By this day I was already starting to feel quite run down. I dragged myself to Sarah’s Key because I had heard great things.

I was not disappointed. This is the story of a reporter uncovering the life of a young Jewish french girl named Sarah, and her attempt to save her brother from the arrests (and eventual deportation to Germany) that took place in the summer of 1942. Not only is this story fascinating because the main antagonists are not Nazis, but the French Police & Government, a part of history that many French people don’t even know about, but also because of the personal story of not only this one girl, but every person who comes in contact with her during and even after her lifetime.

It’s reflects not only the horrors of the Second World War, but also the scars and ghosts that it has left behind for everyone, and deals with this subject matter with the respect it deserves, while also being fictional.

The Director had a nice Q&A afterward where he discussed why he wanted to make this film. He is french, and his mother lost her father to the Holocaust when she was only 2 years old. He said that many people of Europe, not just the French, don’t want to but should have to learn of their mistakes, and discuss how it effects their everyday lives – so that they can appreciate our lives now. “You think you have problems today?” he said.

Bunraku
5:00pm, Scotiabank Theatre.

Sadly, this is the beginning of the end for my TIFF adventure.

I was feeling exhausted and very worried that I had a cold coming on – so I skipped my second movie of this day to go home and rest. I wish it would have fixed everything, but it just solidified that, yes, I was ill. Of the 5 remaining films of the fest, after this day, I would only make it to 1. :(

Stay tuned for my final review and recap of TIFF 2010.

See all my pictures from today at my TIFF ’10 Day 9 Photo Set on Flickr.

Peep world is a movie about a fictional book, which is being made into a movie. I suppose you could call it a story about a dysfunctional family. It will no doubt be compared to The Royal Tenenbaums, only less interesting and dramatic. It even offers a Voice Over performance reminiscent of Alec Baldwins’ only featuring Lewis Black. Sadly, the characters are just not as fleshed out or deep as the Tenenbaums, nor is the plot. The story seemed uneven, and leading to a dramatic conclusion that never really comes – instead we get a dinner scene with characters yelling at each other about issues we, as the audience, already know.

However, I don’t mean to say its a bad film, I think it just lacks originality. I have to give kudos to the director and cast, as it was made on a shoestring budget in under a month. That is certainly something to be proud of. I do like the idea of a writer seriously profiting off the revelation of his siblings shortcomings and downfalls while he himself hides a embarrassing secret of his own, it’s just unfortunate that this fact was used for comedic effect, instead of a more serious tone.

I do hope that it gets bought an put into a wider release, because for all its faults, it still is entertaining and funny, with just the right mix of drama (with a Capital D, as in Drama Llama).

INSIDIOUS
3:00pm, AMC Theatres.

Insidious, while not a perfect film, is still entertaining and, at times, frightening. That is pretty much the best one can hope for in the horror genre, right? While it’s no ‘Saw’ (written, directed and produced by the same team), its still a creepy horror story that only sometimes becomes cheesy and breaks my suspension of disbelief. Rose Byrne is quite good as is Patrick Wilson (who I love in absolutely everything he has ever done, ever) playing scared parents. It’s, at the core, a haunted house / possession story, and lucky for us the creators are smart enough, or respect us enough, to generally avoid many cliche’s generally associated with the genre. However, somewhere around the 3/4 mark it becomes sort of a joke of itself, venturing into a sort of unbelievable dream-like place, and doesn’t really fully recover.

In the end i think the concept was great, however the execution was subpar. Still a great flick to watch around Halloween (if there isn’t an annual Saw sequel available to watch).

PROMISES WRITTEN IN WATER
10:00pm, AGO.

Oh, Vincent Gallo, you so crazy. I don’t know if what he created should really be called a movie. I mean, it’s on film alright, but when something has very little dialogue, music, sound or plot, it’s really more like a piece of art that happens to be presented via video.

I was forewarned by a random stranger that this movie was absolute crap, so I was expecting very little. After having seen it I can confidently say that that person was a) wrong and b) a world-class rube. Also I am seriously wondering if they have ever seen a Vincent Gallo film before? Because this one was pretty par for the course. The story of a man, who gets a job as a funeral director and befriends a dying lady, their relationship, all unfolding awkwardly using no cinematic cliche’s or even traditional techniques.

While I’m not going to say that I understand it in the strictest sense, there were indeed parts that I found wonderful.

See all my pictures from today at my TIFF ’10 Day 8 Photo Set on Flickr.

Wow am I grateful to have a day like today, right in the middle of my TIFF marathon. Two movies that I am quite looking forward to, and don’t run too early or late. Both at one theatre, to boot!

How to start your own country is equal parts funny and thought provoking. While most people wouldn’t think to defect, secede or declare themselves a separate nation, there are those few unique people who, for whatever reason, feel the need to govern there own territory.

I just recently found out about Sealand (which might be the most recognized Micronation) and that inspired me to pick up a ticket for this documentary. Didn’t know, but was delighted to hear that it was created and directed by a Canadian.

It features a decent number of these strange little ‘Countries’ and provides a varying look at the reasons and motivations behind their founders, as well as the different goals and aspirations of each. I think I found the Q&A for this flick to be one of the most interesting, as the director and writer (I didn’t know one could get a writing credit for a documentary) purposefully didn’t say whether they believed the legitimacy of the places that they featured.

One fantastic question, which was brilliantly answered was why they decided to not include more controversial places that are fighting for independence or recognition as countries (such as Tibet), however they did touch on this slightly with interviewing the UN representatives for both Palestine and Israel. However, they wanted to focus on individuals, and specifically micronations as the base for the question “What defines a Country?” – a question that even the UN is unable to answer. It turns out to much more of a sociological and psychological as it is a geographical question, perhaps, even more so.

WOMB
6:00pm, AMC Theatres.

I liked Womb so much that I put off writing my review. In fact, I haven’t even written anything yet, but I thought I’d put something up here, and maybe later devote an entire post to it. It’s an absolutely wonderful dramatic film, using minimalist landscape and dialogue, it still conveys deep emotion. Eva Green is brilliant, if stoic, throughout the entire film (and yes, it has been suggested that her character is completely insane), as the woman who bears the clone of her dead beloved. Matt Smith (oh, eleventh doctor!) is fantastic too – he’s so good in fact, it makes me sad he got cast as The Doctor because we’ll be seeing so much less of him in roles like these.

The Director was on-hand for a Q&A afterward, but either his Engish is terrible, or he just doesn’t care – because I found this to be one of the least helpful Q&As ever. I really wish Eva or Matt were there, because I had about a billion questions about their very complex characters.

It’s an intense, interesting and thought provoking look at the subject of Love – and the meaning of it. That’s all I really want to say about it for now, I’ll probably be thinking about it for weeks still.

See all my pictures from today at my TIFF ’10 Day 7 Photo Set on Flickr.

Made a decision to let myself sleep in a bit and catch the train that would get me to Toronto with only a little over 1/2 an hour before Black Swan, so i ended up near the rear of the longest TIFF line I’ve ever seen. So my seat was predictably far back, however, didn’t have to sit in the balcony or anything so terrible as that. Lucky (?) for me no one showed up to the screening (not even Aronofsky!) but i assume that has something to do with it premiering last night, and everyone important was sleeping off their hangovers.

As for the movie itself, it left me a little disappointed. While there is no doubt that Natalie Portman was brilliant, and gave one of the best performances I’ve ever seen, the plot itself, nay even the premise, was weak. Maybe studio execs sat Aronofsky down after ‘The Fountain’ and said something along the lines of “make something more obvious, please”. The symbolism was heavy handed and blatant, which is the exact opposite of what I usually enjoy about his films. From wardrobe to set dressing, this movie was bashing us over the head with dichotomy metaphors; Black vs White, Control vs Instability, and Reality vs Delusion, while the the story itself never really takes us to the emotional place that we need to be to appreciate it. Instead it creates a predictable sort of horror vibe, which I assume was their attempt at transferring some paranoia into us, but (for me anyways) failed.

However, as I said, Natalie Portman is riveting, she does the absolute best with what is given to her, and this entire film may be worth watching again just to see her performance a second time. Also, I think I have proven time and again that I’ll literally watch anything Vincent Cassel is in, literally, anything.

LET ME IN
3:00pm, Ryerson Theatre.

Kudos to Matt Reeves. All I wanted from this film was to take the original source and Not Fuck It Up. Like most fans of the original Let the Right One In, I was asking the question “Why? Why remake a perfectly decent (actually, amazing) film?” this movie made me realize that it needed to be done to bring it to a wider audience. As a fan of independent and international film, I sometimes forget that not everyone is. And sometimes in order to get Regular Everyday Moviegoers interested in something, you need to make it accessible to them. Somehow, Reeves manages to change just enough to make it a film that everyone will want to see, and should enjoy,without removing any of the beauty of the story or the complexity of the characters. Kodi Smit-McPhee is unbelievably good and and i can honestly say that his Owen is as good as Oskar. Chloe Moretz is good, but I still prefer Eli to Abby.

Spoiler Alert: there are no crazed CGI/Puppet Cats :(

IN A BETTER WORLD
7:30pm, Isabel Bader Theatre.

This is the sort of film I come to the film festival to see. Easily one of the best I’ve seen so far this year. A Danish film about two families, how their lives intertwine and the machinations of a particularly vengeful 12 year old boy. With that said it really is an ensemble piece, with each character having their own emotional issues and drama, but in a way that actually carries the story forward. I particularly enjoyed the portions filmed on location in Kenya, where one of the leads travels to and from, using this side story to help us better understand our own morals and opinions about right and wrong, and how under certain circumstances, we are all capable of anything.

Susanne Beirs, Director of In a Better World (aka ‘Hævnen’)

The director was here for a Q&A and while i don’t think she added much information in relation to the movie, i found her approach to film making interesting. Basically, unlike a full-on screenwriter, she writes scenes based on characters she likes, or the other way around. The plots themselves seem to take a back seat, priority wise, but I think that what comes out of that is really fantastic drama.

Thus ends my first Three Movie Day. Sorry if the lack of sleep or marathon line-waiting has effected my brain so much that my reviews are incoherent. Ask me again what I thought of Black Swan in three weeks and it might be my favorite film of all time, who knows ;-)

Not many pics today, too busy/tired, and as we pass the mid-point of the ‘fest fewer and fewer cast & crew are at the screenings.

See all my pictures from today at my TIFF ’10 Day 6 Photo Set on Flickr.

What can I say about ‘Our Day Will Come’? It was an unexpected delight to have Colin Geddes (the infamous Midnight Madness program director) introduce the movie, whom is apparently a redhead, I guess. Seeing it in the middle of the afternoon, with a group of middle aged and elderly (possibly French) moviegoers, was an experience in and of itself. Definitely the wrong crowd. In fact, we saw a couple of people walk out, even!

While the movie is pretty intense and messed up, it’s essentially the story of two redhead outcasts and their journey through northern France, so I guess you could call it a road trip movie. If you want to see characters have random and intense emotional mood swings and engage in seriously deviant behavior, then you’d like it. While there’s a threadbare plot, its not without interest and intrigue – and Boobs and Vincent Cassel wang, and the brief but creepy presence of a young, possibly mute, redhead girl – who has become my favorite character.

(Colin, Romain Gavras & Olivier Barthelemy [and his interpreter because he's HARDCORE FRENCH])

I can’t say whether I liked it for sure or not, but I can definitely say that I think the Director is unqiue, crazy and hilarious, and I like him. Sadly, Vincent was busy doing press or something for Black Swan so he missed the screening and Q&A (but sent his love along to me and Ahli, specifically). Which is typical of my TIFF experience in regards to him (he’s such a Big Shot, he never shows up!). Which is probably for the best, else he would get molested by my eyes.

JUCY
8:45pm, AMC Theatres.

Jucy was exactly the movie I thought it would be except, thank god, it was less about boys than I feared.

In fact, I was really worried that this film would be A sappy romcom under the guise of a girl-power-chick-flick, and would unfortunately carry my most hated of all ‘Happy Endings’ wherein our heroine realizes that she needs True Love (in the form of Marriage) to be Happy, but manages to fit her BFF in her life too, hooray for all! But it’s not.

What it is, is actually a fair portrayal of a typical mid-twenties life crisis as seen though the lives of two female BFFs. They’re both yearning for something more in their lives, trying to prove to the world that their apparent co-dependence is not a hindrance. Jacky, a video store manager wants to get A Boy (ok I didn’t say there wasn’t some romcom elements), and Lucy who also works at the store, wants a Proper Job. While this is great for plot development, and theoretical character motivation, it’s obvious that the real issues are Jacky’s coping with mental illness (and properly medicating herself for it) and Lucy’s body image, and struggle with being overweight, with a dash of familial issues for the both of them. The movie does a good job of trying to juggle having two fully main characters, but slightly falls short.

I found the balance between selfishness and interdependence, the laugher and the fights, the distance and the closeness of the two women portrayed in this film was a more accurate depiction of real friendships than I’ve seen in a while on screen, and entertaining to watch. I snapped a pic or two, but couldn’t stick around for the Q&A coz I had to catch the train home.

See all my pictures from today at my TIFF ’10 Day 5 Photo Set on Flickr.

I was too tired, so I slept in and I did not go. I hope it was good .

GRIFF THE INVISIBLE
4:00pm, AMC Theatres.

After being sort of, I’m not going to say disappointed, I guess ‘Taken Aback’ by Super – I was weary of another “DIY Superhero” Movie. Perhaps because of this, I was delightfully surprised by it. Ryan Kwanten (the amazing Jason Stackhouse himself) plays Griff – office worker by day, ‘Superhero’ by night.

(Um, is Jason Stackhouse looking right at me? OMG!)

Antisocial Griff is on a mission to create an invisibility suit (yes, perhaps the metaphors are rife and obvious), and seems to be having no luck until his Brother’s (kind-of) girlfriend comes along, obviously also quirky with a unique view on the world. I don’t want to say to much, else I ruin the film – but it’s a very cute story, and one of the best movies I’ve seen so far at the festival.

Ryan is brilliant, just brilliant. And I find myself both loving at hating him for being both so Good Looking and such an amazing actor. I hope he has like, terrible foot odor, or bad typing skills, or something that will level the playing field for the rest of us. In any case, he pulls of the quiet, sullen, adorable Griff very well – and I’m very much looking forward to the DVD or I wider release, so I can see it again.

After the movie we had Dinner at
Annona Restaurant, at the Park Hyatt, Yorkville.

I consider this as important an event during the film festival as any movie screening, press conference or Q&A. The one night I hear I have Dinner Out in Yorkville. Last year, it was at One Restaurant at the Hazelton Hotel (Awesome). The year before that it was at Pangaea Restaurant (Not as Awesome).

I had a wonderful Seafood Chowder and Mixed Seafood Grill, the world’s most delicious sparkling water (from Norway, maybe?) to drink – and some English Breakfast Tea to end. I think that hands-down this was one of the best meals I’ve ever had. The portions were delightfully filling – a rarity among upscale dining sometimes.

(My Seafood Chowder and Me)

TAMARA DREWE After Party at Courthouse
Presented by NOW Magazine Toronto & The Liberty Group.

This event was obviously a lot smaller and more intimate than the giant Tiff Gala Opening Party, but it was still packed when we arrived a mere 30 minutes after it started, and long before anyone from the cast or crew had arrived (they were still at the screening which started at 9pm). While the bar was not ‘open’, the atmosphere was still fun. Lots of VIPs (likely from NOW Magazine) lined the couches along the side of the main floor. Using both tremendous Good and Bad luck, we had to dash early – but upon our exit we saw Gemma Arterton (who plays Tamara), and Geoffrey Rush arriving. Both looking splendid.

NOW gave us a great little party bag with tea, gum and headphones as well as copies of the most recent (giant!) Now Magazine, the festival edition. I can’t thank Liberty Group enough for inviting me to this. It was a blast.

See all my pictures from today at my TIFF ’10 Day 4 Photo Set on Flickr.

I apparently have a knack for finding videos of myself, as taken by strangers, on YouTube.

This recently happened during FanExpo (read about how basically someone took a video of me and a Dalek) and I found it randomly. Today, since I had a few extra hours (because I ditched ‘Deep in the Woods’, but I’ll explain that later) I was catching up on reading the very few TIFF Blogs I subscribe to, and lo and behold, via The Toronto Film Scene’s post about The Substream’s review of Super – there I am, the background, playing Ludo (or possibly Checkers) with Ahli on my iPad:

Actually spoke to that guy who seemed kind of hilarious. Asked me if owning an iPad was worth the trouble of having other humans come up and talk to me about it. I said Yes, because it was better than owning the iPhone 4, where strangers want to touch it.

Although I didn’t get up until after ten o’clock this morning it still felt like a very early morning, because of last nights midnight madness, I didn’t get to bed until after 3am. Luckily, Ahli let me stay at her place, just a few blocks from Ryerson, so I didn’t have to worry too much about getting up early to catch The King’s Speech by Noon. However, I did manage to somehow sleep through my alarm (but only by 20min). Once I arrived to the theatre I very much noticed the lack of Press and Red Carpet, so was mildly disappointed to think that none of the stars would be on hand. Luckily I was wrong.

This is story of King George VI (Elizabeth IIs Father), and on the surface, it is about him suffering and overcoming a speech impediment. Sounds weak, I know, but it’s really more about pressures of his role, the stress and oddity of his ascension to the throne, and most of all, of the fantastic bond between him and one if his best friends, who just happened to be his speech therapist. Colin Firth is delightful as ever (while, to be fair, I could watch him read Hungarian poetry and find it brilliant),as is Geoffrey Rush, who takes on a rather mild, ‘normal’ role for once.

(Does this need a caption? I love older British Men so much!)
(YES I know that Geoffery Rush is Australian, but still!)

I’ll never not remember Colin Firth, during the Q&A, on what attracted him to the movie, saying in his lovely British brogue the phrase “Bromance”!

MADE IN DAGENHAM
6:00pm, VISA Screening Room (Elgin Theatre).

I love evening Visa Screening room movies, because I almost always get to go into the Visa Lounge and eat free chocolates. Plus, hey have a cash bar and tonight I decided to have a beer, and tea (a combination which puzzled my friend Bhilly to no end). So much better than having to wait outside, it’s a small but lovely perk I look forward to every year.

(Me and Ahli in the Visa Lounge 2010!)

This is one of those quirky British films that middle aged women will be falling over themselves to see, and rightly so. It really has Calendar Girls written all over it (same Director), only with a bit more far reaching message and result. The story of a small group of women who started the movement for equal pay for women in factories around the UK. Every actress in this movie was fantastic. From Sally Hawkins as the lead, or her many supporting female clan. Bob Hoskins was good too, however I think the screenwriter forgot about his character somewhere around the half way point, which is a shame.

Before the film it was introduced by two of the producers, one of which (Elizabeth Karlsen) advised that she recently found out about the Bechdel Test for movies, and boasted that Made in Dagenham passed with flying colours. That, it did.

(Aforementioned Producers & Sally Hawkins [Taken by Ahli!])

(Jaime Winstone and Rosamund Pike)

See all my pictures from today at my TIFF ’10 Day 3 Photo Set on Flickr.

Daydream Nation is a movie about a Manic Pixie Dream Girl, her awkward, emotionally fucked up Boyfriend, and the Obsessive, narcissistic Teacher she is sleeping with. All set in a small town, where the only form of entertainment seems to be heavy recreational drug use. Written by a first-time Canadian Director (Michael Goldbach) it has heavy tones of a more modern looking American Beauty, and for some reason I couldn’t get Donnie Darko out of my head the whole time, maybe because it has the same for boding sense of doom throughout the film. While the story itself is mildly predictable, it does show great insight into loneliness, and a constant reminder of our own mortality.

For the most part, the characters are great, and while I’m getting totally sick of seeing movies about That Girl, I was delighted to find that Thurston (the boyfriend) was complicated and real – I latched onto him to guide me though this movie and it helped avoid the parts I simply didn’t care about. If this movie was made 15 years ago it would be easy to see Kate Winslet and Edward Norton in the main roles, while Kat Dennings and Reece Thompson definitely shine themselves.

Its the sort of film that I’ll want to see again, outside the hype and praise of it’s world premiere, to give it a fair shake.

It already contains my new favorite Canadian Reference that I’ve heard so far during TIFF: “This town has more incest than an Atom Egoyan Film”.

SUPER
11:59pm, Ryerson Theatre (Midnight Madness!).

I can pretty much sum up Super this way: Wow, that was unexpectedly violent.

Wanna see a film where the sad sack character the Rainn Wilson plays in eve movie hits people in the face with wrenches? Where Ellen page plays an immature comic nerd with a crazy violent side? Where Liv Tyler plays a slutty drug addict (although, being high most of the time she’s actually not all that slutty)? Then, you should give this one a go. Honestly, it’s funny in parts, but watch the movie looking down, so that you don’t fall into one of the many, deep, plot holes.

While I have not seen Kick-Ass, I’m sure this flick is going to get some comparisons, which will be difficult to do given that this one entirely unrealistic, and pretty much lacks any emotional resonance. I feel like adding the tag line: For Entertainment Purposes Only.

Click below for pics of Kat Dennings, Reece Thompson, Rainn Wilson, Ellen Page & Liv Tyler from the Q&As after each film,

See all my pictures from today at my TIFF ’10 Day 2 Photo Set on Flickr.

SCORE: A HOCKEY MUSICAL
8:00pm, Roy Thompson Hall.

We arrived about 7pm to Roy Thompson, and headed to the Priority Line (because that is what our tickets said!), and stood for only 10 minutes or so till they let us inside. At which point we tried out a 3D TV, and then took a swanky photo of ourselves:

After we went in and found our seats, they showed the Red Carpet Arrivals on the Big Screen, and then TIFF was underway! They started with a brief film about the history of TIFF, celebrating 35 years, and brought a whole host of people on stage to thank various other people for various things. Eventually the Writer / Director (Mike McGowan) finally ended up on stage and brought out about 50 of the cast, including Olivia Newton-John, Nellie Furtado and Walter Gretzky.

The movie properly began about 9pm, and for the most part I enjoyed it. It’s a Sports-Musical RomCom, and it lives up well to the genre. I think the only negative press it might get is for being too Canadian! I think that something so in-your-face-Canadian almost always will be taken as a joke, but I don’t think that Mr. McGowan intended it to be that way, I think that we are so used to seeing American Lives being played out on screen, that we tend to think of it as self indulgent and crass when we put a Canadian face on it. A great example of this is when one character berates another for leaving her window open in the winter “Its not good for the environment” he says, to which she replies “I can’t turn my radiator off, David Suzuki”. It is exactly these kind of not-so-subtle references that will earn the movie both positive and negative press. I, for one, will be picking up his previous work, One Week, and think I will enjoy it as much, or even more!

TIFF Opening Night Gala Party
10:00pm, Liberty Grand.

We rode the streetcar, and got to the Party in record time! As soon as we got there, we saw our first Actual Celebrity: David Schwimmer, and I got my first Crappy Blurry Paparazzi Photo of TIFF10!

(It really is David Schwimmer, I swear!)

All dolled up, we checked out the rooms, ate some Hors d’Oeuvres and generally had a good time. There were basically three rooms for the lowly un-VIPs (while all the Very Important People were upstairs), a room with a giant ice rink ice sculpture that had Vodka Shots on it at the beginning of the night, a Courtyard was was serving do-it-yourself Poutine in little Chinese take-away containers, and a Club Room with a hockey-rink dance floor and DJ. Crazy!

(See all the photos on my Flickr Set, link at the bottom of this post)

We spent most of our time in the room with the ice sculpture, because that is where the Diet Coke people were, mixing up my favorite drink of the night:

Talked about other peoples dresses, and how very much we wanted to see Keanu Reeves on the balcony, sullenly eating a sandwich, but it was not to be. Eventually the servers were coming around with desserts (frozen chocolate-covered cheesecake hockey pucks on a stick and funnel cakes), and a while after that I realized there we barely any other people left, we got our coats and left.

Free snacks eaten. Free booze drunken. A great ending to a great start to the festival!

See all my pictures from today at my TIFF ’10 Day 1 Photo Set on Flickr.