TIFF - DAY3

I'm still kicking myself for missing Jennifer Baichwal's acclaimed "Manufactured Landscapes", too bad i had a scheduling conflict, otherwise there would be no way i miss such a good doc. With Peter Mettler doing the cinematogrophy and based on Edward Burtynsky's industrial landscapes great photos, the movie examines contemporary themes such as globalization, industrialism and the impact of industry on nature and our ecosystem.

Today I have 2 movies on my list :

The long-awaited Werner Herzog's "Rescue Dawn" with christian Bale . I'm such a Herzog fan, and it should be interesting to see how Christian Bale mesures up to Klaus Kinski, I've read both bad and good reviews on his performance, nevertheless the fact it's a Herzog movie guarantees it's goodness.








Review:

I have mixed feelings about Herzog’s last work. I have to admit I wasn’t expecting such a pro-American film (in the Q&A he proudly admitted his fascination with the Americans because of their love of freedom and admiring great spirit) which was borderline commercial (MGM snapped it in a flash, I could see why this could be a huge box office hit in the US of A).Not like any of his previous work but rather (as he claims) a complimentary to his doc “Little Dieter Needs to Fly” this is based onthe true life of a personal friend of Werner the late Dieter Dengler.

Think of it as Herzog meets Hollywood (although all these years of documentary making has made him a master of making commercial movies with low budgets, so not your typical high budget hollywood movie ) , not in style or tackiness but rather taking his usual art-house documentary style movies and making it more accessible for the masses. The same themes of “The Wrath of God” are applied here: alienation, struggle of man against nature (Herzog considers mother nature violent and hostile) and human connections.

The upside is Christian Bale’s superior performance (with a strong supporting cast like the enigmatic Jeremy Davies) . He truely proves with this movie that he his such a talented and underrated actor.Also there are sequences in the movie where the movie feels right at home with Herzog’s documentary style.

For me the highlight of the film was the opening scene were US planes were bombing Laos with a classical opera piece playing in the background, that was one of the most stunning contrasting effects I have ever seen in a movie, brutal violence contrasted with subtle romantic music.

So did I like it? Yes and no, I like the human struggle -ala “The Pianist”- and the urge to survive even under the most brutal conditions of war camps, hostile nature and all.

And the only reason Dieter does it? love of flying.

Was it entertaining? Absolutely, it’s a movie that you would recommend to your friends and family, it’s light and engaging, ends with a happy ending and is very patriotic (in an American sense). But NOT a movie that you would expect from Werner Herzog (Fitzcarraldo, My Best Fiend, The Wrath of God, etc) a deep, thought provoking gem of the master of German cinema.

Also "Roads of Kiarostami" , the documentary on his B&W landscapes with commentaries by the master himself.





Review:

The Wavelengths program 2 was cool, a bunch of experimental films that were too avant-garde for my taste, but I really liked Jay Rosenblatt’s 3 minutes “Afraid So”. Very clever collage of pictures and commentary that was disturbing/humorous and provoking.

Cynthia Madansky’s The PSA project was interesting with focus on the American-led war in Iraq, a little bit vague but thought-provoking and done in 35mm.

Kiarostami’s “Roads of Kiarostami” was brilliant as I had expected, too bad he’s shooting in Spain for his next project and couldn’t make it to the fest. Slow-paced yet contemplative and philosophical take on Roads and journey, I love how he weaves poetic and philosophical motives together in a very minimalistic and simple approach, while showing his landscape photos/clips of him traveling through winding roads and providing some deep comments about life, human nature and fate. Cleverly guided the audience through a mesh of photographs and built the final political statement about God’s wrath/mercy on human actions (war).