Early Toronto Film Fest highlights include ‘The King’s Speech,’ ‘It’s Kind of a Funny Story’ and Phoenix’s hip-hop hoax
You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger.
TORONTO, ONTARIO – After nearly not making it to Toronto thanks to a blowout on the N.Y. Thruway, my early festival experience has been invigorating, especially on day two.
The first bout of Oscar buzz has been heaped upon The King’s Speech, a delightfully down-to-earth look at King George VI and his debilitating stammer. The film centers around the king (Colin Firth) and his unconventional speech therapist Lionel Logue (Geoffrey Rush), an Australian who gets the job done by connecting with the monarch on a personal level, despite the king’s distaste for being so informal with a commoner. Directed by Tom Hooper (The Damned United), this is a tailor made Oscar style movie about an important topic but done with a lovely veneer of cheeky humor.
Speaking of cheeky humor, I’m Still Here, the documentary (or is it mockumentary?) that Casey Affleck directed about his brother-in-law, Joaquin Phoenix, and his decision to quit acting and become a hip-hop musician has created a stir. There has been a lively debate as to whether the whole crazy story about Phoenix quitting acting and being a rapper – remember his appearance with David Letterman? – was merely a setup for this film. If that is the case, it was a lot of trouble for nothing much, a film that makes Phoenix look like an idiot. Even if he is just pretending to be an idiot, the film barely works as a commentary on the indulgences of a delusional star. And, if Phoenix was serious about his career change as documented, it is just sad.
Although the film world was probably not clamoring for a One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest for a new generation, they have one in the sweet and engaging mental health comedy It’s Kind of a Funny Story, from the writing/directing team of Ryan Fleck and Anna Boden (Half Nelson, Sugar). Keir Gilchrist is terrific as a suicidal teen who checks himself into a hospital where the teen ward is closed for renovations so he is placed in the adult ward. There he is befriended by Bobby (Zach Galifianakis). Comic shenanigans commence thereafter, but with an undercurrent of pain and sadness. Galifianakis is wonderful, but the film might not be big enough to generate Oscar buzz.
Other Quick Notes
Woody Allen’s latest, You Will Meet a Tall, Dark Stranger, is moderately amusing, but like many of his recent films, the characters aren’t very likeable. It is hard to root for them to recover from their foolishness when they make stupid blunders. It is a hoot, however, to see Anthony Hopkins playing a man trying to stave off old age by divorcing his wife, popping Viagra and taking up with a heart-made-of-money hooker … The disturbing Never Let Me Go imagines a world where children are raised and schooled for a dire purpose and stars the cream of England’s latest crops of rising stars – Keira Knightley, Carey Mulligan and Andrew Garfield.
Hugging the water, facing spectacular bayfront homes, one might guess this neighborhood to be Margate or Longport.
While 'The King’s Speech' was my only 3.5-star movie from TIFF, there were a lot of three and 2.5-star movies, and very few total stiffs. So while the highs weren’t as high, there weren’t many low points either.
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