ADRIFT IN TOKYO*** (out of 5)
“With such varied scenery, Tokyo’s perfect for taking walks.” So observes a meditative loan shark named Mr. Fukuhara in this quirky comedy from Japan — and judging from the evidence of the film he’s in, he couldn’t be more correct. The other main character is a deep-in-debt young slacker whom Fukuhara offers to pay a million yen if he agrees to accompany him on a walk across Tokyo.
And off they go, having quirky encounters, learning a little bit about each other’s lives, and developing an unlikely father-son bond. We learn a few life lessons along the way too: curry is the perfect food to eat before going to prison, walking backwards makes you younger, and seeing the actor Ittoku Kishibe means good luck is on the way. The film may not amount to much in the end, but you don’t ever regret having taken the walk. It’s always good to get some fresh air.
BROKEN EMBRACES**** ½ (out of 5)
The latest melodrama from Pedro Almodóvar is the story of a tragic love triangle between a movie director (Lluís Homar), his producer (José Luis Gómez), and the producer’s mistress (Penélope Cruz). Along the way, characters are variously struck blind, pushed down staircases, betrayed, avenged, and visited by long-lost children. Tears fall onto tomatoes, call girls become movie stars, and cinema acquires the power to ruin lives and then reshape them.
In less skillful hands, these elements would seem contrived or overripe, but Almodóvar tells this story so masterfully (teasing us for as long as he can before he even reveals how the various characters are related) that it’s the purest of pleasures simply to watch it all unfold. Early critical reaction to Broken Embraces has been respectful but underwhelmed, but I think they’re selling this one short. It’s prime late-period Pedro.
THE DAMNED UNITED*** ½ (out of 5)
You don’t have to know anything about British football — God knows I sure don’t — to enjoy this dramatization of Brian Clough’s disastrous 44-day tenure as the manager of Leeds United. That’s because this is less a sports drama than the personal story of how Clough’s obsessive rivalry with his predecessor, the legendary manager Don Revie, was both the spur to his success and nearly the ruination of his entire career.
The film was written by Peter Morgan (who also wrote The Queen and Frost/Nixon) and stars Morgan’s perennial leading man, Michael Sheen, as Clough. He’s terrific as usual — especially in the scenes where Clough’s too-cocky-by-half personality gets the better of him. With Timothy Spall as Clough’s invaluable assistant Peter Taylor, Colm Meaney as Revie, and Jim Broadbent as a tightwad team owner, the cast is practically an all-star squad of ruddy-faced Irish and British character actors. Minor, but very entertaining.
MIDGETS VS. MASCOTSzero stars (out of 5)
How on earth did this worthless, witless comedy, a mock-documentary about a team of little people competing against a team of losers in foam costumes in a humiliating month-long battery of competitions to win a million-dollar inheritance, ever get accepted into this festival? It’s hard to pick out the lowest point: the “milk chug” contest, which concludes with the contestants upchucking all over the dinner table? The bit where they all go to a restaurant and refuse to stop loudly listing racial slurs — much to the horror of the African-American customers sitting nearby? The cameo by Ron Jeremy? The depressing paycheque-collecting presence of Gary Coleman? The contest’s Chinese referee, an insulting Asian stereotype of the type we haven’t seen since the days of Long Duk Dong? Crass, exploitative, and repugnant — stay far, far away.
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