For the benefit of those of you who may eventually be directed here from someone's TIFF rundown, and who may assume that 57/100 amounts to an F.
100-90: Masterpiece, or damn close. Very rare.
89-80: Fanthefucktastic. Near-lock for my year-end top 10 list.
79-70: Definitely something special. Do not miss. Likely list contender.
69-60: Very good, but also flawed or missing some crucial element.
59-50: Didn't quite work for me, but has many redeeming qualities.
49-40: Demerits clearly outweigh merits.
39-30: I really did not enjoy this picture, but talent was involved.
29-20: When will this fucking picture end. When.
19-10: Outright fiasco and/or unwatchably boring.
9-0: One of the worst movies I've ever seen. Very rare.
W/O: I don't know the director and the first two reels (about 35 to 40
minutes) didn't convince me that (s)he has it going on.
The Commune (Thomas Vinterberg,
Denmark/Sweden/Netherlands): TK
[Vinterberg.] (9:45am-11:36am, SBK)
The Magnificent Seven (Antoine Fuqua, USA):
TK
[I am going to regret this decision. But he did make Training
Day, once upon a time.] (Noon-2:13pm, SBK)
The Cinema Travellers (Shirley Abraham & Amit
Madheshiya, India): TK
[Cannes Classics. This is one of those cases in which I'm
probably carrying my Cannes obsession a bit too far.] (2:45pm-4:21pm,
SBK)
Nocturama (Bertrand Bonello, France/Germany/Belgium):
TK
[Bonello. COMBINED SCREENING] (5pm-7:10pm, WGT)
Pyromaniac (Erik Skjoldbjærg, Norway): TK
[Dead slot. I haven't especially liked any of the three Skjoldbjærg
films I've seen, but the other options look even less appetizing.]
(8:15pm-9:53pm, SBK)
Heal the Living (Katell Quilléveré,
France/Belgium): TK
[Bit of a dead slot, and this had been tipped for Cannes. Glowing
Variety review from Lodge. Thought I'd walked out of one of her
previous films, but apparently not*.]
(9am-10:46am, SBK)
* Oh, I remember now: I got a flat tire en route to the screening.
Arrival (Denis Villeneuve, USA): TK
[Villeneuve.] (Noon-1:56pm, POW)
The Beautiful Days of Aranjuez (Wim Wenders,
France/Germany): TK
[Dead slot + general respect. Kinda dreading this, though (and now the
reviews out of Venice are so dire that I'll almost certainly seek out
something else).] (3:45pm-5:22pm, SBK)
The Duelist (Alexey Mizgriev, Russia):
TK
[Dead slot; don't see many Russian films; I like Ridley Scott's The
Duellists (and sorta like Lee Myung-se's Duelist).]
(5:45pm-7:35pm, SBK)
Divines (Houda Benyamina, France/Qatar): TK
[Cannes Fortnight. PUBLIC SCREENING.] (9pm-10:46pm, HOT)
The Secret Scripture (Jim Sheridan, Ireland): TK
[Lingering affection based on My Left Foot. These morning slots
tend to be useless in recent years, for some reason.] (9am-10:48am,
SBK)
Nelly (Anne Émond, Canada): TK
[Émond's last film, Our Loved Ones, was quietly
terrific. Means skipping Snowden and The Birth of a Nation,
but I'll live.] (11:15am-12:56pm, SBK)
The Rehearsal (Alison Maclean, New Zealand): TK
[NYFF. I've been waiting for Maclean's follow-up to Jesus' Son for
16 years. (Even saw the doc she co-directed during the dry spell.)]
(2:15pm-3:57pm, SBK)
My Life as a Courgette (Claude Barras,
Switzerland/France): TK
[Cannes Fortnight. PUBLIC SCREENING. Though I'm super tempted
to ditch this and revisit Irma Vep, I have to say. Will have to
see if it's available in the screening library.] (4:45pm-5:51pm, SBK)
Jeffrey (Yanillys Perez, Dominican Republic/France):
TK
[Dead slot. Possible ND/NF selection. Might opt for a meal instead.]
(6:30pm-8:16pm, SBK)
Mimosas (Oliver Laxe, Spain/Morocco/France/Qatar):
TK
[Cannes Critics' Week (where it won the top prize).] (9:30pm-11:03pm,
SBK)
Lion (Garth Davis, Australia): TK
[Dead slot. Might switch to Una, depending on buzz.]
(9:15am-11:24am, SBK)
Planetarium (Rebecca Zlotowski, France/Belgium): TK
[Another case of me prioritizing a film that had been tipped for
Cannes, though my track record with Zlotowski is all W/O.]
(12:15pm-2:01pm, SBK)
(re)ASSIGNMENT (Walter Hill, Canada/France/USA):
TK
[Hill.] (3:15pm-4:50pm, SBK)
Boys in the Trees (Nicholas Verso, Australia): TK
[Dead slot. Trees are pretty.] (6:45pm-8:37pm, SBK)
I Had Nowhere to Go (Douglas Gordon, Germany): TK
[Dead slot. I'll have nowhere to go.] (9:45pm-11:21pm, SBK)
Blair Witch (Adam Wingard, USA): TK
[............................sure, why not. (I've now been assigned
to review this, so it's a definite go.)] (9am-10:29am, SBK)
Salt and Fire (Werner Herzog, France/USA/Germany/Mexico):
TK
[Herzog (though I've had Queen of the Desert sitting here for
months and haven't yet watched it).] (11am-12:33pm, SBK)
Yourself and Yours (Hong Sang-soo, South Korea): TK
[NYFF; Honger.] (2pm-3:26pm, SBK)
Buster's Mal Heart (Sarah Adina Smith, USA):
TK
[Dead slot. Let's see what this Mr. Robot dude is about.]
(4:15pm-5:51pm, SBK)
[NOTE: There's a slew of random stuff I could poke my head into between 6pm and 9pm. I'm not explicitly scheduling any of it; we'll see whether anything seems preferable to just taking a nap.]
The Dreamed Path (Angela Schanelec, Germany):
TK
[One previous Schanelec W/O (Marseille). Time to give her another
chance. Plus the alternatives look dire.] (9:15pm-10:41pm, SBK.)
The B-Side: Elsa Dorfman's Portrait Photography (Errol
Morris, USA): TK
[Morris. This doesn't appear to be top-shelf Morris, but you never
know.] (9am-10:16am, SBK)
The Net (Kim Ki-duk, South Korea):
TK
[Kim. As a diehard fan (who acknowledges that half of his oeuvre is
utter garbage), I'm frustrated that I haven't been able to see his
last couple.] (11:30am-1:24pm, SBK)
The Autopsy of Jane Doe (André Øvredal, USA):
TK
[Dead slot; Emile Hirsch used to follow me on Twitter.] (1:45pm-3:24pm,
SBK)
La La Land (Damien Chazelle, USA): TK
[Whiplash was pretty good, if not as amazing as many insisted.
Raves out of Venice.]
(4:15pm-6:21pm, SBK)
Marija (Michael Koch, Germany/Switzerland): TK
[Dead slot. If I bail on this I might try to rush Raw at 10pm,
same theater.] (7:15pm-8:56pm, SBK)
Nocturnal Animals (Tom Ford, USA/UK): TK
[Really didn't like what I saw of A Single Man, but I'm willing
to try Ford again. Gleiberman mixed-positive.] (9am-10:56am, SBK)
My Entire High School Sinking Into the Sea (Dash Shaw,
USA): TK
[NYFF; great title.] (11:45am-12:57pm, SBK)
Moonlight (Barry Jenkins, USA):
TK
[NYFF. Also, I was on a festival jury with Barry a couple of years ago
and he's a swell guy.] (1:30pm-3:21pm, SBK)
Frantz (François Ozon, France/Germany): TK
[Ozon.] (4pm-5:53pm, SBK)
In the Blood (Rasmus Heisterberg, Denmark):
TK
[Dead slot.] (6:30pm-8:14pm, SBK)
Mean Dreams (Nathan Morlando, Canada): TK
[Cannes Fortnight. PUBLIC SCREENING.] (10pm-11:44pm, SBK)
Daguerrotype (Kiyoshi Kurosawa, France/Japan/Belgium):
TK
[Kurosawa. Would rather have had Creepy, but oh well.]
(9am-11:11am, SBK)
Message From the King (Fabrice du Welz,
UK/France/Belgium): TK
[Du Welz's films are always at the very least interesting.]
(11:30am-1:12pm, SBK)
Prevenge (Alice Lowe, UK): TK
[Dead slot; rooting for it to overcome that gawdawful title. Lodge thumbs
up.] (1:45pm-3:13pm, SBK)
JT + the Tennessee Kids (Jonathan Demme, USA): TK
[Demme, though all of his non-musical documentaries are pretty blah.]
(3:45pm-5:15pm, SBK)
Into the Inferno (Werner Herzog & Clive Oppenheimer,
UK/Austria): TK
[Herzog again.] (6:30pm-8:14pm, SBK)
[And then there's a bunch of random stuff I could end the day with, should I possess the requisite energy.]
Voyage of Time: Life's Journey (Terrence Malick,
Germany): TK
[Duh.] (9:45am-11:15am, SBK)
The Age of Shadows (Kim Jee-woon, South Korea): TK
[This Kim isn't a priority for me, but I'm always happy to see what he's
up to. (Even dug his Arnie flick.) Strong Variety review.]
(11:45am-2:04pm, SBK)
Kékszakállú (Gastón Solnicki,
Argentina): TK
[It's this or fucking Deepwater Horizon, basically.]
(2:30pm-3:42pm, SBK)
Never Ever (Benoit Jacquot, France/Portugal): TK
[Sure, I'll take some Jacquot + Amalric + Balibar.] (4:15pm-5:41pm,
SBK)
Nocturama (Bertrand Bonello, France/Germany/Belgium):
TK
[Bonello. Sure hope I can get into this. PUBLIC SCREENING.]
(9:15pm-11:25pm, LBX)
Everything after this point will be improvised (public screenings). Possible films for Sat/Sun: Raw (Sat 12:30pm LBX); A Quiet Passion (Sun 9am SBK).
Also, I'll be attending the Zurich Film Festival for a week, later in September. They appear to show many of the same films as TIFF, so my schedule may get even more of an 11th-hour shakeup than usual (since their lineup is announced literally the day TIFF starts). For example, if I can easily rewatch Toni Erdmann in Zurich, I'll likely see the Davies on Day One instead. Whereas for the moment I'm greedily trying to squeeze both in here.