Number of Films: 3
General Vibe: In strong; out whimpering
Foxcatcher: A shoo-in come Oscar-time, and it might just win more than a couple. Based on the true (incredibly peculiar) story of billionaire scion Jon Du Pont’s brief and ultimately completely psychotic obsession with becoming the “coach” of an Olympic gold-medal-winning wrestler. It stars a much prosthetized Channing Tatum and Mark Ruffalo as Olympic gold winning brothers Mark and Dave Schultz; and a stunning turn by none other than Steve Carell, who turns Du Pont into the scariest kind of creep, one that feels fully entitled to their psychosis. It’s a fine piece of work from director Bennett Miller.
Cub: Boiling hot premise in this Belgian horror flick, but only tepid execution dooms this bit of gory silliness to a life of VOD in the U.S. The set-up has a group of Belgian cubscouts on an overnight camping trip in some very spooky woods, populated by a strange, dirt covered wild-child in a wooden mask, and his fully sadistic handler, who loves building deadly booby traps and watching their inevitable result. With a bit more of an effort, this could have been a lot of fun, but some weak writing, and a tendency towards fulfilling the expected needs of the genre keep it pretty toothless.
Eden: Mia Hansen-Løve’s film follows the career trajectory of the French DJ considered most responsible for creating his country’s take on garage/house music, a style that first became wildly popular in the mid-to-late ‘90s. While the film has earned some serious plaudits from other critics here in Toronto, I found it long, inexpressive, and ultimately pretty tedious. Essentially, an excuse for a really killer soundtrack – if you’re into that French garage kind of thing. Admittedly, I would not be the target demo for such a picture, but I happened to be sitting next to a group of twentysomething French women, and half their group got up and left during the film, so there’s that.
On the eve of this most glorious film festival in the year of our Lord, two-thousand-and-fourteen, I am once again poised to plunge into a madcap seven-day binge of films, long lines, occasional star sightings (and a few interviews) and the avoidance of anything resembling a burrito in this town.
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acheronia said: Love your reviews, succinct but complete. Haven’t even heard of these but I do hope they show Foxcatcher where I live
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