Well I attended my first ever Toronto Film Festival in September 2007, I managed six out of the eight films planned (I was ill for two days unfortunately). Here is a small rundown and some reviews of the films I did see :o)
Saturday
Sunday
Monday
Tuesday // Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
WHAT I ENJOYED
WHAT I DIDN'T ENJOY
Now... onto the London Film Festival end of October 2008!!!
Flew into Toronto Airport and checked into my hotel - The Alexandra Hotel on Ryerson Avenue.
Attended my first screening - Girl in the Park. Fantastic performances by all 3 main actresses (Sigourney Weaver, Kate Bosworth and Keri Russell). A good chick drama focussing on the relationship between guilt-ridden Sigourney and the free-spirit Bosworth. Q&A with the director (David Auburn), Sigourney Weaver and Kate Bosworth after the film in which they said the film was made in 26 days and in the actual order you see on screen, not filmed out of sequence. An excellent beginning to the Festival.
Saw two films today, an excellent screening day. No Country For Old Men: Awesome! Awesome! Awesome! I loved this film. Josh Brolin take a bow! Javier Bardem is the best psycho on screen for years. There is a genuine evilness in him that makes me believe he could easily kill anyone he wants to. Genuinely scary character. Tommy Lee Jones and Kelly McDonald also deserve praise for their roles. I *loved* this film. Violent, brutal and also had the audience laughing too! This was followed in the afternoon by Battle in Seattle: Very impressed with Stuart Townsend's directorial debut. I could not remember the riots in Seattle in 1999 so didn't know much about it when I walked into the cinema but really enjoyed the film following five fictitious characters and centres around them during the riots. Co Stars Charlize Theron, Woody Harrelson, Ray Liotta, Andre Benjamin, Michelle Rodriguez, Connie Nielsen and Martin Henderson. Stuart Townsend attended a Q&A after the screening too.
Was ill and missed my screenings of Into the Wild directed by Sean Penn and Married Life starring Pierce Brosnan, Rachel McAdams, Patricia Clarkson and Chris Cooper.
9am screening of Paranoid Park directed by Gus Van Sant. If you're a fan you'll probably enjoy it, even if you're not give this film a try. Really enjoyed this drama, about a young teenager who is enticed to the skateboard park known as Paranoid Park and becomes involved in a murder. Went along to the Gala Screening of Reservation Road and saw Joaquin Phoenix, Mark Ruffalo, Jennifer Connelly and Mira Sorvino on the red carpet. They didn't come to the fans waiting unfortunately but I'm really pleased to say I've now seen them in person. Met up with another Joaquin fan and we went for a couple of drinks to the Delta Chelsea - I think we were the only people in the bar under 60!!! :o)
Arranged with Julie to meet her at the Ryerson for the 9am screening of Reservation Road. The drama is awesome. The cast were uniformly excellent and this should do well come awards season. Thought provoking drama. Later in the evening we both attended the 9pm screening of Rails and Ties the new Kevin Bacon and Marcia Gay Harden film directed by Alison Eastwood. We didn't know much about the film but we stood to the front of the line and found out that Julie's Visa Platinum card would get us into the Visa Premier Lounge for pre movie drinks - thanks Visa! Went to see the film and WOW! All I can say is congratulations Alison Eastwood. An excellent emotionally charged drama which left a cinemaful crying by the films tearjerking ending. Excellent acting and hopefully the Academy will notice this film. Afterwards we went for drinks to the Fairmont. Very nice hotel, very friendly :o)
TIFF THOUGHTS
Top 6 Films
1. Rails and Ties & No Country For Old Men - 2 very different films. Can't decide which I liked better.
3. Reservation Road - Excellent Drama but did not get me crying as Rails and Ties did.
4. Battle in Seattle - Thought provoking drama, based on real events
5. Girl in the Park - Excellent female drama
6. Paranoid Park - Gus Van Sant directed drama. Very interesting.
Watching films with a mature audience - no popcorn throwing teens interrupting the film, no chatting or mobile phones going off!!!
Having to cancel 2 days through illness, however the other 4 days were very worthwhile.