Toronto – 9AM in the morning and I was to watch a “horror” film… Having watched it I can safely declare that this is no such thing. Sauna is a very moody film to be sure, but if your expectations were on par with the Ring or Grudge, the most you are likely to get is the view of a dead girl’s feet. Link after the picture to see trailer.
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Toronto – Next up in the TIFF saga is It Might Get Loud. A documentary by Davis Guggenheim about the electric guitar and three master guitarists that have helped to contemporize the instrument and make it accessible for their respective generations. This is a great doc for any musicianado that would love to see their guitar heroes at work and play, which is typically the same thing.
The guitarists in question are: Led Zeppelin’s Jimmy Page, U2’s The Edge, and The White Stripes’ Jack White. The documentary follows their paths as they discover the guitar and what it can do for them. It traces their transition from guitarist to musician as they struggle to create the songs that transform their band and then define their own unique sound.
All three guitarists open up about their experiences and their love of the guitar. This makes for a really genuine and genuinely funny film to watch. When asked what will happen when the three guitarists finally meet, Jack White responds, “I don’t know, a fist fight?”. He then later admits that he wants to meet The Edge and Jimmy Page so that he can “trick them into teaching me their tricks”. During the Q&A after the film, Jack White was asked to pick a single guitar to bring to a remote island. His answer: “Jimmy Paige’s guitar.”
In addition to seeing Jimmy Page’s fantastic guitar skills, we also get a glimpse of his fantastic air guitar skills while listening to records. Another classic moment was The Edge playing his Edge chords through his fancy Edge pedals and equipment. In a moment of straight-talking brevity, he says, “If you take away all the effects, all I’m playing is this”, then adopts a silly face and plays the simple chord he had been playing all along. He admits that sometimes he spends all day searching for a particular sound. If asked to summarize his day’s work on an acoustic guitar, it would be laughably simple.
This doc is a must see for guitarists, a should see for musicians, and a see for everyone else.
It Might Get Loud: 4/5
It Might Get Loud (if you’re a musician): 4.5/5
It Might Get Loud (if you’re a guitarist): 5/5
Toronto – Lining up at Ryerson’s auditorium wasn’t very thrilling. Lining up at the auditorium and finding out that the line goes past Gerrard St., bends right around Church (ok, seriously, I’m not making this shit up to fill a pun), and spills onto Gould St. is even more ridiculous. And I was, what, 45 min. early for the show?! What these people (me included) do for their day job is beyond me. That, or Mr. Harper has better address a serious unemployment problem. Addressing unemployment is, philosophically, pretty much what Darren Aronofsky did in this new film. To hell with mind-fucks (Pi and the Fountain) and depressive streaks (Requiem for a Dream). He chose a very simple screenplay to work with and I think focused mainly on the expressions in the actors/actresses. Read more
Toronto – The Toronto International Film Festival is in full swing now. It’s a great opportunity to check out movies from all over the globe. You can watch films before they are available to the general public. Often you get to do it in the presence of the actors and the director, and then ask them questions afterwards. Not bad for $15-20 a pop (if you buy a pack, and don’t go see the uber special gala presentations that is).
For the stargazers among you, this is also a great time to look for your favourite celebrities hovering around the city. Now is the best time to grab a latte in Yorkville and look for stars. Then, when you notice them, you can pretend that you barely noticed them and it’s no big deal. This will make you feel good and lead you to believe that you are on the same level as the Dustin Hoffman’s, or even the Richard Gere’s of the world. I swear this could be an entry on Stuff White People Like.
Anyway, the first film up for review is Soul Power. A documentary about a music festival held in Africa in 1974 that was to culminate with a boxing match. The year was 1974, and the festival was in Africa. The place was Kinhasa, and the boxers were Muhammad Ali and George Foreman. The mix in question was soul music and boxing.
The story starts off firmly in documentary mode. We see the musicians getting organized, the organizers getting the musicians, the planners organizing the organizers, and the musicians playing the organs. At this point we don’t know if everything will actually work out on schedule. Then about halfway through the documentary, the concert starts and the gears shift from documentary to music film with loose ends practically dangling off the silver screen.
The saving grace of this doc is the footage. It’s simply spectacular. Highlights for me include a relatively young B.B. King playing The Thrill is Gone, as well as a virile and mustachio’ed James Brown doing his thing. This documentary may lack resolution and a storyline of the concert know as Zaire ’74, but it certainly delights with fantastic music footage from an amazing concert. Time well spent for soul music lovers.
Soul Power: 3.5/5
Soul Power Footage: 4.5/5
