Trauma – 7 out of 10
Some thoughts on tonight’s movie:

• Colin Firth was in attendance tonight. I swear to god that, when he walked in, every woman in the audience shared a common orgasm.
• This was not a typical Colin Firth role. Some women in the audience seemed confused.
• The movie was weird. Not Mulholland Drive weird, but almost pi weird. Good, though. It reminded me of Vanilla Sky at times.

It’s the final lineup.

“Doodle-oo doo, doodle-oo doo doooo…”

The Libertine – 6 out of 10
Much like Undertow, The Libertine seemed like two different films. The first half was funny, authentic, bawdy, witty and amusing. The second half was slow, over-dramatic, ponderous and generally lacking all the things that made the first half so good. Johnny Depp was spectacular (when isn’t he?) as was Samantha Morton; John Malkovich was underused, but what can you do? The sets were certainly more gritty and authentic than I’m used to seeing in London period-pieces, and the dialogue — especially in the first half — was excellent, but the film just got lost in the melodrama toward the final 1/3. Too bad; it had a ton of promise in the first hour.

Oh, and no stars in sight. I thought Depp was in town?

The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things – 8 out of 10
Let me tell you, I’m having a hard time giving this film an 8 out of 10, but I feel like I have to. It’s not a pleasant film. It’ll never screen in major North American theatres without being cut. It’s not happy or uplifting in any way, though I suppose it is beautiful in a horrid & ultimately soothing way. At first I didn’t like it, but as it finished, and well into the night — even this morning when I woke up — it bled through my thoughts until I was somewhat awed by the life the film took on while we watched it.

Simply put, the performances were remarkable. I can’t imagine many actresses doing to themselves what Asia Argento did, and the kids who played Jeremiah tore our hearts out. There were well-nuanced cameos by Winona Ryder, Peter Fonda, Jeremy Sisto and Marilyn Manson. The music was perfect (nobody conveys mental cacophony like Sonic Youth).

I think I would’ve liked the film even more if I’d read the book by J.T. LeRoy. LeRoy was in attendance with Argento, actually, and it became fairly apparent how autobiographical the book really was. Of course, both of them were so fucked up on something that it was hard to tell how with it they actually were, but you got the clear notion what the J in J.T. stands for.

So, for that, for creating something so efficiently godawful out of someone’s godawful personal experiences, they deserve credit. I could never recommend this film to someone without knowing them very well; many of my friends — liberal, open-minded, progressive all — wouldn’t be able to watch it. But that Argento’s made the movie so brutal, so true to life (or at least true to a story which may or may not be factual) is deserving of respect.

So, I read this morning on CBC that Kofi Annan has declared the US war on Iraq illegal. It’s in the #3 story position right now, just behind the $41B health care deal struck last night and Hurricane Ivan.

So, just out of curiosity, I check some other major news sites:
CNN doesn’t have it in their top 8 stories section, but it’s the lead headline in the ‘International’ section way down at the bottom of the page. Fox doesn’t list it anywhere on the front page, nor do CBS or ABC. MSNBC has it in their top stories section. BBC is already reporting the backlash against Annan’s statements.

• snow patrol | sep 17
• black keys | sep 28
• explosions in the sky | oct 10
• pj harvey | oct 15
• and you will know us by the trail of dead | oct 23
• rheostatics | nov 11-20

It’s official: Vince wants out of Toronto

I’ve made a change to the site: comments are now activated.

Get talkin’.

Ah, it feels good to once again be on top of the hockey world (even if I won’t get any sleep due to the car horns out on Yonge Street): Canada wins World Hockey Championship.

Saving Face – 9 out of 10
Here I was upset that we’d chosen to see Saving Face over Omagh, and it turns out to be one of the best we’ve seen yet.

It was the world premiere of the first movie by Alice Wu (sp?), and was essentially Kissing Jessica Stein in Chinese. But I loved Kissing Jessica Stein, so I won’t complain about any movie that can match the wit and charm, the characters and quirks that can match it. And this one did.

The two leads (who are relatively undiscovered) were amazing, as was Joan Chen. It was sweet,and terrifically funny. Maybe my favourite so far. I still have 3 more to go before I can say for sure, but it’s looking like a strong contender.