TIFF: Final Day - Out with a Bang...and a Whimper

I don't think it adequately expresses how much I loved this morning's film to say that it was my favourite of the festival. Every Little Step is a documentary that follows the casting process for the 2006 revival of A Chorus Line on broadway. From the opening casting call of over 3000 people to the final casting about 8 months later we meet many of the auditionees and can't help but develop favourites among the bunch. Throughout the process, through interviews with people involved in the original cast and snippets of the audio recordings made by Michael Bennett which inspired the original production, we also get a bit of the history of the show. It was entertaining, and touching, and the filmmakers managed to catch some incredible moments on film. Now, I'm a musical nut so this movie was clearly going to be right up my alley but I feel pretty safe in saying that it will appeal to a much broader audience than just my fellow theater lovers. One of the directors attended and held a lively Q&A which was amazing in itself for a 9:00am screening on the final day of the festival. He said that they were close to being able to announce a distribution deal so chances are you may get a chance to see it in the spring.

I mentioned to my friends as we walked out of the screening that I felt like maybe I should skip my next one so that I could end the festival on a high note but I didn't and headed to the Ryerson for my last film of the festival. I probably should have followed my initial instinct.

Genova is the latest film from Michael Winterbottom (A Mighty Heart) and stars Colin Firth as Joe, a father who moves his two daughters to Italy for a year after the sudden death of his wife in a tragic car accident. It wasn't the worst thing I saw at the festival (I'm looking at you Uncertainty) but it wasn't one I'd recommend anyone paying for. There were a bunch of scenes where the daughters seemed to be in danger in some way or another, with ominous music playing while they wandered through the narrow streets and alleys making their way home, that seemed really out of place. Catherine Keener was woefully underused as a university friend (who seemed to want more from Joe) who was helping the family getting settled. The youngest daughter sees the ghost of her mother and wanders off regularly and the oldest is sneaking off and sleeping with an older boy. And then it just ends.

Kind of like TIFF for another year.