We all know the library is a great resource not only for fine literature, but do you know it’s also a great resource for films as well? In some cities, a library card might be all you need for your film entertainment needs. And now residents of Jersey City, New Jersey are able to stream films, music, television and more with nothing more than their library card and an app. With a partnership between the Jersey City Free Public Library and hoopla digital, patrons can stream films like The Assassin, Silver Linings Playbook, television shows like The Addams Family, and a number of e-books, comics and albums. While the library may not be able to compete with Netflix, Hulu or other paid streaming services, it definitely makes this overlooked resource worth checking out. For all the films and television new to streaming this week, check out the recommendations below:

Netflix

Cooked (Series, Season 1)

Food docs have become a staple of Netflix, with such offerings as Anthony Bourdain’s Parts Unknown, Jiro Dreams of Sushi, Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives, Somm, and the wonderful Netflix original series Chef’s Table all available. Their newest series, Cooked, produced by Alex Gibney and author Michael Pollan, is a four-part miniseries that looks specifically at how people around the world prepare food. Breaking up the episodes by “Fire,” “Air,” “Water” and “Earth,” the series spans the globe from Peru to Australia to Berkeley, California. No doubt, Cooked will provide insight into the growing philosophy around food while offering a lot of mouth-watering moments.

Other titles new to Netflix this week:
Asthma (Jake Hoffman, 2015)
Atonement (Joe Wright, 2007)
Love (Series, Season 1)
The Returned (Series, Season 2)
XXY (Lucía Puenzo, 2007)

Fandor

Diabolique (Henri-Georges Clouzot, 1955)

This week’s “Criterion Picks” takes a look at the best films inspired by the master of suspense, Alfred Hitchcock. Highlighted among the Hitchcockian thrillers is Clouzot’s Diabolique, one of the most terrifying slow-burn films in all of French cinema. The film stars Clouzot’s wife Vera as a school teacher who teams up with her husband’s mistress to knock him off—but there may be a different plan at hand. Full of twists and mystery, Diabolique is often talked about as a direct inspiration for Hitchcock’s great horror film Psycho. Other films in collection include Purple Noon, The Vanishing, The Soft Skin, Sisters, and more. These great thrillers are only available on Fandor until February 28.

Other titles new to Fandor this week:
Diamond Tongues (Pavan Moondi & Brian Robertson, 2015)
The Horse Boy (Michel Orion Scott, 2009)
Identity Crisis (Melvin Van Peebles, 1989)
Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song (Melvin Van Peebles, 1971)
Tabu (F.W. Murnau, 1931)

MUBI

Amélie (Jean-Pierre Jeunet, 2001)

The French film gateway for many millennials, Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s fantastic and whimsical love story is a unique experience. One of the greatest examples of film production and design, its meticulously staged frames are incredibly tactile, providing for a visual feast. It also boasts one of the most creative and fun opening title sequences ever, setting up the film’s visual wit immediately. Since its release, Jeunet has only made three feature films and none have left the cultural footprint of his breakout film—though Amélie most likely opened up his fantastic Delicatessen and The City of Lost Children to wider audiences wanting more of his signature style. Amélie can be streamed on MUBI until March 15.

Other titles new to MUBI this week:
The Crying Game (Neil Jordan, 1992)
The Falls (Peter Greenaway, 1980)
The Little Foxes (William Wyler, 1941)
Of Mice and Men (Lewis Milestone, 1939)
The Unity of All Things (Alexander Carver & Daniel Schmidt, 2013)

iTunes & Video On-Demand

Togetherness (Series, Season 1)

With the HBO series’ second season debuting this weekend, a binge session is in order. Created by the Duplass Brothers and their frequent collaborator Steve Zissis, Togetherness stars Duplass (Mark, in this case), Melanie Lynskey, Zissis and Amanda Peet as couples navigating their romantic and working lives. Zissis is particularly good as a schlubby, struggling actor, trying to get his life together with a potential big break within reach. Its slightly offbeat humor and sharp character and relationship exploration make for a richly emotional watch. And with an incredible cliff-hanger in the final moments of its season 1 finale, you’re going to keep watching through season 2. Togetherness is now available for rent or purchase on iTunes, Amazon, Google Play, and other VOD services and to stream on HBO Now.

Other titles new to VOD this week:
Broad City (Series, Season 3)
Creed (Ryan Coogler, 2015)
Miss You Already (Catherine Hardwicke, 2015)
Room (Lenny Abrahamson, 2015)
Youth (Paolo Sorrentino, 2015)

Forget the family, the presents, etc… one of the best things about the holidays is the great holiday themed episodes of all our favorite shows. And thanks to the power of streaming, there are tons of hours of Christmas and Hanukkah television specials to stream right now. Here’s a quick and dirty guide for some of the best available on Netflix:

Best Holiday TV Specials on Netflix

30 Rock, “Ludachristmas” (S2 E9)
Arrested Development, “Afternoon Delight” (S2 E6)
Cheers, “Christmas Cheers” (S6 E12)
Doctor Who “The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe” (S7 E0)
Friends, “The One with the Holiday Armadillo” (S7 E10)
Futurama, “Xmas Story” (S2 E8)
How I Met Your Mother, “How Lily Stole Christmas” (S2 E11)
The Inbetweeners, “Xmas Party” (S1 E6)
It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, “A Very Sunny Christmas” (S6 E13)
The League, “Kegel the Elf” (S2 E12)
Lost, “The Constant” (S4 E5)
Louie, “New Year’s Eve” (S3 E13)
Mad Men, “Christmas Comes But Once a Year” (S4 E2)
The Office (US), “A Benihana Christmas” (S3 E10)
The Office (UK), “Christmas Special”
Parks and Recreation, “Christmas Scandal” (S2 E12)
The Twilight Zone, “Night of the Meek” (S2 E11)
The West Wing, “In Exelsis Deo” (S1 E10)
The Wonder Years, “Christmas” (S2 E3)
The X-Files, “How the Ghosts Stole Christmas” (S6 E6)

And for all the new-to-streaming suggestions to check out this weekend before you’re in all-holiday mode, check out our picks below:

Netflix

Time Out of Mind (Oren Moverman, 2014)

In a crowded year-end film landscape, very good films with award aspiration are always going to fall off the map. Oren Moverman’s Time Out of Mind seems to be one this year. The New York City drama stars Richard Gere as a man recently homeless and widowed as he tries to navigate the difficult conditions and the city’s complicated process while trying to reconnect with his adult daughter. In three films, Moverman (The Messenger, Rampart) has shown no hesitance to bring heavily dramatic work to the screen, and he employs a very interesting perspective to Time Out of Mind in the way he shoots Gere on the cold streets. The former A-lister doesn’t totally blend into the role, but it is a shockingly different look for him. Veteran actor Ben Vereen is great in a supporting role as a fellow homeless man more entrenched in the system. In hopes of not being completely neglected (perhaps like it’s subject), you can stream Time Out of Mind now on Netflix.

Other titles new to Netflix this week:
Helix (Series, Season 2)
Fresh Dressed (Sacha Jenkins, 2015)
Make Believe (Clay Tweel, 2010)
Slow Learners (Don Argott & Sheena M. Joyce, 2015)
Theresa Is a Mother (C. Fraser Press & Darren Press, 2012)

Fandor

Le million (René Clair, 1931)

The early sound period is one of my absolute favorites and French auteur René Clair is one of the great masters of the period. Clair is probably best known for À Nous la Liberté, the musical that is shockingly similar to Chaplin’s Modern Times, but Le million is every bit as wonderful. Considering that The Jazz Singer happened only four years previously and silent films were still being near 1931, Le million‘s breadth in use of sound is pretty extraordinary. For its plot, the film is a madcap comedy about a man racing across Paris to recover his jacket that includes a winning lottery ticket in the pocket. It is a light, fast-paced, and music-packed flick unrivaled in its time. You can see Le million as part of Fandor’s “Criterion Picks” until December 27.

Other titles new to Fandor this week:
Alice in the Cities (Wim Wenders, 1974)
Babette’s Feast (Gabriel Axel, 1987)
A Hard Day (Kim Seong-hoon, 2014)
Speedy (Ted Wilde, 1928)
Zazie dans le métro (Louis Malle, 1960)

MUBI

Kill Bill: Vol. 1 and 2 (Quentin Tarantino, 2003-2004)

In hot anticipation of Tarantino’s upcoming release of The Hateful Eight, this is a perfect time to re-watch his mixed-genre double-feature masterpiece Kill Bill. By 2003, the mercurial filmmaker had already made a name for himself, but Kill Bill was perhaps the first clear look at what kind of innovator he is. Originally conceived as one four-hour film, it was eventually broken up to make for a more traditional release—in a way, this foretold the studio mentality of breaking one whole story into different parts. The quality of Kill Bill wasn’t affected, though, even as many may prefer to take in both volumes at once. Full of vibrant characters, a very cool martial arts throwback plot, and a number of stunning action sequences, its legacy lives on as its creator continues to push the cinematic envelope.

Other titles new to MUBI this week:
In the Fog (Sergei Loznitsa, 2012)
Le Pont du Nord (Jacques Rivette, 1981)
Tabu (Miguel Gomes, 2012)
Tabu: A Story of the South Seas (F.W. Murnau, 1931)

Video On-Demand

The Visit (M. Night Shyamalan, 2015)

As you spend time with your family this holiday season, keep in mind that it could be worse—as is evident in faux-doc horror film The Visit. Hailed as M. Night Shyamalan’s return to quality filmmaking, the film is a thoroughly satisfying thriller with a few genuinely scary sequences. There may be plot details that don’t quite hold up and the inevitable twists may not exactly be any grand revelation, but this is no doubt the work of a very talented filmmaker who is looking to use the horror subgenre in creative ways. Of special note is Chicago stage actress Deanna Dunagan who gives a remarkable performance as Nana—at times heartbreaking, at other times completely frightening, she is obviously giving her all to the role and it pays off. You can check out The Visit to rent or buy on iTunes this week, three weeks before DVD and Blu-ray.

Other titles new to VOD this week:
He Named Me Malala (Davis Guggenheim, 2015)
Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation (Christopher McQuarrie, 2015)
Ted 2 (Seth MacFarlane, 2015)

Filmmaker Miguel Gomes‘ sprawling six-and-a-half-hour reaction to The Great Recession of Portugal insists its influenced by events that occurred in Portugal between August 2013 to July 2014. A helpful on-screen text reminds audiences of this near the beginning of each of Arabian Nights‘ three volumes: The Restless One, The Desolate One, and The Enchanted One. Despite that, through three volumes, Arabian Nights travels through time, across the country, and to Baghdad. Text is one of the many ways in which Gomes subverts expectations across his trilogy. “I see a connection between the voiceover in the second part of Tabu and the text [in Arabian Nights],” says the Lisbon-born filmmaker. “As you hear the voiceover, you have a completely different sensation. It’s inventing a wall you don’t see. The text here is the same.”

Gomes’ films connect disparate people and elements across Portugal to create a surreal, spellbinding experience. In an interview with Way Too Indie, the Portuguese filmmaker addresses the concept of adapting the “Arabian Nights” structure without adapting the book, creating the sensation of getting pulled in and out of a film, and why he didn’t want to “hit” his audience three times.

Did your interest in “Arabian Nights” predate your desire to talk about Portuguese austerity?
It came before. I started to read Arabian Nights—I never got to the end, though. Because it’s a huge book, but I’m still reading it [laughs]. I do it regularly since 12 years old I think.

My intention was not to adapt any story from the book but [instead] the sensation I had with the book, which is a different thing. It’s kind of a sensation that you’re almost vertical—living in a labyrinth of stories. This kind of baroque structure amazed me when I started to read the book. So for me, Arabian Nights, is like a bible of fiction. You have all the possibilities of fiction—shifting fiction, inventing fiction within fiction—in this book.

And it’s a way to cover a lot of territory. You address so many people from a variety of backgrounds and occupations.
That moment in Portuguese society was very intense and it continues to be—it’s not over yet. People are still suffering the consequences of this financial, economical crisis but I would say that [the film has] the sensation of being alive in that country, Portugal. My intention was also to gather a certain number of stories that were happening at that moment and try to build tales for Scheherazade to tell to the King. Stories about how it is to be in that country nowadays.

There’s also a lot of dealing with the thought process, coming to terms with where society is—from the filmmaker’s struggle to encompass all these stories to the judge who keeps discovering these new layers of malfeasance. They have to come to terms with these elements.
I think every one of them—they have their connection with Portuguese society. For instance, you were talking about the segment of the judge, it has this more global aspect of now having a copy of the Portuguese society in front of the judge. The judge, who’s job is to put order in the world, cannot. She doesn’t have the tools because the situation got out of order. She cannot tell who’s guilty, not guilty. She cannot do her job as a judge. This of course resonates with an issue that’s so important in Portugal: who’s at fault? Who’s guilty?

People try in a very quick way to put the guilt on someone just to protect themselves. It’s a human, natural tendency to defend yourself but I think things are more complex. This is why I had this impression that it would be important to have as many segments as possible because there is not only one way to watch Portugal today, as there is not only one way of making films. So I thought my Scheherazade would be able to tell very different films, to tell and show things in very different ways.

Volume One begins chaotically with all the different voiceovers and settings but as the film goes along it slows down. I wonder if that pace was built into your stories?
It was built in with the editing. When we were shooting the film, we didn’t even know if what we were shooting would appear [in the finished film]. We didn’t know that there would be three volumes when we were shooting. Only in editing we understood that we could control the mood of each volume. This kind of development [of the changing pace] from The Restless One to The Enchanted One was pretty much built in the editing.
Even though I have the sensation that sometimes you have two speeds at the same time. For instance, for me the judge moves absurdly quickly, if you try to really follow the events and the crimes.

It goes out of control fast.
And the same time you have the sensation that it’s not moving at all because it’s all moving in circles so it’s not going anywhere. It’s like not moving and moving very fast. For instance, in part three, in the Scheherazade section, I also have the feeling that sometimes the film goes very fast—she’s always drinking, or singing, going from one situation to the other.

It’s kind of entrancing the way it bounces from sections of extended dialog, or a speech, and then there’ll be silence or just the natural atmospheric noise. Did you try create that sensation of being pulled out and getting pulled back in?
Mostly I wanted have this kind of roller coaster entry in the film [in Volume One] with lots of more radical changes from moods and filmmaking from one to the other. The second one I wanted to be more horizontal. It had three stories and they are different from the first [volume’s stories] that are more up and down and this is like a line.

The final one, it’s the zen, atmospheric film, it has a different construction. You have lots of entries, like in an encyclopedia, and these entries invent for your two kind of communities: one completely fictional, with such absurd characters [in Baghdad] as Elvis the thief breakdancer, and also a community of the guys with the bird song contest that do as surreal things as the guys from Baghdad. Trying to teach your bird to sing by creating [a birdsong] in a computer—it seems quite Arabian Nights. Not quite delirious fictional. So there’s a clash of these two kind of communities with reality and fantasy working at the same level.

That’s the interesting thing when you blend elements of reality and surreality you can accentuate your message with those elements of absurdity.
This dimension is very important in the book. The realistic absurd kind of thing is very important and I really enjoy that. [The surreal] helps reality become more clear for me. It’s important not to try to mask fiction as if it was reality, which is sometimes a problem I have with some contemporary cinema. They make lots of effort to pretend to be reality. To be life.

The place of the viewer in these films is someone who is experiencing real life and I don’t like that kind of cinema. I like cinema where there’s lots of artificial elements and it’s up to the viewer to establish a pact with the film because in the artifice of fiction, there’s always certain truths about our real life. But I cannot also renounce the material world, I think it’s important to have this kind of [films].

I think this last volume. For me it’s like you start delirious like Scheherazade. And what happens to Scheherazade is completely mythological, like myths. It becomes much more down to earth because of the sun, because of the rocks in the landscape. We’re entering the world of Scheherazade and then it gets down to Earth.

I think that then the bird trappers, they do the inverse movement. It starts down to the earth and then they start to get this kind of mythological quality. So bringing the myth down to the earth and bringing [reality] to the dimension of the myth was the proposal of this volume. So for me, it’s always like this fantasy and reality and myth – like our practical, everyday lives – should have a place in the films. They are mixed.

Is that how you interpret the world, with that surreal element?
I think there’s always the world outside and the world that exists in our mind, no? I have to use both but I think we have to be aware of something which is if our mental world, or fantasy world, if we use it to hide reality I think it’s not good. We are trying to run away from things so I think for me it’s important to use both but being really careful with the fact that the fantasy cannot disguise reality.

Is there a version of this film that will exist at 6 hours?
Not really because when edited the film and we cut three volumes, we built every film like it’s a complete film. If you’re at the New York Film Festival, they show one every day. Like Scheherazade telling those stories to the kings, she finishes in the morning and then she continues the day after. This is my way to see the film, I think it’s a good one.

This idea of having the three in a row for me is a little like getting hit three times. I think it’s too violent. Every film has already the possibility of changing to defy the viewer. If you don’t have a little bit of a break and you start to see it continue, I don’t know if this can give you congestion or indigestion. It’s too much. If I would have had it one film of six hours I would not do it like this.

How did you arrive at what the ending would be of each volume? Was that also through the editing process?
It was in editing. Every time we shoot a story we didn’t know anything. Where to put it, if even we put it in the film or in the garbage. So it was in the editing that each end [was discovered]. I would say that for me that the most emotional thing is at the end of the finch volume. The Swim of the Magnificents, with all the unemployed people is emotional and thw ghost of Dixie [is emotional, too]. For me it’s very emotional material and so we thought during the editing of each volume that’s how to end it. It was not simple. Sometimes we changed the stories and it was not simple to get this point.

Right on the heels of two successful films that paid respect to the history of cinema, The Artist and Hugo, Tabu receives its title from the final film from one of cinema’s great romantics, F.W. Murnau, and serves as a love letter to the era. Critic-turned-filmmaker Miguel Gomes serves up a charming third feature, though fully appreciating the film requires some patience.

Part one is entitled Paradise Lost and follows a woman named Pilar (Teresa Madruga) who seeks company from anyone she can. The fact that she never manages to crack a smile, suggests that her life is rather gloomy. All that is known about her is that she is a practicing Catholic who spends time protesting outside the U.N. and enjoys watching cinema. When a Polish backpacker cancels plans to stay with her, Pilar spends more time with her elderly neighbor Aurora (in this part played by Laura Soveral). It is clear that Aurora has a gambling problem when she asks Pilar to pick her up from the casino after she runs out of funds. But her addiction is not what is alarming; Aurora’s mental state is declining, to the point that she is admitted to the hospital. Her last request is to have Pilar track down her former lover, Gian Luca Ventura (Henrique Espirto Santo).

When Pilar meets up with Ventura over coffee the film seamlessly transitions into its second part, appropriately named Paradise. During this half of the film, no actual dialog is spoken by the characters. Though it is not considered to be a silent film as it is narrated by the elderly Ventura who recalls the story of how he and Aurora first met. Also present are subtle ambient background noises such as birds chirping or water trickling, that provide a layer of texture.

After learning about the young Aurora (played by Ana Moreira), her senile outbursts about being in Africa and her talk of crocodiles suddenly make more sense to Pilar. It is confirmed that she actually did live in Mozambique and that she found a baby crocodile that she adopted as her pet. Her gambling problem later in life was inherited from her father who first suffered the addiction.

More details unfold about how Aurora and Ventura first met and it becomes clear that the heart of the story regards the forbidden nature of their romance. The two were separated by the different Portuguese social circles they ran with. Aurora was married, wealthy and pregnant and Ventura was part of a rock n’ roll band with the personality to match. Despite the doomed nature of their love, they held tightly to the love they felt for one another.

Tabu is incredibly well-written, and for better or for worse, no detail is left out. Background details are given to characters that do not seem all that important, especially in the first half of the film. It can be a lot to take in for such a simple love story but thanks to Gomes’ visually compelling filmmaking, the film is absolutely beautiful to watch.

Compositions of the rugged African wilderness are second to none, capturing the farming fields and distant mountains of Mozambique. Through the use of black and white photography in a 1:37:1 aspect ratio combined with being shot on 16mm, the film pays homage to 1950’s cinema. Gorgeous shots ranging from a blistering African sun to a cloudy downpour of rain, set the tone of the film with a sharp contrast of atmosphere and emotion.

Tabu, while comprised of two distinct parts that could easily be separate films, weaves it’s stories together to make one whole, told backwards to great affect. The majority of time is spent following Pilar in the beginning as she represents a movie audience, looking to fulfill the mundanity of her life with something cinematic. Her life is given the dramatic romance she craves as for both her and the audience, Aurora’s vibrant past comes to life.

2012 Toronto International Film Festival came to close on Sunday when officials announced the Audience Award went to Silver Linings Playbook, a film that now has some serious Oscar potential. We did not attend a showing of that crowd-pleaser film but below is a recap of the films that Way Too Indie writer CJ Prince did see at this year’s festival.

Recap of Way Too Indie coverage of 2012 Toronto International Film Festival

Day #1: An Introduction to the festival

An informative article about Toronto International Film Festival along with helpful film festival pointers.

Day #2: Spring Breakers and The Master

The first actual day at the festival was full of delays which resulted in leaving early from Spring Breakers to catch P.T. Anderson’s highly anticipated The Master.

Day #3: Tabu, Amour, 90 Minutes, No One Lives

This was the busiest day at the festival as it consisted of four different films including Amour which many believe to be a front runner at the Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language.

Day #4: Cloud Atlas and The Land of Hope

Easily the largest budgeted film we cover, Cloud Atlas, ended up being one of our favorites that we saw.

Day #6: Berberian Sound Studio and Here Comes The Devil

Back from taking one day off from the festival we cover a film that was on Way Too Indie’s Top 10 Most Anticipated Films at TIFF 2012.

Day #7: The Hunt and Leviathan

This day would end up be to the best overall day, Leviathan which ended up being the best film we saw by far and The Hunt which was a crackling drama.

Day #8: Post Tenebras Lux and When Night Falls

Two films from TIFF’s Wavelengths programme which are films that straddle the line between conventional and experimental.

Day #11: Penance

Finally we close out the festival with an epically long 5 hour film that ended the festival on a mediocre level.

Way Too Indie on Twitter

Follow @WayTooIndie on Twitter to see all of our festival coverage as well as daily reviews and news. Below is a recap of some our TIFF ’12 coverage.

Front of the spring breakers line is almost entirely young girls who are here for the cast. Poor souls have no clue what they’re in for.

— Way Too Indie (@WayTooIndie) September 7, 2012

Screening delayed already, dammit. Gotta catch the master no matter what even if it means skipping on this movies ending #TIFF12

— Way Too Indie (@WayTooIndie) September 7, 2012

From what I saw SPRING BREAKERS was a typical Korine movie for me. Hit and miss, with incredible highs and dull lows. #TIFF12

— Way Too Indie (@WayTooIndie) September 8, 2012

THE MASTER: going to take another watch before I get a better idea of what to think. Plenty of amazing stuff but it doesn’t come together

— Way Too Indie (@WayTooIndie) September 8, 2012

Filling in for AMOUR #TIFF12 twitter.com/WayTooIndie/st…

— Way Too Indie (@WayTooIndie) September 8, 2012

Say hello to the directors of CLOUD ATLAS #TIFF12 twitter.com/WayTooIndie/st…

— Way Too Indie (@WayTooIndie) September 9, 2012

CLOUD ATLAS: Welp, they did it. Huge epic, it’s faults are overshadowed by its huge ambitions. #TIFF12

— Way Too Indie (@WayTooIndie) September 9, 2012

BERBERIAN SOUND STUDIO: Some fantastic moments but it gets too bogged down in its insanity to be truly great #TIFF12

— Way Too Indie (@WayTooIndie) September 11, 2012

Thomas Vinterberg at a Q&A for THE HUNT which got a standing ovation twitter.com/WayTooIndie/st…

— Way Too Indie (@WayTooIndie) September 12, 2012

Overheard someone say they thought Morgan Freeman died a week ago, so anyone who thinks that #TIFF12 is for intellectuals can rest easy

— Way Too Indie (@WayTooIndie) September 12, 2012

LEVIATHAN: holy shit. Holy shit. Holy Shit. Holy. Shit. HOLY SHIT #TIFF12

— Way Too Indie (@WayTooIndie) September 13, 2012

In my 5 years of attending #TIFF12 I have yet to meet a nice person with a lanyard.

— Way Too Indie (@WayTooIndie) September 13, 2012

POST TENEBRAS LUX: Uh… #TIFF12

— Way Too Indie (@WayTooIndie) September 13, 2012

Well guys it has been a fun #TIFF12. Thanks for the follows, RTs and support. I now hand the reins back over to Dustin, see you next year

— Way Too Indie (@WayTooIndie) September 16, 2012

A considerably better day at TIFF this time around thanks to the lack of delays and other logistical nightmares, but the festival’s troubles are starting to be felt. The comments today from people all around town were critical of the way things have been run so far. Hopefully the rest of TIFF will improve on its rocky start, but let’s get to the movies.

Tabu has been getting a reputation as a silent film (or just partly silent) since its Berlin premiere, but it isn’t true. The second half of the film has no dialogue (but sound effects are still present) but it’s dominated by a voice over running throughout the entire thing. Hopefully the second half won’t turn people off from watching Tabu since it’s a gorgeous piece of work and my favourite film at the festival so far. Miguel Gomes, shooting in black and white and 4×3, creates some truly beautiful moments. The first half, which follows a character obsessed with films and other people’s lives, is my favourite part of Tabu with Teresa Madruga doing an excellent job as Pilar. The well-known second half, shot on 16mm, operates as the kind of film Pilar would usually watch. The African landscapes in this half are beautiful to look at, and Gomes directs it with a huge level of enthusiasm. A romantic film about lost love and classic cinema, Tabu is definitely worth seeking out.

RATING: 7.5/10

Tabu

Next up was Amour, the big Palme D’or winner and front-runner for the Foreign Film Oscar. As a huge fan of Michael Haneke, Amour was a step down from his previous film The White Ribbon. This is definitely Haneke’s most ‘human’ film yet, but don’t expect him to soften up. We start out with an old couple living a happy life until the wife has a stroke. From then on it turns into scene after scene of degradation as the husband has to take care of his wife while she slowly dies. There are powerful moments throughout Amour, but Haneke’s cold, precise style doesn’t work well enough. This definitely feels like a mainstreaming on Haneke’s part, and there is little of the thought-provoking content that’s easy to find in his previous films. Amour is definitely a good film, but I’m judging this on the scale of Haneke’s previous films where it just doesn’t stand up.

RATING: 7/10

Amour

While I waited for my last film of the night I decided to rush 90 Minutes, a new Norwegian film. Things got off to a good start with some nice camerawork and its ominous introductions to the three storylines in the film, but the feeling quickly went away. 90 Minutes clearly wants to be a provocative movie, which we see when a sex scene covered by a doorway cuts to the bedroom to reveal (shock!) that the woman on the bed is tied up and badly beaten. But that’s not all, as the camera cuts back further to reveal (double shock!) a baby in the same room. And just to make sure the film’s message is understood, the scene dissolves to a shot of people walking in a busy intersection. If the director opted to just cut to a title card that said SOCIETY instead I’m sure it would have saved her some money while giving the same impact. The other two stories don’t leave anything worth looking back over. At one point in the film a character describes an art piece that’s pointless because it shows how the human mind is limitless. I’m sure the scene was meant to sum up what 90 Minutes is about, but probably not in the way the director wanted.

RATING: 5/10

90 Minutes

Finally I checked out the Midnight Madness film No One Lives. This is the return of Japanese director Ryuhei Kitamura who last made the underrated Midnight Meat Train. Unfortunately, this is not a triumphant return for Kitamura, as No One Lives is a pretty stupid movie. Most of the blame is on the writing, which is filled with such atrocious dialogue that no one could make it remotely passable (key example: someone sees their friend’s truck with the tires slashed and says ‘Something isn’t right!’). Luke Evans delivers most of his lines with the charisma of a 2×4, but luckily the awkward first act makes way for the carnage that makes up the rest of the film. Evans plays a psychopath who has his kidnapped victim unwittingly taken by a group of amateur robbers (they steal his car, not knowing that a girl is locked up in the trunk). It’s when these robbers realize exactly who they’re dealing with that No One Lives becomes a lot more entertaining. Kitamura directs some hilariously disgusting scenes, with one involving a hiding spot that’s too good to spoil. Unfortunately, that’s where the fun ends, as the eccentric violence can’t elevate this beyond the DTV (or should I say DTVOD) trash it truly is.

RATING: It would have been a 3 or 4, but the insanity bumps it to a 5/10

No One Lives

NEXT UP: I try to muster enough strength to finish the weekend with two 2+ hour epics. One being Cloud Atlas and the other Sion Sono’s Land of Hope.

Recap of some of my Tweets from today:

Follow @WayTooIndie for full coverage of the 2012 Toronto International Film Festival!

TABU is a well-done love story. Gorgeously shot and romantic. Excellent music as well. #TIFF12

— Way Too Indie (@WayTooIndie) September 8, 2012

Filling in for AMOUR #TIFF12 twitter.com/WayTooIndie/st…

— Way Too Indie (@WayTooIndie) September 8, 2012

AMOUR: Good, but far from Haneke’s best. Simple case of his style not matching the subject matter.

— Way Too Indie (@WayTooIndie) September 9, 2012

90 MINUTES: says nothing interesting at all because it has been done before. Bland.

— Way Too Indie (@WayTooIndie) September 9, 2012

NO ONE LIVES: A terrible script elevated by Kitamura’s insanity. There’s no reason why this guy had to stop making movies #TIFF12

— Way Too Indie (@WayTooIndie) September 9, 2012