Now that we're done salivating over the unveiling of the Gala and Special Presentation screenings for 2011 Toronto Int. Film Festival, we now put our attention on the official selection of the Venice Film Festival sidebar know as Venice Days. Director Giorgio Gosetti has mounted an edition that includes some gem auteurs and newbie filmmakers we've been keeping tabs on for the better half of 2010/2011.
Peril looms from all sides and, ironically, the tank’s imperiousness is also its weakness. In this type of warfare, information can be more useful than bombs. But a tank is a poor platform for intelligence gathering so the crewmen feel like blind, sitting ducks, unable to tell friend from foe. And Maoz has carefully crafted each fearful moment to nudge his viewers ever closer to the edge of their seats…
The thrill of meeting Marjane Satrapi reminded me of being 6 years old at Disney Land when I met the living, breathing Cinderella. Except Cinderella was an actress with a blond wig and Marjane is the real woman behind her autobiographical graphic novel, turned movie, “Persepolis”. The distinctive mole on her nose and her dark sultry eyes rose off the page and appeared in front of me, smoking and speaking with a French accent.