After the Wedding

This is simply the best film yet of 2007. What a nice treat to see a Danish film on the screens of Toronto outside of a film festival.

Director Susanne Bier takes us on a journey from India to Denmark, from an orphanage to an opulent mansion, and through the perils of single-dom, marriage, life and death.

The movies runs a full two hours, but you won't want to blink for fear of missing something.

While not a thriller in the conventional sense, this is very much an edge-of-your-seat movie in emotional terms.

It is not a drippy-chick flick, nor a blockbuster, its a thinking movie, but with movement, relationships, tension (sexual and otherwise) that brings it a special life all its own.

Mads Mikkelsen is superb as Jacob, a Danish orphange worker/manager in India who clearly has a deep passion for the kids and the cause.....but also carries a chip on his shoulder for reasons initially unclear.

Soon, Jacob finds himself back in Denmark for the first time in twenty years to woo a potential donor to his orphanage.

He is not overly happy to be 'home'......nor thrilled by the prospect of padding the ego of a wealthy business man he figures has only brought him here to enjoy seeing someone plead for his money.

Rolf Lassgard plays the business man in question, and brings a strange, emotional, but very believeable emotion to the part. His character, Jorgen is alternately benevolent and generous, manipulative and secretive and has a pension for anger, especially after too much to drink.

These two actors play off each other beautifully, engaging you in their stories, and wondering why and how those two lives have come together......

Brier teases us with the reason, but it doesn't become clear till almost 3/4 of the way through this sensational movie, and even then......the tension only climbs.

A remarkable movie, worth 9/10 and my highest recommendation.

After the Wedding is now playing at Toronto's Cumberland cinema.

The Lookout

Look, in the sky, its a drama, its a thriller, its a morality play, with a cliche ending!

The Lookout is all that and more. For better and for worse, though mostly for better.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt plays "Chris" a one-time high school hockey jock with a promising future, forestalled by a serious car accident.

We pick up the story of Chris' life four years after the accident, as he struggles to deal with the effects of some brain damage caused by the trauma years earlier.

He suffers from some loss of short-term memory, very minor cognitive impairment, and just a little less impulse control than is healthy in any adult.

Levitt does a great job at this stage of the movie selling us on how deeply frustrated his character feels. Perhaps more so than had he been left with more serious physical injuries. As he is ever so close to being the man he was, or was becoming, but somehow that is always just beyond reach.

As we meet Chris' family, his blind roommate, played by Jeff Daniels, largely to amusing comic effect, and some of the people he works with in his job as night janitor at a local bank;
Our feelings for this character grow deeper.

Enter an old acquaintance from High school (Gary), a new woman (Luvlee) to make Chris feel masculine again, and a plot to rob the very bank where Chris works.

Here we have the plot from which the movie takes its name, and Chris role in the scheme unfolds.

Without spoiling too much......everything builds wonderfully up to the night of the bank job.

Here the movie falters, just a bit.

In these last thirty minutes.......the hard won credibility of the film is diminished by director Scott's eagerness for a way too neat and dramatic finish.

Overall this film is far above average, particularly for something out of the U.S.

Its eminently watchable, with superb acting, it only falls short at the end...by tying the plot in a knot in order to get a more emotionally satisfying conclusion.

Definitely worth any cinephile's time, one of the three best in 2007 thus far.

Overall, this movie is an 8/10.

This film is currently in wide release across Canada, and can be found at the Carlton and
Canada Square cinemas in downtown Toronto and at many suburban locations.

Radiant City

Just saw "Radiant City" the new pseudo-documentary by Calgary filmmaker Gary Burns.

Its another one of those films that rightly take North American society to task for building too many un-sustainable, car-dependant, monocultural suburbs.

But just because it covers old ground, doesn't mean it doesn't bring a new perspective.

The film is a unique blend of 'fake documentary' and 'real documentary'.

It intersperses the life of a fictional suburban community and family, set in a real Calgary suburb, with various segments from urban planning types like Ken Greenburg and philosopher Mark Kingwell.

The fact that the 'fake family and community' is made up entirely of actors who actually live in suburban Calgary adds another subtle layer or realism to even the most made-up parts of this movie.

If you're looking for a super-slick, super fun documentary....this isn't it. If you want big-budget hollywood, you're out of luck there too.

But if you want a film that will make you smile, and scowl, and think, then this maybe your ticket to 9o minutes well spent.

On a scale of 1 to 10, this movie is 7.5 (or 'Good')

It is currently playing at the Cumberland cinema, in Toronto's Yorkville neighbourhood