by Takis Garis (@takisgaris)
Episode 1 - Breakfast At TIFFany's
> It’s been a seditiously cruel end of summer. Today is my first Fall. I am abandoning my mother tongue, yearning to adjure my contrived narrative style. All the information you need is out there. Originality? Virtually a lost cause. So is cinema of nowadays. Unless there is, there must be an exodus. Just in time before insignificance will overbear every inch of true aesthetics. In the beginning, it was J.L.Godard: “Cinema is the most beautiful fraud in the world”. Now, it all has percolated through the cheap patronisation of comic strip pseudo-heroism. Hip is god (and not God). Nothing is divine. Imperfection rules. Nothing sacred, none is hidden any longer. The mass entertainment has cannibalised art itself, to lament the lack of humanistic values thereof. To place it in Jean Cocteau’s context: “Film is a petrified fountain of thought”, to conclude triumphantly: “Film will only become an art when its materials are as inexpensive as pencil and paper”.
> How in heavens can you call a $250M budget movie “art”? It’s a stretch by definition, a contra argument with risible rationale, addressed only to the non- initiated. Film is such a radically differentiated concept than a *movie*, as sun beams are to art-ificial tanning equipment. I am that close to making a grandiose statement that echoes something similar to disclaim any Hollywood product as a whole, but that would only reveal a paranoid tenacity for the sake of clarity, as if such a deity could ever reside in this art bazaar we came to know by the name of cinema. All I wish to support here and fail miserably in doing so, is that art should be honest, even when it’s evidently lying to us. So should cinema, even when commercial success overshadows any willingness for transcended, elevating and transformative viewing experience.
> How in heavens can you call a $250M budget movie “art”? It’s a stretch by definition, a contra argument with risible rationale, addressed only to the non- initiated. Film is such a radically differentiated concept than a *movie*, as sun beams are to art-ificial tanning equipment. I am that close to making a grandiose statement that echoes something similar to disclaim any Hollywood product as a whole, but that would only reveal a paranoid tenacity for the sake of clarity, as if such a deity could ever reside in this art bazaar we came to know by the name of cinema. All I wish to support here and fail miserably in doing so, is that art should be honest, even when it’s evidently lying to us. So should cinema, even when commercial success overshadows any willingness for transcended, elevating and transformative viewing experience.
> Where am I getting at? Honestly, with concern to my thoughts, scattered as they seem, destination is as of yet unknown. The only hard-checked fact about me remains that I am accredited by #TIFF2012 (The Toronto International Film Festival) to provide coverage for its 37th circuit. An honor at least, after a dozen years in film criticism and a breakthrough for MoviesLTD, a labor of love by my veteran alter-ego George Zervopoulos and of yours truly. This year’s line-up reaffirms Toronto’s reputation of gradually becoming the contemporary Mecca of contemporary film festival, showcasing international talent originating from more than 60 countries, exceeding 350 films in total. Do I have my preferences, at a glance, dwelling upon this year’s lavish program? Hold your breath: Argo (Ben Affleck), Silver Linings Playbook (David O.Russel), The Company You Keep (Robert Redford), Hyde Park On Hudson (Roger Mitchel), Great Expectations (Mike Newell), Love Marilyn (Liz Garbus), Jayne Mansfield’s Car (Billy Bob Thornton), Venuto Al Mondo (Sergio Castellito).
> Let’s see what the Masters’ program has in store: Io et Te (Bernardo Bertolucci), Amour (Michael Haneke), Like Someone In love (Abbas Kiarostami), Pieta (Kim Ki-Duk), Après mai (Olivier Assayas), Everyday (Michael Winterbottom). In all honesty, as a notorious Oscar ruminator, my main dish could only be the Special Presentations: Cloud Atlas (Lana Wachowski, Tom Tykwer, Andy Wachowski), Quartet (Dustin Hoffman), To The Wonder (Terrence Malick), The Paperboy (Lee Daniels), Anna Karenina (Joe Wright), Antiviral (Brandon Cronenberg), Rust and Bone (Jacques Audiard), Byzantium (Neil Jordan), Jagten (Thomas Vinterberg), Caught in the Webb (Chen Caige), The Sapphires (Wayne Blair), Much Ado About Nothing (Joss Whedon), Love is All You Need (Susanne Bier), Dans la maison (Francois Ozon), Stories We Tell (Sarah Polley), Yellow (Nick Cassavetes), Bad 25 (Spike Lee), Le Capital (Costa Gavras), Passion (B.De Palma), On The Road (Walter Salles) and…THE MASTER by P.T. Anderson, arguably 2012’s finest on screen, which will be screened in glorious 70MM.
> Let’s see what the Masters’ program has in store: Io et Te (Bernardo Bertolucci), Amour (Michael Haneke), Like Someone In love (Abbas Kiarostami), Pieta (Kim Ki-Duk), Après mai (Olivier Assayas), Everyday (Michael Winterbottom). In all honesty, as a notorious Oscar ruminator, my main dish could only be the Special Presentations: Cloud Atlas (Lana Wachowski, Tom Tykwer, Andy Wachowski), Quartet (Dustin Hoffman), To The Wonder (Terrence Malick), The Paperboy (Lee Daniels), Anna Karenina (Joe Wright), Antiviral (Brandon Cronenberg), Rust and Bone (Jacques Audiard), Byzantium (Neil Jordan), Jagten (Thomas Vinterberg), Caught in the Webb (Chen Caige), The Sapphires (Wayne Blair), Much Ado About Nothing (Joss Whedon), Love is All You Need (Susanne Bier), Dans la maison (Francois Ozon), Stories We Tell (Sarah Polley), Yellow (Nick Cassavetes), Bad 25 (Spike Lee), Le Capital (Costa Gavras), Passion (B.De Palma), On The Road (Walter Salles) and…THE MASTER by P.T. Anderson, arguably 2012’s finest on screen, which will be screened in glorious 70MM.
> On the front of Greek New Wave front (see G. Lanthimos and Athina Rachel Tsangari dead pan oevre) there is no news rather than a stark aesthetic opposition nonetheless, as narrated by Ektoras Lygizos in his first feature film Boy Eating the Birds Food. I sincerely hope that Dimitri Eipides, known for his perennially smart gusto, as TIFF’s Central –Eastern Europe programmer will deliver in equal measure as successfully done with Dogtooth. In Venice the opening film, striving to pinpoint Cannes shunning of female directors this year, was The Reluctant Fundamentalist (Mira Nair). The latter will be screened as a gala presentation here, however the opening night is reserved for Looper (Rian Johnson) to promote the newly emerging trend of the thinking-person’s action film (time-travel adventure, see Total Recall untimely remake and Cloud Atlas similarly time travelling plot).
> My promise to you is that my body will decay on the viewer’s seat. My brains will fry on my iPhone and laptop, regardless. I shall be live tweeting until my ultimate downfall. I am @TakisGaris, although, for obvious identification reasons, on my pass it will read “Panagiotis Gkaris” (this is the heads up for my fellow critics who obviously won’t be able to match the name with the face). I’ll post videos from the press conferences, I’ll respond to all your inquiries. My mission is true and that is to serve (and protect) the well-being of numerous cineastes who will need to know where to find the good stuff. And, believe you me folks, I know where it’s at: @TIFF_NET. September 6th- September 16th, 10 whole days of cinematic escapism, a fresh breath of artistic value in a post-modern world that seems trapped in its own bemusing. TIFF 37, YOU ARE HERE.
> My promise to you is that my body will decay on the viewer’s seat. My brains will fry on my iPhone and laptop, regardless. I shall be live tweeting until my ultimate downfall. I am @TakisGaris, although, for obvious identification reasons, on my pass it will read “Panagiotis Gkaris” (this is the heads up for my fellow critics who obviously won’t be able to match the name with the face). I’ll post videos from the press conferences, I’ll respond to all your inquiries. My mission is true and that is to serve (and protect) the well-being of numerous cineastes who will need to know where to find the good stuff. And, believe you me folks, I know where it’s at: @TIFF_NET. September 6th- September 16th, 10 whole days of cinematic escapism, a fresh breath of artistic value in a post-modern world that seems trapped in its own bemusing. TIFF 37, YOU ARE HERE.
gaRis
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