Toronto Film Festival 2007 - Gala Screenings, Masters, Special Presentations
August 17th, 2007 by Andre Soares
Toronto Film Festival 2007 - Gala and Special Presentations, Masters Sidebar
Gala Presentations
BLOOD BROTHERS Alexi Tan, Taiwan/China/Hong Kong
Shanghai in the 1930s was a city at its prime - no other place in the world could match its glamour, excitement, sensuality, and potential. Kang (Liu Ye), Fung (Daniel Wu) and Xiao Hu (Tony Yang), three innocent young men, have arrived in this "paradise" in search of a better future, finding instead that life is cheap and violence omnipresent. As time goes by, and in a multitude of ways, each is forced into a life of crime. Kang, the most ambitious of the three, falls victim to his quest for power. Fung, previously content with his simple village life, is thrust into a world of violence where he sees his heroic side emerge. Xiao Hu, the most innocent, blindly admires and follows his brother Kang, even as this new world pulls him down. Unable to cope with his fears and weaknesses, Xiao Hu must choose between the two people closest to him. Against this backdrop of decadence, life takes a difficult turn when a forbidden love affair is exposed and everyone is forced to make hard choices. The feature directorial debut from filmmaker Alexi Tan, the film also stars Chang Chen, Shu Qi, Sun Honglei and Lulu Li. Produced by John Woo and Terence Chang, BLOOD BROTHERS is a production of Hong Kong’s Lion Rock Productions.
THE LAST LEAR Rituparno Ghosh, India
Amitabh Bachchan, one of the world’s most worshipped movie stars, takes on his first-ever leading role in English as part of a career spanning over four decades. Veteran theatre actor Harish Mishra (Bachchan) is gravely ill, having slipped into a coma as the result of an accident during a film shoot - his first after years as a headliner on the stage. While his co-star Shabnam (Preity Zinta) is consumed with worry, their director Siddharth (Arjun Rampal) keeps a cold distance, refusing to visit the ailing star. What is it that has brought them all to this tragic point? In a flashback, their story emerges. Wooed out of retirement by the impatient young filmmaker, Harish leaves the perch of his study - where he rages against the modern world - and joins the cast and crew on location for the shoot, where he quickly takes up position as the outsider of the group. Proclaiming the superiority of Shakespeare over anything that cinema can create, Harish holds strong to his belief that theatre trumps film on any given day. From the master of Bengali cinema Rituparno Ghosh, the film also stars Shefali Shah and Jisshu Sengupta. Produced by Arindam Chaudhuri, THE LAST LEAR is a Planman Motion Pictures production.
Special Presentations
ANGEL François Ozon, France/UK/Belgium
England, 1905. Angel Deverell is a gifted young writer who dreams of success, fame and love. But what will happen if all her dreams come true? From acclaimed filmmaker François Ozon, ANGEL stars Romola Garai, Lucy Russel, Michael Fassbender, Sam Neill and Charlotte Rampling.
CHACUN SON CINÉMA Various, France
The Toronto International Film Festival is honoured to be showing this Cannes Film Festival favourite. More than 30 of the most distinguished contemporary filmmakers - including Canadians David Cronenberg and Atom Egoyan as well as David Lynch, Hou Hsiao-hsien, Roman Polanski, Gus Van Sant, Lars von Trier, and Wong Kar Wai - celebrate the 60th anniversary of Cannes with short films inspired by the cinephile’s place of worship: the movie theatre.
CHAOTIC ANA Julio Medem, Spain
Ana’s existence seems to be a continuation of the lives of other young women, all of whom died tragically at the age of 22. Doomed to a chaotic fate, Ana must co-exist with these young women as they continue to live on in the abyss of her unconscious memory. From filmmaker Julio Medem (SEX AND LUCIA), the film stars Manuela Vellés, Bebe, Charlotte Rampling, Asier Newman and Nicolas Cazalé.
LOVE COMES LATELY Jan Schütte, Germany/Austria/USA
Though approaching his 80s, Max shows no signs of slowing down. He pursues his love life - both real and imagined - with youthful vigour, thereby risking his relationship to Reisel, the woman he loves but neglects. Based on the stories of Isaac Bashevis Singer, LOVE COMES LATELY is a film about real and imagined longings, the never ending dream of love, and the power of fiction. Starring Otto Tausig, Rhea Perlman, Tovah Feldshuh and Barbara Hershey.
LUST, CAUTION Ang Lee, Taiwan
Following his Academy Award? win for BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN, Ang Lee returns with an erotic espionage thriller set in WWII-era Shanghai, in which a young woman (Tang Wei) gets swept up in a dangerous game of emotional intrigue with a powerful political figure (Tony Leung, IN THE MOOD FOR LOVE). Also starring Chui Wai, Joan Chen and Wang Leehom.
MAD DETECTIVE Johnnie To and Wai Ka Fai, Hong Kong
A missing police pistol is connected to a series of recent heists and murders. Its owner, Wong, vanished while pursuing suspects in the mountains, yet his partner, Chi-Wai, miraculously returned unharmed. Hotshot inspector Ho (Andy On) is in charge of the investigation, but Ho knows his only chance of cracking the case lies in enlisting the help of Bun (Lau Ching Wan), the reclusive yet gifted mad detective.
MONGOL Sergei Bodrov, Germany/Kazakhstan/Mongolia/Russia
Commanding and celebrated Japanese actor Tadanobu Asano stars as the historic icon Genghis Khan. Directed by Sergei Bodrov (PRISONER OF THE MOUNTAINS, THE NOMAD), MONGOL is the epic story of a young Khan and how events in his early life lead him to become the legendary conqueror and father of Mongolia.
PERSEPOLIS Marjane Satrapi and Vincent Paronnaud, France
Based on the graphic novels by co-director Marjane Satrapi, this animated film - winner of the Cannes Jury Prize for 2007 - tells of a young girl coming of age in Iran during the Islamic Revolution and features the vocal talents of Catherine Deneuve and Chiara Mastroianni.
RECLAIM YOUR BRAIN Hans Weingartner, Germany/Austria
In the latest feature from acclaimed filmmaker Hans Weingartner (THE EDUKATORS), TV producer Rainer (Moritz Bleibtreu) is always high on cocaine and, as a result, develops shows of the most stupid and vulgar nature, exploiting anyone and anything for the sake of ratings. After being forced to realize the errors of his ways, Rainer decides to change his life, embarking on a guerrilla campaign against the entertainment industry.
SHADOWS Milcho Manchevski, Republic of Macedonia/Germany/Italy/Bulgaria/Spain
Although hospital physician Lucky seems to have it all - a beautiful wife, lovely child, good job - he is always struggling to live up to the expectations of others while living in the shadow of his hotshot physician mother. But after he is involved in a car crash and mysteriously saved from certain death, Lucky’s life dramatically begins to change.
THE SUN ALSO RISES Jiang Wen, China
Shot in the terraced hills of China’s Yunnan province and the sweeping plains of the Gobi Desert, the film juggles several timelines, offering insight into the mysterious forces that make people cross paths and, without realizing it, shape each other’s destinies. Director Jiang Wen (DEVILS ON THE DOORSTEP) stars alongside Joan Chen, Anthony Wong and Jaycee Chan.
Masters
LES AMOURS D’ASTRÉE ET DE CÉLADON Eric Rohmer, France
A shepherd named Céladon (Andy Gillet) journeys through crazed love and despair via idyllic glades, craggy hills, nymphs and delicious temptation for his beloved Astrée (Stéphanie Crayencour) in this first film adaptation of Honoré d’Urfé’s baroque love story L’Astrée.
BEYOND THE YEARS Im Kwon-taek, South Korea
A former pansori drummer rediscovers both his abandoned past and step-sibling. Together or separate, they part and reunite, unable to sever the invisible tie of their unspoken true love for each other. BEYOND THE YEARS, the 100th film in director Im Kwon-taek’s highly prolific career, features the music of pianist Kunihiko Ryo.
CHAOS Youssef Chahine and Youssef Khaled, Egypt/France
Nour is the only person who stands up to Hatem, a brash and loathsome police officer who rules his Cairo neighborhood with an iron fist. But when he finds out that Nour is secretly in love with a deputy public prosecutor, Hatem turns envious and Nour’s life becomes a nightmare.
CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS, THE ENIGMA Manoel de Oliveira, Portugal
After more than sixty years and multiple trips between Portugal and America, a researcher named Manuel Luciano is about to discover the true identity of Christopher Columbus and unveil the mystery of the world famous explorer. The film is inspired by the book Christopher Columbus was Portuguese by Manuel Luciano da Silva and Silvia Jorge de Silva.
DÉSENGAGEMENT Amos Gitai, Israel/France/Germany/Italy
After Ana (Juliette Binoche) is reunited with her estranged Israeli stepbrother Uli (Liron Levo), she decides to return to Israel to look for the daughter she gave up at birth. Uli and Ana become tangled in the turmoil and emotion of military-enforced disengagement of Israeli settlers from Gaza in 2005.
FADOS Carlos Saura, Spain
Filmmaker Carlos Saura (TANGO) offers a fascinating trip through the history of fado, one of the oldest forms of urban folk music in the world, tracing its evolution from its very roots to its place in contemporary culture. Featuring performances by Mariza, Carlos do Carmo and other fado legends.
LA FILLE COUPÉE EN DEUX Claude Chabrol, France/Germany
Gabrielle (Ludivine Sagnier) makes a perverse choice between two attractive men - the older, married famous author Charles (François Berléand), and the young, suave and distinguished Paul (Benoît Magimel) - in this superbly caustic, droll, touching and scatological film whose title perfectly describes her - a woman cut in two.
FOUR WOMEN Adoor Gopalakrishnan, India
The lives of a prostitute, a virgin, a housewife and a spinster form stories from four different stratums of society. Starring: Nandita Das, Geetu Mohandas, Padmapriya and Manju Pillai.
GLORY TO THE FILMMAKER! Takeshi Kitano, Japan
Playing himself in the film as a celebrated director, Takeshi Kitano (ZATÔICHI, TAKESHIS’) sets out on a quest to produce a boxoffice hit after publicly announcing his departure from gangster films. After failing to secure financing for his next genre projects, he decides to tell the story of a swindling mother (Kayoko Kishimoto) and her gold-digging daughter (Anne Suzuki) who set their eyes on an honest man, which unpredictably leads to the endangerment of the planet.
IT’S A FREE WORLD? Ken Loach, UK/Italy/Germany/Spain
Director Ken Loach (THE WIND THAT SHAKES THE BARLEY) delivers a sharp and incisive story centred around brash Angie (Kierston Wareing), whose newly opened recruiting agency business explodes when personal ambition rubs up against social ethics.
THE PAST Hector Babenco, Argentina/Brazil THE PAST follows the twists and turns in the life of Rimini (Gael García Bernal, DÉFICIT). After his divorce, he survives a string of relationships, loses his livelihood as a translator, becomes entangled in a child custody battle, lands in jail and recovers his ability to fall in love.
THE VOYEURS Buddhadeb Dasgupta, India
Yasin (Amitav Bhattacharya) moves to Kolkata (formerly Calcutta) and lives with Dilip (Prosenjit Chatterjee), who installs surveillance cameras for a living. Dilip pursues a tentative romance with Rekha (Sameera Reddy), a beautiful young dancer who moves in next door, after planting a spy camera above her mirror so that he and Yasin can watch her.
Toronto Film Festival 2007 - Awards
Toronto Film Festival 2007 Award Winners - Article
Toronto Film Festival 2007 - Contemporary World Cinema
Toronto Film Festival 2007 - Visions and Vanguard Sidebars
Toronto Film Festival 2007 Real to Reel Documentary Line-Up
San Sebastian Film Festival 2007 - Zabaltegi (New Directors) Sidebar
Monsters, Creeps, Ghouls, Faceless Fiends, Alien Pods, and Their Buds at the American Cinematheque
Montreal World Film Festival 2007 - First Films World Competition
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