by Takis Garis (@takisgaris)
The #TIFF13 Connection: Take 5
Despite Keanu Reeves’s not quite spectacular career route after the cultural phenomenon of The Matrix trilogy, he has always secured a place in moviegoers’ heart and in that context his directorial debut The Man of Tai Chi meets his fan base dedication to martial arts. Tai Chi is not supposed to be practiced as real fight technique, however Chen Lin- Hu (Tiger Hu Chen) needs all the money he can get in order to help his family and save the temple of his Master Yang (Yu Hai). Underground fight club lord Donaka Mark (Keanu Reeves) will almost crash his pure sensitivities aiming to turn him into a killing machine. The Man of Tai Chi has to resist his dark side, as the Master Yang has always taught him to. The spectacularly choreographed fights by legendary (yes, of the Matrix legacy) Yuen Woo-Ping are the sole reason to put up with genre banality galore, unless (as I do) you can’t get enough of Keanu camp lines and energizing musical scoring work. It will be on VOD and I can see this attracting good box office numbers in the Asian market.
August: Osage County, directed by John Wells and adapted from the successful play by Tracy Letts himself made everyone line up endlessly, press and public crowds alike, being branded as the film with the knock out performances that could upstage Gravity and 12 Years A slave as the formidable Best Picture Oscar contender. I wouldn’t swear that Meryl Streep’s absence from the promotion in TIFF13 was a factor, but frankly the headlines immediately after the world premiere were eager to dismiss August as being “too theatrical”, “full of histrionics” putting the blame on Streep even for playing Violet Weston, the Oklahoman matriarch of a family of three daughters, over the top and ultimately off-key. On the contrary I thought the adaptation was faithful if not quite accomplished as the full blown theatrical finale and the performances are Oscar worthy, for especially Meryl Streep, Chris Cooper and Juliette Lewis were phenomenal. Julia Roberts felt less nuanced as Streep’s beloved as equally hated daughter and the film’s duration could be a tad longer, leaving a bitter aftertaste, with not enough recovery time for audience when the storm of malevolence outbreaks and twisted secrets are fully exposed.
The Wind Rises is revealed by Japanese animation master Hayao Miyazaki to be his farewell so it’s expectedly poignant and wretched as his final piece. It’s based on the true story of aviator Jiro Horikoshi, an engineer who designed fighter planes during World War II. The exquisite drawing, trademark of Studio Ghibli is present, amplified by Hayao’s wisdom to look his country in the eye and comment subtly on its then disastrous dependence on militant Germany and its characteristic refuse to pursue modernity. Jiro’s personal drama (torn between his work dedication and his selfless, tuberculosis - stricken wife Naoko Satomi) follows suitably the fate of all innovators who had to pay the price for their marvels. Miyazaki celebrates life and the will to carry on and hopefully, unless the overlong (could be trimmed up to 15-20 minutes) journey of Jiro won’t allow, we’ll see him at the Oscars, once again after his masterpiece Spirited Away.
The Wind Rises is revealed by Japanese animation master Hayao Miyazaki to be his farewell so it’s expectedly poignant and wretched as his final piece. It’s based on the true story of aviator Jiro Horikoshi, an engineer who designed fighter planes during World War II. The exquisite drawing, trademark of Studio Ghibli is present, amplified by Hayao’s wisdom to look his country in the eye and comment subtly on its then disastrous dependence on militant Germany and its characteristic refuse to pursue modernity. Jiro’s personal drama (torn between his work dedication and his selfless, tuberculosis - stricken wife Naoko Satomi) follows suitably the fate of all innovators who had to pay the price for their marvels. Miyazaki celebrates life and the will to carry on and hopefully, unless the overlong (could be trimmed up to 15-20 minutes) journey of Jiro won’t allow, we’ll see him at the Oscars, once again after his masterpiece Spirited Away.
It was my utmost desire to close TIFF13’s film phantasmagoria with a film that would totally catch me off guard, shake me up and rock me down. Paul Haggis’s Third Person, loosely inspired from Antonioni’s Blow up as the Oscar winning writer/director (Crash) himself confessed during at the press conference later on, was that film experience for me. Showcasing a revelatory, bold, career-turning role by Olivia Wilde, a steely wise turn by Liam Neeson and spot on performances from the entire cast, including Adrien Brody, Mila Kunis and James Franco, Haggis is dragging us around by the nose, with three intersecting stories that ultimately seem to stem from the writer’s (Neeson) prolific imagination, playing like variations on the “female” theme, seeing it as wife, lover, daughter, source of happiness and root of all evil. Inevitably mind travels back to Crash, which remains one of the most remembered surprise wins in Oscar memory. Paul Haggis proves himself an ingenious story teller, even though he sporadically flirts here with revelations’ overkill. No distributor yet for an utterly alluring film to be enjoyed by mature audience.
My last TIFF13 stop meant to be the City to City press conference, as moderated by TIFF’s artistic director Cameron Bailey in whom one could easily detect the sheer passion in supporting the newly emerged new wave of Greek cinema. A forum of nine directors (that’s the number of films handpicked by Dimitris Eipides, a prominent festival figure, also perennial contributor of Thessaloniki International Film Festival) touched upon several topics in regard to allude to how the continuing financial crisis brought about new artworks, challenging the institutional (family, police authority) status quo in a brand new societal landscape. As a compatriot of the diaspora I could feel their anguish (limited funding, shrinking art house audience) as much I felt proud of the TIFF13 initiative to give a great boost to these talented yet inadequately supported film makers to demonstrate how the ageless Greek dramatic art form continues to convey ecumenical truths, even in the shape of ars povera.
gaRis
