Ghost Town The 2008 Toronto International Film Festival continues with its usually eclectic array of films. David Koepp's "Ghost Town" is a very mainstream offering for Toronto, yet it's quirky and wry enough to appeal to audiences outside of the commercial box.
Ricky Gervais is sublime as rather unhappy dentist Bertram Pincus, a man whose people skills leave much to be desired. When Pincus dies unexpectedly, but is miraculously revived after seven minutes, he wakes up to discover that he now has the annoying ability to see ghosts.
Even worse, they all want something from him, particularly Frank Herlihy [Greg Kinnear], who pesters him into breaking up the impending marriage of his widow Gwen [Tea Leoni]. That puts Pincus squarely in the middle of a triangle of sorts.
Gervais has this uncanny ability to take very sad and isolated characters, and gives them depth of humanity and a wry comic bent. "Ghost Town" is partly a romantic comedy, and partly a film about a sad character that discovers that life, ultimately, revolves around more than himself. Koepp's script is sharp yet emotionally truthful amidst the film's comic subversiveness.
Yet one wonders how effective the film would have been without the ingenious Gervais who skillfully embodies pathos and human isolation better than most Hollywood stars. He is superb and carries the film with authenticity and of course deadpan comic timing.
Leoni is also fabulous here, vulnerably, touching and gracefully funny, and the film is beautifully directed by Koepp who avoids a lot of razzle dazzle, but rather focuses on character and the perfect tone. A gloriously entertaining, deliciously funny and genuinely moving film, Ghost Town deserves to be seen and savored.
Rachel Getting Married Director Jonathan Demme's work has always been nothing if not original, and his "Rachel Getting Married", written by Jenny Lumet [daughter of Sydney] is certainly compelling, due to the film's central performance by Anne Hathaway.
The actress stars as drug addict Kym currently in rehab, who returns to the Buchman family home for the wedding of her sister Rachel [Rosemarie DeWitt], bringing with her a long history of personal crisis and family conflict along.
The wedding Party's abundant cast of friends and relations have gathered for an idyllic weekend of feasting, music and love, but Kym -- with her black-comic one-liners and knack for bombshell drama -- is a catalyst for long-simmering tensions in the family dynamic.
"Rachel Getting Married" has been shot in a quasi-documentary style, a lot of hand-held camera movements to accentuate the film's degree of realism. It's almost too truthful in a way, to such an extent that one wonders what the audience for such a dark and sad tale really is.
However, at the film's heart lay a breathtaking performance by Hathaway who proves what a dynamic and emotionally rich actress she is. Her extraordinary work is likely to be remembered at both the Spirit and Academy Awards, and for my money, she is bound to receive one or both.
All the acting is impressive, but Lumet's script is narratively weak and lacks structure, while delving into family crises and individual self-examination. This is a tough film to sit through, and though at times sharply observed, it doesn't quite mesh together in cinematic harmony.
Yet Hathaway does deliver such a tour-de-force performance that for that reason alone, it may be worth checking out this emotionally draining piece.
