Amielle Christopherson: TIFF Roundup

EDITOR'S NOTE: Once again we are welcoming a brand-new contributor to Good Prattle. Say hello to Amielle Christopherson, everybody, who's got a couple of posts lined up on TIFF. Have at it, Amielle!

This year, TIFF showed 351 films in 17 different categories. While some didn’t even get a review in a paper, there were others whose spectacular success (or failure) inspired column after column—or blog entry after blog entry—in papers and websites the world over. It’s not always possible to sort through the deluge of opinions and reviews on one’s own, unleashed upon the public as they are in such a short period of time, so here’s a bit of a breakdown as to which films and actors were applauded and which were... not so much.

Roundup by Amielle Christopherson

From the Sky Down: The much-anticipated U2 documentary film was the first feature shown at the festival. Commissioned by the band to be made in six months, it documents the making of their 1991 album Achtung Baby. The film was greeted with mixed reviews, but its debut was sold out at the festival—though U2’s presence for the opening might have had something to do with that.

Ryan Gosling: One of several actors with multiple projects at TIFF, his first offering at the festival was George Clooney’s The Ides of March—a film about an eager and naive staffer for a presidential candidate who quickly learns how dirty politics can really be. It received positive reviews and sold out its viewing. His second film, the already-released Drive, has appeared in five festivals and has had a fantastic time at the box office; described as not just a typical car movie, the cinematography has been praised, as has Gosling’s acting.

W.E.: Madonna’s second directorial offering is a film split between two narratives: one about Wallis Simpson and Edward VIII, one about a modern-day woman obsessed with Simpson’s story. While most of the reviews coming from the festival were mixed, some critics said they thought moviegoers might have given it more of a chance if they hadn’t known who the director was. Others opined that, while a visual treat (the cinematographer in particular has received a great deal of praise for his work), they found the movie as a whole to be lacking.

Michael Fassbender: The Irish-German sexpot has already garnered Oscar buzz for his performance as a sex addict living with his sister in Shame, which has received some of the best reviews of the festival season. His second movie, A Dangerous Method, boasts a star-studded cast filled with the likes of Keira Knightley and Viggo Mortensen; Method—which was also well-reviewed and has generated yet more Oscar buzz for Fassbender—tells of the relationship between famed psychiatrists Sigmund Freud (Mortensen) and Carl Jung (Fassbender) and the complications caused by Jung’s student/patient Sabina Spielrein (Knightley).

Carey Mulligan: The third major player at the festival with multiple films in show, Mulligan has projects in common with both Gosling and Fassbender. In Drive she shares the screen with Gosling as his character’s love interest, with reviews split down the middle as to whether or not their dynamic worked. She also stars in Shame alongside Fassbender, playing his character’s sister; reviewers requested more of Mulligan’s appearance in the film, saying her character hadn’t been fleshed out to the fullest of its potential.

Moneyball: Love him or hate him, it seems as if everyone has an opinion on Brad Pitt—not that the mixed reception that greeted his latest festival offering, co-starring Jonah Hill, is a very clear indicator of this fact. Hill, whose role in the film marked a complete 180 in character choice, was the one to watch here: instead of playing his usual funny-man character, he supports Pitt perfectly and shows just how much potential he truly has as an actor.