May 4, 2007
Film Friday: David Lynch, Man!
David Lynch, man! David Lynch, man!
Does whatever David Lynch can!
Spins a tale, any size,
Confuses viewers, just like flies!
Look out! Here comes David Lynch, man!
Is he strong? Listen bud —
He's got radioactive blood.
Actually, wait, that last bit might not be true, but for some reason we keep thinking of that TV theme...no idea why.
This week people are going crazy in Toronto queuing up to see the latest massive Hollywood blockbuster—David Lynch’s Inland Empire! Which isn’t so much a Hollywood blockbuster as a film he made over a period of years on digital video, largely self-financed and self-distributed. It’s also about three hours long, but considering that there’s some other big blockbuster film out this week (we forget the name) that’s about two-and-a-half hours long, we don’t consider that a barrier to entry. NOW’s John Harkness gives it five Ns and says, “Were there any justice, Laura Dern would have won the Oscar last year.” We agree—she deserves an Oscar for the amazing crying face she makes in Blue Velvet, and she probably makes the same face loads in Inland Empire. Worth the cost of admission alone, eh?
Speaking of John Harkness, though he doesn’t win any awards for his piece on blockbusters (and if we hear one more journalist we say, “but Star Wars really isn’t as good as Annie Hall!”, we’re going to force Woody Allen to make an Annie Hall sequel at gunpoint. With Jar Jar freakin’ Binks playing a major role). He has written the review we’ve been waiting for him to write for weeks—his take on Lucky You. A poker player (the review reveals he “worked as the technical consultant on the ESPN poker drama Tilt”) who fancies Drew Barrymore (“A recent scientific study determined that Drew Barrymore is the most adorable thing on the planet,” he said in his review of Music and Lyrics), it’s a shame to see he hates the film so much that even Drew can’t make it better. “She's ... acting as if the last thing that happened before she walked on set each day was that someone would strike her on the back of the head with a large mallet.”
Other than that, almost no one has chosen to put out any other films this week, lest they face the ire of the unstoppable juggernaut that is Inland Empire (which is actually only showing at the Royal, for some reason). Well, there’s Sarah Polley’s Away From Her and biopic The Flying Scotsman (though cyclist Graeme Obree’s story is in fact fascinating, it doesn’t sound as if it’s been done any justice; “The drama here is soft-peddled,” says Eye’s Liz Clayton).
Astoundingly, people are running festivals this week, so we might as well give them a mention. The Toronto Jewish Film Festival opens tomorrow night with The Year My Parents Went on Vacation at the Bloor Cinema, 9:30 p.m., and you can check out their full schedule at their website. There’s also the Hong Kong Film Festival, opening tonight with Isabella at the Royal Ontario Museum at 7:40 p.m. Horror fans will want to check out Dumplings, however, playing at Innis Town Hall on Saturday at 2:30 p.m. Arrange to get dim sum afterwards. We promise that’s a good idea—and if you manage to stomach them, go and check out a screening of Peter Jackson’s awesome Dead Alive at the Brunswick Theatre at 10 p.m. That ought to finish you off.
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I heart Harkness.
Wait Dead Alive - Is that a crazy title for Braindead or something?
It's the north american title for Braindead.
best weapon ever for fighting zombies: lawnmower.
04.05.2007 - Bill Zwecker - Chicago Sun-Times "Turmoil and victory meet in remarkable 'Scotsman'" and "Miller is a revelation here" and "Unlike so many motion pictures, where all forms of mental illness are interpreted by over-the-top acting, Miller's approach is far more realistic and likely similar to the true fight that millions face with this wide-spread affliction worldwide." and "Even for audiences who normally would not be interested in cycling, "The Flying Scotsman" is a good choice, because this film is about so much more."
04.05.2007 - Tom Keogh, Seattle Times - ""The Flying Scotsman's" inspirational tale sends spirits soaring" and "Jonny Lee Miller ("Trainspotting") is enormously sympathetic and appealing as Obree"
04.05.2007 - Kyle Smith in the New York Post writes ""The Flying Scotsman" is different. It's an underdog story with teeth." and "the movie is refreshing in its suggestion that even victory may not cure every ailment"
04.05.2007 - Capone on Ain't It Cool writes "THE FLYING SCOTSMAN is a decidedly darker version of a sports movie because of Obree's mental health issues, but it still manages to tell its difficult story with a great deal of humor and hope." and "There is definitely something a bit different about watching a film about a guy cycling around in circles alone (as opposed to competitive racing in such a film as BREAKING AWAY), but Mackinnon pulls off getting us inside the head of someone whose only real competitors are the clock and his own unstable mind. It's easy to be impressed by THE FLYING SCOTSMAN."
04.05.2007 - S.James Snyder - The New York Sun "screenwriters John Brown, Declan Hughes, and Simon Rose turn those rules upside down in a third act that is less a celebration of celebrity than a sobering look at the costs that accompany it." and"...there are flashes of brilliance here. Director Douglas Mackinnon's racing footage, which cuts between a telescopic technique that offers the vantage point of the spectators and a closely mounted camera that shows Graeme's tunnel vision from the racetrack, is riveting." and ""The Flying Scotsman" is the rare film that stays with its hero after the gold metal is placed around his neck and the chase for glory has come to an end."
04.05.2007 - Steven Rea, The Philadelphia Inquirer Movie Critic - "Directed by Douglas Mackinnon, The Flying Scotsman boasts exciting competitive track cycling footage"
04.05.2007 - Sarah Kaufman, Washington Post review -" a classic tale of the heroic little guy that goes beyond the sport of cycling, told with elegant restraint in this sensitive and beautifully rendered film" and "Miller is key to the film's success, with his earnest, sweet-faced looks and evident dark side. He plays Obree with just the right understated intensity, a believable competitor who fights back fiercely with his wits and a few tight-lipped words."
03.05.2007 - John P. McCarthy, Catholic News Service, writes "Obree's bouts with depression prevent this film from being just a sentimental movie with a formulaic outcome. Director Douglas Mackinnon uses his subject's troubled psyche to generate suspense; and the cyclist's friendship with a Protestant minister, the Rev. Douglas Baxter (Brian Cox), lends a subtle religious dimension." and "Exemplifying the movie's good taste and sensitivity, lovely music and scenery don't overwhelm the central plight of this lionhearted athlete."
03.05.2007 - Michael Wilmington, Chicago Tribune, writes "Mackinnon, a TV star director making his theatrical feature debut here, has a flair for pace, colour and performances. The writing is more heartfelt than usual for a movie like this; one of the writers, Rose, has been working on the project for 12 years. "The Flying Scotsman," like many movie bios, invents some characters and plays with the truth, though not too much. But the movie, which endured a few bumps and trials of its own on its path to the screen, tells a tale both fast and moving. And when Miller as Obree takes his whirls around the track, it gets your heart pumping and your blood up".
Thank you Douglas for the counterpoint, but you may have noticed as a Toronto blog I rely on Toronto reviews exclusively in this column, which were sadly negative. As I said - Graham Obree's story is fascinating, and, it may surprise you, but he actually lives in the same town as my parents (where I grew up, funnily enough) and there's no real stance on the film from Torontoist.
Why don't you take a risk and go and see a film that has clearly had mixed reviews, some great, some bad, and make up your own mind? Maybe you'll like it, maybe you won't.
Douglas Mackinnon, Director, The Flying Scotsman