Hey guys you wonder why the audio sounds so weird and different? It's because I'm not at home. I'm actually at Toronto International Film Festival
2017. So far the movies are pretty great. The editing in this video will be extremely minimal to save on time because as soon as
I'm back from the festival i'm gonna be working on Amusement part
two until it's finished. The first movie I saw at the festival was Western i don't have a whole lot to say about this film.
It was generally well made in every way, but It didn't really do anything
exceptional and unfortunately it's pretty slowly paced and anticlimactic.
It genuinely felt like I watched the first two acts of a film and then it just ended. Now there's obviously a lot of slower
paced movies that I love, but in those cases the films usually have some sort of exceptional quality to it. Exceptional
cinematography, exceptional acting, exceptional storytelling. But when every aspect to your film is Just above average it's hard to feel as though the pacing is
justified. Anyway it was a well-made film
overall, but It's not something that I'm even going to remember in a couple months. And I'm giving this one a 6 out of 10.
Next I saw The Killing of a Sacred Deer by Yorgos
Lanthimos. This is the same director as The Lobster, which is a great movie that you should all check out. From what I've
seen, The Killing Of a Sacred Deer is my favorite film from him now. I absolutely love how well he's able to pull off this
disturbing yet comedic tone. And the cinematography was very purposeful. There are many shots in the film that leave a lot of space above the
characters in the frame. An
exaggerated version of this can be seen on the film's poster. And it not only helps to make The audience feel uneasy but it's a
nice way of visually
representing ideas and scenarios that are looming over the characters heads the entire film. It suggests that there's much more to the
situation than they'll ever be able to control and it almost makes them seem small and powerless.
This film was an absolute blast to watch and it even gave off some Stanley Kubrick vibes. It's very disturbing and very hilarious.
And I'm giving this one a 9 out of 10. The film I saw next was
Happy End by Michael
Haneke, my favorite director, and I am Incredibly happy that I managed to get tickets for this at the last minute. I wish Toronto Film
Festival would get their shit together with their ticketing system and how shitty it is. Much like Haneke's other films it's presented in a way
that gives the audience a lot of credit. There's plenty of things that aren't
explicitly shown but there's clues left throughout the film for you to piece It together for yourself.
And it's not like you have to decrypt the film in order to enjoy or understand it it's just presented in a way that
forces the audience to be engaged in the film. He's Been quoted saying that the
conversation about the film should continue after the film has ended and honestly that's part of what he does best. It's a very haunting experience
and I couldn't help but be thinking about it long after It was over. Every film That Haneke releases leaves me wildly Impressed.
There are many scenes in the film that are heavily focused on internet and new
technology and despite the director not even using the services he's imitating in his film,
Facebook, Snapchat, etc, he actually put time and effort into researching how these things functions so he could accurately
portray them for his film. Like he didn't pull a Michael Goi and there isn't any kind of authoritative forced
statement that he's trying to make.
Sure, he's definitely saying things with his film overall, but it's in a way where you can interpret it for yourself.
Each of these scenes were used in a very
purposeful way. It never felt like one of those films that just threw it in for no reason. He created scenes and scenarios that
undeniably benefit from the inclusion of this technology.
There's even a scene where two people are essentially sexting each other over Facebook and it never feels fake or
forced. The amount of attention to detail that this man brings to his films is
unfathomable. He brings the absolute best out of every actor's performance even the child actor was
amazing. During the Q&A after the film, much of what he spoke about was essentially
confirming what I've been saying for so long. He talked about
how the child actor in the film couldn't quite get the takes right and so we spent hours with her going through her lines beat
by beat to make sure that they were
perfect. This is a man that goes to incredible lengths to put extra efforts into his films. He is an absolute master and a
perfectionist and I'm Really looking forward to seeing this film a second time at Vancouver Film
Festival in a few weeks. I'm giving this one a 9 out of 10 for now, but it's very likely that I'll bump it up
to a 10 when I see it a second time.
So who Knows I guess. Anyway I'll be releasing more of these throughout the week so stay tuned. Thank you!