, but it’s still by all means impossible to argue against its status as a must-see. Che will have one screening in Toronto in its 262 minute incarnation; Parts 1 and 2 will then screen twice on their own. Just having the ability to Choose Your Che should cause a certain amount of chatter. I’m imagining (and sort of fearing) the arguments from Che completists over The Right Way To See It as we speak. 9.  The Hurt Locker (TIFF screening info) One of a number of films at TIFF dealing with soldiers either in, just returned from, or on their way to Iraq (see also 3 Blind Mice, Lucky Ones). The Hurt Locker has an obvious advantage within a micro-genre of films that have tended to fall pretty flat with both audiences and critics: it’s essentially a big-budget action thriller. And it’s directed by Kathryn Bigelow of Strange Days and Point Break fame, so it’s got a good chance of putting action above ideology without being totally brainless. 10.  Paris, Not France (TIFF Screening info) As Charles Aaron used to say, I give. Originally posted on:SpoutBlog » Karina Longworth http://www.spout.com/blogs/spoutblog/archive/2008/9/4/34741.aspx Post By: SpoutBlog
Post To: SpoutBlog on spout.com
Post Date: 9/4/2008 12:01:21 PM
Body: The 2008 edition of the Toronto International Film Festival begins today, and Kevin Kelly and I will be there for the next ten days reporting back. What follows is not exactly an iron-clad preview of our Toronto coverage––in addition to some of the films below, I’m definitely planning to see new works by Claire Denis, Agnes Varda, Jonathan Demme and Richard Linklater, and would of course recommend that anyone on the ground see some of my favorites from past festivals, including Medicine for Melancholy and A Christmas Tale. This is more of a list of predictions of what everyone else is going to be talking about, while I’m pushing my glasses up my nose and rushing to to the next screening of the a South Korean movie about drunken lonliness. Enjoy! If you have your own predictions for what will catch fire in Ontario, let us know in the comments. 1. Zach and Miri Make a Porno (TIFF screening info) Obviously, anything with “porno” in the title has a certain automatic contingent (hello, Google searchers! Sorry to disappoint!) But then, so does anything with the credit “written and directed by Kevin Smith.” And then there’s the leading man. Some perspective: Smith’s last three films have grossed an average of $26 million each; the last three films starring Seth Rogen have grossed an average of $117 million each. With Jay and Silent Bob finally retired (we think/hope), and Rogen in tow for the usual, MPAA-baiting Smithism, Porno could––however ironically––become what Jersey Girl was supposed to be: the tipping point that expands the Smith fan base beyond the longtime Clerks faithful. 2. Slumdog Millionaire (TIFF screening info) Crowdpleasers make me itch. But then, to borrow a line from David Fincher, I’m an asshole. Assuming you are not, you might be interested to know that Slumdog Millionaire shows all the symptoms of becoming The Next Juno. Like Juno, Slumdog premiered in a TBA slot at Telluride, where reaction from all but our own Kevin Buist was enthusiastic, even hyperbolically so. Also ike Juno, it’s a music-fueled piece of pop art in which young love results from unlikely circumstances. And, thanks to Warner Brothers’ loss of faith in this tier of the distribution market, it’s now being distributed by Fox Searchlight––just like Juno. If looking for The Next Juno is now part of our jobs, at least Searchlight is taking all the arduous work out of it. 3. Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist (TIFF screening info) Speaking of two devils…Michael Cera, of course, had a pretty great 2007 as an associate of both Judd Apatow and Diablo Cody, and  I think at this point, he’s star enough to guarantee some festival buzz on his own. But even more interesting is his paring in Nick and Norah with Kat Dennings, the actress who played Catherine Keener’s daughter in the 40 Year-Old Virgin, who is quickly becoming a target of fan worship on YouTube. In a video called Kat Dennings sexiest woman alive, YouTube user concedes that inkamagonkhpjacki Dennings might actually be second to Angelina Jolie, which is fitting; like the young Jolie, Dennings is a little busty, a little reckless-looking, maybe even a little goth, but––and this is *not* like the sometime Gia impersonator––at the same time kind of goofy and totally unintimidating. In the most recent video on her own YouTube channel, she puts a blanket on her head, wraps stuffed animals around her shoulders like a fur stole, then grabs a guitar and shrugs: “I don’t know, I like reading.” More, please. Also: I’m pretending like the character names (based on a book of the same name) are a Thin Man reference. 4. The Dungeon Masters (TIFF screening info) The pedigree: Director Keven McAlester, whose last film was the festival hit Roky Erickson doc, You’re Gonna Miss Me; and Lee Daniel, the cinematographer of Miss Me as well as much of Richard Linklater’s filmography. The hook: a year-long glimpse into the lives of three adults who are really into Dungeons and Dragons. The verdict: irresistible bait for both indie film nerds and nerd nerds, and, if McAlester’s previous work is any indication, likely more probing and sensitive a portrait than the logline might at first glance indicate. 5. Pedro (TIFF screening info) Produced by Wash Westmoreland (whose Quincinera won the grand prize at Sundance in 2006), Nick Oceano’s first feature is an examination of the birth of reality TV as factory for both new celebrities and cultural attitudes, via the life and early death of Pedro Zamora, AIDS activist and cast member of the Real World San Francisco, The Movie. Which sounds very important, as does the fact that this is (I believe) the first fictional film that will ostensibly reenact moments from reality TV. But we’ll excuse you if you read the above and thought only, “OMG, Puck! OMG, the peanut butter fight!!!” 6.  Religulous (TIFF screening info) Why anyone takes Bill Maher’s Borscht Belt-to-Venice Beach schtick seriously I don’t know (I suspect that if he didn’t have a Bush Jr to play off, his primary cause would be Legalizing It), but Religulous hardly needs to convert me, or anyone else. In a year in which Ben Stein’s Expelled has become the top grossing non-fiction film––beating Martin Scorsese and the Stones––by playing in non-traditional venues and appealing strictly to an audience already in its “give intelligent design a chance” wheelhouse, and in which a Republican presidential candidate picks a running mate whose conservative social politics seem like bait for the neo-conservative party wing said presidential candidate used to claim he wasn’t beholden to, it seems clear that faith is the sleeper issue of the day. I may take issue with his cringey jokes, but I still see no reason to underestimate the impact Maher and his Religulous director/savvier comic provacateur Larry Charles will have on the large portion of the typical film festival audience with which their choir overlaps. 7.  Valentino: The Last Emperor (TIFF screening info) Reviews out of Venice grumbled about a lack of depth in Valentino’s setting but offered praise for the poignancy of the characters. For those of us who have been longing for a fully-realized epic fashion doc since Unzipped––or, a semi-serious, semi-guilty pleasure celebrity doc full of cheap but completely satisfying La Dolce Vita references since Truth or Dare––Valentino, directed by Vanity Fair reporter Matt Tyrnauer, shouldn’t disappoint. 8.  Che (TIFF screening info) Steven Soderbergh’s troubled epic might have placed higher on the list had its once-dire distribution situation not recently began to look up, but it’s still by all means impossible to argue against its status as a must-see. Che will have one screening in Toronto in its 262 minute incarnation; Parts 1 and 2 will then screen twice on their own. Just having the ability to Choose Your Che should cause a certain amount of chatter. I’m imagining (and sort of fearing) the arguments from Che completists over The Right Way To See It as we speak. 9.  The Hurt Locker (TIFF screening info) One of a number of films at TIFF dealing with soldiers either in, just returned from, or on their way to Iraq (see also 3 Blind Mice, Lucky Ones). The Hurt Locker has an obvious advantage within a micro-genre of films that have tended to fall pretty flat with both audiences and critics: it’s essentially a big-budget action thriller. And it’s directed by Kathryn Bigelow of Strange Days and Point Break fame, so it’s got a good chance of putting action above ideology without being totally brainless. 10.  Paris, Not France (TIFF Screening info) As Charles Aaron used to say, I give. Originally posted on:SpoutBlog
]]>Thu, 04 Sep 2008 16:01:21 GMTSpoutBlogSpoutBlog on spout.com9/4/2008 12:01:21 PMThe 2008 edition of the Toronto International Film Festival begins today, and Kevin Kelly and I will be there for the next ten days reporting back. What follows is not exactly an iron-clad preview of our Toronto coverage––in addition to some of the films below, I’m definitely planning to see new works by Claire Denis, Agnes Varda, Jonathan Demme and Richard Linklater, and would of course recommend that anyone on the ground see some of my favorites from past festivals, including Medicine for Melancholy and A Christmas Tale. This is more of a list of predictions of what everyone else is going to be talking about, while I’m pushing my glasses up my nose and rushing to to the next screening of the a South Korean movie about drunken lonliness. Enjoy! If you have your own predictions for what will catch fire in Ontario, let us know in the comments. 1. Zach and Miri Make a Porno (TIFF screening info) Obviously, anything with “porno” in the title has a certain automatic contingent (hello, Google searchers! Sorry to disappoint!) But then, so does anything with the credit “written and directed by Kevin Smith.” And then there’s the leading man. Some perspective: Smith’s last three films have grossed an average of $26 million each; the last three films starring Seth Rogen have grossed an average of $117 million each. With Jay and Silent Bob finally retired (we think/hope), and Rogen in tow for the usual, MPAA-baiting Smithism, Porno could––however ironically––become what Jersey Girl was supposed to be: the tipping point that expands the Smith fan base beyond the longtime Clerks faithful. 2. Slumdog Millionaire (TIFF screening info) Crowdpleasers make me itch. But then, to borrow a line from David Fincher, I’m an asshole. Assuming you are not, you might be interested to know that Slumdog Millionaire shows all the symptoms of becoming The Next Juno. Like Juno, Slumdog premiered in a TBA slot at Telluride, where reaction from all but our own Kevin Buist was enthusiastic, even hyperbolically so. Also ike Juno, it’s a music-fueled piece of pop art in which young love results from unlikely circumstances. And, thanks to Warner Brothers’ loss of faith in this tier of the distribution market, it’s now being distributed by Fox Searchlight––just like Juno. If looking for The Next Juno is now part of our jobs, at least Searchlight is taking all the arduous work out of it. 3. Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist (TIFF screening info) Speaking of two devils…Michael Cera, of course, had a pretty great 2007 as an associate of both Judd Apatow and Diablo Cody, and  I think at this point, he’s star enough to guarantee some festival buzz on his own. But even more interesting is his paring in Nick and Norah with Kat Dennings, the actress who played Catherine Keener’s daughter in the 40 Year-Old Virgin, who is quickly becoming a target of fan worship on YouTube. In a video called Kat Dennings sexiest woman alive, YouTube user concedes that inkamagonkhpjacki Dennings might actually be second to Angelina Jolie, which is fitting; like the young Jolie, Dennings is a little busty, a little reckless-looking, maybe even a little goth, but––and this is *not* like the sometime Gia impersonator––at the same time kind of goofy and totally unintimidating. In the most recent video on her own YouTube channel, she puts a blanket on her head, wraps stuffed animals around her shoulders like a fur stole, then grabs a guitar and shrugs: “I don’t know, I like reading.” More, please. Also: I’m pretending like the character names (based on a book of the same name) are a Thin Man reference. 4. The Dungeon Masters (TIFF screening info) The pedigree: Director Keven McAlester, whose last film was the festival hit Roky Erickson doc, You’re Gonna Miss Me; and Lee Daniel, the cinematographer of Miss Me as well as much of Richard Linklater’s filmography. The hook: a year-long glimpse into the lives of three adults who are really into Dungeons and Dragons. The verdict: irresistible bait for both indie film nerds and nerd nerds, and, if McAlester’s previous work is any indication, likely more probing and sensitive a portrait than the logline might at first glance indicate. 5. Pedro (TIFF screening info) Produced by Wash Westmoreland (whose Quincinera won the grand prize at Sundance in 2006), Nick Oceano’s first feature is an examination of the birth of reality TV as factory for both new celebrities and cultural attitudes, via the life and early death of Pedro Zamora, AIDS activist and cast member of the Real World San Francisco, The Movie. Which sounds very important, as does the fact that this is (I believe) the first fictional film that will ostensibly reenact moments from reality TV. But we’ll excuse you if you read the above and thought only, “OMG, Puck! OMG, the peanut butter fight!!!” 6.  Religulous (TIFF screening info) Why anyone takes Bill Maher’s Borscht Belt-to-Venice Beach schtick seriously I don’t know (I suspect that if he didn’t have a Bush Jr to play off, his primary cause would be Legalizing It), but Religulous hardly needs to convert me, or anyone else. In a year in which Ben Stein’s Expelled has become the top grossing non-fiction film––beating Martin Scorsese and the Stones––by playing in non-traditional venues and appealing strictly to an audience already in its “give intelligent design a chance” wheelhouse, and in which a Republican presidential candidate picks a running mate whose conservative social politics seem like bait for the neo-conservative party wing said presidential candidate used to claim he wasn’t beholden to, it seems clear that faith is the sleeper issue of the day. I may take issue with his cringey jokes, but I still see no reason to underestimate the impact Maher and his Religulous director/savvier comic provacateur Larry Charles will have on the large portion of the typical film festival audience with which their choir overlaps. 7.  Valentino: The Last Emperor (TIFF screening info) Reviews out of Venice grumbled about a lack of depth in Valentino’s setting but offered praise for the poignancy of the characters. For those of us who have been longing for a fully-realized epic fashion doc since Unzipped––or, a semi-serious, semi-guilty pleasure celebrity doc full of cheap but completely satisfying La Dolce Vita references since Truth or Dare––Valentino, directed by Vanity Fair reporter Matt Tyrnauer, shouldn’t disappoint. 8.  Che (TIFF screening info) Steven Soderbergh’s troubled epic might have placed higher on the list had its once-dire distribution situation not recently began to look up, but it’s still by all means impossible to argue against its status as a must-see. Che will have one screening in Toronto in its 262 minute incarnation; Parts 1 and 2 will then screen twice on their own. Just having the ability to Choose Your Che should cause a certain amount of chatter. I’m imagining (and sort of fearing) the arguments from Che completists over The Right Way To See It as we speak. 9.  The Hurt Locker (TIFF screening info) One of a number of films at TIFF dealing with soldiers either in, just returned from, or on their way to Iraq (see also 3 Blind Mice, Lucky Ones). The Hurt Locker has an obvious advantage within a micro-genre of films that have tended to fall pretty flat with both audiences and critics: it’s essentially a big-budget action thriller. And it’s directed by Kathryn Bigelow of Strange Days and Point Break fame, so it’s got a good chance of putting action above ideology without being totally brainless. 10.  Paris, Not France (TIFF Screening info) As Charles Aaron used to say, I give. Originally posted on:SpoutBlog http://www.spout.com/members/0/tags/friendship/MemberTagFilms.aspxfriendship
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