A Critical Moment at The Auteurs Notebook

Earlier this year the San Francisco International Film Festival screened Gerald Peary's For the Love of Movies: The Story of American Film Criticism, which I wrote up here, and followed it up with a free-to-the-public panel entitled "A Critical Moment", moderated by SF360 editor Susan Gerhard. My thanks to Daniel Kasman and The Auteurs Notebook for generously picking up a partial transcript of that panel. However, waste not want not, as they say. Here are the remaining perspectives.

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For Variety, Dennis Harvey has dispatched from film festivals, often introducing filmmakers to an industry to which, otherwise, they would not have access. One could argue that Harvey's opinion foments opportunity for distribution. But Variety has been cutting back on staff drastically and Gerhard wondered if Harvey could talk about that and what impact it's having on the industry?

Dennis Harvey: Traditionally, the role of Variety—beyond reporting on the mainstream industry and reviewing the mainstream industry—has also been as the industry trade publication of record where everything is covered. When I first started writing for Variety, basically any feature-length film at a film festival that hadn't already been reviewed, was eligible for review and probably would be reviewed. That was before, admittedly, the start of digital technology that has made movies much less [difficult] to make. Even if the economy was doing really well, even if the Internet hadn't happened, there still would be too many movies for Variety to review, as a combination of that proliferation, simple budget cuts and the shrinking of print media.

We all know that the Bay Area has the largest single concentration of film festivals probably anywhere in the world. It has the oldest and largest of every kind of film festival. Even the International Film Festival is the largest in the Western hemisphere. It's a ridiculous embarrassment of riches for a relatively medium-sized metropolitan area. So it was a great place for me to be covering festival films for Variety; even better in some respects than it would have been in L.A. or New York. Until January 1st, when the new budgets were levied and I'm now covering from about 20 annual festivals in the Bay Area—which is still only a fraction of the ones that exist—I'm covering four. It's unfortunate—as a living, for me it's a personal concern—but, Variety had always been a place where filmmakers could potentially get distribution from all the visibility they would get from a Variety review, which would often be the first public review they would get. Now, unfortunately, it's going to be a situation where the films that are reviewed in Variety will only be reviewed because they have distribution. I don't want to say that's an evil, moral choice on Variety's part; it's more reflecting the reality of things.

There is a website and they always run more reviews on the website than they can fit in the publication; but, that doesn't affect the overall numbers. They're still reducing the number of reviews assigned in general. So there will be fewer web reviews as well.

It's luck of the draw. One angry filmmaker whose film I reviewed at Sundance left a message on my home phone—there's always a question how people get my home phone—saying, "Why can't you be like Roger Ebert? He supports young filmmakers." The answer is that Roger Ebert has the luxury if he wants of going to a film festival and only supporting starting filmmakers, and only writing about the young filmmakers that he likes. Whereas, I'm assigned a number of films, some of which I asked for, many of which I didn't.

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As a full-time staff writer for the San Francisco Chronicle—which has recently expanded its film coverage, in contrast to so many other dailies—Jonathan Curiel was asked by Gerhard to "report on the ground" to the pressures of working within a daily newspaper.

Jonathan Curiel: Let's look at the bigger picture here. The pressures experienced by film reviewers are the same pressures on other journalisms, as it were. In some ways, cinema and film reviewing are in a good position at The Chronicle because they're devoting more coverage to film reviewing. It's only been in the last several months that movies on Friday now have their own separate section. That's a good thing—there's more space devoted to movies—but the question is why did they devote more space to movies? One could say—and I'm not privy to this, thank God, because I don't work in the upper echelons of the paper—but, one could say it's because of advertising. That's why there's a separate section. Not because there's a dramatic need for a range of film reviewing of foreign films and independent films, etc.; but, because advertising—in a sense—requires this separate section. Again, that's one theory.

Regardless, it's a good thing that's happened at the San Francisco Chronicle, though—at the same time this is happening—they have cut back dramatically in other ways. One of the areas I used to cover a lot of was foreign affairs. Two years ago a top editor of the paper called me in and essentially said, "We are not going to be doing foreign affairs coverage from local staff writers." No way. That was a dagger in my heart, I would have to say. I write about a lot of different subjects—used to write about a lot of different subjects, including foreign affairs—and cinema is one of my subjects. At the same time that movies are being put on a pedestal—in a way—at the Chronicle, other areas are not. The paper's getting thinner.

It goes without saying that journalism has taken a big hit and particularly the San Francisco Chronicle. Those of you who have followed the travails of the paper know that the Hearst Corporation has threatened to pull the rug out from underneath the paper. That threat—as far as I know—still exists. There are rumors. You asked about what it's like to be in the trenches, well, I can tell you what it's like in the trenches. When you have rumors floating over your head that, in effect, say the Chronicle may not exist in five months, what do you think of that? Well, a lot of people are running scared. And it's not just the people who are writing about cinema or the local news or whatever. It's the people in the upper echelons who actually have to make these cuts. They will not admit that they're scared; but, they are scared. People at the bottom are scared. It's a bad time to be a journalist. You could say existentially it's the worst time in the history of the Chronicle.

In some ways, though, the Chronicle is in a good position because—even if the physical paper were to disappear—its website (which is one of the top 10 websites in the country) will be there and film criticism and film reviewing will be a big part of that. That's not going to go away, partly because there's a demand for this. …There's a definite market for a substantial San Francisco Chronicle that does write about foreign affairs and film intelligently. …I'll leave it at this: at the Chronicle, as elsewhere, there's optimism and pessimism and sometimes they're in the same moment.

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Mary Pols took a buy-out from the Contra Costa Times and said that she was leaving film criticism to start a new life as an author. Since then, however, she's been pulled back into film criticism through a gig at Time.com. Gerhard asked Pols to talk about her transition to writing online.

Mary Pols: I did think it was the end of my film criticism career, which made me very sad because that's what I wanted to do since I was a small child basically. Like many other people in this room, I read Pauline Kael because her reviews were the only thing in The New Yorker that were digestible besides the cartoons. I was eight or nine years old. When I took the buyout last March from the Contra Costa Times, I had become the de facto film critic for the Oakland Tribune as well because the person who owned the Oakland Tribune bought the Contra Costa Times and the San Jose Mercury News. My reviews were also appearing in the Mercury News and a bunch of other little papers in the Bay Area. This guy has a monopoly in the Bay Area on the alternative weeklies. When I left, I knew I wouldn't be replaced but I also thought, "If I don't go now and take a buyout, I'll get laid off soon." It was clear to me. The amount of space I had for reviews was shrinking and the publisher who clearly loved movies—and clearly loved me—was on his way out too because they were kicking out anybody who had been around for a while and starting "fresh" with God-knows-who.

I spent about six months not even going to movies after the buyout. I tried not to be sad about it. It's a remarkable rhythm to have in your life being a movie critic. It's usually five movies a week at least, a lot of hopping on BART trying to get places on time, strange times: 2:00, 4:00, then again at 7:30. You might see three movies in a day. You might see four. It's an odd rhythm to live with but—once it's taken away from you—it's very strange. You hang out at home in your pajamas pitching to people who don't know who you are, don't care who you are, and I thought I would never get another movie gig again. The way it came to me was sort of surprising. An editor read something I wrote about my scandalous love life—which was about having a one-night stand and having a baby [Accidentally On Purpose]—in the "Modern Love" column that runs on Sundays in the New York Times. Through that, an editor at Time found me. Seriously, she sent me an email the Monday after that ran, asking if I wanted to review for them. I thought, "This is a really cruel hoax being played upon me by those assholes at Gawker who, every Monday, make fun of 'Modern Love', right?" What a great thing to do. Find this poor soul who wrote about her tragic love life and taunt her with the idea of working for Time.

I googled her and she seemed to be legitimate. Anyway, I picked up that gig, usually one review a week, and I started in January and it's really great to be back in that rhythm. I will say that for the most part I have been going to mainstream movies and—as Ruby was talking about—if you're writing for an outlet like that, you can't [indulge] your tastes, and you have to accept the fact that you'll be seeing mainstream movies because most national publications cater to what's coming out on Friday that had a big ad and that people are going to be curious about….

I will say it's very depressing to be a journalist right now; but, I'm just trying to roll with it and remember that for me it was always an incredible gift to get to go to the movies and be paid for it; to spend hours of the day in the dark; and—if anyone will let me do that now for money—I'm going to jump upon it and I'm going to hold on as long as I can. I hope there are people that care to read reviews. That was my introduction to magazines and newspapers and I hope that when I'm 85 I'll be saying, "Bring me the New York Times so I can see what Manohla Dargis has to say." I really hope it's out there. I am heartened by the fact that there are more than 10 people in this theater. That's a good sign, right?

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Noting the historical structure of Gerald Peary's documentary, Gerhard wondered—if Peary could choose an era of film writing to bring back—which would it be? She asked him when was his favorite moment of American film criticism?

Gerald Peary: I don't like to be some boring nostalgic—which is what we all do when we talk about this "golden age"—but there was one chapter entitled "When Criticism Mattered", which was about the '60s and '70s. I meant that truly, but I also meant it with quotation marks around it. Critic Jonathan Rosenbaum wrote an interesting attack of the film because he's an up-to-date guy, today's a great period, and I'm being an old fart by talking about that period. I half agree with him. I know the time that I read film criticism with great fervor was definitely the Sarris/Kael period. The Village Voice in the late '60s was the single greatest paper. It had Molly Haskell writing feminist criticism, Sarris writing his auteurist stuff, but it also had the late Stuart Byron who was one of the many film critics who died, an AIDS victim, and he was the first person to write about being gay—maybe even before anything in San Francisco. I remember a column he wrote about a guy who picked his pocket while Byron was giving him a blow job. I remember thinking, "God, what a great critic!"

To repeat a point: there are plenty of really good critics today—there's no problem with that—but, there is the problem of the power and the influence of the critic waning. Film criticism is not just an ego thing. It's not just masturbatory. We actually want people to go see movies that we care about and that clout is mostly dying, I feel. That's what depresses me.

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Addressing the entire panel, Gerhard elicited their commentary regarding 3D technology.

Pols: 3D! Coraline was wonderful. It was one of the first times I enjoyed a 3D move. But Monsters vs. Aliens, which I took my five-year-old to, had him clinging to me the whole time. I'm curious to see what Pixar's going to do with Up. I think they're re-releasing Toy Story in 3D in the autumn and I figure—if anybody can do it well—they can. But, in general, I feel 3D is this awful menace coming off the screen. I hope that not every child's movie that's made in the next five years features 3D because the glasses really give me a headache.

David D'Arcy: But it's the nature of any trend that too many examples of it will be made before the trend dies.

Ruby Rich: 3D, I'm afraid, is going to be not just for kids' movies. Every studio—whatever's left of the mini-majors; I think even Focus has several lined up now—they're all making 3D movies. But you have to remember that—every time there's a technological challenge—the movie studios do this. When television came out, that's probably when they first went to 3D and started going to Cinemascope. When video and DVD came out, that was the rise of film festivals and the rise of special events, the rise of 70mm and all of these kinds of things. I'm sure 3D is a response to download. I'm sure it's, "How do you get people out of their home entertainment systems?" To that extent, I think it's predictable. Hopefully, we'll be happily surprised; but, I doubt it.

Cross-published on Twitch.

INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS—Q&A With Quentin Tarantino

Excited to be screening Inglourious Basterds in the Castro Theatre—"one of the most beautiful theaters in America"—Quentin Tarantino specified that when they set about booking the film into theaters, he demanded the film be placed in "every, cool stand-alone theater in America." Thus, he's doubly-pleased that Basterds will have a first run at the Castro. Met by a standing ovation after the screening, Tarantino was refreshingly down-to-earth and generous with his time, fielding questions from an enamored crowd. [This transcript is not for the spoiler-wary.]

Asked if there was something in the original 1978 Enzo Castarelli movie The Inglorious Bastards that drew him or whether he was merely fascinated in its title, Tarantino admitted that, yeah, it wasn’t anything about the storyline in Castarelli’s movie per se—other than the genre of a bunch of guys on a mission—but The Inglorious Bastards struck him as the best title he’d ever heard for a movie of that genre and he held onto it in the back of his mind.

One fellow admitted he had come to the screening with low expectations based upon the television marketing and was, thus, surprised at having enjoyed the film so much. He wondered if the marketing wasn’t misrepresenting the film? “How bad is the marketing doing if you’re here now?” Tarantino retorted, claiming he had no problem with the marketing and that he liked the film’s TV spots. But, understanding that the criticism was levied at the fact that the TV spots amplify the role of the Basterds without referencing Shosanna’s substantial subplot, Tarantino queried how one could get across such complexity in a TV spot? Especially with subtitles at play? Though he’s always thought of the movie as being about the Basterds, he likewise knows "the movie delivers if you see it" and that emphasizing the Basterds is just the easiest way to describe the film. "The Basterds are there, they're doing their thing, but there's so much more," Tarantino insisted, adding, "That's how I feel about genre. This is a bunch-of-guys-on-a-mission movie; but, it's more than that, even though it delivers the pleasures of that kind of movie." [Tweeting on a related subject, Peter Sciretta of /Film opined: "The Weinstein Company are really quoting Larry King as saying 'Brad Pitt is Terrific!' for Inglourious Basterds marketing? UGH! They couldn't have found a better quote, from a more reliable reviewer, for a Tarantino film? For the record, I loved Basterds, and I understand why TWC is trying to sell it on Pitt's back, but ... I dunno ... Larry King? Really?" Elsewhere, at The Auteurs Notebook, Ryland Walker Knight summizes: "This is not to say the film is the action extravaganza the savvy marketing would have you believe. But only a fool would promote the film as it really is: a gab-fest largely talked out in subtitles." A point reiterated by Frako Loden on The WELL who points out "the film is about the art of conversation really."]

Having mentioned genre, Tarantino was asked if there were any genres he would like to explore? Though he couldn't quite see himself making a sci-fi film, Tarantino ventured, he could see himself making "a full-on balls-out horror movie". Westerns are a genre he could "throw his hat in", even as he feels he has come close to already making one and—since it's been a while—he's almost ready for another crime drama.

Asked why he frequently writes roles for strong, assertive female leads in his films, Tarantino answered: "I don’t know. It's what I do. I'm a writer, y’know? Am I not supposed to do that? I honestly don't know what to say; but, it's just too long of a story where that comes from. But I can see it and it's cool and I like creating characters who are terrific." Noting his near obsession with some of his actresses, Tarantino was asked what he looks for when he's casting his female roles? He answered that—at the end of the day—he's looking for a good actress that can take the role, play it, and carry it on her shoulders. "But I am a bit of a von Sternberg-phile so—if I'm going to shoot a woman—I'm going to knock myself out, right? Especially if she's supposed to have power and I'm supposed to present her in a powerful cool way. I'll do everything I can to do that."

Asked whether Tarantino made the film in response to the current political climate with the war in Iraq, he responded in the negative. The idea came to him in 1998 after he made Jackie Brown, but he didn't finish the script until 2008. When he came up with the idea, the war hadn't even started yet. Literally, he explained, his starting off point is genre—when he throws his hat into that ring—which, in this instance, was his love for WWII movies, especially the subgenre of men-on-a-mission WWII movies. Then he starts writing the characters and the story and it becomes what it is.

Regarding the film's revisionist history, Tarantino insisted it was not something he had planned from the beginning. In fact, he thought he was going to respect history. But then he realized his characters didn't know they were part of history. Plus, ordinarily his writing style with his characters is that there's nothing they can't do. They can do anything. He doesn't play God and try to guard them. There are no doors they can't walk through. "I thought, 'Wait a minute. My characters don't know they're a part of history. They don't know there's anything they can and can't do. And for me to jump in there and act like God and steer them away from where they would go, I’ve never done that before and now's not the time to start.' " Tarantino's characters change the course of the World War. "Now, that didn't happen because my characters didn't exist,” Tarantino rationalized, "But—if they had existed—everything that happens in the film is quite possible."

At last year's Toronto Film Festival when I interviewed Daniel Brühl for Krabat, Daniel mentioned his having been cast as Fredrick Zoller in Basterds. Regarding Brühl,Tarantino offered: "When I saw Goodbye, Lenin after having written the script for Basterds, I said, 'Ah! That's my Fredrick Zoller. That's totally the guy.' I loved Goodbye, Lenin—I thought it was wonderful—but, I couldn't even imagine it without Daniel Brühl, as good as that movie is. For me, he was as perfect casting as Brad Pitt and Cristoph Waltz."

As for Mike Myers in the cameo role of General Ed Fenech, Tarantino responded, "I think of Mike Myers as our generation's Peter Sellers." Myers had let Tarantino know that he was a fan of his films, respected his work and—if something became available—would be interested in working with him. Tarantino told him, "Well, I have this part that's almost like a Trevor Howard character from a 1966 movie…" and Myers reacted immediately, "I'm in!"

Asked how difficult it was for him to find a German actor willing to play Hitler, Tarantino explained that Martin Wuttke is "the Gene Hackman of Germany"; he's a popular actor already famous for one of the most renowned portrayals of Hitler in the last 20 years; a role he performed on stage in a Bertolt Brecht play. Based on that reputation, Tarantino wanted him for his film; but, Wuttke told him flatly, "I would rather play a schnitzel than play Hitler again." But Tarantino talked him into it.

Asked if Basterds was intended to be a message to the Hollywood system that audiences want movies that are character-based narratives instead of mere CGI pyrotechnics, Tarantino responded, "That would be nice if that worked out that way—from your lips to God's ears—it would be really lovely; but, the thing about it is that there was no 'master plan' to lead audiences back to more story-based films. That's just the way I write. Part of the problem with the movies that Hollywood has been making for the last 10 years—if not longer than that; as long as I've been making movies—is that most of the movies that come out are just movie versions of situation comedies. What I mean by that is that they set up a situation in the first 15-20 minutes and the rest of the movie is living up to that situation. But in a real story, you don't know everything there is to know in the first 15-20 minutes. A real story unfolds."

Asked if he felt Basterds was going to become known as his "masterpiece", Tarantino replied, "It's not for the chicken to speak of his own soup. I would need at least three years distance to even peg it in my oeuvre."

Asked about Nation's Pride—the movie-within-the-movie—Tarantino remarked that he had familiarized himself with much of the Nazi propaganda movies so he could be on point when Goebbels was talking about filmmaking. There were some things he wrote in the script that were very specific but then Eli Roth shot a big portion of Nation's Pride. If he has any problem with it, it's that it's too good. "One of the subjects that the movie is about is filmmaking under the Third Reich, which means it's about propaganda filmmaking. So I'm making a movie about propaganda filmmaking and this is a propaganda movie in a lot of ways. I'm even rewriting history to make a point. Making a propaganda movie about propaganda movies is a reverse joy. One of the things that was interesting to me about the Shosanna character is that I came up with the idea of her before I did Kill Bill. My initial conception of Shosanna was that she was a real badass. She was known as the Joan of Arc of the Jews. She was killing Nazis. She had a list of Nazi officers she was wiping out. She was sniping from Paris rooftops. But then I put the script away because it was just too big; it wasn't a movie. Then I did Kill Bill and pretty much everything that I wanted to do with Shosanna I gave to the Bride. So when I came back to the script for Basterds, I thought, 'Well, I can't do that anymore.' But I was glad about that because it made Shosanna more real, as opposed to being this bad-assed Nazi killer. She became real. She became a survivor. She became very much like Jackie Brown. Shosanna's strength is keeping her shit together in tight, hard situations. Most of us in this room, if you were Shosanna, if you were a Jew hiding in Nazi-occupied Paris and the Gestapo told you to get your ass in the fucking car, that would be it. But she keeps it together. Like Jackie Brown, she's strong and hangs tough until she gets her revenge. One of the scenes I really like with Shosanna is the one that has David Bowie's Cat People theme and she’s just standing there on the balcony looking down at all the Nazis. She's in the theater, she's a Jew in hiding, in a room filled with the German high command, and she's not scared at all. She knows what she's got in her hand. She's looking down at them thinking, 'You motherfuckers. Just laugh it up. Laugh it up because you're going to be burning in Hell later tonight!' "

Choosing David Bowie’s Cat People theme to underscore one of Shosanna's scenes brought up the question of how Tarantino selects music for his films. "It's a big process," he answered. "When I actually sit down to write something, I go to my music selection and start finding the songs that will be the beat of the movie, the rhythm of the movie. In the case of Jackie Brown, it was '70s soul. In the case of Pulp Fiction, that would be surf music. That helps inspire me. Even as I start writing and going further on it, playing that music transports me into a movie theater. I feel like I can see it on a screen. The process goes on and on and on through shooting and editing; but it starts even before I start writing the script."

As for whether he could offer any advice regarding writing for hire, Tarantino said he could only speak from his own situation. "I'm a writer-director. My thing is starting off with the blank piece of paper. I create from scratch. I did one adaptation, Jackie Brown—and I loved Jackie Brown so don't get me wrong; it's terrific—but, never say never again, who knows what will happen?—but, I really don't have the intention of ever doing that again. That was that. I like sitting down and coming up with something from scratch. That's the way to keep it personal. That's the way—for better or for worse—to keep my voice. You see a lot of directors out there who start out as writer-directors and they make their first, second, third film and there's a voice there. But you know what? It's very hard to start from scratch every single solitary time. You're starting at the bottom of a mountain and everything you've done before doesn't mean jack-fuckin'-shit. You're still facing the blank page. And if you do that, you're not making as many movies. Then what happens is all of a sudden it's a lot easier to read what scripts are out there and find something good, and either you're inspired by that or you work with a writer, or you do a rewrite on it, or whatever. That can be good too. You get more movies made. But cut to 6-7 years later and the voice is gone."

As for letting others direct what he's written, Tarantino answered that has already happened three times before: Robert Rodriguez with From Dusk Til Dawn, Tony Scott with True Romance, and Oliver Stone with Natural Born Killers. But he's not sure if it will happen anymore because writing a script is too difficult to give up to someone else to direct. Unless he doesn't love the script. It might have been one he wrote to get out of his system.

Asked why he gave his character Hugo Stiglitz (Til Schweiger) a featured back story when he didn't do the same with his other characters, Tarantino responded that he didn't film back stories for all the characters because he didn't want the movie to run three hours. But in the case of Hugo, the audience needed to know his back story in order to understand why this German was hanging out with the Basterds. But it also builds him up in a big way. Tarantino described Hugo's character as the Charles Bronson of the group. None of the other Basterds needed that back story to describe the way they fit into the story.

Asked what makes Shosanna break down and lower her guard in the projection room when she turns the body of Fredrick over, Tarantino explained, "Because there was something about Zoller. He really liked her. Everything Zoller did that ended up fucking her up and putting her in this situation, he did with good intentions. His biggest crime was liking her. I think of that scene as a romantic scene. It’s Romeo and Juliet. Those bullets? That's them consummating their relationship. In any other time in the 20th century, they could have been in love. Except for that one time."

As a film set against a dark chapter in human history, and definitely a dark chapter of German history, and with a large number of Germans working on the film—many of them too young to have firsthand or even true memories of WWII—Tarantino was asked if any tensions erupted on the set? "Not like the way you're asking," Tarantino replied. "One of the things that happens is that people go: 'I wonder how this is going to go over in Germany? I'd like to be a fly on the wall there. Do you think they're going to handle it? Do you think they're going to like it?' With the possible exception of Jews, if there's anybody that has had killing Hitler fantasies, it's the last three generations of Germans." Germans on his film crew responded to the project in a good way. Perhaps what was most disconcerting during the shoot was the usage of swastikas on the set because Germany is the one place where it's against the law to exhibit swastikas. In Germany you get thrown in jail for that and that was something the German members of his crew had difficulty adjusting to. [According to Wikipedia, in fact, the German publicity site by Universal Pictures has been censored because of the film's illegal display of Nazi iconography. The title has the German Swastika removed and the Stahlhelm helmet has a bullet hole instead of the Nazi symbol. The download section of the German site has been revised to exclude wallpaper downloads that feature the Swastika openly.]

With regard to how much control Tarantino exerts over his actors' performances, he answered that he considers filmmaking a gigantic collaborative process. That being said, he knows the characters. For anything that an actor needs to know about his or her character, they come to him. He knows everything that happened before the movie started. He knows if they end up living through it. He knows what happens to them afterwards, and everything inbetween. "Especially when you create your own mythology," Tarantino added, "you have to know everything. Now, I don't need to tell you all everything; but, I have to know it. And you gotta know I know it. So I'm the guy. I'm the answer man. I'm the guy you talk to. I'm all for collaboration—I want actors to bring stuff to the film—but, I'm the perfect parent; I'm the one who knows.”

Tarantino was asked if—in the scene where Landa strangles Bridget von Hammersmark (Diane Kruger)—the hands choking her in that scene were actually Tarantino's? Tarantino admitted they were. "Big, full-on strangulation scenes like that … there's no way to fake that. You have to commit yourself to doing it. You have to get the veins to bulge and get red in the face and everything, so I talked to Diane about that before I even cast her. I go, 'Look, we gotta kind of go for that. It's not going to feel good, but, it's going to be okay.' In that situation, she was the only one I could trust and I was the only one I trusted to get it going. We had a complete level of trust that we were going to get what we were going to get."

Despite that Tarantino’s IMDb profile lists a remake of Faster, Pussycat Kill Kill as a project in development, Tarantino dismissed it as a complete internet rumor. He has no intention of remaking that film.

Asked whether he would ever do another Kill Bill spinoff, Tarantino admitted that he does want to make another Kill Bill movie but has been waiting 10 years before committing to the third adventure of the Bride. First, because Uma Thurman needed a 10-year break. Also, because he loves the Bride, he acknowledges that "she's been through a lot." He wanted to give her 10 years of well-deserved peace and happiness before he made her take her sword off the shelf again.

Cross-published on Twitch.

INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS—An Evening Class Question For Quentin Tarantino

Just as Quentin Tarantino admitted that he could not imagine Goodbye, Lenin!—as good a film as it is—without Daniel Brühl in the role of Alex, so I cannot imagine Tarantino’s latest Inglourious Basterds without Christoph Waltz in the key role of Colonel Hans Landa. Though it’s far too early in the game for predictions, I nonetheless presume Waltz’s performance to be a shoe-in for an Oscar® nomination and—pending extraordinary competition in the months to come—a predicted win. Already the recipient of the Best Actor prize at Cannes, his is the caliber of performance that makes watching films delightful. Perhaps the best review I’ve read is Stefan Grissemann’s for the July/August issue of Film Comment wherein Grissemann characterizes, "It would seem that evil isn't necessarily banal after all."

Shortly before its massive weekend theatrical premiere (indieWIRE reports opening box office is at $37,602,000 and counting), Quentin Tarantino accompanied Inglourious Basterds to the Castro Theatre in San Francisco, affording me the opportunity to ask the following.

* * *

Michael Guillén: Cristoph Waltz. Remarkable performance that you’ve elicited from him! You have a talent for highlighting actors who have either not worked recently or are not as well known in America as elsewhere. How did you find Waltz and how did you pull him into the movie?

Quentin Tarantino: That was really just a case of the casting process working perfectly. When I finished writing the script, I was aware enough to know that Hans Landa was one of the best characters I’ve ever written and one of the best characters I will ever write. What became apparent, obviously, is that Hans Landa is a linguistic genius. I knew whoever played him would have to be a linguistic genius. When Cristoph walked in, I had no idea who he was. He was just an actor that my casting director recommended. He’s a TV actor in Germany. He’s like the second or third lead in a lot of German TV series. When he read the opening farmhouse scene, about halfway through I knew I had found my Landa. Landa is an exceptional detective. Every year the Mystery Writers Association gives out an Edgar—named after Edgar Allen Poe—to best detective of the year and I’m hoping that Landa wins this year.

Cross-published on Twitch.

TIFF09—Latinbeat

After thoroughly familiarizing myself with the Masters and Discovery programs—from which I’ll select most of the films I’ll see at the Toronto International—I then apply myself to thematic preoccupations: namely, coverage of cinema from the Global South, starting with Latin America, which is easier said than done, especially these days with funding angling in from multiple sources, many not Latin American. How then to determine exactly what is a Latin American film? Location trumps over language so I am going to immediately disqualify films that are exclusively from Spain and Portugal; but that’s not to dismiss diasporic narratives played out in either of those countries. Films are alphabetically arranged by title, rather than country of origin.

Backyard / El Traspatio (Carlos Carrera, Mexico). Official website (Spanish). Sometime in 1996, a terrifying phenomenon surfaced in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico. In this now-infamous city, young women were regularly murdered. Most often, no arrests were made nor charges laid for the killings. This ongoing tragedy remains a painful stain on Mexican history and has been the subject of numerous films, articles and books, including Lourdes Portillo’s 2001 documentary Señorita extraviada (Missing Young Woman), in which Portillo sought to give voice to the many victims and to understand how these awful crimes could take place. In her recent onstage interview with Variety critic John Anderson at the 52nd San Francisco International Film Festival, Portillo detailed the death threats she received after making Señorita extraviada and the effect it had on her. Similar threats were levied at the cast and crew of Backyard, as outlined in Guy Adam’s report to The Independent: "Last year, the makers of … El Traspatio (The Backyard) reported that an actress from Ciudad Juarez, where they were shooting, had found a slaughtered lamb on her doorstep, with a death threat pinned to it. She was replaced, for her own safety. Several other crew members on the film, about local drug murders, reported receiving sinister anonymous phone calls." Director/screenwriter Carrera is perhaps best known for El crimen del Padre Amaro (2002), which was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. IMDb. YouTube trailer. CWC.

Crab Trap [see Discovery entry].

The Dirty Saints / Los Santos Sucios (Luis Ortega, Argentina). Luis Ortega’s apocalyptic third feature follows a group of five survivors as they embark on a journey that will force them to face their fears, dreams and longings in their quest for salvation across the Fijman River. As Diana Sanchez writes in her program capsule: "Ortega's approach is anarchic and unexpected. Incorporating influences from Tarkovsky's Stalker, the film likewise transcends science fiction, working as a commentary on humankind's deepest anxieties and questions about our very existence. Ultimately, though, The Dirty Saints is a film about spiritual and physical exodus. Our five travellers decide to cross to the other side of the river, preferring to discover the unknown rather than wait on Earth, in a Godot-like stasis, for nothing to happen and no one to arrive." IMDb. VAN. World Premiere.

Gigante [see Discovery entry].

Hiroshima (Pablo Stoll, Uruguay/Colombia/ Argentina/Spain). Juan sings in a rock band, but he doesn’t talk much. He also works at a bakery during the night and sleeps most of the day. This is the story of one of his days and what happens when he wakes up. Hiroshima is a silent musical, based on real facts. As Diana Sanchez historicizes in her program capsule: "Hiroshima is Uruguayan director Pablo Stoll's first solo feature. Critically acclaimed for his debut film, 25 Watts, which he followed with the sublime hit Whisky (both co-directed with the late Juan Pablo Rebella), Stoll now returns to filmmaking with a completely different piece: a (mostly) silent musical. …The film displays the talents of an emerging group of filmmakers working in Uruguay today. A number of these artists have cameos in Stoll's film: Adrián Biniez, who presents his debut, Gigante, at the Festival this year; Federico Veiroj, whose film Acné screened here last year; and Manuel Nieto Zas, director of The Dog Pound, which screened two years prior in 2006. These filmmakers gained their early experiences in cinema working on Stoll and Rebella's initial two features, and it's inspiring to see them all participating in Stoll's first independent effort. Stoll is an important name in the flourishing Uruguayan film industry, and his latest film is both a testament to his national cinema's success and a poignant tribute to the late Rebella." VIS. World Premiere.

Hotel Atlantico [see Discovery entry].

Huacho (Alejandro Fernández Almendras, Chile). On a long day at the end of summer, four members of a southern Chilean peasant family struggle to adapt to the changing world in which they live in, a world where a video game or a new dress can be as precious as a liter of milk or a glass of wine. A new, global world where boundaries between tradition and modernity are fading and values are quickly changing. As Diana Sanchez details in her program capsule: "An apt title for the film, huacho means 'bastard' or 'having no father' but can also mean 'abandoned.' The family members are left behind by a modern way of life that does not include them. Faced with problems like electrical shortages, low wages and discrimination, they work hard just to stay afloat. Rather than intertwine the narratives, Almendras follows the characters one by one throughout their day, showing us the adversity each faces. …Following in the tradition of much of the recent neo-realist cinema from Latin America by directors like Lisandro Alonso and Adrián Caetano, Almendras offers an original and affecting quasi-documentary look at these lives, never falling into sentimentality. The humanity and respect he affords his characters is evident throughout the film, and he gives a voice to so many of those who keep old traditions alive." As reported earlier on The Evening Class, Huacho received completion funds from the Global Film Initiative. Dave Hudson has gathered the Cannes reviews at The Daily @ IFC. IMDb. YouTube trailer. CWC. North American Premiere.

Jean Charles (Henrique Goldman, Brazil/United Kingdom). This is the tragic true story of Jean Charles de Menezes, the innocent Brazilian shot dead by British police in 2005 at the height of the London terrorist alerts. As Diana Sanchez writes in her program capsule: "Goldman quietly captures the struggles and small victories of this vibrant transplanted community. Jean Charles is at once a powerful portrait of tragedy and a celebration of one family's quest to persevere in his memory." IMDb. YouTube trailer. CWC.

Northless [see Discovery entry].

Presumed Guilty / Presunto culpable (Roberto Hernández & Geoffrey Smith, Mexico). Presumed Guilty narrates the story of José Antonio Zúñiga Rodriguez, nicknamed Toño, who was mistakenly accused of murder and condemned to 20 years in jail for being poor and in the wrong place at the wrong time. His case would have been one of many unfortunate stories, but lawyers Roberto Hernández and Layda Negrete decided to get involved and publicize the injustice. As Diana Sanchez explains in her program notes: "Turning the lens on a dysfunctional legal system, Hernández and Smith show just how difficult it is to achieve any sort of justice. At a time when there is a strong push for the death penalty in Mexico, Presumed Guilty is important not only as a document of the system's flaws but as a vehicle for change." IMDb. RTR.

Rabia (Sebastián Cordero, Spain/Colombia). Rabia is a romantic thriller about a construction worker on the run for killing his foreman who hides in the mansion where his girlfriend works as a housekeeper. As Diana Sanchez writes in her program capsule: "Rabia is an incisive commentary on the frustration of Latin Americans living in Spain. Victims of racism and paternalism, they must endure humiliation in order to keep their jobs, send money home and attain a better future. Often robbed of dignity, many are forced to live like José María—hidden, the unwanted other in Spanish daily life." Cordero adapted his script for Rabia from the eponymous novel by Argentine writer Sergio Bizzio, whose short story "Cinismo" was the basis for XXY (2007). IMDb. CWC. World Premiere.

The Secret in Their Eyes / El Secreto de sus ojos (Juan José Campanella, Argentina/Spain). Official website (Spanish); includes trailer. Benjamín Espósito, a secretary of a court in Buenos Aires, is about to retire and decides to write a novel based on a case that deeply affected him 30 years ago. Espósito’s tale crosses Argentina’s turbulent years during the 1970s, when nothing was necessarily what it seemed to be. As Diana Sanchez writes in her program capsule: "Campanella's tightly paced feature pairs smart dialogue with powerful, moving performances. [Ricardo] Darín and [Soledad] Villamil, two of Argentina's best actors, bring an electric sense of unspoken longing to their scenes together, an intimacy of mutual suppression." IMDb. SP. International Premiere.

La Soga [see Discovery entry].

To the Sea / Alamar (Pedro González-Rubio, Mexico). Before their inevitable farewell, a young Mexican man and his half Italian son, Natan, embark on an epic journey to the second-largest coral reef on the planet. VIS. World Premiere.

The Wind Journeys / Los viajes del viento (Ciro Guerra, Colombia). Official website synopsis: "Ignacio Carrillo traveled all his life throughout the villages and regions of northern Colombia, carrying music and traditional songs on his accordion, a legendary instrument that is said to be cursed, because it once belonged to the devil. As he became older, he got married and settled with his wife in a small town, leaving his nomadic life behind. When she suddenly dies, he decides to make one last journey to the Northern edge of the country, to return the accordion to the man who gave it to him, his teacher and mentor, so he will never play it again. On the way, he is joined by Fermín, a teenager who dreams of becoming a juglar like Ignacio, and to travel all around playing the accordion like he did. Tired of his loneliness, Ignacio accepts to be accompanied, and together they start the journey from Majagual, Sucre, to Taroa, beyond the Guajira desert, finding on the way the enormous diversity of the Caribbean culture and surviving all kinds of adventures. Ignacio will try to convince Fermín to take a different path in his life, having learned that his only led to solitude and sadness, but he will have to face the fact that destiny has different plans for him and his pupil." As Diana Sanchez writes in her program capsule: "This road movie, viewed from atop a donkey's back, is a story of passion. …Heartfelt without ever becoming sentimental, The Wind Journeys has a pure and honest simplicity that makes it wonderfully compelling." At The Daily @ IFC, David Hudson has monitored the critical wake from Cannes, where The Wind Journeys participated in the Un Certain Regard section. Wikipedia. IMDb. YouTube trailer. CWC. North American Premiere.

08/24/09 UPDATE: At indieWIRE, Eugene Hernandez has dispatched from Montevideo regarding the current status of Uruguayan film and the distribution of Latin American film in general. It's a sobering read, which has bolstered my decision to focus on Latin American fare at Toronto even more.

TIFF09—DISCOVERY

I balance my satisfaction with the tried and true by exploring the up-and-coming auteurs in TIFF's Discovery Program. Feedback encouraged.

The Angel / Engelen (Margreth Olin, Norway/Sweden/Finland). NFI website. A young mother (played brilliantly by Maria Bonnevie) struggles with a history of drug abuse in this exquisitely rendered and deeply compassionate piece, the first fiction film from one of Norway's most respected documentary filmmakers. IMDb. YouTube trailer. World Premiere.

Applause / Applaus (Martin Pieter Zandvliet, Denmark). Official website. Paprika Steen delivers a tour-de-force performance in this devastating drama about an alcoholic actress trying to put her life back together. At Twitch, Todd Brown notes the film's acclaim at the 44th edition of the Karlov Vary International (where Applause won the non-statutory Europa Cinemas Label) and observes that—despite the film's "somewhat standard plot line"—it is fully redeemed by Paprika Steen's performance (which won her Karlov Vary's Best Actress award). He offers the Danish trailer. Dispatching to Screen Daily, Dan Fainaru concurs: "Steen has just the right kind of mature intensity needed for the part, fearlessly plunging into its darker corners and successfully invoking both sympathy but also mistrust in her audience. Though the script isn't always challenging enough for the actress, she is nonetheless Applause's main asset. …Steen gives the character all she has, making her abrasive, manipulative, fiercely egocentric, but at the same time highly vulnerable. Constantly in need of reassurance, she is terrified to deal with her age and face up to herself in the mirror or in other people's eyes." Unfortunately, Fainaru adds that Applause tends to "lag and soften" in the film's second half. IMDb. YouTube excerpt. North American Premiere.

Bare Essence of Life / Urutora mirakuru rabu sutôrî (Satoko Yokohama, Japan). In this original fusion of black comedy, surreal fantasy and feel-good drama about a mentally challenged hero, Japanese heartthrob Kenichi Matsuyama plays a strange farmer who finds an unexpected path to the miracle of love. An unheard-of romance, it is the story of the explosive, reckless love of an eccentric young farmer and a nursery teacher from Tokyo who is unable to overcome the trauma of losing her boyfriend in a car accident. Giovanna Fulvi writes in her program capsule that Bare Essence of Life is "filmed with true empathy" and that it "renders a vivid portrait of rural Japan." IMDb. International Premiere.

Beautiful Kate (Rachel Ward, Australia). Official website. In order to make peace with his combative, dying father, a writer must return to his childhood home and confront long-suppressed memories of the mysterious deaths of his brother and twin sister. Wikipedia notes: "Rachel Ward adapted the script from a 1982 novel of the same name by Newton Thornburg; this was the first novel by Thornburg used for a movie since Cutter's Way (1981)." The film was shot on location in the Flinders Ranges and premiered in June 2009 at the Sydney Film Festival, where Frank Hatherly dispatched to Screen Daily: "Actress Rachel Ward's debut feature is a handsome and intense love story, a gothic tale of buried guilt and family dysfunction set in Australia's outback. With lashings of sex played out amidst long-buried secrets, Beautiful Kate is awash with Ward's own spiky, brittle dialogue, delivered with relish by her cast." IMDb. YouTube trailer. International Premiere.

A Brand New Life / Ye Haeng Ja / Une Vie Toute Neuve (Ounie Lecomte, South Korea/ France). An impressive debut by French-Korean filmmaker Ounie Lecomte who, inspired by her childhood, recounts the emotional journey of a little girl abandoned by her father in an orphanage. Cannes synopsis: "Seoul, 1975. Jinhee is 9. Her father has placed her in an orphanage run by Catholic nuns. The little girl has to deal with the ordeal of separation and the long wait for a new family. As the seasons pass, the departures of adopted children allow her to glimpse the dream that awaits her but shatter the friendships that she has just formed. Jinhee resists because she knows that the promise of a brand-new life will separate her for good from those she loves." Complaining that the film's imperfect DV-to-35mm transfer minimizes the film's impact, Variety's Rob Nelson nonetheless commends the film as "an admirably un-manipulative drama about the impermanence of relationships and the resilience of kids in the face of it." Nelson adds: "Excruciatingly sad at points, Lecomte's film is nonetheless possessed of a pleasingly light touch that suits her tale of a buoyant girl's survival. It proceeds at an agreeably slow pace, adhering to emotional details at every turn." At Screen Daily, Jonathan Romney writes: "A heart-tugger rather than a full-on tearjerker, A Brand New Life is a sure-footed story of a childhood abandoned, and a striking debut by Korean-born French director Ounie Lecomte." AsianMediaWiki. IMDb. North American Premiere.

Crab Trap / El Vuelco del Cangrejo (Oscar Ruiz Navia, Colombia/France). Treading a fine line between documentary and fiction, Crab Trap is a meditative look at daily life in a remote village on the Pacific coast of Colombia that explores the nuances of social and racial relations in one of the most isolated areas of the country. As Diana Sanchez writes in her program capsule: "Oscar Ruiz Navia's debut feature captures a part of Colombia rarely seen on film, the black communities of its Pacific coast. …Elegantly enhancing the distance between the locals and the foreigners, Ruiz Navia uses non-professional actors from the area to contrast with the two outsider characters, who are played by professionals. Crab Trap registers the languid pace of these remote villages while alerting us to the oncoming clash with modernity and how it is beginning to disastrously affect the lives of local peoples." As I reported earlier on The Evening Class, Crab Trap was provided completion funding by the Global Film Initiative in 2007. World Premiere.

The Day God Walked Away (aka Rwanda April 7, 1994) / Le Jour où Dieu est parti en voyage (Philippe van Leeuw, Belgium). Offering a new take on the Rwandan genocide, acclaimed cinematographer van Leeuw's directorial debut recreates the first-person experience of one woman as the horror descends. IMDb. World Premiere.

The Day Will Come / Es kommt der Tag (Susanne Schneider, Germany/France). Thirty years after giving her daughter up for adoption to join the terrorist underground in Germany, Judith is tracked down by her now adult daughter Alice to a vineyard in the Alsace where she is living with a new family and a new identity. IMDb. International Premiere.

The Disappearance of Alice Creed (J Blakeson, United Kingdom). Two ex-cons kidnap a woman, but the tables turn and turn again in this tight, smart tale. This film is a terrific little thriller starring Eddie Marsan, Martin Compston and Gemma Arterton. IMDb. World Premiere.

Eamon (Margaret Corkery, Ireland). Zanita Films website. A family holiday brings to a head the destructive love triangle between Eamon, a little boy with behavioral problems, his selfish mother Grace and his sexually frustrated father Daniel. Eamon won the Independent Camera Award in the Forum of Independents section at the 44th Karlovy Vary International Film Festival. As reported at the Irish Film Board, Ivana Novotna, Festival Programmer at Karlovy-Vary commented: "Margaret Corkery is a very talented and promising Irish filmmaker and we were very happy to screen her first author debut in the competitive section Forum of Independents. In her film she managed to unfold the story of three disparate characters in an unhurried tempo with minimal essential dialogue; everything important happens under the surface or inside the protagonists. The director leaves room for the viewer to ponder their motivations. Unostentatious and impressionistic, the film's original outcome makes it worth watching to the very end." At the Karlovy-Vary website, Corkery conducts a video interview. IMDb. North American Premiere.

Every Day Is a Holiday / Chaque jour est une fête (Dima El-Horr, France/ Germany/Lebanon). From Lebanon, this is a striking debut about three women, strangers to each other and each with very different motivations, on the same bus headed for Marmal Prison to visit their imprisoned men. Mixing real politics and stark absurdity, El-Horr announces herself as a major new voice in Middle Eastern cinema. As I reported earlier on The Evening Class, Every Day Is A Holiday received completion funding from the Global Film Initiative. As reported at Limitless Cinema in Broken English, Dima El-Horr was interviewed by her friend Apichatpong Weerasethakul in the published volume FilmVirus after he saw her earlier film The Street, which he liked. TIFF capsule forthcoming. IMDb. YouTube trailer. North American Premiere.

Five Hours from Paris / Chamesh Shaot MeParis (Leon Prudovsky, Israel). In a suburb of Tel Aviv, an Israeli cab driver who longs to fly and a Russian music teacher who is soon to board a plane find out that romance is only a cab ride away. In her program notes, Jane Schoettle assures the film delivers a sweet, thoughtful romance "in spades." IMDb. World Premiere.

Gigante (Adrián Biniez, Uruguay/ Germany/Argentina/ The Netherlands). Security guard Jara falls in love as he supervises staff through the closed-circuit cameras at a supermarket. First voyeur, then guardian angel, he protects and pursues the cleaning woman who has unknowingly captured his heart. Hailing from the same creative ensemble that produced 25 Watts (2001), Whisky (2004), The Dog Pound (2006) and Acné (2008), Gigante is a "fresh, laugh-out-loud funny" romantic comedy that "combines sublime moments of tenderness and vulnerability with evocative reflections on dull jobs" and "reflects on the possibility of change and hope despite modern-day tedium." Winner of the Grand Jury Prize Silver Bear, Best First Feature Film, and the Alfred Bauer Prize at the 2009 Berlinale, Gigante has been picked up for distribution by Film Movement. David Hudson gathered the surprisingly lukewarm Berlinale reviews for The Daily @ IFC. At The Hollywood Reporter, however, Deborah Young claimed the film was "impeccable … [with] inherent charm." And at Undercurrent, Borislav Andjelic states: "[T]his slow paced and subtle story, which counts on audiences to fill in the gaps, [is] a warm-hearted elegy of solitude. Biniez shows a great sense of a visual style and color contrasts with the help of the camera of Arauco Hernández-Holz, and with careful framing, has created another striking image of a lonely man in a gallery of such personalities presented lately by new Latin American films." IMDb. YouTube excerpt. North American Premiere.

The Happiest Girl in the World / Cea mai fericita fata din lume (Radu Jude, Romania/The Netherlands). Cineuropa synopsis: "Eighteen-year-old Delia Fratila comes from a poor family in a small Romanian town. She has won an expensive car in a promotional competition by mailing in three labels from juice bottles. To prove that the beverage company really is handing over the prize, a video is to be shot showing Delia and the car. Delia and her parents make the long trip to Bucharest for the video shoot, but what seemed at first to be a lucky event becomes for Delia an extreme and emotionally painful situation, in which she has to rethink and question her relationships with her family." As Dimitri Eipides writes in his program capsule: "There's a big obstacle on the way to auto-fulfillment: your parents. They've taken the wheel before you even had a chance to figure out where you wanted to go. …Drawing uncomfortable parallels between real life and a not-so-unreal movie universe, The Happiest Girl in the World is a gleaming jewel in Romanian cinema's no-nonsense crown."

Dispatching to the Jigsaw Lounge from the Berlinale, Neil Young noted that—though The Happiest Girl in the World "is sensitively accurate on the family's internal dynamics, their snipings: each line pulls its weight in a notably economic script that unfolds bit by bit"—he complains that the film bogs down after about an hour and "ultimately becomes disappointingly tiresome." He concludes: "Momentum gets lost in repetition." Peter Brunette concurs at The Hollywood Reporter: "The Happiest Girl in the World works the well-worn territory of the Corneliu Porumboiu's worldwide festival hit 12:08 East of Bucharest, but much less successfully. Drenched in the de rigueur ironies of contemporary Romanian cinema, it simply isn't as funny as the earlier film and the satire isn't nearly as biting." At Film Comment, Nicolas Rapold adds: "The scenario of interminable re-shoots suggests that not every Romanian film can pull off absurdity and pathos through reiteration and real-time drama."

The project won the prestigious NHK Sundance Award in 2008, was selected for the Forum at the Berlinale 2009, and also won the FIPRESCI award at the 2009 Sofia International Film Festival. Tonci Valentic wrote that win up for Undercurrent: "One of the most touching elements in this movie rests precisely in its straightforwardness. The simple and ostensibly unexciting story about the making of a promotional video unexpectedly reveals many different layers of the post-socialist reality and its myriad of problems. For example, the family arrives in Bucharest in their old Dacia, while the trophy car, made by the same company, symbolizes the shift to a new era of affluence. Radu Jude uses the brief conversations during the recesses between the takes also as discrete and subtle commentaries on the differences between the new and the old times. The objective shots from a still camera position seem to always portray the main characters from a certain distance. Thus, construed as a neutral observer, the viewer is purposefully denied any emotional engagement even with the most intense scenes of the heated family quarrel." IMDb. YouTube trailer. North American Premiere.

Heliopolis / Masr el gedida (Ahmad Abdalla, Egypt). Official website. An Egyptian art film with some major stars, Heliopolis weaves together portraits from one of Cairo's most storied neighborhoods. IMDb synopsis: "The events of one day in the lives of a number of Cairo residents is a portrayal of unfulfilled dreams and frustrating details of life in the overpopulated Metropolis. Their paths cross and their stories overlap but they are caught up in their struggle and are oblivious to one another against the background of what used to be one of Cairo's most glamorous neighborhoods. The City's vanishing glory and fading history is documented through the characters strife to make it through one day in Heliopolis. The one thing they all share is the knowledge that they will probably have to confront the City again and again over the following days." Jay Weissberg dispatched to Variety from Cannes: "A labor of love for all concerned, helmer Ahmad Abdalla's Heliopolis reps a respectable debut feature that focuses a sharp critique of Egyptian society matched by a nostalgia-drenched longing for life before the 1952 Revolution. Far more influenced by the Euro arthouse reflections of Yousry Nasrallah than the meller styling of popular Egyptian pics, Abdalla adheres to his roots as a film editor with nice montages and a generally skillful handling of the story's choral nature, affectingly exposing the malaise of Cairo's middle class." Weissberg concludes: "While most perfs are solid—special nods go to Yousef, Soliman and Abol Naga—thesping styles aren't unified. Likewise, sections are not without a certain clumsiness, and though Abdalla's editing background comes to the fore, he occasionally cuts off shots sooner than warranted; the final scene however is especially strong. He's also good at capturing the physical sense of Heliopolis, with its turn-of-the-century splendor just about holding out against recent shoddy architecture." IMDb. YouTube teaser. World Premiere.

Kelin (Ermek Tursunov, Kazakhstan). A love story among the ragged steppes of ancient Kazakhstan is told in beautiful and poetic images, as a young love struggles to survive in the face of uncontrollable external factors. A woman is led by her family to her new husband's home, to live with, presumably, his elderly mother and younger brother. Despite being forced into the marriage, she discovers that he is not such a bad catch after all but domestic bliss does not last long. IMDb. North American Premiere.

Last Ride (Glendyn Ivin, Australia). Official website. A desperate father and his 10-year-old son flee into the wilderness of the desert and the human heart in an effort to avoid the law, battling the elements, the past and each other. In 2003, Glendyn Ivin's first short film Cracker Bag took home the Palme d'Or from Cannes. According to Matt Riviera at Last Night With Riviera, Last Ride confirms Ivin's promise and establishes Ivin as a talent to watch. At Screen Daily, Frank Hatherly writes: "A gritty father-son road movie, Last Ride goes down some of the bumpiest, least-traveled roads in Australia. With Hugo Weaving on top form as the aggressive, unpredictable father, and impressive 10-year old newcomer Tom Russell as his at-risk son, Last Ride delivers considerable dramatic tension amidst some amazing locations. …Mining an Australian mythology of nomadic masculinity, exemplified by such classics as The Sundowners and The Shiralee, Last Ride depends greatly on the powder-keg force of Weaving's mean, troubled Kev, and the actor delivers." IMDb. International Premiere.

Mall Girls / Galerianki (Katarzyna Roslaniec, Poland). When a 14-year-old girl arrives at a new high school, she is typecast as an outsider from the sticks. Survival means working things out with a clique of girls who troll the local malls and score the latest in consumer toys and clothes by trading sexual favors for cash with the men they find there. This appears to be a fleshed-out version of her earlier short of the same title, which won both a Special Jury Prize at the 2007 Polish Film Festival and a Special Mention at the 2008 Aubagne International Film Festival. IMDb. International Premiere.

The Man Beyond the Bridge / Paltadacho Munis (Laxmikant Shetgaonkar, India). A lonely man finds a companion in a mad woman in a dense forest in the Western Ghats of India. When she becomes pregnant, a conflict arises between a society that refuses to take responsibility for one of its members and one man's endeavor to integrate her in his life. World Premiere.

My Dog Tulip (Paul Fierlinger and Sandra Fierlinger, USA). Official website. Christopher Plummer and Isabella Rossellini voice this vividly animated, touching tale of friendship between an elderly bachelor and his German Shepherd. As Colin Geddes writes in his program capsule, My Dog Tulip is based on J.R. Ackerley's celebrated 1956 novel and is "at once a portrait of the dog lover and a provocative meditation on the wonders of nature" and "a playful and moving ode to man's best friend." The film premiered at the Annecy International Animated Film Festival earlier this year. The Fierlingers have created the first animated feature to be entirely hand drawn and painted using a paperless computer technology TVPaint, at whose website Asaf Agranat interviews Paul Fierlinger. Wikipedia. IMDb. North American Premiere.

My Tehran for Sale (Granaz Moussavi, Australia/Iran). Shot underground on location in Tehran, the film tells the story of modern-day Iranian youth struggling for cultural freedom. Marzieh is a young female actress living in Tehran. The authorities ban her theatre work and—like all young people in Iran—she is forced to lead a secret life in order to express herself artistically. At an underground rave, she meets Iranian born Saman, now an Australian citizen, who offers her a way out of her country and the possibility of living without fear. IMDb. International Premiere.

Nora (Alla Kovgan and David Hinton, USA/United Kingdom/ Mozambique). Official website. Zimbabwean dancer Nora Chipaumire stars in this beautiful and rigorously choreographed fable based on her own life and shot on location in Southern Africa. Winner of multiple awards, including the Eileen Maitland Award from the 2009 Ann Arbor Film Festival, the Grand Prize at the 2009 Black Maria Film and Video Festival, the Prize for Creativity at the 2009 Montréal International Festival of Films on Art, the Jury Award and Special Prize at the 2009 Newport Beach Film Festival and an Honorable Mention at the 2009 Oberhausen International Short Film Festival, Nora will be screened with Saint Louis Blues. IMDb. Toronto Premiere.

Northless / Norteado (Rigoberto Perezcano, Mexico/Spain). Andrés reaches the Mexican border to cross into the United States. As he waits between crossing attempts, he discovers the complicated border world of Tijuana. As he waits there, Andres is not only confronted with his feelings and what he left behind, but also with those he meets. IMDb. World Premiere.

La Pivellina / The Little One (Tizza Covi and Rainer Frimmel, Austria/Italy). A small abandoned girl is sheltered by a circus woman in this tale of courage, loss and togetherness. La Pivellina won the Label Europa Cinemas Award at Cannes. Boyd van Hoeij reviews the film for Variety; Lee Marshall for Screen Daily. IMDb. YouTube trailer. North American Premiere.

Samson & Delilah (Warwick Thornton, Australia). Official website. Teenagers Samson and Delilah live in an isolated Aboriginal community in the Central Australian desert. Their outsider status draws them closer together and they come to depend on each other when tragedy strikes. Samson & Delilah won the Audience Award for Best Feature at the 2009 BigPond Adelaide Film Festival, associated with the film through its Investment Fund. Des Partridge wrote up the film's hometown premiere in Alice Springs, Australia for The Courier Mail. After its screening to a standing ovation in the Un Certain Regard section at Cannes and a warm reception by international critics, Thornton won the Camera d'Or for Best First Feature. An emotional Warwick was on hand at the ceremony to collect the award from French actress Isabelle Adjani. The President of the Camera D'Or Jury, Roshdy Zem, said, "...probably the best love story that we have seen in many years. An immensely memorable film." In late June, Warwick won the Blue Angel Award for Best Director in the Feature Competition at the 17th Art Film Fest Trenčianske Teplice–Trenčín. S&D's production designer, Daran Fulham, accepted the award in Bratislava while Warwick was busy filming in Arnhem Land's Maningrida at the top of Australia. The film's official website has been gathering reviews and offers several "behind the scenes" YouTube videos, as well as the pressbook in PDF format. The soundtrack is available at ABC. Wikipedia. IMDb. YouTube trailer. North American Premiere.

Shirley Adams (Oliver Hermanus, South Africa/USA). Official website. This intimate, precise portrait focuses on a mother in Cape Town, South Africa, whose son is disabled in a neighborhood shooting. Dispatching to The Hollywood Reporter from the Locarno Film Festival, Ray Bennett opines that veteran South African actress Denise Newman's extraordinary performance "will set the bar for best actress awards this year." Bennett adds that—though deliberate—Shirley Adams is neither slow, melancholy nor depressing, but rather "a penetrating study in fortitude and optimism in the face of desperate odds." IMDb. YouTube trailer. North American Premiere.

Should I Really Do It? / Bunu gerçekten yapmali miyim? (Ismail Necmi, Turkey). Official website. The concepts of real life and fiction, documentary and drama, are explored in this real-life feature which follows the unbelievable life of Petra, a German woman living in Turkey. IMDb. YouTube trailer. North American Premiere.

La Soga (Josh Crook, Dominican Republic/USA). Official website. This gritty and gripping drama explores political intrigue, love, death and the power of memory, set in the Dominican Republic. Wikipedia. IMDb. YouTube trailer. World Premiere.

Saint Louis Blues / Un Transport en commun (Dyana Gaye, France/Senegal). In this sparkling and surprising Senegalese musical, Dyana Gaye turns a shared taxi ride from Dakar to Saint Louis into a confection that could have been made by Jacques Demy. (This film will be screened with Nora.) IMDb. North American Premiere.

Toad's Oil / Gama no Abura (Koji Yakusho, Japan). Official site (Japanese). The story of Takuro Yazawa, a day-trader who claims he can earn hundreds of millions of yen in one day, and those around him as they attempt to cope with the death of his son and somehow find a way to benefit spiritually from the experience. Giovanna Fulvi describes Koji Yakusho's "original and fascinating debut" as "an affectionate portrait of ordinary lives during difficult times" with "a contemporary fantastical aspect and novel visual appeal that mark the solid beginning of a new career path for Yakusho." At Twitch, Todd Brown writes: "The simple fact that Gama No Abura is the directorial debut of Japanese leading man Koji Yakusho—westerners know him from Babel, Japanophiles from most of Kiyoshi Kurosawa's films and a slew of others—would be enough to generate a whole lot of notice. That it actually looks really damn good doesn't hurt, either." Mark Schilling talks to Koji Yakusho for The Japan Times. IMDb. YouTube trailer. International Premiere.

Together / Sammen (Matias Armand Jordal, Norway). The tragic death of a mother causes her family to shatter when they struggle to cope with the loss. In his program notes, Dimitri Eipedes characterizes the film as a "tumultuous tragicomic adventure" that explores what happens when people are torn apart. Wikipedia. IMDb. YouTube trailer. International Premiere.

The Unloved (Samantha Morton, United Kingdom). Official website. Morton shifts from actor to director in this stark portrait of a young British girl plucked from an abusive family and thrown into the hands of government care. The Unloved was produced for Channel 4 and shown in May 2009 as part of its "Britain's Forgotten Children" series. It provides a child's eye view of the U.K.'s government-run care system for orphans and children in danger. Wikipedia. IMDb. International Premiere.