I had yet another early-morning movie. Somebody kick me.

Waiting for the movie (Sketch by Fung Lee)

I reached the theatre this morning, sans dejeuner, once again huffing and puffing from riding my bike in a hurry. (Aside: as I reached the doors, who should be walking just ahead of me but Leonard….Maltin! He's so smiley. Does he ever frown?) Lucky me, I thought, as there was no lineup to be seen. I walked in and obtained my choice seating, looking around at the empty seats. I quickly learned that even Joel Schumacher couldn't force a lot of people (not press nor film-buffs) to an 8:30am screening. In the 20 minutes before the movie, I sat there silently sketching, listening to the man three seats to my left make tired moaning noises (it's the truth).

After the Phone Booth movie (and having my stomach returned to me -see review) I once again swung by the Four Seasons hotel. Not a person or a fancy schmancy car to be seen. The stars were still sleeping too. Ah well….

At 4pm, I looked at my watch, only to wonder if John Cusack is walking into his Press Conference for Max. Sadly, this Einsiders.com correspondent had to be somewhere else, instead of at the foot of the Four Seasons Hotel to attempt at a 'moment' with John Cusack. I have one last chance tonight, at a party that a local entertainment group is holding 'to celebrate the TIFF'.

10pm: I find myself at the downtown nightclub. The party seems to be in the beginning stages, and no one is dancing just yet. I deliberately do elaborate diagonals across the empty dance floor, scouring the crowd for something or somebody to sketch. An hour and-a-half and two sketches later, the dance floor is packed, and the DJ is playing music that was making me really feel my age. I became weary (sketching is tough work…) and left.

Menno Meyjes, starring John Cusack, Noah Taylor, Leelee Sobieski, Molly Parker, Ulrich Thomsen
(8.5 out of 10)

Max is about a Jewish art dealer, Max Rothman (John Cusack) returning from the First World War. He is less one arm, but returns to a comfortable home, gorgeous wife and mistress, and the assurance of his upper-class status. He comes across a young soldier, Adolf Hitler (a spectacular Noah Taylor) who also returned from the War, penniless, family-less and bitter. Hitler's only solace is his drawings from the War. He is eager to make a career in art, and Rothman feels obliged to help him, despite the discovery of Hitler's anti-Semitic propaganda he spews from military pressure.

I almost did not see this film (despite my devoted adoration of John Cusack). I almost did not see the film because of how I foresaw either an overly sympathetic view of Hitler, or conversely the extreme opposite, as a monster of sorts. Menno Meyjes gave me neither. The film focuses on pressing issues of the time in Germany: a division of classes, of politics, of ethnicity, and of art.

The storyline and characters are simple and cliché-free. The cinematography and settings are rich and beautiful -from Rothman's industrial warehouse art gallery, to the park pavilion, to his architecturally elite house and home. There are several relationships in which Rothman is involved: that with his loyal wife, with his artist mistress, and his eccentric friends (the film suffers a little from irrelevant subplots). However, it is those dialogues with Hitler that are of incredible power and resonance. [One note to all moviemakers: do not try to include your own unique brand of performance art in the script and subject your actors to performing it. Performance art in itself often verges on cheeseball. Use drawings, paintings, but teddy bears?! Menno?!]

Taylor is incredible as the initially hostile, neurotic, insecure and self-centered Hitler. He flies from a darty-eyed geek, eager for Rothman's approval to a scornful yelling-and-spitting militant all in one swoop. Cusack is no stranger to playing the confident and suave gentleman -albeit it's been a while. Molly Parker's talent playing Rothman's wife was wasted. I would have much preferred to see her as the artist-mistress (heck, she had more chemistry with Cusack than Leelee Sobieski as the mistress -but she's the wife! That's not right, right?)

Meyjes made an incredibly intelligent film without seeking to make a brooding academic film about the Hitler.

Joel Schumacher, starring Colin Farrell, Forest Whitaker, Katie Holmes, Radha Mitchell, Kiefer Sutherland
(8 out of 10)

Phone Booth is one of those movies where you have no choice but be engrossed whether you're falling for the film or not. It grabs your stomach (for the men, your balls) and slowly squeezes it tighter and tighter --there is no relief for an hour-and-a-half. Are you prepared for that? I was not…

The film begins perfectly [Aside: kudos to the guy who chose the excellent font for the opening credits], with fractal images from a satellite in space to the innards of a phone. It revolves around Stuart Shepard (Colin Farrell) a slick, fast-talking, fancy threads I'm-better-than-you strutting publicist. It's perfectly set in New York (a hub for slimey people like that, no?) at the corner of 53rd and 8th in a Phone Booth. A married man, after hanging up with his girlfriend, Shepard answers a ring. It is a mysterious man (in stereotypical bad-guy voice and laugh, is it Dr. Evil?) who claims to have a perfect vantage point to shoot and kill him -unless he obeys his instructions. An exploding toy and a dead stranger later, Shepard is forced to listen intently and remain in his booth until the mystery man is satisfied with the moral tasks at hand.

I am a devout believer of karma, so this film for me was initially hilarious to watch. Sure, let's make this greasy fake-Italian-suit jerk sweat it out a bit and be humiliated himself. But Schumacher slowly and painfully allows us to watch Shepard's humility turn into intense desperate fear, and further humiliation, and more fear. By late in the movie, I realized that I was the one being punished.

Colin Farrell is incredibly convincing as a man brought to his knees --down to every sweaty pore on his face. Forest Whitaker plays the patient and unnerving police captain, seeking to resolve the unusual circumstance. Everyone else, including Mr. Bad-guy-voice, takes a backseat to Farrell who is gripping at every new demand he is faced with.

coming up this weekend, more reviews and film festival adventures!

PART 1: (intro, review of Good Thief, star spotting)
PART 2: (reviews of Friday, Auto Focus, Open Hearts)
PART 3: (reviews of 8 femmes/8 Women, Spider)
PART 5: (Chicken Poets, Closing Night Gala)

Fung Lee