Toronto Film Festival: Varied Reviews on Guantanamo Film
The Toronto Film Festival is considered one of the best anywhere. I'd really like to go next year. One of the many films that caught my attention from media reviws is this one, starring Robin Wright Penn, as described by a reviewer:
One of the local papers said that this movie was one of the worst in the festival, so I wasn’t expecting much from it. After seeing it, I must strongly disagree. This is an incendiary film that I am still thinking about. Abdel Kechiche plays Ashade, an Arabian New York City taxi driver. His brother has been locked up in Guantanamo Bay and Ashade is raising money to pay for a lawyer and help support his sister-in-law.
Late one night, he picks up Phoebe (Robin Wright Penn) outside an ATM. She has him drive her to New Jersey , where they sit outside a suburban home for a while before she keys a new SUV that sits in the driveway. Phoebe, who from early on is clearly unstable, works for an MTV-type network and produces a show that’s similar to Cribs. She is also enraged about 9/11 and lets racist comments fly at will.
Just how unstable she is becomes more apparent as the movie progresses. A lonely woman, she steals money from Ashade and is jealous of her friend and co-workers (Sandra Oh) happy life.Ashade, who has been nothing but nice to Phoebe, can’t figure out why she would want to hurt him. In the hopes of making amends, she puts him in touch with a lawyer who might be able to help get his brother home.
It all leads to an ending that left me speechless, my jaw open wide. Phoebe is capable of much more than lies about her employment and racial slurs. I can easily see this being a love-it-or-hate film, with passionate defenders on both sides. I am part of the former. It bluntly deals with sensitive issues and is entirely unpredictable. Powerful little flick.
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