Category: TIFF

I almost forgot. Before Chopper last night, they screened a short film called In God We Trust, directed by a young director named Jason Reitman (son of Ivan Reitman, as it turns out). It stars that guy from the IBM commercial, the one where the guy is walking around a supermarket, apparently shoplifting stuff, and then the security guard stops him on his way out to give him his receipt. It’s a brilliant piece of comedy, compressed into a perfect length (16 minutes). 9/10. Keep your ears open, this guy’s going places…

I saw two films last night. 101 Reykjavik was a comedy, mostly. 30 year old slacker still lives at home with his mother in a tiny house (their bathtub has a lid that turns it into bench seating for their kitchen table!). His mother brings home her Spanish friend and over New Year’s, he has a fling with her. Then his mother confesses to him that she is a lesbian and that her friend and she are lovers. Much confusion ensues, but this ends up a story about a guy who finally gets a life. Music by Damon Albarn of Blur. Not sure if this will get US distribution, the director said that’s why they’re in Toronto. I’d give it 7/10.

Chopper was another first feature, and features one of Australia’s best known standup comedians in the role of Mark “Chopper” Read, one of Australia’s most notorious criminals. This guy got his nickname from having someone slice his ears off in prison. Sound gruesome? The movie has lots more nastiness in store. Excellent acting from Eric Bana and innovative cinematography from director Andrew Dominik. Although violent, the film does leave us wondering about the relationship between criminal behaviour and fame. The real Chopper Read is out of prison now and has written 9 best-selling books based on his life and crimes. I’d give this one 8/10.

I also bought a new cellphone today (Sanyo SCP-4000) and some music:

• Elastica-The Menace
• Aimee Mann-I’m With Stupid (CDN$9.99)
• The Police-Regatta de Blanc (CDN$9.99)
• Beastie Boys-Paul’s Boutique (CDN$9.99)
• Chemical Brothers-Dig Your Own Hole (CDN$9.99)

I love getting deals like that. I’m off to another Australian film tonight, I’ll try to report on that tomorrow.

Here is my film festival schedule. I’ll try to comment on each film, but I doubt I’ll have time for proper reviews:

• Friday September 8 — 6:30 PM — 101 Reykjavik (Iceland)
• Friday September 8 — 10:00 PM — Chopper (Australia)/In God We Trust (USA)
• Saturday September 9 — 9:30 PM — City Loop (Australia)
• Sunday September 10 — 1:00 PM — Angels of the Universe (Iceland/Norway/Germany/Sweden/Denmark)
• Sunday September 10 — 6:30 PM — Chasing Sleep (USA)
• Tuesday September 12 — 9:45 PM — Possible Worlds (Canada)
• Thursday September 14 — 9:15 PM — Loners (Czech Republic)
• Friday September 15 — 7:00 PM — The King is Alive (Denmark)
• Saturday September 16 — 12:30 PM — Before Night Falls (USA)
• Saturday September 16 — 7:00 PM — Comédie de l’innocence (France)

Okay, this is where the Toronto International Film Festival drives me nuts. They make the program guide and schedule available yesterday, and you have to pick all your films (10 each for Brooke and I, but up to 50 for some friends of ours) and drop off your schedule TOMORROW morning before 10am. Isn’t that nuts? And you rarely get all your choices, which leads to some frantic scenes of people crowding around a big board seeing if their third or fourth or fifth choice is sold out already. It’s barely controlled chaos, and every year I complain. But you know something? I love it.

This year is doubly interesting for several reasons. I work just north of Toronto, and it takes me about 75-90 minutes to get home, and then another 20 to get downtown. So I’d been thinking I’d be limited to films that started around 8 or later. But lo and behold, I’ve been called to report for jury duty the week of the festival, and the court is right downtown. Could be the greatest inconvenience ever. But, my dad is going on one of his semi-annual trips to Ireland, and I have to feed and water his two cats. He lives about 45 minutes from where I do. And he’s leaving the weekend before the film festival. I’m going to be running all over the city for that week. If I’m not as cheerful as usual in my updates, you’ll know why…

As part of the lead up to the festival, there have been a bunch of free screenings this week of the “People’s Choice” winners from the past twenty years. Last night, we saw Shine (1996). I originally saw it at the 1996 festival, and I loved it just as much the second time. Geoffrey Rush’s Oscar was well deserved. I always wondered if David Helfgott’s recording of Rachmaninoff’s 3rd Symphony was available. I mean the recording when he was a student at the Royal College of Music, the one where he collapses after finishing his performance. Does anyone know? One cool thing was that the real David Helfgott plays about half the music on the soundtrack. It’s such a great story.