More upcoming Toronto festival films and a sundance trailer

Having ignored the festival for a few stray posts on different subjects, I am returning to the Toronto International film festival.

In terms of documentaries, the festival will premiere a Kurt Cobain documentary entitled "Kurt Cobain about a Son" by director AJ Schnack. Another music oriented documentary which will soon make its North American premiere at the festival, is The Us vs John Lennon" which will depict Lennon's rising anti-war stance and the American government's repressive reaction. Here is the trailer: http://www.apple.com/trailers/lions_gate/theusvsjohnlennon/large.html

For punk rock fans (which does not really include myself), the documentary "American Hardcore" will reveal the rising punk scene in the 1980s within both the United States and Canada.

Another interesting documentary is Tony Kaye's Lake of Fire. Tony Kaye was the director of American History X. The film is a look at the ongoing debate over abortion and its relation to the courtroom and society.

A documentary entitled Primo Levi's Journey by Davide Ferrario is one that I would like the see. It is about a Holocaust survivor and scholar who returns to Auschwitz to confront his past. In addition, another documentary which intrigues me with its original premise is "Blindsight," by Lucy Walker a film abou two blind Tibetan teens who decide to scale a part of Mount Everest with the help of a famous blind mountain climber named Erik Weihenmayer. Having loved Touching the Void, I feel the need to see another interesting mountain climbing documentary.

As for non-documentary films, there are too many too list and I will have to wait to hear their critical reception to gauge which ones to spotlight. However, I will mention a few more.

Glancing at the films which are coming, I was surprised to see that Sarah Polley (usually an actress, whom I happen to like in most things) will premiere her directorial debut "Away from Her" at the festival which is based on an Alice Munro story (Polley co-wrote the screenplay, it seems). Actors/actresses turned directors often fail miserably, but George Clooney, Clint Eastwood (some of his films), and now Tommy Lee Jones (Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada) have proven to be comperent directors. So, here's wishing Polley luck and can you really botch up a Munro story.

The Toronto festival will also premiere Robert Favreau's new film about the Rwandan genocide "Un Dimance a Kigali" which is based on a Gil Courtemanche book. A Canadian film by Carl Bessai entitled "Unnatural & Accidental" will also premiere and it is based on a stage play written by Metis writer Marie Clements about a murder mystery involving the deaths of ten aboriginal women.

If you want to know more of the Toronto line-up, simply go use the indiewire link on the left side because there are too many films that appear interesting and I can't list them. I admit defeat in the face of this overwhelming task. So, I will wait till the festival itself thins out the numbers of films through their reception, leaving out the few films of higher quality. Then, I will be able to comment on them. I may comment on more later, if I find some with positive reviews or responses behind it, but, alas, I may just have to wait till September.

In my next post, you will either find the following: Me whining about the state of cinematic regurgitation (remakes, sequels, adaptations, etc.) in which we find ourselves, me playfully ribbing the dogma 95 movement, more trailers, or my amateurish thoughts on how a film should be reviewed (not a guideline, I don't do restrictive guidelines) by film critics (by the way, I am not placing myself on an equal level with professional film critics, I suck too much for that).


On a side note, here are some obscure trailers to check out (they are old). Here is a trailer for a sundance film called Half Nelson which will be in limited release (very limited, NY only, I believe).

http://www.hollywood.com/movies/video/id/3536065

Here is a trailer of Christopher Nolan's next film, The Prestige.

http://www.apple.com/trailers/touchstone/theprestige/large.html

Now, a trailer for Zhang Yimou's new film Riding Alone for a Thousand Miles. And, no, it is not a martial arts film like Hero or House of Flying Daggers, but a return to drama for Yimou. I have always preferred Yimou's dramatic films like Raise the Red Lantern and Ju-Dou over his more recent films, so sign me up Yimou.

http://www.apple.com/trailers/sony/ridingaloneforthousandsofmiles/trailer/

Although I have already placed these following trailers on my myspace blog, I will put them here because they are the most recently interesting (well, some of them).

The Departed- Martin Scorsese
http://playlist.yahoo.com/makeplaylist.dll?id=1451527&sdm=web&qtw=480&qth=300

Babel-Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu - Watch this trailer now!
http://www.apple.com/trailers/paramount_vantage/babel/trailer1/

The Fountain -Darren Aranofky - watch this trailer and post your comments.
http://www.apple.com/trailers/wb/thefountain/trailer1/large.html

Well, that is all for now.