Highlights: 2011’s Best Body/Physical Work...

...is the choreography of ALPS.

(This is awarded to the team behind the best stunt work or choreography or motion-capture, based on the suggestion of fellow bloggers, Craig and Andrew)

Anyone who’s seen Yorgos Lanthimos’ Dogtooth surely remembers the iconic dance sequence. If you think that was absurd, wait till you get a chance to see ALPS. The choreography in this film is much more diverse and pivotal since one of the leading characters is a ballerina. You’ll get to see her improve through her practice routines, but you’ll also see plenty of mad people flailing their arms around aimlessly and octogenarians slow-dancing. Whoever is in charge of designing these sequences is a bona fide genius.

Personal story: During the Q&A session after the screening of the film at TIFF, I moved up to sit in the first row and asked Aggeliki Papoulia, the lead actress, a question about these dances. “Does Mr. Lanthimos make you dance like that, or are the dances so absurd because you can’t dance better?” I was trying to be cheeky of course, and the theatre obviously got the idea and laughed out loud. She responded, laughingly, with “Are you calling me a bad dancer?” and the director jokingly said that I’d insulted them. Though they obviously knew I was joking, I had an uneasy feeling that something might have gotten lost in translation and that I might have actually offended them. Luckily, as I was telling my friend about this suspicion outside the theatre, they came out the building. So I tapped Aggeliki on the shoulder and told her that I loved the dances and I was obviously kidding about their being bad. She, and her co-star Ariane Labed, were good sports and I felt a fool for doubting their English skills. And then, this happened.

One of my fondest memories from TIFF.
Anyway, once I start dishing out my awards, you’ll see that the film features on the lists prominently, so if you get a chance to check it out, do not pass it up.

Previously on 11 Highlights of '11
Sex Scene of the Year
Most Underracted Actor of the Year
Dog of the Year
Best Andy Serkis of the Year
Most Overrated Film of the Year
Alpha Male of the Year
City of the Year
Sexiest Actress of the Year
Best Scene of the Year

More TIFF Coverage on The Film Experience

Head over to The Film Experience where my coverage of Toronto International Film Festival continues. You can read reviews of Shame and Rampart here, and Alois Nebel and Good Bye here. 

TIFF Coverage

Once again, it's that amazing time of the year when all Torontonian cinephiles will get to indulge in the gift that is TIFF! This year I've opted mostly for titles that will not be released by the end of the year, so there will be no coverage of The Descendants, Ides of March, and the like. Although I'm really sad to say that I missed tickets on two of my most anticipated films of the year, Asghar Farhadi's Berlin winner A Separation and Take This Waltz, the second feature film from Toronto's very own darling Sarah Polley. On the bright side, the former will be released by Sony Pictures Classics on December 30th in the States and through Mongrel Media on January 13th, 2012 in Toronto. No distributor has been announced for the latter yet, unfortunately.

I won't share all the titles I'm covering, to make the coverage more interesting. Suffice to say, it will feature some Cannes hits and newer titles like Oren Moverman's Rampart, Steve McQueen's Shame and Andrea Arnold's Wuthering Heights.

Woody Harrelson in Rampart (src)

On TIFF and other film festival experiences

A few days ago, Nathaniel (from The Film Experience) wrote an article about some of the TIFF films he's looking forward to. Looking at those titles, I noticed some overlaps with the films I've put on my to-watch list at the fest, and commented on the link that:

"I never understand why films like last year's Black Swan or this year's bound to be sold-out The Descendant are SO popular at TIFF. Like, I know, it's nice to watch it before everyone else, but there are more than 200 titles and AT LEAST 100 of them never open in theatres outside the festival circuit. I can always wait a couple more months for something instead of missing out on other films."

This is essentially how I've felt for the past five years that I've been attending the festival. The aforementioned Black Swan opened on December 3rd, a mere three months after its release in the festival, yet, its screenings at TIFF were packed. By comparison, a film like A Screming Man (which was both enjoyable and profound) has not been released in the theatres yet and will likely never be. That's not even one of the smallest films at the festival. It was an award winner at Cannes 2010. There are much less publicized films in the Midnight Madness section (dedicated to horror films) or City to City (introducing films from one particular city every year, this year it's Buenos Aires) that will never see the light of day once TIFF is over. 

Anyway, one particular reader of The Film Experience (Roark) replied to my question and I think the answer was spot-on, so I decided to repost it here:

"Just my own experience, but it seems like festivals, especially big ones like TIFF, are just microcosms of the moviegoing world at large, which means that if there's a choice between a George Clooney movie or, say, the new Pen Ek Ratanruang film, you're probably going to get more people coming out for the Clooney film. Plus, like you say, people like to feel like they're part of something before everyone else, like they're discovering it for themselves, and it's *their* support that is launching the film to its greater success - even if the only reason they feel like they're part of something is thanks to a concerted media campaign to convince them that there's something to be a part of!

On the other hand, by being so mainstream friendly and drawing folks in with the Clooneys and Black Swans of the world, they probably get more accidental viewings of the Ratanruang than another fest that caters solely to a niche (which is what NYFF does) would."

That's only 100% true. Whether films like Ides of March, The Descandants or A Dangerous Method succeed or not, no credit can really be given to the audience who bought into the hype that the media created around these films. Of course, I'm being a hypocrite myself (but only slightly) since the top two films on my list are A Separation and Shame, both of which have found huge publicity in the form of a Berlin Golden Bear win for the former and Hunger reunion and exhibitionist sex scenes (pictured right) for the latter. But I'm gonna cut myself some slack on these two films since they've topped my Most Anticipated of 2011 list the whole year.

Anyway, head over to The Film Experience and read Nathaniel's write-up. If you're attending the festival, he has some really good suggestions.