Toronto & NY Film Festival 2012 anticipation

Ang Lee (3D) to open NY:

http://www.filmlinc.com/nyff2012/blog/ang-lees-life-of-pi-will-open-50th-nyff

covering TIFF officially for the first time! daunting.

I was daunted and I didn't cover it

Think I'm gonna try and limit myself to 2 flicks a day; really hoping for a decent number of pre-fest screenings.

you're crazy. go whole hog. 3-5 screenings a day. take advantage of the accreditation dude.

morbs are you going this year?

to TO? No, I can barely walk. I will probably go to 2 or 3 things in NY as usual.

yeah, when I went to TIFF ('03) I think I saw 36 films in 8 days. If I'd had to write, though, probably woulda kept it to 20-25.

s1ock, I wouldn't have time for more than 3 most days even if it didn't make my brane hurt, I'm working nights at a pub.

word. do encourage you to fit in as much as poss tho

http://www.filmlinc.com/daily/entry/bursting-50th-nyff-main-slate-lineup-revealed

Amour (Michael Haneke, Austria/France/Germany)
Michael Haneke’s Palme d’Or winner of Cannes 2012 is a merciless and compassionate masterpiece about an elderly couple dealing with the ravages of old age. A Sony Pictures Classics release.

Araf—Somewhere In Between (Yeşim Ustaoğlu, Turkey/France/Germany)
Director Yesim Ustaoglu depicts with empathy and uncompromising honesty the fate of a teenaged girl when she becomes sexually obsessed with a long-distance trucker and the promise of freedom that he embodies.

Barbara (Christian Petzold, Germany)
Christian Petzold’s perfectly calibrated Cold War thriller features the incomparable Nina Hoss as a physician planning to defect while exiled to a small town in East Germany. An Adopt Films release.

Beyond the Hills/După dealuri (Cristian Mungiu, Romania)
4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days director Cristian Mungiu returns with a harrowing, visually stunning drama set in a remote Romanian monastery. Winner, Best Actress and Best Screenplay, 2012 Cannes Film Festival. A Sundance Selects release.

Bwakaw (Jun Robles Lana, The Philippines)
A moving and funny surprise from the Philippines starring the great Eddie Garcia—and a truly unforgettable dog—in the story of an elderly loner going where he’s never dared venture before.

Camille Rewinds/Camille Redouble (Noémie Lvovsky, France)
Noemie Lvovsky directs and stars in an ebullient comedy of remarriage that gives Francis Ford Coppola’s Peggy Sue Got Married a sophisticated, personal, and decidedly French twist.

Caesar Must Die/Cesare deve morire (Paolo Taviani, Vittorio Taviani, Italy)
Convicted felons stage a production of Julius Caesar in this surprising new triumph for the Taviani Brothers, winner of the Golden Bear at this year’s Berlin Film Festival. An Adopt Films release.

The Dead Man and Being Happy/El muerto y ser feliz (Javier Rebollo, Spain/Argentina)
A dying hitman and a mysterious femme fatale set off on an oddball journey through Argentina’s interior in this playful and unexpectedly moving reverie on love, death and the open road.

Fill the Void/Lemale et ha'chalal (Rama Burshtein, Israel)
With her first dramatic feature, writer-director Rama Burshtein has made a compelling, disconcerting view of Israel's orthodox Hassidic community from the inside.

First Cousin Once Removed (Alan Berliner, USA)
Alan Berliner creates a compelling, heartfelt chronicle of poet and translator Edwin Honig’s loss of memory, language and his past due to the onslaught of Alzheimer’s. An HBO Documentary Films release. World Premiere.

Flight (Robert Zemeckis, USA)
Denzel Washington and Robert Zemeckis team on this tense dramatic thriller about an airline pilot who pulls off a miraculous crash landing...while flying under the influence. A Paramount Pictures release. Closing Night. World Premiere.

Frances Ha (Noah Baumbach, USA)
Lightning-in-a-bottle, Noah Baumbach’s love poem to his star and screenwriter Greta Gerwig recalls Godard’s early celebrations of Anna Karina, but, as a New York movie, it’s beautiful in a brand new way.

The Gatekeepers/Shomerei Ha’saf (Dror Moreh, Israel/France/Germany/Belgium)
Six former heads of Israel’s internal security agency, the Shin Bet, discuss their nation’s past, present and future, in what will surely be one of the most hotly discussed films of the year. A Sony Pictures Classics release.

Ginger and Rosa (Sally Potter, UK)
Sally Potter’s riveting coming-of-age story, set in London in 1962, centers on two teenage best friends (played by the revelatory Elle Fanning and talented newcomer Alice Englert) who are driven apart by a scandalous betrayal.

Here and There/Aquí y Allá (Antonio Méndez Esparza, Spain/US/Mexico)
After years in the U.S., Pedro returns home to his family in Mexico, but the lure of the north remains as strong as ever. A most impressive feature debut by Antonio Mendez Esparza.

Holy Motors (Léos Carax, France)
Leos Carax’s unclassifiable, breathtaking, expansive movie—his first in 13 years—stars the great Denis Lavant as a man named Oscar who inhabits 11 different identities over a single day in Paris. An Indomina Releasing release.

Hyde Park on Hudson (Roger Michell, USA/UK)
Bill Murray caps his career with a wily turn as FDR in this captivating comedy-drama about the President’s relationship with his cousin Margaret “Daisy” Suckley (Laura Linney). A Focus Features release.

Kinshasa Kids (Marc-Henri Wajnberg, Belgium/France)
Perhaps the most ebullient “musical” you’ll see this year, Marc-Henri Wajnberg’s singular documentary/fiction hybrid follows a group of street children in the Congolese capital.

The Last Time I Saw Macao/A Última Vez Que Vi Macau (João Pedro Rodrigues)
This stunning amalgam of film noir and Chris Marker cine-essay poetically explores the psychic pull of the titular former Portuguese colony.

Leviathan (Lucien Castaing-Taylor, Véréna Paravel, USA)
NYFF alumni Lucien Castaing-Taylor (Sweetgrass) and Véréna Paravel (Foreign Parts) team for another singular anthropological excavation, this time set inside the commercial fishing industry.

Life of Pi (Ang Lee, USA)
Ang Lee's superb 3D adaptation of the great bestseller resembles no other film. A 20th Century Fox release. Opening Night. World Premiere.

Like Someone in Love (Abbas Kiarostami, Japan/Iran/France)
Master Iranian filmmaker Abbas Kiarostmi ventures to Japan for this mysterious beautiful romantic drama about the brief encounter between an elderly professor and a young student. A Sundance Selects release.

Lines of Wellington/Linhas de Wellington (Valeria Sarmiento, France/Portugal)
Passionate romance, brutal treachery, and selfless nobility are set against the background of Napoleon’s 1810 invasion of Portugal in Valeria Sarmiento’s intimate epic.

Memories Look at Me/Ji Yi Wang Zhe Wo (Song Fang, China)
Song Fang’s remarkable first feature, in which she travels from Beijing to Nanjing for a visit with her family, perfectly captures the rhythms of brief sojourns home.

Night Across the Street/La Noche de enfrente (Raul Ruiz, Chile/France)
A final masterpiece from one of the cinema’s most magical artists, this chronicle of the final months of one Don Celso allows the late Raul Ruiz the chance to explore the thin line between fact and fiction, the living and the dead. A Cinema Guild release.

No (Pablo Larrain, Chile/USA)
Gael Garcia Bernal stars as a Chilean adman trying to organize a campaign to unseat Pinochet in Pablo Larrain’s smart, engrossing political thriller. A Sony Pictures Classics release.

Not Fade Away (David Chase, USA)
The debut feature from The Sopranos creator David Chase is a wise, tender and richly atmospheric portrait of a group of friends trying to start a rock band in 1960s suburban New Jersey. A Paramount Vantage release. Centerpiece. World premiere.

Our Children/À perdre la raison (Joachim Lafosse, Belgium)
Belgian director Joachim LaFosse turns a lurid European news story about a mad housewife into a classical tragedy. Émilie Dequenne more than fulfills the promise of her award-winning performance in Rosetta.

Passion (Brian de Palma, France/Germany)
Brian De Palma brings great panache and a diabolical mastery of surprise to a classic tale of female competition and revenge. Noomi Rapace and Rachel McAdams are super-cool and oh so mean.

Something in the Air/Après Mai (Olivier Assayas, France)
Too young to have been on the May ’68 barricades, a group of young people explore their options for continuing the political struggle in Olivier Assayas’ incisive portrait of a generation. A Sundance Selects release.

Tabu (Miguel Gomes, Portugal)
An exquisite, absurdist entry in the canon of surrealist cinema, Tabu is movie-as-dream—an evocation of irrational desires, extravagant coincidences, and cheesy nostalgia grounded in serious feeling and beliefs. An Adopt Films release.

You Ain’t Seen Nothin’ Yet/Vous n'avez encore rien vu (Alain Resnais, France)
The latest from 90-year-old Alain Resnais is a wry, wistful and always surprising valentine to actors and the art of performance starring a who’s-who of French acting royalty.

looks pretty great imo? maybe shy a few more interesting abstracts, cf the reygadas, marcelo gomes, &c - there's another stream tbc, right? wavelengths or w/e?

would love to catch this:

First Cousin Once Removed (Alan Berliner, USA)
Alan Berliner creates a compelling, heartfelt chronicle of poet and translator Edwin Honig’s loss of memory, language and his past due to the onslaught of Alzheimer’s. An HBO Documentary Films release. World Premiere.

can't wait to see that next summer on HBO

I guess we can expect most of those not already part of TIFF to show up in Masters?

my list so far (though there are conflicts & i won't make em all, and i haven't even really gone beyond monday in the schedule):
the hunt
amour
pieta
no
frances ha
london: the modern babylon
something in the air
berberian sound studio
the master
night across the street
call girl
aftershock
fin (the end)
room 237
the end of time
the secret disco revolution
les nuits avec theodore
penance
free angela and all political prisoners
7 psychopaths
spring breakers
sightseers
me maxima culpa
tower
leviathan
passion
in another country
john dies at the end

Out of the stuff that I hadn't heard of before the fest started, I'm most excited for Berberian Sound Studio. Haven't seen a good, new horror flick all year.

haven't seen it, but p sure Berberian Sound Studio isn't really a horror movie as such

ya me neeth

ok, "creepy genre movie" then.

aaand I saw it yesterday morning and liked it a lot. Reminded me of Anguish (w/ Toby Jones as its Michael Lerner).

is it wrong for me to hope for another femme fatale from http://tiff.net/filmsandschedules/tiff/2012/passion

Yes. (We likely mean something different.)

are you seeing anything clemenza?

Because I'm working all day, I find it too much of a zoo to head down at night. A friend has given me a ticket or two the last few festivals--loved the Harvard/Yale football documentary--but probably not this year. I think my last walk-up was in the early '80s when I was still at school and just wandered in off the street to see Hour of the Wolf the year Cronenberg programmed his big horror series.

ahh too bad.

I didn't even realize there was a new Assayas till just now!

& he's doing a master class.

oh cool a thread for tiff. I am pretty stoked, only seeing like 4, maybe 5 films, because, you know, 15$ apiece is not cheap.

here is what I am seeing: laurence anyways, John dies at the end, & London: the modern Babylon. bertolucci's new one was sold out when I went to buy tickets on Sunday so I am gonna rush that. and I kind of want to see the perverts guide to ideology, especially since zizek will be onstage afterwards! cool!

this is only my second tiff experience. I rushed diary of the dead, whenever that came out. it was a really long line, I was at the end, and I thnk they crammed us all in. is that a fluke? do they always have unoccupied seats? how long should I get there in advance?

depends on the theater really! according to a bud who worked at tiff, elgin is the safest bet

the p&i screening schedule is really killing me as i don't have access to public tickets.

friday morning is brutal, all of these are overlapping:
frances ha
no
london: the modern babylon
mekong hotel (new apichatpong!)
the end of time

it'll be one of the last two but the choice is killllllllling me

This is my schedule. I think.

http://tiffr.com/2012/schedules/suckerhowell

i'll be there for some of those...

friday morning is just killing me tho

http://sashajames.com/tiff12bingocard.jpg

lol

Changes up my sched at the last minute; caught Looper and Like Someone in Love. Liked the former despite a dodgy last act; still processing the latter. AMOUR up next.

*changed

I found Amour kind of amazing, and I'm far from a Haneke fanboy.

i liked amour a lot

then i saw the kim ki-duk, pieta (bleh) and the end of time (@_@)

how was the ki-duk?

Theoretically seeing 5 movies today, let's see how I hold up.

oh, I misread yr sentence there. nevermind.

got some stuff to say about it, but ya didnt care for it.

5 movies! nice! what?

i've narrowed my morning choice down to either NO or MEKONG HOTEL>...

then i'm gonna do a something in the air - john dies at the end - berberian sound studio triple bill.

then i'm gonna see snoop dogg lion DJ.

Spring Breakers, No, Sightseers, John Dies at the End, Reality.

the Kiarostami is showing at TIFF yes?

yes. I saw it. perplexing, but not in the same way as CC. also not as good. but not terrible!

i lasted about 10 minutes in john dies at the end

prob just couldn't deal w/ spoiler.

I've got a shortlist, might make only two or three of them: Tower, Secret Disco Revolution, Mekong Hotel, In Another Country, Frances Ha, Sightseers. Not a movie buff at all, but excited all the same. Good time to move to TO, I guess.

Hearing good things about Frances Ha.

I didn't hate John Dies but it was definitely...exhausting.

i just got back from the disco revolution disco party. thelma houston sang. it was p fun for a tiff party

john dies was just so... yellow. it made me sick

frances ha was kind of delightful... unexpected crowd-pleaser. i dug it.

i say a big yes to no, too

I liked NO, too, tho aspects didn't really take.

Room 237 and The Sessions today.

gonna hit room 237, tower, no one lives, les nuits avec theodore. and some parties. and the no indiewire session.

olivier assayas master class bumped till tomorrow.

room 237: mostly great but sort of starts to repeat itself
tower: good
no one lives: really pretentious slasher

NYFF online ticketing page is a fucking disaster

(not that I can confidently buy anything thx to assorted unknowns)

I ventured downtown for a book signing by Hoberman--cancelled. Since I was there, I tried to get a ticket for the David Geffen film after the line had been let in--no chance. As a result, I'm at home and about to start a Gram Parsons documentary.

jonathan rosenbaum almost shoulder-checked me on the street today.

got thwarted today by extra long shift at work. damn.

The Master bright and early tomorrow.

best movie so far: jem cohen's MUSEUM HOURS
worst: ROMAN POLANSKI: ODD MAN OUT

kinda surprised, i still haven't totally separated jem cohen from like a smallscale singer-turned-painter arc. some of his shorts are okay i guess.

he's been making movies for like 30 years!

A friend came through with an extra ticket to the Angela Davis film on Saturday. So I'll make my annual once-a-festival appearance after all.

I used to love Jem Cohen, but now when I watch a lot of his older stuff I find it really mannered. Will be curious to see this new thing though.

it and leviathan and no are the best of the fest.

Nothing compares to The Master, say a bunch of people who I'm guessing saw only The Master.

http://www.indiewire.com/article/criticwire-at-toronto-the-best-films-performances-poll?page=2

Leviathan may have surpassed Passion as the movie from TIFF I most want to see.

my list

http://markslutsky.com/post/31731224672/what-i-saw-at-tiff-2012

lots of stuff i'm sad i missed: stories we tell, the master, spring breakers (sob)

Amour was the pretty sound fave for me, followed by PTA, the Baumbach, The Act of Killing, West of Memphis.

sad i missed act of killing too.

http://cinema-scope.com/cinema-scope-online/tiff-day-10-pieta-x/

so much real talk

so Facebook indicating that DCP of De Palma film failed?

That's what I heard

Twitter was very angry about it last night.

http://popdose.com/no-concessions-digital-disaster-at-the-new-york-film-festival/

tbh for all its been adopted DCP remains a bit of a clusterfuck... I'm having one made now and the technician told me to bring in a "properly formatted" hard drive he could stick it on... but even he didn't know what he meant by properly formatted and suggested I find someone else to ask