Even more TIFF'09

Same Same But Different
Young German lad hooks up with a Malaysian prostitute, and falls tendering in love with her while backpacking through her town. She has no prospectives, or ambitions, but he stays by her side, despite family and friends telling him she has no future. I thought this was a very sweet movie, but at times didn't understand why he would still put up with her, even in times where she was infidelitous. Gorgeous cinematography of the Cambodian country-side.

Bran Nue Day
This was also a sweet movie, and had some cute song and dance numbers, along with a ridiculous performance by Geoffrey Rush. An Aboriginal adolescent has a girlfriend in his hometown, who he has trouble admitting his feelings to. He is shipped off to boarding school by his mother who wants him to be a priest so he can live a life of good means. The boy is not happy at the school and runs back home because he wants to be with his friends, family and girlfriend. Hilarious hijicks occur on his trek back home. My favourite parts all involve a tight-wad German hippy-tourist who is in Australia to find his father, and become spiritual.

High Life
It's 1983, a group of junkies are down on their luck, and want to score big cash, fast, decide to rob a bank's ATM machines. This movie is based on a theatrical play, and when it was adapted for the screen, they decided to flesh out narrative that doesn't take place in theatrical-like settings. I would have been interested to see a version that was more real to the play. Parts of the film strongly resonated scene and ideas in Reservoir Dogs, and I can't help but think they are conscious montages to the popular heist film. The film overall was enjoyable, but felt rushed. It ended with the feeling that the main character has not changed, and will likely live a cyclical existence of petty crime, jail, repeat.

Precious: Based on the the Novel "Push" by Sapphire
This film won TIFF's People Choice award, which it deserves because it embodies the elements of a film that people go to a festival to see. Dangerous Minds meets Dreamgirls is a tame analogy because Precious does try to push the envelope, when it comes to depicting an accurate account of a hard life people lead when they are in similar circumstances.
Precious is about young woman who was impregnated twice by her father, frequently abused by her mother, and lacks basic education. She escapes her harsh reality by fanasizing about a glamourous life she would like to lead. One of my favourite scenes is when Precious' mother is watching an Italian film (which I am pretty positive is La Ciociara staring Sophia Loren) and Precious escapes into the film with her mother, and they start speaking Italian and portraying the mannerisms of the characters in the film. For anyone who has seen La Ciociara, it's likely it was picked to be in Precious intentionally because it also involves a rape scene, and it is about the relationship between a mother and daugther.
I think it a way Precious is trying to be the big little film of the year. With backers including Oprah and Tyler Perry, it's definitely going to get attention, regardless of whether people actually go see it.
It's a nice film to see, but it's hard to say at this point whether it'll having staying power or not.