Juliet Goodfriend: Toronto International Film Festival 2013

By Juliet Goodfriend, BMFI President

This year I had only four days at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) and each one was packed with four to six full-length movies and a handful of twenty-minute samplings in some rare free moments. I had trouble with Twitter, so abandoned it. Below are my faux tweets.

Themes this year a bit harder to discern, but one theme I noticed was passion, in its many forms: alive, dead, dying, gone bad. These films are indicated below with a (P) at the end of the film blurb. There were at least four films on “Words”, of which I saw three, indicated with a (W). “No crime goes unpunished” or Aquinas’ “the ends never justify the means” was the final theme of the last two films I viewed, indicated with an (E) for “ends”.

Going to TIFF is work. I am in search of movies to show at BMFI and I look at all films through that filter. “Yes” means we would show it, “No” means we would not show it, and “Maybe” means just that.

Labor Day (d. Jason Reitman) – USA
Would we like to show this? –Yes
Kate Winslet is again wonderful in this absorbing “hostage-romance” film. Tension maintained with rewarding results. (P)

Tim’s Vermeer (d. Teller) – USA
Would we like to show this? – Yes
Wealth enables this obsessive inventor to work out the technology behind Vermeer’s art. Very interesting doc, though a bit too self-indulgent.

Le Week-end (d. Roger Michell) – UK
Would we like to show this? – Yes
If only the wife in this 30-year marriage weren’t so sadistic and mean… but that’s part of the uniqueness of this aging couple rom-com. Scenes of Paris sweeten the taste and soften some of the truthfulness of their conflicts. Must now watch Le Weekend of Goddard to appreciate its references.

I Am Yours (d. Iram Haq) – NOR
Would we like to show this? – No
While this exposes the multicultural picture of Norway to some extent, it is narratively weak.

Prisoners (d. Denis Villeneuve) – USA
Would we like to show this? – Yes
A great director and wonderful cast, but a few loose ends in this remarkably tense and a bit too gruesome story mar its polish. (P)

This is Sanlitun (d. Róbert I. Douglas) – CHN/ISR/IRL
Would we like to show this? – No
Not a funny enough spoof on ex-pats in this stylish neighborhood of Beijing. The idea is there, but the execution did not have me laughing—and it was supposed to, I think. What does come through is the arrogance and naivete of westerners trying to make it in China. (W)

12 Years a Slave (d. Steve McQueen) – USA
Would we like to show this? – Yes
A remarkable true story that we all wish were fiction, expertly executed with a superb cast. Should we wonder why an Englishman was the one to bring it to our attention on the screen? It is far better than the trailer, and will be a “must see” for everyone. (E)

Bad Words (d. Jason Bateman) – USA
Would we like to show this? – Yes
Light and funny, at last, this spelling-B farce is a good night’s entertainment! (W)

Love is the Perfect Crime (d. Arnaud Larrieu) – FRA/SUI
Would we like to show this? – Maybe
I am a sucker for Mathieu Amalric, architecture, and the alps in winter, but the peculiarities of this thriller don’t quite live up to the setting and the cinematography. (E/P)

Gravity (d. Alfonso Cuarón) – USA/UK
Would we like to show this? – Yes, but not without 3-D
Finally, a film that rationalizes 3-D. Neither the two characters nor the appreciative audience (will) have much to talk about. Here a picture wins out over words (see below movie of similar title). Total immersion in CGI and exhausting.

Enough Said (d. Nicole Holofcener) – USA
Would we like to show this? – Yes
Charming and poignant, given the recent death of the male star, James Gandolfini. The naturalness of the characters enrich this sweet, but not saccharine, romance.

Words and Pictures (d. Fred Schepisi) – USA
Would we like to show this? – Yes
Why is the part of the eccentric American English teacher given to Brit Clive Owen, who cannot quite hide his accent? Any number of great male actors could have done it. At least Juliette Binoche is playing an artist whose unexplained French accent may make a bit more sense. Am I picky? Yes. This film deals with a wonderful subject, yet it is a bit too predictable and fey. Can’t the battle between words and pictures, fought by newly energized students in a prep school, be enough in itself without throwing in the 12 Step program to save the drunken English teacher? (W)

Walesa. Man of Hope (d. Andrzej Wajda) – POL
Would we like to show this? – Maybe
Poland’s greatest filmmaker combines reenactment and archival footage to explore the motivation and methods of this simple man who did so much to change the world in the 1980s. Worth seeing to remember him and learn what happened (probably) behind the scenes.

When Jews Were Funny (d. Alan Zweig) – CAN
Would we like to show this? – Yes
I can’t believe it, but I got a bit tired of the question, “Are Jews funnier than others?” However, there are enough laughs to satisfy most Jewish audiences, even if the filmmaker can’t quite focus on what his real questions are. Did you hear the one about the thirsty guy…? (W)

Fading Gigolo (d. John Turturro) – USA
Would we like to show this? – Yes
Of course we all will go to a movie written, directed, and co-starring John Turturro and Woody Allen (who MUST have had a hand in the directing and writing, don’t you think?) Turturro is a believable novice prostitute. Woody as pimp is funny and slightly embarrassing. His living with a black family and supporting a Hasidic widow are both confusing plot features that may be his idea of a perfect NY story. Sure you’ll go see it.

Wonders (d. Avi Nesher) – ISR
Would we like to show this? – Maybe
Alice in Jerusalem might be its subtitle, and that city is as much the star of this film as the humans who are caught up in a religio-criminal-fraud tangle that provokes giggles if not laughs.

American Dreams in China (d. Peter Ho-sun Chan) – HKG/CHN
Would we like to show this? – Yes
China’s economic success is powered by creative entrepreneurs who, in the case of this movie, are funny and inventive. Their goal is an English language school to prepare millions of young Chinese with better TOFL scores for entry into US colleges. Their friendship survives partnership travails. The choppiness of the narrative is challenging, but the heart of this film is solid. And Christopher Doyle’s camerawork is as remarkable, as usual.

Enemy (d. Denis Villeneuve) – CAN/ESP
Would we like to show this? – No
A great director entirely off his mark. This is a slow moving doppleganger story that looks like a psychological thriller but one leaves without an inkling as to what is going on in the psychology of the character. The entire audience was in the dark, I sensed.

Night Moves (d. Kelly Reichardt) – USA
Would we like to show this? – Yes
A very good tale that proves, as St. Thomas Aquinas argues, the ends do not justify the means. No matter that the environment (water, in this case) may be improved, be wary of your means. What’s wrong is wrong. OK, got the point. This movie brings it to life quietly and with some terrific acting and directing. (E)

Therese (d. Charlie Stratton) – USA
Would we like to show this? – Yes
Another case where the crime cannot be justified and the sinners get their just deserts. This is a close adaptation of Zola’s novella and beautiful and poignantly set. Jessica Lange is the strong centerpiece of this cast. It is a costume piece with finely carved characters, great atmosphere, and good pace. (E)

Juliet Goodfriend: Toronto International Film Festival 2012

By Juliet Goodfriend, President, BMFI

I arrived early on Saturday morning this year. Alas that is a bit late, as there are many films that show only in the first day or two and never get repeated. Lesson learned. Nevertheless, in the nearly five days I did spend at the festival, about 23 films were ingested. Indeed, so many were really good films this year that I tended to stay to the end of most of them and therefore saw fewer to write about.

As usual, I found myself torn between movies that I should “preview” for their BMFI potential and those that might be shown only at a festival where this would be my only chance! In most cases I stuck to business and looked at movies that were likely to be available and attractive to us (in other words I saw no experimental films and not enough foreign language entries).

While there were more good films on my roster than ever before, there were a few that did not make the grade, for one reason or another. And, much to my frustration, there are a few I missed that I know we will want to get (eg. Anna Karenina, Stories We Tell, and Silver Linings Playbook). With more than 300 films, the real trial is selecting what to see. This year I tweeted after just about every film and I include my tweets below along with a few other thoughts that may have the benefit of distance-from-viewing.

The films are divided into two categories:

A. Films with great appeal for BMFI
B. Interesting films, but not necessarily for our theater

Films with great appeal for BMFI (in order of my having viewed them):

1. Frances Ha (Noah Baumbach, USA)
   Tweet: “Frances Ha focuses on the soul-challenged 20-30s but with some great lines and editing by Jen Lame whose parents are BMFI fans. Congrats.”
   This black and white film is all Greta Gerwig, so if you like her you’ll like it. She does “gawky” very well and her employment problems typify today’s college grads. For that reason alone it is not comfortable even though funny.



Frances Ha

2. A Late Quartet (Yaron Zilberman, USA)
   Tweet: “A Late Quartet captured me, as emotion, acting and Beethoven won the day… Faults and all, I fell for it.”
   Illness, aging, deception, overblown egos, illicit and unsatisfied love—all to the music of Beethoven’s last string quartet, what could be better? Using musician doubles would have made it better, since it’s too hard for non-string players to fake it. But I quibble. You will love it, as I did, with its flaws.



A Late Quartet

3. The Company You Keep (Robert Redford, USA)
   Tweet: “The Company You Keep conveys via Redford an important message and reminder about those who struggle with social action. Moderate/Extreme.”
   Having gone to Bryn Mawr College with Diana Oughton (who was killed in the “Weatherman” Greenwich Village mansion making a bomb) and Kathy Boudin (who served many years in prison for her part in a misguided, socially-motivated bank robbery), I wanted to see this film for insights into what my made my college-mates commit those well-intentioned but horribly immoral acts. The story shed light on the fugitive phase of Kathy’s life. However, it is carried a bit too far to be believable in the end. One wonders how individuals should demonstrate disagreement with the “state of things”. Reverend King was far more successful, but that’s an answer this film does not suggest. As a thriller it works wonderfully.



The Company You Keep

4. Hyde Park on Hudson (Roger Michell, UK)
   Tweet: “Beautiful recreation with Bill Murray catching FDR in essence if not entirely in diction.”
   Reviews have been mixed for this film, but it kept my interest and is a part of FDR’s life that most do not know. His connection with the stammering King George puts “sequel to The King’s Speech” in mind, but I treat it more kindly. Both men had significant disabilities that plagued their lives. Watching Bill Murray struggling as a paraplegic had me sobbing. And when he encourages the King to persist and be confident, more tears flow.



Hyde Park on Hudson

5. Thanks for Sharing (Stuart Blumberg, USA)
   Tweet: “Preferred Shame, but this one can be shown with no shame.”
   The topic: rehab for sex addicts. The stories: a bit weak. The cast: excellent. Shame put you in the skin of a sex addict, an uncomfortable place to be. Thanks for Sharing reassures you that rehab is possible, but it also alarms you about the prevalence of the addiction, especially in an era of teasing clothes and fashions. What should a young person wear in the city? Don’t ask these characters!



Thanks for Sharing

6. The Master (Paul Thomas Anderson, USA)
   Tweet: “The Master in 70mm treat for eyes, ears but little for deeper brain. Terrific score and Phoenix soars.”
   Now that I have some distance from this film and the benefit of reading excellent criticism, I have much greater appreciation for it. I think it demands serious discussion and reflection on the relationship between an elder “master” and his acolyte. That this is not a plot-centric film does not detract from its interest.



The Master

7. Quartet (Dustin Hoffman, USA)
   Tweet: “Saw the other Quartet at public screening Dustin Hoffman introduced. Lovely, ancient musicians all still good.”
   These retired performers’ egos are now on the line, off stage. No need to have body doubles for this cast of wonderful musicians and singers (okay, maybe for Maggie Smith); the supporting roles are all retired professionals. Dustin Hoffman achieves a sensitive mix of fun, silliness, and sympathetic performances. The ravages of old age are relieved by music. Tell that to every youngster who resists music lessons in favor of sports. You can’t be an athlete at 85, but you can still enjoy playing an instrument or singing. You just have to practice, practice, practice when you’re young. Don’t get me started! Why didn’t my mother insist I practice more? (It’s always the mother’s fault.)



Quartet

8. Fly with the Crane (Li Ruijun, China)
   Tweet: “Fly with the Crane, a Chinese elegy on death. So simple and captivating.”
   Death, the theme again, is treated with quiet reverence and curiosity. This movie argues against state-mandated cremation in China. As an old grandfather tries to explain death to his grandson and granddaughter they become partners in promoting burial—his own, alive. Tender with a bit of a bite, as you can imagine. Little commercial value, but would be great for our 3rd or 4th screening rooms when we get them built!



Fly with the Crane

9. The Hunt (Thomas Vinterberg, Denmark)
   Tweet: “The Hunt, best movie of the day but so wrenching and so late at night I could not endure it all. Wish I could see it again. Another prize.”
   This may be the best film I saw, but certainly not the easiest. When a whole community turns against a young teacher accused of sexual “abuse” in a kindergarten, the staid and reasonable Danish society no longer seems so desirable. Vinterberg is a master!



The Hunt

10. What Maisie Knew (Scott McGehee, David Siegel, USA)
    Tweet: “What Maisie Knew is poignant and as timely as when Henry James wrote it. Hard to watch the pain but a good flick.”
    James wanted to expose the neglect of some parents and society 100 years ago. This film makes that neglect palpable and credible in our own day. While the film does not follow the life of Maisie as far as the book does, there is quite enough material to chew on. And excellent acting.



What Maisie Knew

11. The Attack (Ziad Doueiri, Lebanon)
    Tweet: “The Attack, an excellent story reveals an Arab Israeli MD’s conflict and his wife’s hidden extremism. Well done though questions linger.”
    With some distance from the film I think it was a bit unrealistic and certainly not as interesting as Paradise Now, which also tried to examine the conflicts and motivations of suicide bombers. In The Attack, the husband’s search reveals deep cracks in his own integration into Israeli society.



The Attack

12. Argo (Ben Affleck, USA)
    Twitter: “Argo absorbs because of Affleck’s directing not his affect. An improbably true and tense thriller with a sappy but true end.”
    He is characteristically flat in this film, but Affleck’s directing is sharp and capable of evoking real sweat in the viewer. The story of how the USA saved six Americans who escaped Iranian hostage takers is surprisingly and alternately funny and suspenseful.



Argo

13. Kon-Tiki (Joachim Roenning, Espen Sandberg, Norway)
    Tweet: “Remember Kon-Tiki? This film brings it and Thor to life. Terrific.”
    Anyone who read Heyerdahl’s book or saw his documentary will want to see this film and those who never did will be in for a treat. It’s quite remarkable how the raft trip is captured on film and the color and imagery are spectacular, once it gets underway.



Kon-Tiki

14. Great Expectations (Mike Newell, UK)
    If you can see this during the bicentenary of Dickens’ birth, all the better. Its vividness makes for some troubling gore, but it keeps moving and stirs an interest in re-reading the original.



Great Expectations 

15. Hannah Arendt (Margarethe von Trotta, Germany)
    This is a film worth seeing, despite poor acting in some of the supporting cast. Many a philosophy class will enjoy it and there is much value in bringing Arendt’s analysis of evil to the public square—the cinema. In von Tratta’s words, this film is an attempt to transform “thought into film.”



Hannah Arendt

16. The Patience Stone (Atiq Rahimi, Afghanistan/France)
    Tweet: “Patience Stone, one of the very best. An unspeakable drama of women’s life in Afghanistan. Beautifully made. Remarkable and probably won’t be seen.”
    On reflection, this film is somewhat too centered on the sexual frustration of the young wife of a comatose husband. But even with that distortion, it reveals—quietly and sympathetically—how repressed and abused are women by the Taliban (who are not named, per se). Her monologues with her husband spin out the details and consequences of the horrid mores of this society: rape and prostitution have more to offer than she experienced with him.



The Patience Stone

Interesting films, but not necessarily for our audiences:

1. Gebo and the Shadow (Manoel de Oliveira, Portugal/France)
   Tweet: “Oliviera still making films. One set, few characters, much angst about soul and life. Beautiful of course and easy French dialogue”
   One has to see the latest film by this 103-year-old master. Despite wonderful stars (e.g. Claudia Cardinale, Jeanne Moreau, etc.), the static nature of this adapted play does not make for easy viewing. Its focus on capitalism’s effect on personal relations and the beauty of its set make the effort worthwhile.



Gebo and the Shadow

2. Love, Marilyn (Liz Garbus, USA)
   Tweet: “An interesting twist on documentary where all her lines and others’ were declaimed by today’s stars misidentified in labels.”
   I found this documentary only barely satisfying. We don’t really need to know anything more about Marilyn, though seeing her handwritten diaries had the potential to bring her to life. Who the stars were who were reading those lines was totally confusing.



Love, Marilyn

3. At Any Price (Ramin Bahrani, USA)
   Tweet: “At Any Price reveals the ugly, competitive world of big farming. Writing sags but Dennis Quaid soars.”
   I went to see this to learn more about farming, and that it succeeded in teaching me. It is a good movie, well-acted and directed, but probably would not interest our audience. I should have seen Silver Linings Playbook instead!



At Any Price

4. Arthur Newman (Dante Ariola, USA)
   Tweet: “Lifeless, walkout… Blunt and Firth do USA accent well. But nothing to say. Waste of great actors.”
   Why were English actors chosen for these dull, American characters? Why even bother making this film?



Arthur Newman

5. To the Wonder (Terrence Malick, USA)
   Tweet: “To the Wonder… wonder how Malick lost his way. I wonder why I stayed and if there were 140 words in it. A lot of hayfields.”
    An absolutely irritating film. I had hay fever from the endless scenes of flat fields of grasses. And the trite way of filming “in love with a graceful French woman”—sprite-like dances around parks and 360 degree pans, give me a break. Should have walked out on this one, but I kept hoping for Malick redemption!



To the Wonder

6. Imogene (Robert Pulcini, Shari Springer Berman, USA)
   Tweet: “Imogene is surprisingly funny and endearing. A light and silly antidote to The Hunt and The Attack.”
   I was prepared not to enjoy this film at all. And, with time, I have come to believe I really should not have! So maybe I recommend this only as a break from really good, serious, films. It’s not got enough going for it.



Imogene

7. Spring Breakers (Harmony Korine, USA)
   Tweet: “What to make of Spring Breakers? Horrifying parody but how close to real makes me want to keep student loans at high interest!! Wow!”
   This was my “stretch” selection. I have not seen so much T-and-A in a non-pornographic film. I had no idea that the main male character was James Franco, so disguised was he with studded teeth. And I knew nothing about the director’s controversial filmmaking history. The cinematography is really inventive: “Harmony Korine thinks in pictures that no one else could even dream up” (Noah Cowan in TIFF catalogue). Please tell me that college is not what this film shows it to be.



Spring Breakers

Juliet Goodfriend's Take on the 2011 Toronto International Film Festival

Toronto International Film Festival 2011
by Juliet J. Goodfriend, Executive Director, BMFI

This year, as in years past, I feel frustrated that I missed as many good films as I saw. No, I didn’t get to Shame, or Crazy Horse, or We Need to Talk About Kevin, or Le Havre, or Martha Marcy May Marlene, or Faust. All missed because of scheduling overload and conflicts. Nevertheless, I found enough good movies to keep us very busy in 2011 and saw quite a few that you will be happy not to see at BMFI.

Programming Main Attractions is rife with distributor negotiations, and my having seen a great many films helps us narrow our battleground to the territory with the most potential—artistically and commercially. Below are my take on the 33 I did catch. It has taken some time to get this written, as I came home with a dreadful cold in addition to some good film impressions. (Did you follow my tweets after each film as the festival progressed?)


16 Films I Would Like to Get for BMFI:

Albert Nobbs (d. Rodrigo Garcia)
Glenn Close played this role of a male servant on stage and we who never saw it should be delighted that the movie is an excellent translation. It is a very tender treatment of gender uncertainty, class, and the meaning of love. Need more? Nope!

Albert Nobbs

The Artist (d. Michel Hazanavicius) is a mostly silent, black and white homage to Hollywood that feels so good you want it to last longer. It seems to be true that great directors yearn to make a silent. This one succeeded in spades. And the little dog adds just the right touch.

The Awakening (d. Nick Murphy)
At last, a ghost movie that I can really endorse. As with others of its genre, this takes place in a “haunted” boys’ school in England. But it seems to me to move beyond other tales by engaging in the analysis of the source of the ghostly mysteries: in early trauma and guilt of the heroine. The methods of ghost-killing are ingenious and the whole movie is well constructed and entertaining.

A Dangerous Method (d. David Cronenberg)
Despite an annoying performance by Keira Knightley, this film passes the test because of 1) Viggo Mortenson, 2) Michael Fassbinder and 3) the interesting interplay between Freud and Jung. As with several other period pieces this year, the mise en scene makes up for a number of weaknesses. This is a must-see for spouses of psychiatrists!

Death of a Superhero (d. Ian Fitzgibbon)
Making imaginative use of graphic novel animation, this movie puts us into the head of an adolescent cancer patient. It is not sentimental, but it captures his parent’s fraught attempts to cure him and his buddies’ well-meaning attempts to de-flower him before he dies. One would not expect to be entertained by a film dealing with pediatric oncology, but this boy and this film are special and believable.

The Descendants (d. Alexander Payne) is perhaps the best movie I saw at TIFF. Pictorially vivid and real scenes of Hawaii—a setting rarely used for dramatic movies—and real emotions about the hardest experiences in life: death, marital deception, family discord. George Clooney has never been better. Hardened movie industry guys were crying on my row.

The Descendants

Flying Machine (d. Martin Clapp, Dorota Kobiela, Geoff Lindsey)
Starring Lang Lang playing Chopin, what a charming interlude for me during the hectic TIFF. The music is marvelous, the animation and live action lovely to look at but not tightly tied with a terrific plot. Instead the point is for parents to pay attention to their inner souls and creativity and to be present and inspiring to their children. A good moral, indeed. And with enough plusses that I would love to show it to our younger audiences, and I’d go again just to hear Lang play. He is voiced by another actor!

Footnote (d. Joseph Cedar) is an Israeli film that reveals and revels in a father-son schtick as only university-based Talmudic scholars could endure. Father-son issues date to Abraham and Isaac. Here the sacrifice takes a turn. A must see for male academics--both fathers and sons. I liked it very much, too.

Hysteria (d. Tanya Wexler)
OK, this goes over the top in a number of ways but it certainly tickled me! And that’s more than I would have expected from a history of hysteria. Except that it’s a history of vibrators--hence the giggles and fun. The credits alone are an education. It will captivate much of the movie-going audience, no matter their gender or age.

Hysteria

The Ides of March (d. George Clooney) is not a great movie. But it is good enough, especially as a directing effort of its star, and the acting of Ryan Gosling. My fault with it is its lack of genuine originality. We’ve seen this film before, and this treatment is very smooth and professional, but it does not offer warmth or human empathy. Nevertheless, it is engrossing and you don’t want to leave before it’s over. The ending will enrage some and delight others.

I’m Carolyn Parker: The Good, the Mad, and the Beautiful (d. Jonathan Demme) is the first film produced by our aspirational arthouse model, Jacob Burns Film Center, so I went to see it out of loyalty. It tells the tale of a remarkably out-spoken and determined resident of the Lower Ninth Ward in New Orleans following Katrina. We would all be better off with more Carolyn Parkers in our neighborhoods, that’s for sure.

In Darkness (d. Agnieszka Holland)
If two and a half hours in a sewer is not too hard on your senses, then see this film. As one friend said, it’s actually a refreshing relief when one character escapes the sewer to voluntarily go to a concentration camp! Nevertheless, this true story of the fourteen-month ordeal of a group of Polish Jews during the Holocaust is worth the stench and dampness. The “Righteous” Polish sewer worker who cared for “his Jews” experiences a genuine moral dilemma as his work endangers his family and co-workers. We still need to see these stories on film. And this director does not spare us the harsh realities. I did object to her stealing Spielberg’s red touches from Schindler’s List! A petty complaint, perhaps.

In Darkness

The Island President (d. Jon Shenk )
In this excellent documentary we follow, very intimately, the efforts of the young President of the Maldives who, at age 42, overturned a 30-year dictator and took on the task of saving this archipelago of 2000 islands from certain destruction by the rising seas of our man-made warmer climate. He has not yet achieved his goal, but watching him learn (and then teach) diplomacy and will pique the interest of all doc audiences. How his efforts are stunted by China and the USA, to name but a couple of challengers, will reconfirm our distrust of large nations’ motivations to correct the destructive direction of their societies.

The Kid with a Bike (d. the Dardenne Brothers) is just about perfect: characters you really care about, insights into the hearts of a troubled boy and a well-meaning foster mother, good pace and enough plot to keep you interested. These directors typically deal with troubled children or families, but never better than this time.

Page Eight (d. David Hare) is the smart and sophisticated spy story that one expects from this fine stage writer-director, and it doesn’t let you down. Bill Nighy is the cool spy whose every move is calculated to keep you wanting to see more. Why couldn’t this be the first of a long series? Even alone it is well worth the time. And there’s Michael Gambon, Ralph Fiennes, and Rachel Weisz showing their best as well.

Samsara (d. Ron Fricke) Transformative and transporting photography with a message that if nature isn’t destroying the earth, man certainly is. This is an utterly beautiful movie: think National Geographic and Koyaanisqatsi combined and HD enhanced. As huge scenes of nature or of mankind are captured in seemingly horizon-less views, they are instantly deconstructed into their composite details. And the power of the moving picture to create a mind-changing perspective is proven once again, e.g. I will never eat chicken that is not from my daughter’s farm again!

Samsara

14 Films I Would Not Bring to BMFI (not counting the ones I won’t even bother to list)

360 (d. Fernando Meirelles)
Almost a good movie, but not. One does wonder how there can be so many dumb women involved with bad men. And then one wonders who all these women are because it’s very hard to tell them apart.

Almayer’s Folly (d. Chantal Akerman)
Interesting to transplant Joseph Conrad’s 1895 novel to the 1950s in Malaysia. It is a beautiful but very slow-moving film that is good for a certain mood, but I am not certain what that mood would be.

Always Brando (d. Ridha Behi)
The scenery of Tunisia and the looks of the Brando double don’t compensate for the film’s weak premise and execution.

Damsels in Distress (d.Whit Stillman)
There may be some co-eds who identify with, or laugh at this, but not many, I bet. There was one very funny line (I bet it will be in the trailer) and for the rest, you have to like Greta Gerwig a lot. It was another disappointment.

Dark Horse (d. Todd Solondz)
This was one of several disappointments of the festival. The great cast had no material and poor direction (from a good writer-director) and there was no reason to expect the characters will ever grow up or amount to anything.

Elles (d. Malgorzata Szumowska)
Too much deviant kiddy porn as Juliette Binoche examines female sexuality among young prostitutes for an article she is writing. Binoche is always a pleasure to watch, but did I really want to see her masturbate? As we sometimes tell our exploring toddlers, “Not in the living room, in your own room,” and that goes for theaters, too.

Into the Abyss (d. Werner Herzog)
Not his best and who wants to get inside these dreadful characters anyway?

Keyhole (d. Guy Maddin)
Canada’s favorite experimental filmmaker muddled up some aspects of the Odyssey with his family’s home and his memory of growing up. Neither evocative nor interesting to me, though I liked his My Winnepeg.

Neil Young Journeys (d. Jonathan Demme)
Not very interesting, but lots of good lyrics (bad tunes) and whiskers.

Rampart (d. Oren Moverman)
I loved this director’s The Messenger, but this film was too raw and harsh. Woody Harrelson is excellent, but I could not watch it for very long.

This Side of Resurrection (d. Joaquim Sapinho)
Good surfing photography. End of story.

Trishna (d. Michael Winterbottom)
Moving Tess of the D’Urbervilles (Thomas Hardy) to current day rural and urban India made this movie a sure-fire travelogue but a dull tale. Another disappointment.

Twixt (d. Francis Ford Coppola)
This teaches the lesson that really great directors can trip and fall. Coppola inserts 3-D only twice in his return to the horror story genre. While that’s fun, it doesn’t help. Nor does it help that there is a connection in the plot and his personal family life. The master misses.

The Woman in the Fifth (d. Pawel Pawlikowski)
Another big disappointment from Kristin Scott Thomas and Ethan Hawke, both of whom seem dead in this film. Nothing to recommend it, though a lot of the audience waited till the end to leave and moan rather than bolting half way through.

Toronto International Film Festival 2010: Juliet Goodfriend's Notes

This year was a watershed for Toronto, with the opening of the gorgeous Bell Light Box, the first six stories of a new high rise with five state of the art theaters, three galleries for film art, a reference library, more than two restaurants of high quality, conference and education rooms, and a shop—all dedicated to the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF). Every square inch is named to recognize a donor, and the whole thing is a gorgeous and uplifting tribute to film!

The industry and press screenings, which I attended, were split between the Bell Light Box and the horribly noisy, gaudy, mall-like Scotia Bank metroplex, a contrast that made the new venue even more desirable. Both were within three blocks of my hotel and I actually never ventured farther.

I clocked over 70 or 80 hours watching films and have about 35 notches on my belt (which I tightened somewhat, since there was no time for eating much). Even so, there were many "must sees" that I missed.

The "themes" this year? Several films dealt with families recovering from or dealing with the aftermath of ghastly actions done to or by their children/siblings, including Rabbit Hole (child is run over and killed), Beautiful Boy (child becomes a mass murderer), Aftershock (children caught in the 1976 earthquake of Tangshan, China), and Conviction (sister defends her brother who is accused and convicted of murder). The two post-Holocaust films I saw (The Debt and Sarah's Key) dealt with its aftermath and the impact on families of exposing a "truth". And, to be expected, the documentaries all tangle with “truth,” often in connection with family ties (Tabloid, Client 9), leaving the viewer wondering which part of what they saw was fact and which fiction. But I leave it to the critics to expound further on themes.

Let me add, however, that, as in the past several years, blood is abundant. But it had a different character at this year's festival, i.e. more clinical and less often from gun-violence: surgical blood, body parts/function, and vomit. Blood poured forth from incisions, amputations (127 Hours), and gouge wounds (Black Swan). In Three, by Tom Tykwer, a good film, we were treated to the surgical excision of a testicle from shaving prep to the gland dropping into the tray! We were also introduced to home dialysis, though it was not shocking (Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives). Curiously, almost every film I saw had a vomiting sequence! Why? How does propelling the contents of the stomach propel the narrative? And did I mention defecation? That body function was also not ignored by the directors. It has been added to urination as key streams in most films. What is the director saying by putting a character on the toilet or displaying the gushing contents of the stomach?

These perverse memories will fade, I hope, as the residue of some really fine storytelling and beautiful cinematography lingers. At least I hope so. In fact, too much will fade, too soon, except for those great films we are able to show at BMFI. And there will be many, I promise.

Below is the list of films I saw, categorized as "Miss-able," "Interesting, but not for BMFI", and "Will Try to Get This for BMFI". I also list some that I missed but others said were terrific.

Will Try to Get This for BMFI

127 Hours (Danny Boyle, USA)
The most memorable film I saw, this one rises above its fact-based storyline—it follows the plight of a young outdoorsman (James Franco) stuck in a canyon crevasse who must amputate his arm to escape—with verve and visual style. 127 Hours’ score, scenery, spirit, and sensitivity immerse one in the experience as only a great film can do.

L'Amour Fou (Pierre Thoretton, France)
No doubt here that this documentary captures truthfully the life and accomplishments of Yves Saint Laurent and his partner, Pierre Berge, through their art and furnishings collection. If you liked Valentino, you’ll like this!

Another Year (Mike Leigh, UK)
One of the best, for sure, this poignant film deeply and tenderly observes a couple’s life over the course of a year, contrasting their warm marriage with the empty or unhappy lives of friends and family.

Black Swan (Darren Aronofsky, USA)
To soak up Tchaikovsky and backstage ballet for 103 minutes is my idea of great entertainment, even if the Tchaikovsky is “adapted” and Natalie Portman is no Margot Fonteyn. Reminiscent of The Red Shoes, this film’s ballerina doesn’t have a chance against her fantasies, an overbearing and seductive ballet-master, jealous dancers, and her ballet-mama, a breed well known in the hallways of ballet schools everywhere. It is a gorgeous film that pits the White Swan against the Black Swan.

Client 9: The Rise And Fall Of Eliot Spitzer (Alex Gibney, USA)
A terrific documentary about the tragic (to my mind) downfall of New York’s Governor Eliot Spitzer. Shown to be a victim of the Wall Street tycoons whose practices he tried to correct, Spitzer himself explains what he can about his weaknesses and assumes responsibility for his “downfall.” However, it looks like his moral weaknesses were minor compared with those of arrogant state legislators and investment bankers. Such a sad tale, especially for Spitzer and his wife.

Cool It (Ondi Timoner, USA)
A response to An Inconvenient Truth, this documentary about Bjorn Lomborg (author of The Skeptical Environmentalist) raises interesting questions about the “value” of various means of combating global warming and places them in contrast to other imperatives on which the same funds could be spent. Interesting and possibly controversial.

Conviction (Tony Goldwyn, USA)
An earnest, true, and improbable story about an uneducated Boston woman (Hilary Swank) who goes all the way through college and law school in order to defend her brother (Sam Rockwell), convicted of murder. Good enough.

The Debt (John Madden, UK)
An excellent thriller, this Nazi-hunting film features Helen Mirren leading a good cast. After years of torment following the botched capture of a concentration camp surgeon, three former Israeli Mossad agents get a second chance. Again, it is the impact of the truth on her family that drives Mirren’s character and deepens our interest in this film of international intrigue.

The Illusionist (L’Illusionniste) (Sylvain Chomet, UK)
The most beautiful film of the festival, this is a work of great art that brings to life an unproduced script by Jacques Tati using hand-painted animation. It is a magical piece about the limits of magic and imagination, of innocence, and the bond of dreams unfulfilled. There is even a self-reflective moment when the character Tatischeff (Tati’s real name) views Mon Oncle at the cinema. A bit boring, but anyone who loves visual art will wallow happily in its beauty.

Never Let Me Go (Mark Romanek, UK)
An adaptation of Kazuo Ishiguro’s dystopian novel, this film does not feel like science fiction. It is so naturally acted that its characters and 20th century setting are utterly believable… until you realize they are not. The film does not make explicit moral comments about its content, but viewers are invited to, for sure!

Rabbit Hole (John Cameron Mitchell, USA)
A fine film about a couple trying to recover and save their marriage after their son is killed by a sweet kid driving a bit too fast. Nicole Kidman plays the wife who cannot move on after this event; we ache for her even as she becomes obsessed with the teenage driver.

Sarah's Key (Elle s'appelait Sarah) (Gilles Paquet-Brenner, France)
No quarrels with this, except the utterly predictable ending. Kristin Scott Thomas is believably anguished as she realizes that her in-laws’ apartment was one from which a Jewish family was evicted during the Nazi occupation of Paris, beginning her obsession with its former tenants. Her exposure of the truth and its effect on her husband and his family structure the tale.

Tabloid (Errol Morris, USA)
A doc that makes you laugh at the saddest, craziest revelations about a beauty queen with a high IQ and an absurd history. Another take on truth and lies and the media’s construction of both, this is a hoot, even if one feels sad for the nutty lady.

Tamara Drewe (Stephen Frears, UK)
A very well-made film and one of the few comedies I saw, Tamara Drewe was thoroughly enjoyable, though not “great”. Set in the English countryside mostly at a writer’s retreat, the film includes a range of characters and comic situations to catch and hold one’s interest: impudent teenage girls and their ghastly pranks, an arrogant, successful writer and his much-wronged wife, a struggling and nerdy academic, and a herd of cows that… no, I won’t spoil it.

The Trip (Michael Winterbottom, UK)
The best comedy and one of my favorite films of the fest, this movie brings together Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon, both remarkable comics and actors, on a trip through the Lake District with stops at the best inns and restaurants. It is apparently mostly improvised. I laughed so hard I had an asthma attack! Brilliant, as they say. I wish I had understood all the Brit-only allusions.

Interesting, but not for BMFI

Aftershock (Tang Shan Da Di Zhen) (Feng Xiaogang, China)
Aptly described as an epic, this film recreates the horrible Tang Shen earthquake of 1976 in which 240,000 were killed. Indeed, it is dedicated to them, but goes on to show documentary footage from the recent Cheng Du quake. At its heart the film deals with family issues, especially poignant to the Chinese: favoring sons over daughters. It is heart-rending and the earthquake scenes and footage are not for the faint of heart.

Beautiful Boy (Shawn Ku, USA)
Parents try to cope with the aftermath of their 18-year-old son committing mass murder. This is tough material and fairly well done.

Casino Jack (George Hickenlooper, Canada)
Kevin Spacey plays Jack Abramoff well, but the movie is not sure if it is a comedy or a tragedy. As with most historical fiction, it does not announce its deviations from the fact, but I admit it kept my interest.

Cave of Forgotten Dreams (Werner Herzog, USA)
The caves of Chauvet in 3D! This is a Herzog travelogue about an area twice as old as Lascaux. The art and anthropological paleontology are more exciting than the 3D, but that technology reveals the contours of these remarkable caves as 2D could not. Everything Herzog does is worth seeing, including this, in whatever dimension you find it.

Confessions (Kokuhaku) (Tetsuya Nakashima, Japan)
This film proved to me that wearing uniforms, even in socially-considerate Japan, will not make nice kids out of destructive middle school bullies. The teacher’s vindictiveness after these kids murder her child drives the movie’s plot and morality. Gadzooks, it was a film that made me want to call my kids and tell them to pull the grandchildren out of school to keep them from evil!

I Wish I Knew (Hai Shang Chuan Qi) (Jia Zhangke, China/The Netherlands)
A personalized history of Shanghai from the 1930s to now with many excursions into the history of Chinese film, this is too long and too slow to capture most viewers, but it contains many interesting scenes of China over the past 70 years. The film is all told through interviews with mostly elderly Shanghainese whose indomitable spirits are so inspiring. For those with an interest in China, this is worth sitting through.

Mamma Gogo (Fridrik Thor Fridriksson, Iceland)
A self-revealing satire about Icelandic film and finance industries that form the backdrop for an odd homage to his recently deceased mother. The narrative is held together by his mother’s steep decline into dementia, even as Iceland’s economy does much the same.

Meek's Cutoff (Kelly Reichardt, USA)
Very dry, dour, and slow, so I left.

Norwegian Wood (Noruwei No Mori) (Tran Anh Hung, Japan)
I did not see enough of it to comment, but it looked promising.

Special Treatment (Sans queue ni tête) (Jeanne Labrune, France/Luxembourg/Belgium)
Isabelle Huppert shows her verve and acting style in this odd film that pits psychoanalysis against prostitution as therapies for bourgeois angst. A very funny premise.

Three (Drei) (Tom Tykwer, Germany)
The director of Run Lola Run, Tykwer has put together an entertaining love triangle—first a wife and then her husband fall in love with the same man. It has some very funny plot twists, clever cinematography, and for probably the first time in the history of narrative feature film, the surgical excision of a testicle! I would show it, but who would come see it?

Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives (Lung Boonmee Raluek Chat)
(Apichatpong Weerasethakul, UK/Thailand/France/Germany/Spain)
This prize winner left me wondering “Why?” What was it about and why did it win? Yes, it has a gentle touch and a lyrical spirit, but is it worth the prizes it got in Venice and Cannes? Someone help me.

Miss-able

Curling (Denis Côté, Canada)
Character transformation through the very odd game of curling? Well maybe for Canadians, but not for me.

Everything Must Go (Dan Rush, USA)
I didn’t see enough of this to comment, but Will Ferrell does “sad” at least as well as he does “funny”. However, I wonder why he is shown peeing and then wiping the drips from the toilet? Are we meant to think he is caring? Oh well, at least he did not vomit during the footage I viewed.

It's Kind of a Funny Story (Anna Boden & Ryan Fleck, USA)
This film totally missed its potential to be really funny and clever and therefore it is rather painful, despite some good acting. If nothing else were showing, you might go see it.

Last Night (Missy Tadjedin, France/USA)
I did not make it through the end, but many folk liked it.

Miral (Julian Schnabel, UK/Israel/France)
A monumental disappointment! Following The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, which won numerous international awards, this film shows that Julian Schnabel can make really bad movies, too. Often filmed out of focus with a palsied, hand-held camera, it is visually unwatchable. The script is clumsy, pedantic, and one-sided.

Passion Play (Mitch Glazer, USA)
The question on everyone’s lips as they left this film, even before it was over, was “How did this film get made and why was it admitted to TIFF?” It is pretty dreadful. Mickey Rourke, Megan Fox, and Bill Murray don’t save it; the premise is ridiculous. It offered me some time to nap.

What's Wrong with Virginia (Dustin Lance Black, USA)
Nothing nice about this flick, not the characters nor their actions. Okay if you are in the mood for a downer about religious crackpots in the guise of the law who take sexual advantage of the mentally ill! If this is small-town America, keep me in the cities, Lord!

Movies I wish I had seen:

Incendies

Inside Job

The King’s Speech

Little White Lies

Passione

Potiche

Toronto International Film Festival 2009 - Juliet Goodfriend's Notes

A failed tweeter, I submit in good, old-fashioned prose my comments about the 30 films I viewed in part or in their entirety. As has become the custom, they are grouped in approximate descending order of appeal to what I take to be our audience at BMFI. Remember, too, that I have previously submitted notes on the couple dozen films we saw at Cannes ’09, some of which were major hits here at Toronto.

Emerging themes from Toronto: Uncertainty, infidelity, intoxication, and apocalypse—any relationship you see among them is purely intentional. What I noticed most was that there was very little blood in “My Toronto”. So here goes:


Worth showing and seeing
(I only hope we can screen them. Some we will not be able to get, of course, due to the unruly, anti-competitive, and downright annoying practices of certain distributors, or due to timing problems. But we will try.)

A Serious Man (Coen Brothers, USA)
One of the very best in fest from every angle. Is this the Coen brothers writing Woody Allen? Manhattan Murder is surely an ancestor. The pathos of uncertainty, the pretension of religion, and the humor of apocalypse. I smile just thinking of this film, filled with unknown actors and sly ideas. Damn the distributor who won’t let us make them money showing it! See it at the Ritz, unless you hear otherwise from us.

The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus (Terry Gilliam, UK)
Heath Ledger’s last role and a showpiece for Christopher Plummer, this film demonstrates the glories of computer generated effects as it explores the “Devil’s Bargain”. I fell asleep a few times only to wake in the dream world of this delightful piece. No uncertainty about this fantasy world.

The Most Dangerous Man In America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers (Judith Ehrich & Rick Goldsmith, USA)
Even though, or maybe because, I lived through this time I found this re-telling riveting. If five Presidents lied how can we trust any? The protagonist looks old, but the story feels very up to date.

Ahead of Time (Bob Richman, USA)
How is it we did not know the wonderful story of this remarkable and charming woman, now in her late 90s and still smart as a whip. Ruth Gruber was the youngest Ph.D. from the University of Cologne and landed jobs as a journalist that took her to the Soviet Arctic and just about everywhere else on earth. I hope we can invite her to show this film!

The Invention of Lying (Ricky Gervais, Mathew Robinson, USA)
Lighthearted though it is, this film annoyingly confuses absence of super-ego and free-wheeling id with the inability to lie. You will laugh as I did at the situations this absence provokes. But it is so reminiscent of Jim Carrey and The Truman Show, etc. that it doesn’t seem as fresh as its creators would like.

Capitalism: A Love Story (Michael Moore, USA)
Talk about apocalypses—we are living one and it’s called capitalism. Is Moore overstating the evils of capitalism? I doubt it the way things are going. I cried in this one, so disturbing is it. See it starting Oct. 2 at BMFI—maybe you will just enjoy it and not cry. Maybe we should be screening Sicko again! Where is FDR when we need him?

The Art Of The Steal (Don Argott, USA)
This is the Barnes story written as the Rape of Philadelphia. After seeing it one yearns for hear the “other side”. Full of people we know (the first person on the screen is my friend since kindergarten!), this film needs to be screened at BMFI and followed by a panel discussion. But for now, hey, it changed my view of the Barnes’s move and made me question the means to the end and the end as well.

Lebanon (Samuel Maoz, Israel)
Imagine Das Boot and Hurt Locker then squeeze yourself into the inside of a tank that gets lost in a battle and you have the feeling this extraordinary film evokes. All of it takes place in a tank and it could be a tank in any battle on earth. You would still come away sure that war is hell and then you die! Filmmaking at its best.

Bad Lieutenant: Port Of Call New Orleans (Werner Herzog, USA)
He’s done a splendid feature with a dry and degenerating Nicolas Cage as a policeman gone bad. Herzog’s genius keeps right on working. Oddly enough he denies any relationship to the earlier film of the more or less same name. If you love police dramas this twisty, quirky one will have you laughing! One of the best of fest. Look for the talking alligators and iguanas.

The Time That Remains or “The Present Absentee” (Elia Suleiman)
This is a fascinating tour de force of cinema, though its slow and quiet pace makes viewing it a bit trying. Influences of Tati abound in his use of sound and in a few funny scenes. It depicts five or six decades of life for a Palestinian family (Suleiman’s) in Israel. That nothing changes is the point. Who is present and who absent is hard to tell. Israel’s inability to effectively govern the Palestinians is subtly but definitely part of the message.

Leaves of Grass (Tim Blake Nelson, USA)
Edward Norton plays two identical twins: one a philosophy professor and the other a brilliant marijuana grower. The teaching scenes demonstrate Tim’s love of classics and his liberal arts education. The other twin’s scenes take place in what is meant to be Tulsa, Tim’s hometown, and its depiction of the Jewish life in Tulsa is right out of his childhood there. Very smart and very funny till the last “act” where it falls into teenaged slapstick and stoops to an audience that would not have loved the first two acts! A problem. Nevertheless the first two acts and Norton’s and Nelson’s performances are worth the price of admission.

Almost, But Not Quite There, Definite Maybes
Shameless (Jan Hrebejk, Czech Republic)
As a husband realizes his wife’s nose is too big, we realize that their marriage has even bigger problems. This film captures domestic decline in a fairly charming manner.

Love and Other Impossible Pursuits (Don Roos, USA)
The story of how a blended family can go wrong. If Natalie Portman could be any more self absorbed and destructive I cannot imagine. No one to like in this film, other than the stepson.

Snowblind (Vikrum Jayanti, USA)
The Iditarod as seen through the eyes of a team accompanying a legally blind young woman. Her drive is spectacular, the movie not so, but if you never expect to get to Alaska on snow team, then see it for the wonderful photography.

Google Baby (Zippi Brand Frank, Israel)
A documentary demonstrating the global surrogacy industry, with eggs from the US, carried by impoverished, desparate Indian women, and passed on to would-be parents from almost anywhere. While it is shocking and interesting, it is not quite crisp enough. The entrepreneur running this business is more likeable than the gun-slinging egg donor whose lifestyle we hope is not in her genes. Do we need more babies who grow up to be rednecks?

Creation (Jon Amiel, UK)
If only it had been less about Darwin’s grief over his daughter’s death and more about the origin of the Origin of the Species, I’d have liked it more. The “war on god” theme may have interesting responses, but the movie descends into sappiness. Would that Toby Jones as Huxley had a bigger part.

The Men Who Stare At Goats (Grant Heslov, USA)
George Clooney, Jeff Bridges, and Kevin Spacey have more fun in their roles than I did watching it, though a satire on the US in Iraq is always some fun!

Up in the Air (Jason Reitman, USA)
George Clooney, always wonderful to watch, plays the consummate road warrior, at home in the airport. A simple moral: the value of family. Not quite BMFI fare, but good to watch on a plane!

Chloe (Atom Egoyan, France/Canada)
Liam Neeson and Julianne Moore almost make this movie a success, but not quite. It is uncertainty about infidelity (there are the themes), but overwrought.

Le Refuge (Francois Ozon, France)
To be honest, it was with some discussion that I figured out the movie was about motherhood—of all types: selfish, aloof, frantic, abandoning. Very slow and lovely. Well made, but not long-lasting. A lot of focus on the pregnant belly.

Accident (Pou-Soi Cheang, Hong Kong, China)
A fast moving and very smart film of a hit gang who make every murder look like an accident. The protagonist believes he and his mates are themselves targeted to die. You have to watch it carefully.

The Search (Pema Tsedan with Pierre Rissient, China)
The scenery of Western China or Tibet is beautiful and the arch of the slowly emerging love story carried me along. A filmmaker's long search fails to find the right local and classically trained actors to use in a movie of a famous myth about a king who gives away everything including his eyes. Is this about Tibet giving away everything to China? Could be.

Definitely Not Going to Screen at BMFI; Missable

The Road (John Hillcoat, (USA)
If this were one hour shorter, or even 30 minutes shorter, I would have thought it a success. But this apocalypse takes too long to climax. Read the book.

Dorian Gray (Oliver Parker, UK)
How disappointing: great story reduced to drunken party scenes. Such high production values and Colin Firth don’t save it. And the music… ugh.

The Last Days of Emma Blank (Alex van Warmerdam, Netherlands)
So dreary a subject nothing could get me to stay through it.

The Hole (Joe Dante, USA)
3-D is made for showing holes with no ends, but I ended this one early.

Eccentricities of a Blond Hair Girl (Manoel di Oliveira, Portugal/Spain/France)
Though the director is now 102 years old, he manages to tell a short story of a young man who cannot escape one unfortunate predicament after another in trying to do good and marry his dream girl.

White Material (Claire Denis, France)
What happened to clarity, Claire? Enough hand held, out of focus pans to make anyone ill. And no one I spoke to had any idea of who was who! But as an atmosphere piece, OK. Now I know what it is like to be a white coffee plantation owner with an insane son and a couple husbands who feels she must continue and risks everyone’s safety from the marauders who are freeing the country from colonialism or something.