TIFF '12, Part 1

I saw two films at TIFF yesterday, three today, four tomorrow, and that's as far as the trend goes, because I'm not insane.

Best film so far was The Holy Quaternity, a kind-hearted Czech film about two married couples who live next to each other, do everything together, and end up experimenting with a foursome to spice things up. It definitely tilts toward showing the funny side of sex and is pleasantly angst-free.

The Great Kilapy is another congenial film, this time about a womanizer and swindler in colonial Angola who ends up being hailed as a hero after liberation for, well, mostly being on the colonial government's shit list.

Rust and Bone leans more towards the dysfunctional relationship side of the Force. A semi-employed screwup reclaims his five-year-old son from his drug-dealing ex, moves in with his sister, starts dating a woman who's involved in a horrifying accident, and makes a staggering number of really bad decisions. Eventually he begins to start to think about growing up. Very good film, but with more than its quota of over-the-top plot twists.

Far Out Isn't Far Enough: The Tomi Ungerer Story is a documentary about a once-popular children's book author whose career was destroyed in the '70's when people noticed he was also doing porn. Definitely worth seeing.

After the Battle, an Egyptian film set during the Arab Spring, using mostly non-professional actors and a great deal of improvisation, would have benefitted from a tighter script, but was still interesting and worth seeing.

Not a turkey yet. We'll see how long that lasts.