BEST BETS
Sep. 10, 2006. 01:00 AM



Capsule reviews of recommended movies from critics Peter Howell and Geoff Pevere and entertainment writers John Terauds and Susan Walker, for movies screening today at the festival.


Babel

High in the mountains of Morocco, two goat-herding youths decide to test a rifle meant to chase away predators. They thoughtlessly aim the gun at a distant tourist bus and the consequences prove disastrous and far-reaching. Mexican auteur Alejandro González Iñárritu returns to the themes of fateful tragedy and the unseen webs that entangle us all. Bravura work by Brad Pitt, Cate Blanchett and others. (11:30 a.m., Elgin.) PH


Candy

"Once upon a time, there was Candy and Dan ..." goes the storybook narration for Neil Armfield's Australian junkie drama. But this is anything but a dreamy fable. Candy (Abbie Cornish) is a painter and Dan (Heath Ledger) is a poet and they're so much in love, they wonder if anything could ever top their ecstasy. Enter heroin, already a part of Dan's life but soon to engulf them both. The downward spiral contains some of the most harrowing scenes in recent film — consider this a warning — but also some of the strongest performances, from newcomer Cornish, Ledger and from old pro Geoffrey Rush, playing the maker of the liquid death they call "yellow Jesus." (1:30 p.m., Paramount; Sept. 16, 1:15 p.m., Varsity.) PH


The Last Kiss

An ensemble cast and interlocking relationships make this Paul Haggis screenplay mindful of a Robert Altman movie. Zach Braff is Michael, an architect whose girlfriend Jenna (Jacinda Barrett) is pregnant. He's drawn away by Kim, 10 years his junior, at a wedding where other affairs are beginning or ending. Meanwhile Jenna's parents (Blythe Danner and Tom Wilkinson) are having marital difficulties. Michael's complaint that there are no more surprises proves groundless. (6 p.m., Ryerson; Sept. 11, 1:15 p.m., Paramount.) SW


Radiant City

Gary Burns' first movie The Suburbanators visually captured that vast middle-class frontier called the suburbs: the wide intersections, the weirdly empty sidewalks, the vast undulating parking lots. With Radiant City, Burns both glides mysteriously across their impermeable surfaces and probes beneath them. Both a doc on suburban life and a kind of visual space probe of another planet, this film is also thoroughly funny. (2:15 p.m., Bader; Sept. 12, 8:45 p.m., Cumberland.) GP


The Silence

A 40-year-old crime scene photograph of a dead woman becomes an object of obsession and enlightenment for a police detective (Richard Roxborough) shattered by a case gone tragically wrong. Aussie director Cate Shortland's sophomore film brings to mind Antonioni's Blow-Up in its masterful way of weaving drama into a static image. Well-plotted film may give up its secrets a bit too readily, but grand performances by all make you forget the occasional short cut. (2:45 p.m., Varsity; Sept. 15, 6 p.m., ROM.) PH


Le Voyage En Arménie (Armenia)

A headstrong daughter clashes with her father and reluctantly comes to appreciate her ethnic roots in the process. This familiar story is given a fresh twist as a peevish cardiologist (the fiery Ariane Ascaride) follows her elder to his native Armenia, a place where she has never been. One by one, the proud — and often needy — locals open her eyes, ears and mind. (11:30 a.m., Varsity; Sept. 16, 8:30 p.m., Varsity.) JT


Source: Toronto Star