TIFF 2014 - Do I Sound Gay?, Jon Stewart and The Last Five Years

Busy day Sunday, and a lovely sunny day to stand in line, with two Mavericks presentations and the world premiere of The Last 5 Years.

First up was Do I Sound Gay? from first time filmmaker David Thorpe.  The documentary traces Thorpe's attempts to sound "less gay" after a breakup with his boyfriend and at a low point in self confidence through visits to speech therapists, vocal coaches and discussions with friends, random strangers and well known members of the gay community.   I thought it was very well done and entertaining, with a lovely message about knowing and feeling comfortable with yourself and your own voice.

The presentation was followed by an extended Q&A/discussion with Thorpe and Dan Savage (who is featured in the film).  Savage is always good for a sound bite and the conversation was lively and interesting.  Thorpe was understandably excited for his 'first' movie/screening and seemed very appreciative of the warm response of the audience for the film.  I would hope that the documentary will show up on Netflix if nothing else and it's a good way to spend 90 minutes of your time: A-.

The afternoon brought my one of my most anticipated (to the surprise of absolutely no one who knows me) tickets of the festival with the Mavericks Conversation with Jon Stewart.  Jon is in town for the screening of his directorial debut Rosewater tonight, the film about the imprisonment of reporter Maziar Bahari (at least partially due to his appearance on The Daily Show) following the 2009 elections in Iran.  This movie was what led him to give up his day job to John Oliver last summer while filming.

For the first half of the discussion, Stewart was interviewed by local boy Jian Ghomeshi.  They discussed Jon's process of getting involved in writing and directing the film, how his experience on The Daily Show translated to the director's chair and his satisfaction with how the movie turned out.  He is always a great interview and very much knows how to play to his audience (he had to make sure to get a Rob Ford reference in for the Toronto crowd).  There's nothing more attractive than a smart, well-spoken man :-).  They were then joined by Maziar Bahari himself to speak in a little more detail about his experience and how he and Jon formed a relationship that led to the movie.  I was a bit disappointed that there was no time at the end of their formal discussion for audience Q&A, though there was nothing I would have asked that wasn't covered during the roughly 90 minute session.  All in all, a damn fine way to spend the afternoon.

Last on the schedule was the world premiere of the off-broadway musical adaptation of The Last 5 Years.  A basic story about the beginning, middle and end of a relationship with the unique framing device of being told in reverse chronological order from Cathy's (Anna Kendrick) perspective and forward from Jamie's (Jeremy Jordan).  The two only actually sing together when their stories meet in the middle with the proposal and marriage.

5 Years premiered off-broadway in 2002 and has a rather cultish fan base. Basically if you were to try to find a bullseye for the target market for this film I would be it, so of course I loved it.  Jason Robert Brown's score is fantastic and Anna Kendrick is rightfully being cast in every movie musical being made right now.  A cameo by original Cathy Sherie Rene Scott was icing on top of the cake.

Director Richard LaGravenese, Jason Robert Brown, Jeremy Jordan and Anna Kendrick fielded questions from the audience afterwards.  They discussed how they got involved in the project (Jordan mentioned he was ready to sing basically an song from the score for his audition), the differences in bringing the story from the stage to the screen and how the movie was made on a relatively low-budget and rapid schedule.  For me (and fellow broadway geeks) the movie gets an A, for the average audience I'd put it at a B+.