TIFF 2014 - Lots of movies Monday

Monday was a monumental day for me in TIFFing (sure, it's a verb) with my first ever 4 movie day.  Even better than that - they were all various degrees of good to great.

The day began with This Is Where I Leave You the star studded adaptation of Jonathan Tropper's novel (who also wrote the screenplay).  I loved the book and have really been looking forward to seeing the movie, which is frankly how I justified seeing it at TIFF when it's actually hitting theatres in less than 2 weeks.  Jason Bateman, Tina Fey, Corey Stoll and Adam Driver play siblings who are brought back to the family home with their mother (Jane Fonda) to sit shiva after the death of their father.  It's a great family drama, with wonderful touching, funny and sad moments throughout and includes a bunch of other fantastic cast members including Rose Byrne, Timothy Olyphant, Connie Britton, Kathryn Hahn etc etc.  

Director Shawn Levy showed up for the morning screening to introduce the movie and seemed very excited to be presenting the movie at TIFF.  I would highly recommend it when it opens later this month (A).

My afternoon movie, Whiplash, was a giant hit at Sundance this year, winning both the jury and audience awards and generating buzz for the performance of Miles Teller, with very good reason.   Teller plays Andrew, a student at a prestigious music school trying to make it as a jazz drummer under the abusive tutelage of J.K. Simmons' Terence Fletcher.   Teller is has been on the cusp of breaking out over the past few years and this movie should definitely do it for him.  The scenes of Andrew pushing himself to improve, with bloody hands to show for it, where pretty mesmerizing.

The movie was written and directed by Damien Chazelle based on his own experiences and it was clearly a very personal story.   He took to the stage along with the two stars of the movie for a Q&A to the effusive applause of the audience.  Teller spoke about his background as a drummer and how much work he did to prepare for this very demanding role (after which Simmons added that he had to work on waving his hands around).   Chazelle discussed casting Teller (who he had thought of for the part based on his performance in Rabbit Hole) and Simmons (he credited Jason Reitman for hooking them up).  He also discussed the challenges of filming the musical performances and a little about the 18 minute short that he screened at Sundance in 2013 that served to generate funding for the feature length production.  The movie was quickly snapped up at Sundance this year and will be getting a release - I'd highly recommend seeing it when it does (A).

Adult Beginners, with a story by Nick Kroll who also produces and stars, is a great little movie.  An adult coming of age story about Jake (Kroll) an entrepreneur who has blown his savings and that of his investors on a product launch and retreats to his childhood home to crash with his sister  Justine (Rose Byrne) and her husband Jake (Bobby Cannavale).  They agree to let him stay if he will care for his 3 year old nephew to help alleviate some financial pressures of their own.  Jake and Justine have some unresolved family issues to deal with and Jake also unwittingly finds himself in the middle of his sister's marriage as he figures out what to do with the rest of his life.

Pretty much the entire cast attended and held a Q&A after the screening (Rose Byrne was there for the intro but had to catch a plane to get back for her Broadway performance today).  When you get a bunch of comedians and other funny people on stage you can expect an entertaining Q&A and these folks did not disappoint.   Kroll talked quite a bit about how 'the love of the game' got people involved in making this small movie, from short shooting times, people sharing small dressing rooms and girlfriend Amy Poehler doing craft services (that one was a joke, and a nice deflection from someone who asked why she was included in the thank yous at the end of the credits).   They compared the tone of the movie to wanting to make a more comedic You Can Count on Me and I think they succeeded.  I expect it will get picked up and it's worth putting on your list (A-).

The day ended on a somewhat heavier note with the Canadian premiere of 99 Homes, the story of Dennis Nash (Andrew Garfield), a father struggling to make ends meet and get his family home back after being evicted under shady circumstances.  The disreputable and greedy real estate broker (Michael Shannon) who evicts them recognizes his capabilities and makes him an offer can't refuse, putting him to work forcing other families out of their homes and through the same awful situation he just experienced.  Inevitably, as he justifies doing this in order to get his own house back, he finds himself getting pulled into the business and a little bit seduced by the things that money can get him.  At some point things come to a head as he faces a crisis of conscience and the movie doesn't leave us with a clean cut ending with simple answers.  Newcomer Noah Lomax does a good job as Dennis' son and Laura Dern is terrific as his struggling mother - why doesn't she work more?

Garfield, Shannon, Dern and Lomax and director Ramin Bahrani gamely took late night questions from the crowd.  As I expected with the subject matter of the film, much of the focus of the questions for Bahrani was fairly political, and he referenced many statistics about the wealth disparity that exists across the world (but most particularly in the US).    My favourite moment was when discussing the history of rather dark roles that Shannon has played over his career Garfield suggested that he would love to see him in a Disney movie.  My suggestion for Garfield would be to shave off that awful beard - it is not a good look for him.  This one goes solidly into 'middle of the pack' for me so far (B).

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+.

TIFF 2014 - Clouds of Sils Maria and Nightcrawler

TIFF opening night on Thursday highlighted just how big of a spectacle the festival has grown to over the last few years.  King Street has been closed to traffic for the first 4 days of the fest and walking to join the line for my first screening I worked my way through crowds, noise and lots of corporate/branding "entertainment".

I must remind myself next year that maybe a late show on opening night is not the best selection if I don't want to start off the 10 days with a very late night and cut into the sleep bank right off the bat.  The movie, which started closer to 10:30 than the planned 9:45, was Clouds of Sils Maria and was introduced by director Olivier Assayas and star Juliette Binoche (who apologized for the fact that she would not be back for the Q&A after the screening since she was jet lagged and it was going to be so freaking late - my words not hers).

Binoche plays Maria, an actress who got her big break playing Sigrid, the younger half of a lesbian couple with a disastrous end to the relationship.  20 years later, and after the sudden death of the playwright, Maria is asked to play the older half of the couple against a new up and coming ingenue (Chloe Grace Moretz) in the role that made her famous.   Maria and her assistant Val (Kristen Stewart) head to the alps to spend some time rehearsing, deal with the loss of her friend and her own struggles with aging.

There were some interesting scenes, and Binoche was lovely but I didn't love the movie.  There were a couple really disjointed moments and it was a tad long for my liking...B- I'd say. Assayas returned after the screening for a Q&A discussion and was lovely and charmingly french.  He spoke about how he had written the movie for Juliette and dropped a tidbit about the fact that when casting the two young women at one point Kristen was looking at the ingenue role which he said we have made it into a different film.  And then someone got up to ask a question and went down a long rambling road with no end in sight (people, please give some thought to keeping your questions concise and relevant!) and I slipped out the back door and home to bed.

Friday night's screening was Nightcrawler (aka the one where Jake Gyllenhaal lost a bunch of weight) and I ended up liking it much more than I expected to.  Jake plays Lou Bloom, a clearly intelligent but socially awkward man who sort of falls into the world of freelance crime journalism in LA.  A chance encounter on a highway, where he observes a seasoned pro (Bill Paxton) making quick work of selling grisly footage of a traffic accident victim arouses his curiosity and gives him the motivation to try it for himself.  He is soon spending his nights listening to a police scanner and racing to crime scenes with his video camera in hand to capture footage worth selling.

Based on the trailer I was expecting a dark thriller, and while I'd say that it does fall into that broad description it was quite a bit more darkly comic than anything else.  Jake's performance is terrific, as is Rene Russo as the news director who buys the footage and enters into a twisted symbiotic relationship with Lou as his daring (over the line) behaviour delivers shocking and ratings grabbing material for her struggling early morning news program.

Gilroy, Gyllenhaal and Russo all took to the stage after the film for a Q&A.  Gilroy discussed his motivation for the story, his transition from writer to director and praised the performance and commitment of his leading man.  I've had the opportunity to see Jake in these types of settings a few times now (a talkback after his off-broadway performance and a screening/discussion with Denis Villeneuve for Enemy) and he is consistently well-spoken, quick-witted and charming (he's well suited to his chosen profession :-)).    I found his comments about the character and how he saw Lou really interesting and they've stuck with me, and raised my overall perception of the movie from a B+ to an A-.

Here we go again...back for another year of TIFF

It’s September again, which means that the days are getting shorter, kids are back at school and the attention of the pop culture world shifts its gaze to Toronto for 10 days for the unofficial kickoff to Oscar season! 

And while I’ll pause to offer my usual complaint about the continued growth in the number of screenings classified as ‘Premium”  - seriously 9 of them this Saturday – I’m looking forward to getting started with screenings, Q&A’s and discussions with fellow movie lovers in line.  My movie schedule is a bit lighter this year with 14 screenings booked (something about starting a new job is taking up a lot of my time) and my selections fell solidly into what I'd call mainstream indie.  Here’s what is on deck over the next 10 days:

-          Clouds of Sils Maria

-          Nightcrawler

-          Do I Sound Gay

-          Mavericks Conversation with Jon Stewart (!)

-          The Last Five Years

-          This is Where I Leave You

-          Whiplash

-          Adult Beginners

-          Rosewater

-          Miss Julie

-          The Cobbler

-          Before We Go

-          The Riot Club

-          X+Y

We'll see which one steals my heart, the inevitable one that lulls me to sleep and how my selections end up matching up with the buzz coming out of the festival...

TIFF 2013 - The Final Word

The red carpets have been rolled up for another year and now it's time to get into the new TV season.  Before I do, here's a summary of TIFF for 2013.  I saw a total of 20 movies this year, nothing that made me want to leave the theatre, and had an enjoyable time talking film with my friends and line-mates.

My Favourite movie of the festival

Can a Song Save Your Life from director John Carney and starring Mark Ruffalo, Kiera Knightly, Adam Levine, Catherine Keener and Hailee Steinfeld in the story of the making of an album.  Great music, performances and if you don't feel happy when the credits roll you have no heart.

Great Movies (they will -or should- factor in come Oscar time)

12 Years a Slave - the People's Choice winner and presemptive Oscar frontrunner in the early stages of the award season.  Chiwetel Ejiofor gives an amazing performance as a man forced into slavery dealing with all the horrors that encompasses.

Gravity - an absolutely visually stunning, original story about two astronauts lost in space, featuring a wonderful performance by Sandra Bullock.

August: Osage County - Meryl rocks.  As does most of the sprawling cast telling a story of family dysfunction.

The Railway Man - the true story of a man dealing with the torture he endured during WWII anchored by the performances of two pairs of actors playing younger and older versions of the same character.

Devil's Knot - Atom Egoyan's dramatization of the West Memphis Three case is hard to watch...as it should be.  And will make you want to learn more about the injustice if you haven't seen the documentaries already.

Labor Day - Kate Winslet and Josh Brolin spend the weekend in her home.  He's an escaped convict...is she his hostage or his saviour?

Very Good Movies (I would totally recommend that you see them)

Bad Words - Jason Bateman's directorial debut about a 40 year old spelling bee contestant is foul and funny and a bit heartwarming too.

Third Person - Paul Haggis brings us three stories in three differents cities exploring the meaning of love and relationships.  Of course they do all connect in some way in the end.

Hateship Loveship - Kristen Wiig proves she can tackle drama in the story of a quiet woman searching for happiness.

Enough Said - a grown up rom-com about two real people, made bittersweet as James Gandolfini's last performance

Ok Movies (a worthwhile plane selection)

Don Jon - JGL makes his filmmaking debut with the story of a guy who is too obsessed with porn to form a real relationship with a woman.

The Face of Love - Annette Bening is great as usual as a woman trying to get over her husband by getting into a relationship with a man who looks just like him.

The Invisible Woman - the true story of the young woman involved in an affair with Charles Dickens.

A Promise - a classic love triangle story.

Meh (don't bother)

A Story of Children and Film - a bit on the pretentious side.

When Jews were Funny - I found it a little aimless and disjointed.  Others didn't agree since it won Best Canadian Feature at the awards.

You are Here - Matt Weiner's first foray into movies was not a success.

The Double - most of the critics liked this one way more than I did.

TIFF 2013 - Hateship Loveship, 12 Years a Slave and Enough Said

I finished off TIFF this weekend with two movies that are both going to be in theatres in the next little while and one last indie still looking for distribution.

The first, the aforementioned indie, was Hateship Loveship, a drama based on an Alice Munro story brought to the screen by director Liza Johnson.  The movie stars Kristen Wiig as Johanna Perry, a mouse of a woman who has worked as a caretaker for her whole life.  Her current gig is in the home of Nick Nolte's Mr. McCauley, who has hired her to care for his granddaughter Sabitha (Hailee Steinfeld).  She finds herself attracted to Sabitha's ex-con addict father (Guy Pearce) after he is kind to her on a visit and sends her a brief note in a letter to his daughter.  When Johanna writes back, Sabitha and her friend Edith turn all mean girl and start corresponding with her as him leading her to eventually take off (with some stolen property) to show up on his doorstep unexpectedly and all sorts of complications follow.

I had seen Wiig at TIFF last year in a more serious role and this movie illustrates again that she is a very good actress.  My heart just broke for this woman who has never really had a life of her own taking tiny steps towards her own happiness.  I also thought the relationship between Sabitha and Edith dealing with all their teenage shit was really natural and well done.

Movie Grade: B+

Next up was 12 Years a Slave by director Steve McQueen (Hunger, Shame) which premiered at the beginning of the festival (geez that seems like a long time ago) to both critical and audience acclaim.  In fact, it was anointed as the festival's People's Choice winner at the awards ceremony yesterday.  And it is an excellent movie that I'm sure you'll be hearing more about in the months to come.

The true story of Solomon Northup (Chiwetel Ejiofor), a free man living in Syracuse in 1841 who is kidnapped and sold into slavery and the horrors he endured at the hands of the men (and women) who enslaved him.  Ejiofor will no doubt be nominated for an Oscar for his performance as Soloman, and rightfully so, but he is also surrounded by a great supporting cast in roles big and small including Michael Fassbender, Sarah Pauley, Benedict Cumberbatch, Paul Dano, Alfre Woodard and Lupita Nyong'o.   There are some scenes that were just brutal to watch (I will admit to averting my eyes on a couple occasions)  but I would absolutely recommend seeing it.  It will be hitting theatres next month.

Movie Grade: A

Finally, my last movie of TIFF for 2013 was the charming, bittersweet romantic comedy Enough Said starring Julia Louis-Dreyfus and James Gandolfini in one of his last roles as Eva and Albert, two divorcees who end up finding love together.  Of course, it can't be that easy, and it turns out that one of her clients and new friends (she plays a massage therapist) is his ex-wife and she just can't stop herself from listening to her complaints about Albert and starting to internalize them herself.   It's a grown up movie about real relationships and both leads turn in great performances in roles that are very different than we're used to seeing them in.  It actually opens next weekend and I hope it does well.

Movie Grade: B+

TIFF 2013 - A Promise and The Face of Love

Thursday and Friday were light days for me with only one film apiece which allowed for some catch up on both sleep and laundry.

A Promise is the first english language film from French director Patrice Leconte and tells the story of a love triangle in pre WWI Germany.  Alan Rickman plays Hoffmeister, a wealthy industrialist who brings Ludwig (Richard Madden), a new up and coming employee into his home.  The young man quickly forms a bond with his  son and more importantly with his much younger wife (Rebecca Hall).  From there the story is a pretty basic love triangle with complications including Hoffmeister's health, Ludwig's ambitions and the war itself.  The three actors all turn in good performances and and there are some lovely sequences but the movie as a whole was a bit anticlimactic for me.

Leconte introduced the film and came back onstage with an interpreter to take questions from the audience.  He was charmingly french and discussed the filming locations and working with his English speaking cast.

Movie grade: B

Friday afternoon was the second screening of The Face of Love from director Arie Posin.  It stars as Annette Bening as Nikki, a solitary woman who five years after the traumatic death of her husband runs into his virtual double and goes to great lengths to form a relationship with him.  Ed Harris plays both roles and manages to make both men distinct characters.  Nikki becomes fixated on trying to recreate her relationship while also trying to keep the new man in her life secret from her daughter and well meaning neighbour (Robin Williams) who clearly wants more than friendship from her.  It's not really a matter of if she'll be found out but when, and how her life will explode when that finally happens.  Benning turns in another great performance and it's a solid movie, with a lovely message about the way we can move on from tragedy.

Posin introduced the movie and returned afterwards with Benning (which was a lovely surprise) to take questions from the audience.  He talked about the genesis of the idea for the film which was a discussion with his mother.  Both he and Benning talked about the character's motivations and the process of coming together to make the film.

Movie Grade: B

TIFF 2013 - Don Jon and Gravity

Things are starting to get quieter at the festival as we get into midweek.  I had two screenings Wednesday and there wasn't a Q&A, or even an intro to be had by the filmmakers.  Still some good viewing though.

Don Jon was written and directed by Joseph Gordon Levitt (his debut) and he also stars in the film as the titular character, a New Jersey boy who cares about his family, friends, church and most importantly his porn habit.  He's basically a better acting version of one of the folks on the MTV series Jersey Shore.  Scarlett Johansson shows up as his potential true love and soon enough he's trying to make changes to make her happy, from taking classes at community college to giving up his porn habit (he's unsuccessful).  Tony Danza and Glenne Headly are entertaining as his parents and Brie Larson gets exactly one scene with dialogue as his sister (though her facial expressions throughout provide laughs). And Julianne Moore is wonderful as always as a fellow student who forms a connection with Jon as the movie progresses.

It's fine but not great.  A total middle of the road movie.  Grade? B

Seeing Gravity in IMAX is definitely the way to go.  The movie opened up at the Venice film festival and had it's gala here over the weekend to mostly positive reviews and I have to add mine to it.  Two astronauts (Sandra Bullock and George Clooney) are stranded in space with a few long shot options for survival when debris from a satellite wipes out the rest of their crew and most of their equipment.

It is a beautiful movie to look at, and there has been much discussion and well deserved accolade about how they created many of the shots in the film.  It's also just a really good story that kept me on the edge of my seat and holding my breath throughout.  Bullock's performance was fantastic (even with the space suit between her and the audience) and provided the heart of the movie and the action sequences were stunning.

Movie Grade: A

Unfortunately logistically, the screening was yet another example of the organizational mess at the Scotiabank theatre this festival.  The 14 screens at the theatre have been completely taken over by TIFF and have been host to all of the press and industry screenings during the day and public screenings in the evenings.  It just wasn't designed to run at full capacity in every theatre for every screening.  Bathroom facilities have been inadequate and lines have been a bit of a mess.  Tonight for example there was a group of people ahead of me in line that were quite disgruntled because they arrived 2 hours early for the screening and were waiting upstairs after asking repeatedly where the line for the movie was only to be finally directed to the right place outside and discover that they had to join the end of a line that had just formed.  At the time I kind of thought to myself that they were worrying over nothing since we'd all get a seat and we weren't that far back in the line for entrance.  Well, apparently the showing for the movie was actually oversold (I have never seen that before at TIFF) and after a 30 minute delay with people milling at the door and them trying to bring in extra chairs Cameron Bailey finally announced to the crowd that they were going to start the screening for us lucky people in our seats and have to figure out an alternative screening for ticket holders who didn't get in (I would have been so pissed to be one of those people).  Finally, on our way out of the theatre which is either by way of a giant staircase or escalator the TIFF staff kept the exit forced to just two doors a blocking off about 8 other possible doors leading to an almost disaster at the bottom of the escalator where I almost had to crawl onto the back of the man in front of me instead of getting trampled.  I know I'm not the only one to express concerns with the Scotia issues this year and I hope they work out the kinks before next TIFF rolls around.

TIFF 2013 - August: Osage County, Third Person & When Jews Were Funny

My last three movie day of the festival was yesterday and it was a bit of a mixed bag...

The day started with August: Osage County which was a great way to start off the day.  The movie is based on the pulitzer prize winning play by Tracy Letts (who also did the screenplay) and stars a plethora of big names including Meryl Streep as matriarch Violet Weston and Julia Roberts as one of her daughters.  It's basically a dysfunctional family drama/dark comedy about a pill popping, abrasive mother dealing with her three daughters and all of the family skeletons after the family returns home for their father's funeral.

I had seen the play when it passed through Toronto with Estelle Parsons as Violet and I was blown away by the production.  When I heard that Streep had been cast in the movie version I was excited to see what she would do with the role because, of course, we always expect Meryl to be great.  And seriously, every time I start to think that maybe she might be a bit overrated I see one of her performances, and this one is no exception.  She is tears into the character of Violet and was absolutely riveting and most of the cast holds their own as well, including fantastic performances in particular by Julia Roberts, Julianne Nicholson, Margo Martindale and Chris Cooper.

The director John Wells showed up to introduce the film though didn't return for a Q&A afterwards...I think he may have been busy at the press conference for the movie.

Movie Grade: A

Then it was back to the Ryerson for the second screening of Third Person, the latest from director Paul Haggis.  It's a story about love and the love lives of three men in three different cities.  In Paris, Michael (Liam Neeson) is a writer trying to finish his latest novel while dealing with his relationship with the damaged and prickly Anna (Olivia Wilde).  In Rome, Sean (Adrian Brody) is finishing up a business trip when he runs into Monika (Moran Atias), the damsel in distress of his dreams (or so she seems).  Finally in New York, Rick (James Franco) is an artist with a romantic past with Julia (Mila Kunis) who is possibly the most troubled and screwed up of all the women.  Without spoiling the movie, these three stories are all interconnected in some way and as Haggis put it himself in his introduction, you will benefit from watching carefully to spot details that may help you figure it out.

Haggis, producer Michael Nozik, producer/star Moran Atias and star Adrian Brody turned up for a Q&A following the movie.  Haggis was a bit testy about not wanting to answer questions about the movie, saying that he wanted to make the type of film that people would debate about afterwards and that the puzzle pieces are scattered throughout.  He also talked about how the movie got made and gave a lot of credit to Atias for being persistent.  Atias and Brody talked about their storyline and got into some of the details about filming (including some misfortune with her awful fake teeth).

Movie Grade: B+

Finally, I ended the day at the premiere of the Canadian documentary When Jews Were Funny by Alan Zweig.  Zweig interviews dozens of comedians, from the Borscht belt original Shecky Greene through Howie Mandel and Gilbert Gottfried to the more currently relevant Marc Maron and Andy Kindler to discuss comedy in general, Jewish comedy in particular and the influence of being Jewish on their particular brand of comedy.  Some of the segments were more entertaining than others, most notably with Bob (Super Dave Osborne) Einstein and Judy Gold for me.  The movie goes off on more than one tangent and I came away not really sure what point of view Zweig was trying to get across.  Is it a commentary on assimilation?  A discussion on how hardship breeds comedy?  A projection of the future of comedy?  A study of what it means to be Jewish?  I really wasn't sure.

Zweig and a few people included in the film where there to take questions after the screening and he didn't do much more to enlighten me about his intentions.  Interesting was the discussion of some of the people he had asked to be part of the film who declined (which came up when someone asked about the lack of women in the movie...where he thankfully cut off any "women aren't funny" suppositions).

It was my last documentary of this year and I came away feeling a bit disappointed that I didn't love either of them.

Movie Grade: C+

TIFF 2013 - The Double and The Invisible Woman

Jesse Eisenberg plays a dual role in The Double, both as the meek apologetic worker bee Simon and his sociopathic doppelganger James who slowly takes over his life.  And he's great as both of them, but the movie may have been a bit weird for my taste.  Based on a Dostoevsky novella, and set in some strange version of the past, the movie explores the themes of paranoia,  identity and longing for a connection.  Mia Wasikowsa (Eisenberg's real life girlfriend) shows up as the unattainable object of Simon's desire only to be used and abused by James, and Wallace Shawn is entertaining as the boss who humiliates Simon on a regular basis while praising everything that James does (which, of course, he's stealing from Simon).

More than worth the price of admission was the witty, entertaining and very funny introduction and Q&A with the film's director Richard Ayoade.   Best known for the UK television series The IT Crowd and possibly his acting in last summer's The Watch, Ayoade previously came to TIFF with his directorial debut Submarine and provided some high quality entertainment for the crowd.  Extremely self deprecating and quick witted, his commentary on people leaving the theatre (likely on their way to their next movie) was interspersed with actual answers about the motivation and process of making the film.   He even managed to lighten up Jesse Eisenberg :-)

Movie Grade: B- Q&A: A+

Ralph Fiennes directs and stars as Charles Dickens in The Invisible Woman,  the story of Dickens' secret mistress, the young Nelly Ternan played by Felicity Jones.  It's a pretty basic story, older rich man gets involved with young beautiful girl made all the more interesting by the fact that he was able to keep the relationship somewhat secret as such a public figure.  The story is told from Nelly's perspective and in flashbacks from her current life as a married schoolmarm in the late 1800s.  There were several really lovely scenes in the film, and Fiennes and Jones are both quite good in their roles, as is Joanna Scanlan as Mrs. Dickens but the movie was a bit slow in parts for me.

Fiennes seemed quite emotional both introducing the film and speaking about it afterwards, and gave credit to many people for helping him get to the finished product.  Jones charmingly spoke about what it was like to be directed by Fiennes (mostly like being directed by Dickens), and how making this movie made her look at the female characters in Dickens' novels differently.  They both spoke about the idea of 'the invisible woman' and how the film contains several depictions of female characters that could be described that way.  They were both quite eloquent and charming.

Movie Grade: B

TIFF 2013 - Three Movie Sunday!!

8:30am on a Sunday morning is an early screening.  It says something when you're getting in line before the coffee shop is open.  Matthew Weiner, who showed up for the early morning start to introduce his directorial debut You Are Here started his into by calling us 'his people' who consider going to the movies going to church.

And I have to be completely honest with you.  Maybe it was the early morning or the fact that it was my 5th movie in less than 48 hours but I may have nodded off for a bit in the middle of the film.  I'm pretty sure I saw enough of it to render an opinion though :-)

The film is primarily the story of two childhood friends played by Owen Wilson and Zach Galifianakis and their trip back to their hometown after the death of a parent.  They each have their issues of course, Wilson's Steve is an empty charmer with empty relationships and Galifianakis' Ben clearly has some mental health problems. They tangle with Ben's sister and newly widowed stepmother played by Amy Poehler and Laura Ramsey respectively.   I think it could likely benefit from a tighter edit, and there were a few scenes that seemed out of place, so overall it fell a little bit flat for me.

I asked my friend what she thought the over/under was on how many questions it would take for someone to reference Mad Men and we both figured (correctly) that it would come up on the first question for Mr. Weiner.  And the second.  And the third.  People did a pretty good job of structuring their questions so that they encompassed both the show and the film but I would have probably been pretty annoyed if I were him.  To his credit, he didn't seem to be, and appeared to be happy to discuss the film (and his television experience).  He said that he had written the script about 8 years ago with Wilson in mind and it took him a long time to get it made, also commenting on the scheduling challenges of trying to finish the post production on the movie while still running his incredibly successful TV show.

Movie grade: B-

It's a somewhat early call, but I think Can a Song Save Your Life might just be my favourite film at TIFF this year.  The movie, written and directed by John Carney (who brought us Once) stars Mark Ruffalo as Dan, a down and out record label exec and Keira Knightly as Greta, the singer/songwriter to grabs his attention and gives him a chance at redemption by helping her pull together an album.  The cast is rounded out by some real life musicians (Mos Def as Dan's partner, Adam Levine as the boyfriend who treats Greta badly and Cee-Lo Green as a hip hop star) as well as Catherine Keener and Hailee Steinfeld as Dan's estranged family.

Like Once, the storyline is pretty basic, and the movie succeeds largely on the fantastic music and great performances by Knightly and Ruffalo.  The movie was filmed outdoors all over New York City and just has a great vibe to it.  The audience I watched with (it was the second screening after the premiere on Saturday) all seemed to enjoy it as much as I did, greeting Carney excitedly afterwards when he came up to the stage for a Q&A.   He was very entertaining, with stories of the filming process (and dealing with the paparazzi in NY), discussing the songs in the film and the people who contributed to the movie and seemed inordinately pleased with how much of a douche Adam Levine had to act like on screen.

Apparently some of the studios were as pleased with the movie as I was because there was apparently a bidding war over Saturday night for the rights to the film.  It looks like the Weinstein Company came out the winner so I'd imagine this one might get a release before the end of the year, if only to make sure the songs are eligible for the Oscars.

Movie grade: A

I have never seen as many reserved seats at the Elgin theatre than for the world premiere of Atom Egoyan's Devil's Knot.  I figured it was because Egoyan is a local and had a big section for all his friends and family but it was also because so much of the large cast attended the screening.

The movie is a dramatization of the story behind the West Memphis Three, the teenagers who were tried and convicted of killing three young boys in 1993 only to finally be released from jail in 2011 after  years of fighting and appeals.  I don't feel like I need to call this a spoiler as there has been so much coverage of the story, including the trio of Paradise Lost documentaries.    The sprawling cast includes Colin Firth as Ron Lax, an investigator who helped the defense team and Reese Witherspoon as the mother of one of the victims, through whom much of the plot is filtered.  There were good performances throughout the movie and it was very well plotted and felt suspenseful, even though I was familiar with the story.

In the post film Q&A, Egoyan discussed activism in filmmaking, the influence of the documentaries (he probably correctly noted that in reality most people have not seen them and that a mainstream movie would bring much more attention to the story), and finally laughingly instructed the audience to ask some questions to his cast since he 'lives here...you can ask me anytime'.  The cast almost uniformly agreed that they got very involved in the case, discussing information gleaned online and through other readings during filming.  When asked about whether they were familiar with the story before getting involved in the film the most entertaining answer came from James Hamrick (who plays one of the accused Damien Echols) who informed us that he was born in 1993 when the events took place and the most touching answer came from Robert Baker (who plays a police officer) who grew up in the area and vividly remembers living through it.

Movie Grade: A- (that's two winners for Firth this year)

TIFF 2013 - The Railway Man & Labor Day

Saturday morning's downpour meant a soggy hour waiting in line to see The Railway Man at the Elgin.  It didn't get much better when the movie froze about 25 minutes in to the screening.  Thankfully the TIFF staff were great about keeping us up to date and were able to restore the screening after about a 20 minute delay.  Even more thankfully, the movie was great and the cast and crew attended for a lovely Q&A for the second screening of the film.

The movie stars Colin Firth as Eric Lomax, a WWII victim of the "Death Railway" and tells the story of the search for his torturer encouraged by his wife Patti (played by Nicole Kidman).  The story takes place both in the 1980s as Eric is finally dealing with the horrors he experienced during the war and in flashbacks to the war itself and I have to say that the casting of Jeremy Irvine as the younger version of Eric was fantastic, as well as the casting of the younger and older versions of Nagase (his torturer).  Stellan Skarsgard also appears as a fellow survivor and has a few great scenes with Nicole Kidman as she tries to find out why her husband has night terrors and has shut her out.  I thought it was a very good movie made all the more powerful by the fact that it was a true story and was made with the involvement of Eric and Patti themselves.

As mentioned, a big chunk of the creative team showed up to discuss the movie including both sets of the actors playing Lomax and Nagase as well as Patti Lomax herself.  Eric passed away late last year and was unable to see the movie finished, though he did get a chance to spend some time on the set.  The filmmakers discussed the 14 year journey to getting the film made (they jokingly said they had to wait until Firth was old enough to play the character).  Patti told a lovely story about how her husband came to the realization that Firth was actually famous when they were told he was going to play the part.  The actors talked quite a bit about how they worked together to create the older and younger versions of the characters (Irvine's initial response that he immediately started to work on his Colin Firth impression was charming).

It was a very good movie: A-

Tonight's film introduction started with  "Welcome to the Jason Reitman theatre", and a promise (apology?) that he would not be back at the Ryerson again tomorrow night.  Reitman then introduced the  world premiere of Labor Day by noting that first, the TIFF/Ryerson audience is who he thinks about when making a film and then saying he hoped that we liked it (and weren't expecting a comedy) because it was a different film than he has made in the past.  He also very touchingly dedicated it to his mother who was in the audience.

The movie stars Kate Winslet as depressed single mom Adele, who ends up providing a ride for a wounded, escaped convict Frank (Josh Brolin) on one of her few forays out of the house to buy some back to school clothes for her son Henry.  As Frank, Adele and Henry end up spending the titular weekend together in her home while the town and authorities search for him they discover that he's more than they expected.  Are they his hostages or not?  Was he really guilty of murder?   How can this situation possibly end in anything but tragedy?  The tension level throughout the film was pretty high and I wasn't sure where things were going until the very end but was very satisfied by the outcome.   Also in something of a theme today I have to mention that the casting of Tom Lipinski as the young Frank was fantastic.

Reitman and the cast took questions after the movie and there were many for Reitman about his motivation for making this more serious/darker movie (at one point he said he felt like he was in a therapy session :-) ).  There was also a really awkward question for Kate on how she dealt with the (mild spoiler alert) unfortunate pregnancy plot point in the movie which elicited gasps from the audience.  All credit to her, she handled it really well and gracefully, actually admitting that she slipped out for the screening because she found it "really weird" to watch right now.

Also a very good movie...two for two today!  A-

TIFF 2013 - A night with the Jasons

Jason Reitman's live read was one of the coolest experiences of TIFF last year so I was very excited for tonight's reading of Boogie Nights.   As he's been doing for the past several years (mostly in LA) and brought to TIFF for the first time last year, Reitman gathers a group of actors to read a script of a movie while he conducts the party reading off the non-dialogue portions of the script.  This year's effort was the screenplay of Boogie Nights and starred the following:

As Dirk Diggler (Mark Wahlberg) - Jesse Eisenberg (how's that for avoiding type casting)
As Amber Waves (Julianne Moore) - Olivia Wilde
As Jack Horner (Burt Reynolds) - Josh Brolin
As Buck Swope (Don Cheadle) - Jason Sudekis
As Reed Rothchild (John C Reilley) - Dane Cook
As Rollergirl (Heather Graham) - Dakota Fanning
As various other characters - Scott Thompson, Jordan Hayes, Jarod Eihnson and Marc-Andre Grondin

As expected, it was a highly entertaining effort.  Highlights included Eisenberg's singing, Wilde and Fanning doing to the coked up scene and pretty much any time Sudekis or Cook were involved in the scene (these two are obviously very used to performing live for an audience).   I really hope that Reitman continues to bring one of these to TIFF every year.

After that we went outside and straight back into line at the Ryerson for Bad Words, the directorial debut of Jason Bateman.  Bateman also stars, as a foul mouthed 40-year old high school dropout and possible genius who enters a spelling bee competition (via loophole obviously) and sets out to win for reasons of his own, destroying the dreams of many children and parents in the process.   His co-stars include Philip Baker Hall and Allison Janney as spelling bee brass, Kathryn Hahn as the reporter following the story and newcomer Rohan Chand as a fellow competitor.

Bateman has described the movie as the "Bad Santa of spelling bees" and the description is an accurate one.  I thought it was quite funny (and judging by the reaction of the crowd I was in the majority) though fairly predictable.

Bateman, Hahn and Chand took the stage for a Q&A after the movie and he was as charming and lovely as I have grown to expect over the past few years of TIFF appearances.  There was a great deal of discussion around how far you can push the envelope in the name of comedy and a charming answer when youngster Chand was asked about the material and he said that his parents had said that the script was "a little advanced" and that his script often had much of the dialogue blacked out.  Bateman pandered to the Toronto audience in the nicest way possible, saying that it was his goal as a director to make it to this festival and said that he hoped to move into more directing in the future.

News first thing this morning was that the movie was acquired by Focus Features so it will likely be hitting theatres sometime next year.  It's worth checking out: B+

TIFF 2013 - A Story of Children in Film

Well, it's that time of year again!  Not back to school or end of summer for me....September is all about the Toronto International Film Festival rolling into town bringing stars, media, tourists, lineups and almost 300 movies to choose from.

Following my usual process of pouring through the program book and spreadsheeting my way to possible choices, I firmed up my schedule to 20 movies over the 10 days of the fest.  I should interject here that I am pretty damn impressed that the move to online ordering TIFF made last year went as smoothly as it did and continues to work very well.  Though as an early ticket package purchaser I know I'm lucky that I don't have to sit in the virtual waiting room waiting to see what's available when individual tickets go on sale.

So, on to the movies....

Unfortunately, A Story of Children and Film was a bit of a letdown as my first film of the festival.  The documentary, written and directed by Mark Cousins, the movie uses the framing device of a home video of his niece and nephew to show the various moods of children and then cuts to numerous clips of movies that illustrate the particular mood or emotion.   I found the descriptions of the types of camera shots and filming techniques quite interesting but the movie seemed a bit meandering and many of the movies highlighted were way more obscure than I would have expected.

Cousins attended the film and I must say that I enjoyed the discussion and Q&A after the film more than the movie itself.  He is clearly passionate about the subject matter and was engaging and well spoken.  For the Q&A: B+, for the movie itself: C+

My Quest to see EVERYTHING on Broadway

I spent 8 weeks in Manhattan this fall and one of my goals while there was to be able to leave the city being able to say that I had seen absolutely everything playing on Broadway.

Number of Shows on Broadway Nov/Dec 2012 (or starting previews) :  36
Number of Shows I had already seen before arrival:  13
Number of Shows that remained unseen:  6

If you're doing the math you might assume that I saw 17 shows during my little sojourn.  But no, all told, I saw 25 shows in my 8 weeks in New York.  My original goal just kept getting derailed by intriguing off broadway or one-off charity performances.

Here are some thoughts about some of the ones that I saw...

Most unexpected delight:  The Mystery of Edwin Drood (which I saw twice) stars broadway legend Chita Rivera, Stephanie J Block, Will Chase and Jim Norton.  This musical revival based on the last unfinished novel by Charles Dickens is structured as a play within a play and leaves the ending up to the audience, who get to choose whodunnit among other options.

Most Inexplicable Early Closing:  The Performers starring Henry Winkler, Cheyenne Jackson, Alicia Silverstone and Ari Graynor, which closed 5 days after its opening night.  I managed to catch the final performance for this one and found it pretty funny with a couple of great performances by Graynor and Jackson.  I guess broadway just wasn't ready for a show about the porn industry.

Most Easily Understood Early Closing:  The Anarchist starring Patti Lupone and Debra Winger in a new play written by David Mamet.  Winger played a parole officer evaluating longtime inmate Lupone.  They talk, and talk, and talk in circles.  And then it ends.

Laziest Performance:  Matthew Broderick in Nice Work if You Can Get It.  I get that the character is supposed to be a bit of a lazy dilettante but there were many times during the performance that Broderick seemed to be phoning it in.  If not for the supporting performances of Kelli O'Hara, Judy Kaye and Michael McGrath I may have considered it a bust of an evening.

Best Dancing on Broadway:  The fantastic group of boys in Newsies. Who knew that a Disney flop of a movie could turn into such a fun show? The energy of these guys is amazing.

Most interesting stage set up:  The theatre for Once, where the bar on stage becomes functional at intermission allowing theatre patrons to jump up on stage and belly up to the bar.  The show is pretty good too.

Best Makeunder:  The gorgeous Jessica Chastain in The Heiress somehow managed to come across as dowdy and awkward in her portrayal of an uptight spinster caught up in a whirlwind romance (or is that a con game) with a dashing suitor (Downton Abbey's Dan Stevens).

Best Bang for my Buck:  If you've been to the theatre in the late spring or fall you are likely familiar with the annual fundraising drive for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS.  The cast mades a post curtain call announcement about the charity, usually there are cast members at the doors with buckets as you exit to collect donations and every once and a while you get a bigger fundraising effort from the cast (I watched Hugh Jackman and Daniel Craig auction the shirts off their backs after a performance a few years ago).  The Gypsy of the Year Awards is the show that serves as the finale of this fundraising effort, with performances by many of the current productions, some special guests and performances and announcement of the winners of the fundraising awards.   In one afternoon I saw performances from the casts of The Lion King, Bring it On, Newsies, Once, Mary Poppins, Chicago, Mamma Mia and several others.

Most Against-type Performance:  Laurie Metcalf was incredible starring as a brilliant woman slowly losing her mental faculties in The Other Place.  If she isn't nominated for a Tony I will be really surprised.

Most interesting 'Couple' comparison:  Over the period of a few days I saw two preview performances of plays centred around a young couple and all the problems surrounding them.  The first was Picnic, starring Maggie Grace and Sebastian Stan.  The second was Cat on a Hot Tin Roof with Scarlett Johansson and Benjamin Walker.  Picnic was more enjoyable for the fantastic supporting cast, including Mare Winningham and Ellen Burstyn, but the central couple really lacked chemistry.  In comparison I was completely impressed by Johansson and Walker (who I fell in love with in Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson a few years ago) as Maggie and Brick.

Best Example of a Star Performer overcoming the material:  Carolee Carmello, who starred in Kathie Lee Gifford's quickly closed Scandalous blew the roof off the theatre.  It didn't matter that the story, about the first and most famous female evangelist, wasn't that compelling to me.

Favourite performances by 'Hollywood Stars':  Jake Gyllenhaal in If There Is I Haven't Found it Yet, Paul Rudd and Michael Shannon in Grace, Al Pacino and Bobby Cannavale in Glengarry Glen Ross, Neil Patrick Harris in the one night concert performance of Assassins and Jessica Chastain, Dan Stevens and David Strathairn in The Heiress.

Many of these shows have since closed as Broadway gets ready for a slew of openings in the next few months prior to the Tony nomination cut off.  Lucky for me, I'm heading back to the city for another spell and will once again attempt to see everything before I go...stay tuned!

TIFF 2012 - A much delayed final posting

Okay, so this is more than a little ridiculous but I left 4 half written entries about the rest of my TIFF movies sitting waiting to be posted and then got distracted, and busy, and lazy, and never finished writing them.  So I'm combining them all now and posting them anyway because if I can't at the very least keep this blog as my TIFF diary, then it really has no purpose :-).  

Joss Whedon and his whole company of players can really do no wrong in my book, and so I was quite predisposed to enjoy this movie, but I think I would have loved it regardless.  Much Ado About Nothing is Whedon's bonus project of 2012 (you may have heard about the other film he directed that came out earlier this year...The Avengers).

The movie is a modern set adaptation of the play, set among a group of wealthy Californians and filmed in Whedon's own home over a 12 day period.  The story of two couples, Beatrice and Benidick and Claudio and Hero, and the machinations of the people around them is funny and entertaining and seems new and fresh.  I will admit to doing a pre-movie perusal of Wikipedia to familiarize myself with the basic plot because I thought I might miss something in the Shakespearian language but I think I would have been fine without it.

Fellow Whedon fans will be happy to see many of his regulars show up in the film, including Amy Acker, Alexis Denisof, Nathan Fillion, Fran Kranz and Sean Maher.  I was quite impressed by all of the actor's performances (performing Shakespeare always seems to be impressive), want to live in that house, and was completely entertained.  A- grade.  The movie was picked up for distribution a few days ago so you should get a chance to see it in theatres at some point.  I'd totally recommend it.

The Paperboy is the latest film from director Lee Daniels (Precious), is based on a novel by Peter Dexter and boasts a great cast including Matthew McConaughey, Zac Efron, Nicole Kidman, John Cusack, Macy Gray and David Oyelowo.  The movie premiered earlier this year at the Cannes festival and had it's North American premiere here at TIFF.  The only thing I had heard about it (constantly) since Cannes is that it's the movie where Nicole Kidman pees on Zac Efron.  And yes, that happens, but it's not really a pivotal plot point of the movie.

I'm not really sure if the movie is good or not quite frankly.  I know I definitely don't want to see it again.  There were more than a couple instances where I had to cover or avert my eyes because what was on the screen was pretty disturbing.

Venus and Serena is a documentary about the tennis siblings that follows the two through the 2011 season, one where both sisters were battling with serious physical ailments.  It also takes a look back, through interviews and footage, at the road they travelled to get to where they are today.

I've always liked Venus and Serena as tennis players and have enjoyed watching them on the court.  It's pretty amazing to me that their lives have been so thoroughly documented for so long.  There were definitely aspects of their lives that were glossed over (extended family issues, religion, the role their father play in their lives) but I still found it an interesting depiction of the two women and came away respecting them and their achievements even more.

It has now been over three months since I sat through The Master and I'm still not completely sure how I feel about it.   I am totally sure that Joaquin Phoenix, Philip Seymour Hoffman and Amy Adams gave wonderful performances.

Taking place post WW2, Hoffman plays Lancaster Dodd, the charismatic leader of an organization known as 'The Cause', a quasi-religion with a group of dedicated followers who follow Dodd's every dictate, even as they become more erratic and nonsensical.  Phoenix is a navy veteran who arrives home from the war pretty screwed up and with an uncertain future who gets pulled into Dodd's orbit and becomes his most loyal follower.   It's beautifully shot, and as mentioned the actors are all fantastic, but I found it a bit disjointed and it didn't keep my attention through the whole thing.

The Final Word

I ended up seeing a total of 17 films at the festival this year (down from the 20 I had originally scheduled before I broke my ankle).  I would say that I didn't really see any total duds, though there were definitely some standouts.  The ones I'd definitely recommend seeing are Argo, The Perks of Being a Wallflower, Much Ado About Nothing,  and The Sessions.  All fantastic movies.  The winner of this year's People's Choice was The Silver Linings Playbook (which I have now seen given how late I am posting this) and I would totally recommend that one too.

See you next year.

TIFF 2012 - My Awkward Sexual Adventure

This movie was way more fun than I expected it to be.  Funny and touching and very cute.

Writer/producer/star Jonas Chernick has spent almost 12 years working to get his film made and he and his entire cast seem happy and excited about the end result.  My Awkward Sexual Adventure is a story about a man who needs to grow up in many ways.  Jordan (Chernick) is an accountant who is kicked out of his Winnipeg apartment by his sexually frustrated (falling asleep during sex frustrated), self involved and somewhat selfish girlfriend and sent off to Toronto where he proceeds to try to figure out how to get her back by finding a sexual Yoda.  Helping him out are his player of a friend Dandak (Vik Sahay...who will always be Lester to me...RIP Chuck) and a down on her financial luck stripper Julia (Emily Hampshire).

As Julia tries to help Jordan figure out how to be a better lover she gets him into all sorts of uncomfortable situations, which for him include a visit to a 'massage parlour' and dressed up in drag.  As Jordan tries to help Julia figure out her financial mess he gets her into all sorts of uncomfortable situations, which for her include a visit to her bank manager and reviewing a budget.   Layer over that Dandak finding himself in the new situation of actually being in a relationship and Jordan's girlfriend hopping a plane to Toronto to confront him and you have a recipe for total awkwardness.

Chernick, director Sean Garrity and castmembers Emily Hampshire, Vik Sahay, Sarah Manninen and Andrea del Campo attended and held a Q&A after the screening.  (And this is how you know it's a Canadian film...when the entire cast shows up for the 2nd screening of TIFF)  There was a lot of discussion about onscreen nudity, filming sex scenes that actually look like sex and one particular prosthetic from the film.  Also comments about casting, the process of getting the film made and what Chernick's mother thinks of the film (she's a financial backer, and loves it for the record).  The movie is scheduled to get a theatrical release (at least in Canada) and will definitely show up on the movie network at some point.  Totally worth seeing (B+).

TIFF 2012 - Hyde Park on Hudson and Disconnect

Tuesday's first movie was Hyde Park on Hudson, starring Bill Murray as FDR and Laura Linney as Margaret Stuckley, his (5th or 6th) cousin, companion and lover.  Most of the action takes place over a 1939 weekend visit of the King and Queen of England.

The movie had grabbed my attention because I had heard really great things about the performance of Bill Murray.  And it's very good, to be sure, but I don't think that it warrants the accolades it seems to be getting.  The story is mostly told from Margaret's point of view, and Linney is typically excellent.  It's a pretty simply told story, and after a rather slow meandering pace seems to wrap up in a hurry.  After Colin Firth's Oscar winning turn as King George VI it was almost distracting to see someone else in the role, and the King and Queen don't come off quite as well here as they did in The King's Speech.  A good movie (B-) but not a great one.  I left the theatre mostly thinking...is there any president in history that wasn't a philanderer??

Disconnect is the first feature film from documentary filmmaker Henry Alex Rubin (Murderball) and is all about the ways that the internet and technology can screw up your life, told in three loosely intertwining stories.

In the first story, Jason Bateman and Hope Davis play parents to a young boy who is tormented and bullied both at school and over social media websites.  The second stars Alexander Skarsgard and Paula Patton as a couple who are the victims of identity theft, further complicating their already complicated marriage and lives.  Finally, Andrea Riseborough plays a reporter doing a story on young kids getting pulled into an internet porn business.

It's a really good movie (A-) and I was tense and on the edge of my seat as these characters tumbled towards potentially traumatic outcomes.  Well paced, acted and relevant.

Bateman, Grillo, Patton and Rubin attended and hosted a Q&A after the screening.  They discussed their characters and how their lives had been affected by the film in terms of their relationships with technology.  Rubin discussed the differences between making a feature and a documentary.  One of the things he did to make the movie feel more real was to find a 'shadow cast' of people who had actually been through these situations for the cast to talk to, which I found an interesting approach.  After being asked a few questions about the script and storylines he pulled screenwriter Andrew Stern up on stage to field them.  Bateman was predictably charming and funny (and completely charmed me) and he appropriately finished off the night by congratulating Rubin on the movie.

TIFF 2012 - Arthur Newman and No Place on Earth

Ok, so first things first...I need to tell you that I may have been slightly distracted watching this movie because I was sitting across the aisle, 4 feet away, from Colin Firth.   I may have glanced away from the screen a time or twelve.  He's quite dashing.

Arthur Newman is the directorial debut of Dante Ariola and stars Colin Firth and Emily Blunt as Wallace/Arthur and Mike.  They are two lost people trying to escape their pasts who wind up together. Arthur is a middle aged failure with a broken family who decides to buy a new identity and fake his own death.  He runs into the troubled Mike who has overdosed at a crappy motel and takes her to the hospital.  She figures out what he's doing and decides to come along for the ride.  

The movie was a bit slow to get started for me but was good once it got going.  The performances by Firth and Blunt were great and I'd put it at about a B+ as an overall grade.

Firth, Blunt, director Ariola and screenwriter Becky Johnston hit the stage for a Q&A after the screening. They answered a lot of the usual questions about what it's like to watch themselves onscreen (horrifying),  scenes they enjoyed filming and the getting into character.  Johnson was asked about character motivations and described what she felt the characters would be doing in five years time. 

On a much more emotional and serious note was the premiere of the documentary No Place on Earth.  Directed by Janet Tobias, the film is a mix of historical reenactment and current interviews about a group of jewish families who hid in the caves of the Ukraine for almost two years during World War II.  The caves, and the inhabitation, were discovered by Chris Nicola, an explorer from New York about five years ago.  Members of the families, who were just children at the time, and had emigrated to Canada and the United States after the war, were also interviewed throughout the film.  There was also footage of a 2010 trip that these elderly people took back to the Ukraine with the filmmakers and Nicola to revisit the caves where they had hidden as children.

More emotionally, these same family members attended the screening and were on stage with Nicola and Tobias after the film.  It wasn't so much a Q&A as a storytelling segment with the highlight for me being the 91 and 93 year old brothers Saul and Sam Sterner.  Still sharp, and with amazing memories of stories from more than 70 years ago. 

I'm not sure that I liked the historical reenactment segments of the film, where actors playing the roles made it seem more like I was watching a fictional feature instead of something that actually happened.  But it's an extremely compelling story, and hearing it from the people who lived it makes for a solid documentary (B-).

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 :-)