TIFF 2007 Day 3: France, Spain, Israel & Japan

With about 85 percent of the Press & Industry screenings taking place in the same barracks, it makes for no frills, easy as pie, type of experience and when I must go to hotel headquarters, the travel time is an easy 5 blocks down south or curve right 3 blocks up. Today’s program was a feast of different language mother tongues….here’s the four main language mother tongues that I heard and some immediate thoughts on what I saw…

An historically embedded, thought provoking doc that reveals there is more to the man than meets the eye, Barbet Schroeder’s Terror's Advocate curiously looks back at the career of a lawyer who defended the “undefendable”. The doc will get commercial play and is a must for newspaper headline history buffs.

Unlike Pedro Almodovar’s work, internationally speaking, Spaniard Julio Medem has very much remained an unknown. Chaotic Ana (Caótica Ana) won’t be opening up any new doors for the filmmaker – his story of an artist just starting her life is delivered in the authors’ uncompromised vision – the picture will remain accessible only to those who truly seek out his work.    

The Band's Visit was a hit in Cannes and Sony Pictures Classics quickly picked it up – and I now understand why. It’s a charming little number that reminds of minimalist humor from the likes of Roy Andersson and Finn Kaurimaki. Though a different vein of comedy than the previous two filmmakers just mentioned, this Israeli film (a directorial debut) offers itself with deadpan honesty – there is a charming frankness about the film that will make it a favorite among audiences.   

Final film of the night was like being lost in a jungle – exactly what The Mourning Forest proposes. It got some positive buzz from Cannes, but I had an adverse reaction to it – annoyed by much of the film.