TIFF 2012 - The first weekend report

So, here we are again. Another year gone and I need to figure out my password to access blogger so I can update what has become my TIFF diary.

And to add a level of difficulty to my TIFF-going this year I managed to lose a battle with the Canadian Shield *the day after* I made my TIFF selections and broke my left ankle (surgery...pins & plates...hurray) and sprained my right. So it's TIFF in a wheelchair for me this time around, making me a much more high maintenance date for all of my friends!

I have to say that the festival staff and volunteers have been amazing as I've figured out how to navigate the chaos of the festival in a wheelchair. From the folks on the phone before the fest started helping me to exchange some tickets so that I didn't have any solo screenings to the headset wearing folks at all of the venues (save one slightly testy lady) to all of the people in orange shirts. Thank you for making this much more enjoyable than I was expecting while I was sitting in the hospital a week and a half ago.

Shall we get to the movies themselves?? Brace yourself, I'm behind getting going on the blog this year so here's what I've seen during the first weekend of the festival.

Thursday - Jason Reitman's live read of American Beauty

I've been following the series of readings that Reitman has hosted over the last year or so in LA and NYC over twitter, EW and NYMag with a high degree of jealousy wishing I could attend one. And the "surprise event" that was blocked off in the schedule for night one of the festival turned out to be just that. The concept behind the series, as per Reitman, came from the idea that while theatre productions are often revived and recast on a regular basis, the same doesn't happen with film. So in answer to the question of "who would you cast in this movie if you were casting it today?" he began staging basically unrehearsed table reads with a new cast in front of an audience.

The movie chosen for this reading was American Beauty, a very appropriate choice considering it premiered at TIFF, went on to win the Academy Award and became the first of many films to follow that model over the last few years.  Here is the cast of the reading:

Lester Burnham (Kevin Spacey role) - Bryan Cranston
Carolyn Burnham (Annette Benning) - Christina Hendricks
Jane Burnham (Thora Birch) - Mae Whitman
Ricky Fitts (Wes Bentley) - Adam Driver
Angela Hayes (Mena Suvari) - Sarah Radon
Col Frank Fitts (Chris Cooper) - Nick Kroll
Buddy Kane (Peter Gallagher) - Paul Scheer
Jim (Scott Bakula) - George Stroumboulopoulus

It was a really interesting experience, and amazing to see the actors ease into their roles and start interacting with each other as the reading went on.  Cranston and Hendricks were particularly good (as I would have expected) with the highlight of the night being Hendricks' reading of the sex scene between her character and Buddy Kane.  "Worth the price of admission", Reitman couldn't help interjecting into the middle the scene.

It was a really great way to kick off TIFF.

Friday - Imogene and Frances Ha 

Imogene is a really charming, funny movie that shows off the range of Kristen Wiig.  Wiig stars as the titular Imogene, a failed playwright who fakes a suicide attempt in an effort to win back her boyfriend and gets remanded to the custody of her dysfunctional family.  Annette Benning plays her mother, an Atlantic city gambler with a younger strange boyfriend (Matt Dillion), a socially awkward son (broadway vet Christopher Fitzgerald) and a boarder who's taken up residence in Imogene's girlhood bedroom (Darren Criss).

The movie was written by Michelle Morgan, who also plays a small part in the movie and is loosely based on her own experiences.  Morgan, directors Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini and actors Wiig, Fitzgerald, Criss and June Diane Raphael attended the premiere and held a Q&A following the screening.  Apparently Matt Dillion and Annette Benning were also supposed to be in attendance but had some logistical difficulties getting to Toronto.

I think I'd give this one a B+.

Frances Ha is the latest from director Noah Baumbach and stars indie darling Greta Gerwig (who also co-wrote the script).  Gerwig stars as Frances, an aimless twenty-something dancer who lives in Brooklyn with her best friend Sophie (Mickey Sumner) and has a series of relationships and encounters with fellow dancers, slacker boys, hipsters and her own family as she tries to figure out her life and direction.

The film was shot in black and white and it lends the movie a sort of dreamy feeling.   Baumbach, Gerwig and Sumner took the stage after the movie to do a Q&A and answered questions about the making of this small movie under the radar, the casting and filming process.  Baumbach at one point seemed a bit put out by a question about whether the HBO show Girls had an influence on the movie answering "Yes, because we made the movie in the future". He also discussed the influence of older films and the importance of music in the movie.

Overall I think I'd rate the movie a solid B-, worth seeing but not worth rushing out to find.

Saturday - Argo and The Perks of Being a Wallflower 

Argo was brought to the festival by director Ben Affleck, who in a lovely surprise showed up to introduce the movie to the Saturday morning audience.  He discussed how it felt very fitting that the film was premiering in Canada given the subject matter of the movie and of course pandered to Toronto audiences in the nicest possible way :-).

I really, really liked Argo.  The movie is based on the Iran hostage crisis that started in 1979 and tells the story of the 6 Americans who escaped the embassy and hid in the home of the Canadian ambassador and how they were rescued by an exfiltration expert (Affleck) in the CIA.  It was really well done and the performances were very good (I particularly enjoyed Bryan Cranston as an associate of Affleck's character).  Affleck has really turned into a great director and there were a few shots in the movie that really grabbed my attention.

I'd rate Argo as an A movie, and wouldn't be at all surprised to hear Affleck's name tossed around for Best Director come Oscar time.

The Perks of Being a Wallflower may be the perfect teen-angst movie.  Director Stephen Chbosky adapted his own beloved novel for the screen and cast a group of up and coming young actors to populate the movie.  Emma Watson takes on her first major role post Harry Potter and comes across really well as recovered bad girl Sam, Logan Lerman is wonderful as the introverted Charlie, a misfit freshman with issues and Ezra Miller is amazing as Patrick.  It was a very moving film for both the audience and the cast in attendance (Emma Watson was sobbing as she walked past me to head to the stage for the post film Q&A).

I have never read the novel and now definitely have to pick it up.  Many of the questions from the audience were about the book, and the changes made for the screen.  One guy actually said he had studied the book in grade 11 and had written a paper on the similarities between Charlie and Holden Caulfield, which caused Chbosky to first ask about his grade and then say that he'd love to read it.

A very, very good movie...A- for me.

Sunday - How to Make Money Selling Drugs, The Sessions and Writers

Busy day today!  My only three movie day and I was feeling a bit nervous about being able to get to/sit through three movies but everything went really well.

How to Make Money Selling Drugs is a cheeky documentary with a clear point of view about the futility of the drug war.  Presented in an old school "How To" style, with accompanying icons across the screen and almost video game like sounds as you progress up the levels from corner dealer to cartel leader, it paints a pretty compelling picture of the total failure of the enforcement of drug crime to manage the problems associated with drugs.  The movie includes interviews with former dealers as well as well known figures in the drug discussion including 50 Cent, Russell Simmons, Eminem, Woody Harrelson and Susan Sarandon (?).

Director Matthew Cooke, producer Bert Marcus and former drug smuggler Brian O'Dea took the stage for a Q&A after the screening.  Most of the discussion (as expected) centred around the futility of the drug laws and the need for reform.

It's worth seeing, solid B.  They are hoping for a theatrical release so hopefully you'll have a shot to actually see it.

The Sessions premiered at Sundance this year (where it was originally titled The Surrogate) and has been receiving attention for the performances of John Hawkes and Helen Hunt, as well it should.  The movie is based on the true story of Mark O'Brien, a man struck with polio as a child forced to live most of his life inside an iron lung.  In his late 30's with the help and advice of a caring priest (William H. Macy) he embarks on a relationship with a sex therapist to lose his virginity.

It's a really well done movie, and much much more funny than you would expect it to be.  Hawkes (Oscar nominated for Winter's Bone) gives an incredible performance and Hunt is bravely naked (both literally and emotionally) in her role.

A-.  And I would not be surprised to see Hawkes and Hunt on the Oscar ballet next year.

Writers is a film populated with writers.  Greg Kinnear's William Borgens is an acclaimed author who can't get over his wife (Jennifer Connelly) leaving him for another man, is in an unfulfilling physical relationship with a neighbour (Kristen Bell) and can't write anything new.  His daughter Samantha (Lily Collins) surprises the family with the news that her book is about to be published over Thanksgiving dinner, a book her father didn't even know about.  And his son Rusty (Nat Wolff) is a Stephen King loving teen writer who is struggling with a crush on a troubled girl in his English class (Liana Liberato, who I was crazy impressed with in her last TIFF outing, David Schwimmer's Trust).  Logan Lerman shows up in his second TIFF film as a fellow writer and potential love interest for Sam.

I thought it was a fairly middle of the road movie (B-).  The director and cast hit the stage after the film for a Q&A and all of the young actors on stage seemed to be having a really good time and were enthusiastic about the film and their characters.  Kinnear seemed to be a little bit bored to be there, though maybe he was just letting the younguns have the moment.

Whew.  That's it for the first weekend and first 8 movies on my schedule :-)