TIFF: Youth in Revolt

Can we all agree that Michael Cera has been playing some slight variation of the same part for the past five years? And yet for some reason it hasn't quite become too much for me to handle (let's call it the Zooey Deschanel exception).

Making it my third year of Michael Cera TIFF premieres in a row, tonight's film was Youth in Revolt, based on the popular novel by C.D. Payne, and stars Cera as...wait for it...an awkward, precocious teen who's burdened with an overabundance of virginity and an underabundance of self confidence. But Cera also gets a chance to break out a bit by playing Nick's alter ego 'Francois', a complete bad ass who goads him into criminal behaviour.

I'd totally recommend the movie. More laugh out loud moments than I've had at a movie in a while. Great performances by Cera and his leading lady Portia Doubleday in her first major role. And entertaining supporting performances from Jean Smart, Zach Galifianakis, Ray Liotta, Justin Long, Steve Buscemi, Mary Kay Place and Ari Graynor.

And the post film Q&A with director Miguel Arteta, Cera and Doubleday was one of the best I've seen so far this year. Cera is just truly funny and engaging, and his improv background means he's never at a loss for a quick response. My favourite answer...the best part about playing 'Francois'? He got to stare down Ray Liotta...which was terrifying.

The movie comes out next month, and it's worth putting on your list.

TIFF: Precious, An Afternoon with Chris Rock and Leaves of Grass

Is there anything better than taking a day off work and spending it at TIFF? Maybe it's starting off the day with brunch and a mimosa to kick it off :-).

My first film of the day was Precious..."the Oprah movie" to those of you following the front page pictures of premieres at the festival. Based on the novel 'Push', the movie is about an illiterate 16 year old girl who is pregnant for the 2nd time by her father and her relationship with her monster of a mother as she tries to escape her life, quite literally into fantasy at times.

It was a tough movie to watch. The violence and abuse are close to the surface throughout the film and there were scenes that drew audible gasps from the audience. The performance by the unknown first time actress who plays Precious (Gabourey Sidibe) is moving and powerful. Mo'Nique plays her monster of a mother and is rightfully on the early shortlists for an Oscar nomination. The film garnered a standing ovation for Director Lee Daniels, which in my mind was probably 60% merited and 40% a carryover of the Oprah effect. He seemed genuinely moved by the crowd reaction and took about 20 minutes of questions from the audience.

*This* was possibly the most painful part of the screening for me, due to quite possibly the worst moderator I've ever seen take the microphone at the festival. I was honestly tempted to walk up to the stage and take the microphone out of her hand because I'm sure I could have done a better job. At one point someone in the crowd asked a question about why the audience had laughed at a particular scene which caused about 100 members of the audience to yell the answer at him simultaneously and not only did the moderator not take control and move the process along, she added her own rambling thoughts about hightened reactions in the festival setting. Eventually (thankfully) Daniels basically took over and manged the whole thing himself.


After the heaviness of Precious I was even more thankful for the next item on the schedule. This afternoon's selection was not a film but part of TIFF's Mavericks program, a discussion series that includes dialogues, Q&As, short films and clips, which this year included Michael Caine, Peter Berg and Barry Levinson. Chris Rock comes to the festival with his new documentary 'Good Hair' (which opens next month), and after screening the trailer, sat down with the TIFF programmer for about an hour long interview followed by 20 minutes or so of questions from the crowd. It wasn't exactly what I expected as I thought there were going to be more clips shown from the documentary itself, but it was a nice alternative to sitting through three movies in the day and Rock's commentary on the movie, politics, growing up and filmmaking were about as entertaining as you would expect from the performer.

Best line of the afternoon? When someone in the audience asked for Rock's reaction to the whole Kanye West/Taylor Swift episode at the VMAs last night he said there was no way he was talking about Kanye only to get dissed in his next single..."there are way too many words that rhyme with Rock".

Final film of the night was the world premiere of Leaves of Grass, written and directed by Tim Blake Nelson. The film stars Edward Norton in a dual role as twin brothers, Bill who has left his southern roots (and accent) behind and become a renowed professor of classical philosophy and Brady who's still living in Oklahoma as somewhat of a mad genius when it comes to growing pot. Circumstances bring Bill back to town and he gets sucked into the mess of his brother's life, with the only bright spot being a local teacher and poet played by Keri Russell. I liked the movie...but didn't love it. I thought it felt like it was trying a bit too hard to be a Coen brothers movie, a thought only reinforced when they were on the list of folks being thanked at the end of the credits.

Attendees for the Q&A included Nelson, Norton, Russell, Josh Pais and Lucy DeVito (the daughter of Rhea Pherlman and Danny DeVito who sat in the audience beaming like the proud parents I'm sure they are). The cast discussed the challenges of playing (or playing opposite) a dual roll as well as what it's like to work with a director who's also an actor (Nelson also costars as Brady's best friend) and Nelson spoke about some of his motivations as a writer. And while I'll admit to a bit of a crush, I thought Norton was ridiculously charming :-).

TIFF: Bright Star and Whip It

Day 4 of the festival and two films on the schedule.

The first film of the day (and my first and only early morning film of the festival) was Bright Star, the newest film from Jane Campion (The Piano) about the life of doomed poet John Keats (Ben Whishaw) and his romance with Fanny Brawne (Abbie Cornish). The movie was great. Moving and well acted and beautiful to look at and I was a bit of a blubbering mess at the end of it (and trust me, that doesn't happen often).

I'm always appreciative when filmakers show up for early morning screenings so it was a pleasant surprise to have Campion there to introduce the film and talk a little bit about it beforehand. She and her producing partner discussed their inspiration behind it and spent some time talking about the difficulty they had in getting it made due to a combination of the subject matter (she assured us that she felt the same as likely most of us sitting in the theatre about poetry before this project) and the fact that they didn't have any marquee names for the poster.

By my thinking, her casting was perfect across the board. Cornish and Whishaw are great as the leads and have you completely invested in the story even though you know it ends with Keats' untimely death (I'll quote Jane Campion herself here and say I hope I didn't ruin that for anyone). I was mildly distracted throughout the film trying to place the actor playing the part of Charles Brown, Keats' friend and seemingly biggest source of financial support. 'Where did I know him from?' I kept asking myself. A quick IMDB check revealed him as Paul Schneider...most recently of Parks and Recreation, Amy Poehler's NBC sitcom. That was definitely not a connection that my brain would have made while watching this period piece so good on him :-).

The movie is out in limited release later this month and it's definitely worth adding to your list.

My second film was the premiere of Whip It, the directorial debut from Drew Barrymore and boy did she have crowd out to support her. It officially eclipses last year's Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist as the film with both the largest "Reserved" section and biggest group of cast member attendees I've seen at the Ryerson. Here were the cast member attendees: Drew Barrymore, Ellen Page, Marcia Gay Harden, Juliette Lewis, Kristen Wiig (love!), Alia Shawkat, Zoe Bell, Andrew Wilson, Daniel Stern, Eve, Landon Pigg and Carlo Alban. Along with Shauna Cross, the writer of both the novel the film is based on and the screenplay and Michael Cera and Justin Long just hanging out.

Unfortunately the entertainment of the star power in the room may have eclipsed the actual film. I had read 'Derby Girl', the novel that provided the source material, last year, loved it, and was very much looking forward to the movie. Maybe my expectations were too high. I definitely enjoyed it, and I hope it ends up being successful because there is always room in the world for a movie about young women doing things that they are passionate about. And I loved that, while there was a love interest for Bliss (Page), the story wasn't all about the boy which was nice for a change. A perfect slumber party movie...remember those??

The movie started 30 minutes late after a lengthy introduction from Drew including effusive praise of each cast member individually, which is likely why there wasn't a Q&A afterwards. Though Drew stayed in her seat in the theatre until after the lights came up and yelled out her thanks to the crowd.

And now I'm home and off to bed...three movies on deck tomorrow!

TIFF: George Clooney is pretty

I didn't have any films on the docket for today and after sleeping in, eating lunch and catching up on the premieres of Melrose Place and America's Next Top Model (don't judge) I decided to swing by the Ryerson for the premiere of 'Up in the Air', the latest film from Jason Reitman that's on the schedule for next Saturday as my last film of the festival. Honestly, because I figured I shouldn't pass up the opportunity to see George Clooney while he's in town :-).

Other than grabbing pictures of people at screenings I'm attending, I don't really do much star searching at the festival. And I've never stood with the crowds at one of the red carpets so this was my first experience watching the action for more than the few seconds it usually takes me to walk by on my way into the theatre. I don't know that I'd make a habit of it, but it was a fun way to spend an hour on a lovely Saturday afternoon.

The carpet was busy and the crowds were huge. It's the first time I've seen the entire street blocked off in front of the Ryerson for a premiere. And among the group around me shouting at various stars as they talked to entertainment reporters across the way from us were definitely those that took the process of autograph hunting seriously.

Stars passing by included Vera Farmiga (that's her in the white dress above), Anna Kendrick and Jason Bateman (love him) who are all in the film but also a bunch of people who aren't including Amanda Seyfried who must have had nothing better to do today.

And George, oh George. Lainey has always talked about how professional he is and how he goes above and beyond to work the publicity for all of his films and I'm going to have to agree from my brief perspective. He showed up early and worked the line. And not the line of reporters waiting to interview him (though he did a very quick pass by and shook all of their hands) but the line of fans out on the street and all around the red carpet area signing what must have been hundreds of autographs even with a broken hand.

Jason was pretty obliging as well.



The ladies never made their way to our side of the carpet, but I can tell you they all looked lovely from behind :-)



I'm very much looking forward to seeing the movie next week. Here's hoping Jason Reitman goes three for three. Now I've got to get ready for dinner out and two movies and a baby shower tomorrow.

I'll leave you with the biggest red carpet disaster I saw all afternoon...

No, I can't leave you with that. How bout this one?

TIFF: Passenger Side

Friday night's film was Passenger Side, an indie Canadian film about two brothers driving around Los Angeles seemingly aimlessly and the cast of characters they run into en route. Elder brother Michael (Adam Scott) is a writer of no success who spends a day playing chauffeur for Tobey (Joel Bissonnette), a recovering drug addict who's 'errands' for the day end up being a meandering quest in search of something...someone.

Matt Bissonnette wrote and directed the film and as he discussed in the Q&A following the screening, casting his brother and good friend as the leads made the brotherly relationship completely believable and their rambling discussions were full of conversational shorthand that only comes with years of history. The soundtrack of the film was also great, a character onto itself. The film's producer, Bissonnette(s), Kimberly Huie (who played a drunken right-winger in one of the brother's encounters) and Scott attended for the post-film Q&A to discuss the film, the music and road trips in general. I'll pause to note that Adam Scott has one of those voices you could listen to forever and I was always happy when a question was posed in his direction (and as an aside, you should really check out the hilarious first season of Party Down if you want to see more of him).

All and all a solid film, and one that I'm sure will show up on the Movie Network at some point in the future for your viewing pleasure.

The film was preceeded by the short 'On a lonely drive' which was really pretty to look at but didn't seem to say much...so I really won't say anything about it either.

TIFF: An Education

TIFF kicked off today and I really hope my first film is indicative of the quality of films I've got on the slate for the next 9 days.

An Education takes place in the early 1960's and stars newcomer Carey Mulligan as Jenny, a smart, pretty, curious girl who's a straight A student with parents pressuring her to gain acceptance to Oxford. But she strays from that path when she meets a much older man (Peter Sarsgaard) who tempts her with a life of fancy clothes, night life and even manages to somehow charm her parents into letting her spend a weekend in Paris.

The movie is based on a memoir by Lynn Barber and was adapted for the screen by Nick Hornby and boasts great performances all around. Mulligan is amazing in this film, and definitely worthy of the quiet Oscar buzz she's garnering. Alfred Molina's turn as her father is funny and charming. Rosamund Pike and Dominic Cooper are entertaining as the couple who, along with Sarsgaard, lure Jenny to the world of adventure. And Olivia Williams and Emma Thompson as her teacher and headmaster respectively are pitch perfect. Incidentally, watching a Sarsgaard love scene while watching the man himself react to the scene (he was sitting in the row ahead of my directly in my peripheral vision) is quite entertaining.

The post film Q&A wasn't the best I've seen at the festival, but I'm going to put that to the quality of the questions from the crowd (not that I had a better one to offer) as opposed to the actors as they were all quite charming.

After the film we played paparazzi at the exit door while the TIFF volunteers did their 'lock and load' for the stars' exits.

Here's Carey stopping to sign a few autographs as she was rushed through

Peter ran the gauntlet pretty quickly as well.

Alfred Molina and Dominic Cooper spent a little more time with the crowd

And Cooper's girlfriend Amanda Seyfried, who also has a film premiering at the same venue tonight at midnight (Jennifer's Body) came out to support him.

The poor girl may have been the most mobbed one there at her exit. And she somehow managed to miss the car and spent a few minutes in the middle of the street getting inundated for autographs and pictures before they swung back around to get her. Also incidentally, she and Cooper seem like a very sweet couple. They were sitting right in front of us for the film and at one point he removed his jacket and threw it around her shoulders as she was clearly getting a bit of a chill in the theatre. All together now....aaaawww :-).

TIFF 2009

So the rest of the summer has disappeared and it's once again time for TIFF! Year after year, it saves me from the end of summer doldrums and bridges the gap to the new TV season :-).

First of all, I have to say that the festival has recovered from the epic fail that was the Toronto Life main building box office location and management and my experiences at the box office this year have been great. I've visited the big white tent in Nathan Phillips Square three times and even the double lineup this morning to first pick up my tickets and then exchange vouchers for the choices I didn't get went very smoothly. And I was once again fairy lucky with my ordering, receiving 7 of the 10 films I selected and was able to pick up an 8th of my original requests this morning. I felt very sorry for a few people in the line around me who were in a few of the last boxes who had received about 40-50% of their requested tickets.

Following my usual process I narrowed down the film list last week and here's what I ended up with after having to do a bit of reorganizing this morning.

1. An Education


2. Passenger Side


3. Bright Star


4. Whip it!


5. Precious


6. An Afternoon with Chris Rock


7. Leaves of Grass


8. Youth in Revolt


9. Life During Wartime


10. Up in the Air