One week after the second Ray Rice video of him knocking his then fiancée unconscious, Minnesota Vikings’ running back Adrian Peterson was indicted for beating his 4-year-old son with a switch. When I first heard about it, I posted on Facebook that every African-American parent over 60 years of age should be indicted also.
What made the issue worse was the “boys will be boys” attitude of the league and many of the teams. Suspended last week, the Vikings, after a weak loss to the Patriots without Peterson quickly announced that he will be active this weekend. I have always said that professional teams, especially the NFL will sign murderers if they will help a team win (and as long as the murder came before or after their playing days).
The attitude toward hitting children is as much a part of the culture as anything else. I know that I was whipped with a switch as a kid, and most people my age remember the Richard Pryor standup routine about being “sent out to pick a switch to beat your own ass with. And, if you came back with a little stick, your parents would go out and get a tree to beat your ass with”
Honestly, the problem is that the 4-year-old suffered wounds requiring medical attention, leading to another charge that Peterson has done this before to another son (counting another child that died from abuse from a former girlfriend’s boyfriend, one has to ask how many children does Adrian Peterson have? Is he heading for the “Shawn Kemp Number of Babies and Baby Mamas Award?”)
I admit that I am torn: on the one hand, there is the “it was good enough for me and I turned out alright” school of thought; and the sheer horror of hitting children. Lots have been said about the fact that the old ways are not the good ones: Cris Carter’s rant on ESPN and viral has made an excellent point that the parents were wrong on this point. Hitting is wrong both ways. I agree that “it takes a village” to raise a child, but with parents being arrested for sending their children to a nearby park by themselves, is overstepping. Being a parent now, one has to be on the look out for people who call the authorities for situations that don’t require it.
One has to ask whether the stories about NFL players involved in violence against women and children can still be attributed to PEDs in the form of “‘roid rage” or is this a product of the environment of violence that is football? Does playing a sport where aggression is not only expected but valued and supported lead to an inability to “turn off” aggression in players’ personal lives. Already studies show that many soldiers have difficulty making the transition from war to dealing with family ad civilian life when they come home. Should there be therapy for NFL players during and at the end of their playing careers?
Perhaps that’s the answer? For the multi-billion dollar profit machine known as the NFL, it might be a worthwhile investment?

I have just returned from my 14th Toronto International Film Festival and, as usual, here is my travelogue, experiences, and movie reviews. I once again stayed with the nicest friends one could possibly have, and this year, I had my best friend from college and his family, including my two godsons with me. It was more special experiencing the film festival as though it was the first time through their eyes.
Compared with 2013, this year was an excellent year. Last year, I had a difficult time finding movies that fit into my schedule (and were available to regular folks); this year, my initial review of write-ups on the web site led to 42 possible films. Several played after I left town, and some overlapped, so I had to make decisions on some films, so I saw 17 films this year. All of the films were well made and looked good. Only a few were mediocre, but there were no bad films.
SPOILER WARNING – I will discuss some plot points in order to fully discuss the films so be warned..

Day 1 – Friday, September 5, 2014

Films – The Tale of the Princess Kaguya – dir. by Isao Takahata
Coming Home – dir. Zhang Yimou

Most years, I leave on Friday, pick up my tickets (which can be a long, arduous experience) then see one film, but this year I have two with the most important being “The Tale of Princess Kaguya” by Isao Takahata (“Grave of the Fireflies”). This was the director’s first film in 15 years, and as the second vital artistic piece of Japan’s Studio Ghibli that had been scheduled for 2013 along with Kayao Miyazaki’s “The Wind Rises,” this was a must film for me. The 1,000 pound gorilla in the room was whether this was the studio’s final film since the slow, but much more prolific Miyazaki announced his retirement last year and the studio has put its film making unit “on hiatus.”
The huge surprise was that Mr. Takahata attended the film. As director of the documentary “Kingdom of Dreams and Madness” (I saw this later in the festival) said – “if Mr. Miyazaki is Mount Fuji, Mr. Takahata is Mount Everest.” In fact, during the documentary, Miyazaki and studio producer Suzuki comment frequently on Takahata’s progress or lack thereof. Mr. Takahata said that this was his last film (he is 76 but looks younger), but made no further comment about the future of Studio Ghibli.
Then came the film, a Japanese folktale about a bamboo farmer who finds special bamboos stalks in the forest – several of them issue gold when the tree is cut, and another one is a small little girl who quickly transforms into a human baby. The baby is taken in by the cutter and his wife who are childless. The baby grows very quickly and soon is playing with other kids in the area. But the bamboo cutter believes that the girl is a princess and that the spirits that gave them the girl is telling him to raise Kaguya as a true princess, meaning, build a castle in the capital, raising her, and finding her a suitable husband.
The story is very much a feminist tale – the princess does not want to be anyone’s wife and sets her five suitors different “impossible” tasks to prove their love for her. Eventually, even the emperor wants to marry her, but none succeed. Eventually, we find out where the princess comes from, leading to a truly mystical ending that was very different from the story most Japanese people know, but it was a beautiful, fitting ending. While we understand that this is probably Mr. Takahata’s last film, we have to hope that this isn’t the case. No matter what, it is a lyrical masterpiece.
I have enjoyed many films directed by Zhang Yimou over the years, including “Hero” and “House of Flying Daggers,” but I discovered him through his even earlier films “Shanghai Triad,” “Red Sorghum” “To Live” “Raise the Red Lantern,” and “Ju Dou,” a great series of films starring the radiant actress Gong Li. The two had not worked together since those films of the 1980s, but here, they are reunited in a film that involves a couple trying to reunite.
The new film “Coming Home” is a touching slice of life drama pulled from recent Chinese history. Ms. Li plays a school teacher whose husband was arrested 10 years before we meet her during the Cultural Revolution. She lives at home with her daughter who was only 3 years old when her father was taken away. As the story opens, the husband has been able to escape and the authorities put the family under surveillance. As a good citizen (and for a personal reason that I will not disclose), the daughter helps the state recapture her father as her mother tried to help her dad.
Three years later, the Revolution is over and the father is released. The daughter has moved to a factory collective, but her mother has lapsed into early stage dementia and she does not remember her own husband standing directly in front of her. The husband tries many different methods to jog his wife’s memory. As in so many Asian films, there is a melancholy feel to the film, but this was a touching, beautifully acted film.
Also, it was great to see Mr. Yimou travel all the way from China to introduce the film. It would have been wonderful to see Ms. Li.

Day 2 – Saturday, September 6, 2014

Films: Cut Snake – director Tony Ayers
The Dark Horse – director James Napier Robinson
Who Am I – No System Is Safe – directed by Baran bo Odar

I had originally tried to see “The Tale of Princess Kaguya” this morning, but it was sold out, so I chose a gritty film from Australia called “Cut Snake” directed by Tony Ayers, an experienced director and producer from Australia. I did not know the actors prior to seeing the film, but they all have been in films or TV shows that I know but I have not seen.
Sullivan Stapleton (“300: Rise of an Empire,” “Animal Kingdom”), plays Jim and he is looking for his friend “Sparra” played by Alex Russell (“Carrie,” “Chronicle”). Eventually, he finds Sparra living on the other side of Australia; he has a blue collar job and a girlfriend played by, Jessica De Gouw (TV series “Arrow, and “Dracula”). Her family has some money and have lent them some in order to buy a small house.
Stapleton arrives and says that Sparra “owes him.” Menace just streams off Stapleton’s character, and in a lesser film it would have been some “big score” that the Jim would be trying to get Sparra to get into. But this film takes a different path. Before the situation escalates into a final, violent climax, we find out that the story is a romantic triangle buried in a noir film. Stapleton and Russell (who I did get to meet) were particularly fine in roles that require both to be tough and tender. Their relationship wasn’t “gay” in the traditional sense, it was a love between people in prison. This is well worth watching if you get the chance.
The next film was a real gem. “The Dark Horse” is the story of Genesis Potini, a chess champion dealing with mental illness. He is released into the care of his old friend Ariki, who is now a member of a motorcycle/criminal gang. As long as Genesis doesn’t get in the way and takes his medication, he can stay with his friend and his teenage son and he will keep the hospital people off his back.
Eventually, Genesis finds a chess club, which is mostly a place for kids to be after school and away from the bad element in the impoverished area. Eventually, Genesis gets involved in the club and coaches the kids to play in the New Zealand junior chess championship. Cliff Curtis (“Colombiana,” “Sunshine” and “The Fountain”) gained 60 pounds to play the real life character, and he was transcendent as the troubled, but noble man.
Writer and director James Napier Robinson did a wonderful job with the story, and especially getting terrific performances from the kids in the club and especially Wayne Hapi who plays Ariki. Mr. Hapi has never acted before, but he was great. This is a “feel good” movie that shows a side of the world we don’t know and a man and a chess club that will not be forgotten. Mr. Potini died a few years ago, but his wife and young son were at the screening, and I had the opportunity to be next to the family on the way out. Very cute child and his mother seemed very nice. An honor.
After all of serious films, I think I was ready for a more traditional thriller. One new feature that TIFF added this year were trailers for many of the films, giving you a better choice when picking movies, and this one’s trailer stood out.. I has already been intrigued by the premise on paper of the German film “Who Am I – No System Is Safe” and when I saw the slick trailer, I made it a priority pick. I was not disappointed. This story, directed by Baran bo Odar, is the story of Benjamin, a “nobody” who becomes one of the best computer hackers in the world. He falls in with a group of fellow hackers and make their mark in the world on videos with Guy Fawkes masks like in “V for Vendetta.”
The group idolizes another hacker and they try to become friends, but he spurns them (their meetings in cyberspace is like “The Matrix” inside a subway train). The film turns into a high tech thriller with a plot taken in part from “The Usual Suspects.” Yes, this film takes a lot from lots of other films, but it does so with style and invention to take these parts and do something interesting with it. I liked it a lot.

Day 3 – Sunday – February 7, 2014

Films: The Price We Pay – directed by Harold Crooks
Top Five – directed by Chris Rock
Roger Waters’ The Wall – directed by Roger Waters and Sean Evans
The World of Kanako – directed by Tetsuya Nakashima

I like to watch documentaries at TIFF and I always try to have 1 or 2 in the mix. Of course, some are very serious, and other times, they are music films, usually involving rock bands. Today, I had one of each of this type of film.
The day began with “The Price We Pay” directed by veteran documentarian Harold Crooks. It is the story of corporate tax evasion and the tax havens like the Cayman Islands, and the Jersey Islands in England, a particularly timely topic in light of the Walgreens and Burger King situations in the U.S.
The film discusses the billions of dollars in this “limbo,” untouchable by governmental entities allowing multinational corporations and the super rich to avoid taxes altogether through accounting prestidigitation. Unlike many documentaries of this type, the graphics were very well done and explained very well the issues and problems they created. Also unlike many films like this, the film had a couple of suggestions for improvement, mostly, bringing together all of the world’s countries under a unifying tax strategy that would make companies pay taxes on the amount of value that they get from each country, not matter where they book the profits.
The film ultimately depressed me since, as we know, politicians will never do anything like that, and the corporations and ultra rich will pay them off to keep it that way.
I needed a film to lift my spirits, and fortunately, I got one. “Top Five” is the latest film written and directed by comedian Chris Rock (who attended along with most of the cast including Rosario Dawson, Cedric the Entertainer, and JB Smooth). Rock plays comedian Andre Allen, who is interviewed by a New York Times writer played by Ms. Dawson. Allen has made some successful comedies, mostly in action comedies when he is dressed in a bear suit. But for the past several years, he has gotten away from comedies, trying to make serious films.
The serious films have not done well and the same seems to be the fate for his latest film about a slave uprising in Haiti. So, Allen spends one day with Ms. Dawson’s character and the two learn more about each other and themselves in the course of the day.
The film was a bit formulaic but it was hilarious. It was raunchy like most comedies seem to be these days, but it wasn’t as mean as many current comedies have been. I have not been a fan of Rock as a director, but he showed a maturity in this film. Plus, in the Q&A session after the film, he said that he started writing the script while waiting for scenes in “Grown Ups 2.” Considering how disastrous and unfunny those films were, I guess we should be glad we got something good to show for them.
I was at Northwestern University in 1979-1980 when the double album Pink Floyd The Wall was released, and it was obsequious – EVERYBODY had a copy of The Wall – white kids, black kids, Asians. Everybody had the record, and the big Floyd fan that I am certainly had it and played the grooves out of it. I have seen and own a copy of the Alan Parker film, but I didn’t go to see the writer, Roger Waters’ restaging of the rock opera. To a certain extent, when I saw that Waters had made a new film of The Wall, I wondered did we really need ANOTHER concert film of this material.
Well, since the Parker film wasn’t a concert film, I guess the answer was yes. TIFF messed up on this one – originally in the schedule book, the film was a premium film (meaning more money and limited access, actually no access for the ticket package I bought), but by the time we could choose movies online, the film was no longer premium. Either not enough “eligible” people chose it and they changed it to a regular film, or people just assumed they couldn’t go and gave up. As a result the large Ryerson Theater was not full. There was a good house, but not the usual packed house that I experienced for all of the other films.
Anyway, it was a more personal look at Waters’ father and grandfather who died is World Wars II and I respectively, and used a road trip from France to Italy to visit the memorial at Anzio, Italy where his father died as backdrop for the concert footage. Waters and co-director Sean Evans who also designed Waters’ concert, had Waters in conversation with unnamed people in the car, at a bar, and in a house, which I guess was intended to represent Waters’ mind. The conversations were a bit distracting and I admit that while I got the symbolism, I wanted to know who these characters were or represented. There was a good bit where Waters and I think his grandchildren went to his father’s grave – that was quite touching.
Other than that, it was a fairly straightforward concert film, with an interesting view of the musicians playing as the wall is built between them and the audience. It was loud, the music was well played, and the album convincingly reproduced. If you like The Wall, the album, you will like the movie. If not, you may be bored.
My friends, if you have followed my TIFF exploits over the years, you know that I do have a love of Asian action movies, and the one that definitely caught my eye this year was The World of Kanako, a film that mashed together “Old Boy,” and Quintin Tarantino movies. Koji Yakusho (“13 Assassins”) is Fujishima, a former detective who is now a security guard. One day, he finds some kids who have been brutally murdered in a store on his guard route. At the same time, his ex-wife contacts him to find their only daughter Kanako.
Fujishima is a drunken mess with a vicious temper that he takes out on everyone in his path. As he tries to find his daughter, he learns that she is FAR from the innocent girl he remembers, and he runs into crooked cops, the yakuza, child pornography, drug use, high school crushes and bullying, suicide and double crosses abound. Fujishima is beaten up, shot, cut and gives as good as he gets, mostly by running his car into the cars of his enemies (that comes off as pretty funny, actually). The beatings are the “Old Boy” reference; several times, people get hit, and there are animated blood splatter, which is the most obvious Tarantino homage.
It was violent, it was bloody, but as a grind house, b-movie way, it wasn’t bad. There were no characters to root for, really (Fujishima was a bastard), but you did want to find the girl, but like peeling an onion, each layer showed another level of Kanako, and each layer seemed to be more unseemly than the last. Still worth seeing but only if you like this sort of thing.

Day 4 – Monday, September 8, 2014

Films – Love & Mercy directed by Bill Pohlad
Time Out of Mind directed by Oren Moverman
The Kingdom of Dreams and Madness directed by Mami Sunada
Labyrinth of Lies directed by Giulio Ricciarelli

Music bio-pics are the rage these days with James Brown and Jimi Hendrix gracing the screen, so I guess it was time for a film about the Beach Boys’ tortured genius Brian Wilson. “Love & Mercy” is that film, but unlike the other bio pics, this is not just a rote retelling of Wilson’s life. It centers on two periods, the period when Wilson put together the classic “Pet Sounds” album, and the early 1990s when Wilson is under the “care” of Dr. Eugene Landy.
The film takes an interesting approach by casting two actors to play Wilson at the different stages of his life. Paul Dano (’12 Years A Slave,” “Prisoners,” Looper”) was magnificent as the younger Wilson, with the film doing a very good job in taking you into the creative process, and the abuse from his father and the pressures of fame that helped lead Wilson into madness. According to Pohlad (best known as a producer of “12 Years a Slave,” and “The Tree of Life”), Dana did all of his own singing and impressed the real musicians who were playing the Pet Sounds musicians as he “conducted” them..
Unfortunately, the older Wilson was played by John Cusack. I love him, but he wasn’t right in this film. He didn’t seem like he was playing the same character Dano was; he was just John Cusack, just a little more crazy. (Plus, Cusack had the most eye makeup on that I have ever seen on a male actor who was not playing a drag queen.) The focus of this part of the story was Wilson meeting his future wife, played by Elizabeth Banks and her efforts to get Wilson away from Landy, played by Paul Giamatti.
One had to wonder what was Ms. Banks’ character doing with Wilson – he was so eccentric that most women would have run away, especially with the controlling Landy getting involved in everything. Giamatti did what he could with a textbook villain, but it was this part that brought the film down. Overall, the film was OK, but the early years with Mr. Dano were terrific.
Oren Moverman directed “Rampart” a terrific film starring Woody Harrelson as a racist, brutal L.A. cop who lives with two of his ex-wives. On the basis of that (and unbeknownst to me ahead of time, Mr. Moverman wrote “Love & Mercy”), I chose his latest film “Time Out of Mind.” Richard Gere plays a homeless man, and the film follows his character through a number of encounters with people and mostly his attempt to reconcile with his daughter, played by Jena Malone. Gere is mostly moving from place to place, trying to find something to eat and a place to sleep, getting hassled by various people, being befriended for a time by another homeless man played by Ben Vereen (who also had a very small part in “Top Five”).Eventually, he stays in a regular shelter and starts trying to build his life again on a small scale by trying to get his Social Security card.
Most of this film is vignettes, and the film looks nice, but there are three major problems with this film. First, it is relatively pointless. I realize that it is a slice-of-life film about a homeless person trying to get back in touch with his daughter, but that takes up only a few minutes of screen time, the rest of the film is just Gere wandering.
Second, and the biggest problem with the film was Mr. Gere. His acting was fine, but, first, he had to be the cleanest homeless person I have ever seen. The film showed that Gere’s character got access to a shower each day, but while his clothes were wrinkled, they were fairly clean. Gere’s character sleeps on the subway, but people sit next to him while he’s sleeping. Even if he’s clean, I don’t know if many people would have sat next to him. Plus he’s Richard f%^&ing Gere! He has the best beard of all time – nicely trimmed at all times. One of the characters, a social worker, even remarks, “you’re a handsome man,” to which Gere replies “am I?” It was Richard Gere walking around Manhattan.
Finally, while Gere’s character and the daughter make references to how he messed up his life, and the character seems to have headaches and trouble remembering things, it still seems like all he needs is some therapy and the proper medication and he could improve his situation. So, it was hard to see what problems this guy had. And, there was none of the violence and horrible things that happen to homeless people depicted in the film. The shelter was old and had mice, but all people were all in their own worlds. In short, a nicely shot film without a point and one in which I didn’t suspend my disbelief very much which made it hard to care.
My TIFF year of recurring themes continued with the documentary “The Kingdom of Dreams and Madness,” which allowed unfettered access to Studio Ghibli, especially Hayao Miyazaki as he was making his last film “The Wind Rises.” Director Mami Sunada spent a long time at the studio with Miyazaki and producer Toshio Suzuki showing the business side of the studio (merchandising and other aspects), and the work that Mr. Miyazaki put in on the film. There were a lot of people working there, and it was obvious that they were animators, but it didn’t really show what part they played in the production.
Following the legendary Miyazaki around was interesting, but also their comments about the third partner in Studio Ghibli, Isao Takahata, who was working on “The Tale of the Princess Kaguya,” but that they commented that they thought it would never be finished (showing at TIFF this year, see Day 1). In commentary after the film, Ms. Sunada said that if Miyazaki was Mt. Fuji, getting to interview or see Mr. Takahata at work was like Mt. Everest. Still, he does appear in the film at one point, but it would have been interesting to see more of the work on the other project.
The film ended at the announcement last year that Mr. Miyazaki was retiring and the rumors continue that the studio is going to close permanently very soon. That was the most interesting part of the story, the 600 pound elephant in the room that no one had an answer for – is this the end of Studio Ghibli? Mr. Miyazaki says in the film that it will end soon, but none of the other people working there was interviewed for their feelings and reactions. Miyazki’s son Goro (who directed “From Up On Poppy Hill” from his father’s screenplay) appears briefly, mostly saying that he loves doing animation, but would only do it for the people working at Ghibli; if he had a choice he would do something else. What is he doing now? Would he want to keep animating?
This was a fascinating subject and while the film was a good look at Miyazaki, there was so much more that I would have liked to have seen.
Again, long term readers know that I always seem to have one Nazi film. In past years, I have seen various films like “Good,” “Downfall,” and “Blind Spot: Hitler’s Secretary.” This year, I chose a different kind of Nazi film. “Labyrinth of Lies” directed by Giulio Ricciarelli is a fictionalized account of events leading up to the trial of many former Nazis in Germany in the 1960s. Newcomer Alexander Fehling plays a young prosecutor who has been mostly trying traffic offenses. An artist comes face to face with a former concentration camp guard working as a schoolteacher and brings it to the attention of a newspaper reporter. The artist and the reporter take this information to the prosecutor’s office and no one wants to take on the case; everyone wants to put the past behind them, except for the young prosecutor and the German Attorney General played by Gert Voss who died after making this film.
So the young lawyer begins to investigate the war and settles on Auschwitz. It seems that the young people of the day did not even know about Auschwitz and those that had some knowledge believed that it was just a POW camp and any violence that occurred there was similar to what had happened in Allied camps. As the lawyer learns the truth, he and his fiancée along with all of the next generation of Germans had to confront the war and their parents’ potential participation in the war.
This was a very good film, showing the aftermath of World War II that most people don’t know or grasp.

Day 5 – Tuesday, September 9, 2014

Films: Rosewater directed by Jon Stewart
The Look of Silence directed by Joshua Oppenheimer
Red Army directed by Gabe Polsky
Hyena directed by Gerard Johnson

I admit being curious about The Daily Show’s Jon Stewart’s directorial debut, “Rosewater” a film about Mazar Bahari, a Newsweek reporter who appeared in a Daily Show bit, but was then imprisoned in Iran for over 100 days for being a spy. Bahari, played by the great Gael Garcia Bernal (“Babel”) befriends a group of young Iranians and as a result films Iranian army troops shooting on a killing protestors.
Bahari’s father and sister both died in Iranian prisons and in solitary confinement, Bahari has conversations with them in his mind as he tries to endure the mental and physical torture. Of course, written by Stewart, Bahari’s lies and exaggerations about adultery, porn and massages that obviously is titillating to his interrogator are very funny.
This was Stewart’s directorial debut, and he obviously has talent behind the camera. The film was beautifully shot, and other than a few “artsy” shots at the beginning of his family appearing as reflections in shop windows as Bahari walked around, it was a solid piece of work. However, for some reason, there was a lack of tension in Bahari’s plight. Maybe because we knew the story so well, it didn’t quite click; even when made to kneel with a gun cocked at his head, there was a lack of tension. It was good, but lacking somehow.
Two years ago at TIFF, I watched a haunting but bizarre documentary that was eventually nominated for an Academy Award called “The Art of Killing.” Director Joshua Oppenheimer’s film followed men who had participate in the slaughter of thousands of “communist” Indonesians in the 1960s. The men were all in positions of power and well thought of in their areas, and were proud of their crimes to the point of choreographing dance numbers, vividly recreating murders they had committed, and one of the killers spent most of the film in drag to be a female character in their “film.”
Oppenheimer returned to the subject in “The Look of Silence” where he followed the attempts of one brave man, named Adi, to confront the men who had killed his brother. In the film, we see the impact the murder, a famous one since the victim was seen because he had been able to escape his captors and make his way back to his parents’ home before being recaptured and killed. The body was even found, not hidden or buried.
We find out how the man was murdered and we see the impact that had on the mother and father, both very elderly. Adi used his job as an ophthalmologist testing the accused’s eyes for glasses as a way to get near the subjects. As expected, some told him that he was treading on dangerous ground; some told him that they were no longer involved in politics and for him to stay out of politics; some family members of dead murderers refused to see or accept the facts.
In my opinion, the second film was better than the first one since we had a sympathetic character to follow (in the first film, Oppenheimer was the unseen interviewer), but both are very revealing of the genocide that occurred in this country and was unusual in that the murderers ended up on the winning side so they not only profited, but were heroes in their own minds.
This film also showed how powerful film could be. At the screening two years ago, the Indonesian delegation to Canada attended and walked out in the middle of the film, and it was apparent that Oppenheimer was no longer allowed in the country. I am still unclear as to the time line of this film – was it filmed while Oppenheimer was making the first film, or was he able to sneak back into the country later, but in the Q&A (at which the Documentary programmer asked all of the questions and no one in the audience was able to ask a question) and included a very emotional moment since Adi was able to attend. Oppenheimer stated that Adi’s whole family had been moved some 1,000 km away from their home in order to protect them. One only hopes they are safe. You should see this one.
One of the first movies I picked was “Red Army,” another documentary, but on a very different topic, the Soviet Hockey Team of the 1970s and 1980s. Directed by young Chicagoan Gabe Polsky, it told the story mostly through the eyes of one of the greatest hockey players in Russian and NHL history, Slava Fetisov.
The film discussed the system in place in Russia to identify and train the best talents, then how they came to dominate international hockey in the Olympics and Canada Cup tournaments. Fetisov was also one of the first players to come to the U.S., building a champion of the Detroit Red Wings. But that was a long, convoluted story full of treachery on the part of the Soviet officials, and distain from NHL players and media lamenting the loss of Canadian jobs in the NHL.
It was, for hockey fans, a star studded affair. Wayne Gretzky was in the audience as was his old teammate Paul Coffey. Former Red Wing Head Coach and current Blackhawks consultant Scotty Bowman was in the audience also (he was in the film). It was a very good movie for hockey fans, but it also delved into the Cold War attitude of the United States and Russia and how important hockey was to both sides. A terrific documentary.
Then, my TIIF came to an end for the year with Hyena, a gritty English film directed by Gerard Johnson. Peter Ferdinando (“Doctor Who,” “300: Rise of an Empire”) plays Michael, a detective on the drug squad who leads a group that are dirty. They take drug money from busts and some of the drugs also. Michael, who has the biggest cocaine addition in recent film history, has been striking out on his own though – he is working with a Turk to build his own drug connection to England. That is, until he witnesses a couple of Albanians chop up his partner while Michael hides, since he can’t be caught in that place.
Michael is being investigated, while being picked for a special task force to deal with the Albanians. Again, double crosses are everywhere as Michael meets a young woman who is “owned” by the brothers. She is sold to another couple of people, but Michael rescues her from them, but at the end, the brothers are in Michael’s safe house waiting for Michael to return with his ex-girlfriend and the other woman; Michael has killed a cop who was trying to frame him, another cop who was in on setting Michael up has been killed and cut into pieces by the brothers. Basically, Michael’s life is in tatters and a showdown with the brothers is coming.
In the tradition of “The Sopranos” however, that is where the film ends. Nothing else happens, credits roll. Now, we have just spent nearly two hours with some of the more reprehensible characters on film, and the audience was cheated out of knowing what happened at the end. Too bad, but I wanted to know and that brought down the film in my opinion.

So, that’s it – a full record of my visit to TIFF for 2014. Overall, it was a very good year for films with none of them horrible although there were some films that could have been better. So, while it is unfair, and we are mixing documentaries with fiction films, here is my list of preference from least to most:

17. Time Out of Mind
16. Hyena
15. Rosewater
14. The World of Kanako
13. Kingdom of Dreams and Madness
12. Love & Mercy
11. Roger Waters The Wall
10. The Price We Pay
9. The Look of Silence
8. Cut Snake
7. Top Five
6. Who Am I – No System Is Safe
5. Labyrinth of Lies
4. Red Army
3. Coming Home
2. The Dark Horse
1. The Tale of Princess Kaguya

That’s it – see you next year.

The biggest story in sports while I was away involved the continuing revelations in the Ray Rice case. Rice was in trouble for knocking his then fiancée unconscious and dragging her from an elevator in the spring. NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell gave Rice a two game suspension, half of the suspension for use of marijuana. Amidst the criticism, Goodell announced a tougher standard on domestic violence, too late for Rice, but with two other high profile players facing criminal charges for violence, it was supposed to end the issue. The world, certainly the league, was moving on.
That is, until TMZ released a video from inside the elevator showing Rice apparently spit on Janay Rice before delivering a devastating right hand which knocked her out cold. Rice’s employer, the Baltimore Ravens quickly released the running back; the Ravens’ owner Steve Bisciotti said that he “wanted” to believe that the incident wasn’t as bad as we later found out. At first, the NFL said that the league never received the video and no one saw it before the release last week, but there was a story that the league had the TMZ video several months ago.
Unfortunately, there has been an number of announcers and analysts who have rushed to blame Mrs. Rice. A Fox News idiot joked that she should “take the stairs.” Plenty of people have mentioned her “guilt” in instigating the fight. Too many people have commented on the fact that the victim still married her. Women attended the Ravens first game wearing Ray Rice jerseys in support. No one mentioned the fact that it usually takes many incidents of violence before battered women get the courage to leave their abusive spouses/boyfriends. But there’s no compassion or empathy from those people.
Which leads us to the question that has become famous since the Senate Watergate Committee nearly 40 years ago: “what did Commissioner Goodell know and when did he know it?” The league has hired a former FBI chief to head up an “independent investigation” to answer those questions, and the chorus of media and the public calling for Goodell’s resignation/firing has intensified.
Ordinarily, I think the NFL’s owners, Goodell’s employers, would support the man that continues to make them billions of dollars each year, wait for the incident to “blow over,” and hope for things to return to the status quo. A decade ago, this would probably have worked, but this is the post-Donald Sterling era, where the cameras and microphones are everywhere. Now, Goodell, who was supposed to be the tough guy on player indiscretions, is under fire.
Personally, Goodell this has been the ultimate example of his ineptitude and he should be fired or resign. We all know that football is the ultimate testosterone orgy, there is no excuse for hitting a woman (or a woman hitting a man for that matter, but since men are usually physically bigger or stronger, along with the traditional crap about gender roles). Like I said above, I know that without the TMZ video, Ray Rice would be getting ready to play in next week’s game and Roger Goodell would be secure. But for the PR hyperconscious NFL, where any discretion cannot be allowed to stop the gravy train, this is probably the end for Goodell.
And that’s a good thing,.