This was my 20th year at TIFF. Over most of those years I would typically get to 42 screenings - one of the reasons for part of my handle on UT - but with having to work last week, I only managed 26 this year. I would normally write up the fest for my friends, but again, producing development reports for UT throughout the fest meant no time to summarize (without spoilers) what I saw. While I sent my reports to friends who were interested (one year the reports were also blogged by the National Post) I initially did that writing for my own benefit as a memory aid: who wants to see 42 films, and then not be able to remember any of it? That many films in a row - even 26 while you're still working - can muddle one's mind! Going over the films forced me to consider them again, and cemented them more clearly in my mind.
Some of the festival's more hardcore filmgoers (up to 50 films with a pass, plus up to 10 more if you buy the Midnight Pass pass too) will tell you they can handle it all, but I contend that for most, seeing up to 5 films in a day (and I've occasionally done 6 in a day, although 4 is more typical for me during the fest) changes the way you perceive the individual films: something that you might love on its own during the normal course of movie watching during the year, may not stand out so much when packed in amongst so much competing celluloid. Still, despite the onslaught, it is unlikely that your perception of a film changes fundamentally during the festival, but I maintain it does shift a bit.
With 300 films to choose from, almost every attendee has a different festival experience from everyone else: while I had lots of overlap with various friends, ultimately my festival was as unique as theirs. This year I picked pretty well: of my 26 screenings - 25 feature films and 1 series of shorts - I felt only a couple films were a waste of my time, while the rest were a surprisingly good crop. If you're looking for biting criticism below, I just didn't see enough that was bad to bare my teeth. Here's a quick summary of what I saw, chronologically:
Score: A Hockey Musical - well made, fairly clever, mostly enjoyable (although occasionally I wanted to shout 'stop singing!'), but ultimately totally misguided: there is next to no audience for this film. 12 year-old hockey playing kids who get dragged to it by their parents will tell their friends "Don't go - it's totally gay" in that most pejorative 12-year old sense of the term.
Cirkus Columbia - comedy with edge in a Balkan town in 1991 just as hostilities which brought about the disintegration of Yugoslavia are breaking out: very interesting
Lapland Odyssey - hilarious oddball comedy about a guy trying to find a digital box for is tv, or lose his wife
What I Most Want - what I least needed to see. Argentinean film about two friends talking and talking and not talking. A couple of effecting scenes, some nice scenery were not enough to recommend it
Waiting For "Superman" - compelling documentary on the sorry state of public education in the United States, and attempts to reform it
The Illusionist - wonderful animated film about an aging French magician lured to a remote Scottish village, and the girl who believes the magic is all real, by Sylvain Chomet, the creator of The Triplets of Belleville
The Trip - Brit comics Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon natter at each other for a week while they tour northern England reviewing restaurants: very funny Michael Winterbottom film
Cool It - worthwhile doc about Bjorn Lomborg, a Danish scientist who believes we are taking the completely wrong approach in dealing with climate change
Short Cuts Canada Programme 3 - always a crap shoot, and as always the shorts were variously enjoyable, lamentable, or instantly forgettable, but they are always over quickly. Bright points make these series worthwhile: of note here (but I'm not going into them) were Warchild, Yesno, The High Level Bridge, and On The Way To the Sea. La Métropolitaine, shot in subway systems around the world, was marred by a contrived and nebulous love story, where the film could have merely reveled in all the transity goodness and been more convincing. Then there was The Adder's Bite, to which I was immune. Best move on.
Cave of Forgotten Dreams - Werner Herzog takes us deep into a cave in southern France, in 3D, to introduce us to 32,000 year old paintings, the oldest documented. Very good, brief crocodilian derailment notwithstanding: it's coming out, so you'll know what I mean if you see it.
Submarine - fantastic coming of age film set in Wales: quirky, eccentric, quite funny, kind of touching. Also sold at the fest and coming out; lots from this fest did sell (although I won't highlight them all).
Carancho - well acted but cliched Argentinean film about lawyers trying to cash in on car accident claims, with a far-too-predictable ending
Outrageous! - one of TIFF's early successes, a Canadian classic of a sort, with a legendary performance by female impersonator Craig Russell
Henry's Crime - excellent work by Vera Farmiga and James Caan barely saves a Keanu Reeves caper film set in Buffalo. The titular crime is not all Reeve's: plot holes a-plenty make this quite a groaner
How To Start Your Own Country - a fun doc that visits half a dozen micronations around the world, and the eccentric souls who would secede from under all authority if they could
You Are Here - an engaging Charlie Kaufmanesque study of the workings of the mind, shot here in town, and one of two TIFF films starring the late great under-appreciated Tracy Wright
Dirty Girl - growing up in Oklahoma in the 80s was not easy if you were a slutty girl, or a gay boy. Fun romp puts the two together in a road movie traveling across the metaphorical desert of the southwestern US.
The First Grader - based on the true story of an 84 year old Kenya who goes to school when the government finally makes an education free for all. Surprisingly and delightfully not cloying.
The Fourth Portrait - affecting story of a 10 year old Taiwanese boy struggling to grow up right despite not having a stable home
Home For Christmas - up and down anthology (mostly up) of short stories by Bent Hamer, a favourite Norwegian director of mine; the good bits will remain in my memory
Even The Rain - well-realized, fictionalized retelling of the Bolivian Water Crisis of 2000, when the government sold the country's water to a multinational, and the mostly Quechua peasants revolted
Autobiography of Nicolae Ceausescu - 187 minutes of official Romanian state footage and home movies of Ceausescu's rise and fall, all without modern commentary: long but fascinating
Trigger - Tracy Wright and Molly Parker are estranged former rock'n'roll band mates reunited in Toronto. Terrifically acted, fine Daniel McIvor script, polished Bruce McDonald direction.
Never Let Me Go - great performance by Carey Mulligan (amongst others) in a Kazuo Ishiguro sci-fi morality tale about medical ethics and the price of life: as societal examinations go, a curiousity more than touchstone
The Strange Case of Angelica - Manoel de Oliveira, world's only centenarian filmmaker, slaps together another oddity, this one about stealing ones soul with a photograph
Drei, or Three - Run Lola Run's Tom Tykwer is back with a terrific exploration of love, lust, psychology, philosophy and biology, set in a very modern Berlin: a great film to end the fest with.
Finally, of note but of no surprise, one of the real stars of the festival was the Lightbox. The cinemas are intimate, comfortable, and soundproofed from the outside world and each other. The ambiance of the centre is both dignified and exciting. I look forward to seeing many more films there... and I love Canteen, and am getting hungry just thinking about the gnocchi.
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