Day 3: From India With Missed Opportunities

Once again the tech team at Scotiabank theatres had their challenges. Good thing since I had been sitting in a large theatre at the Lightbox, eagerly waiting for DESCENDANTS to begin. And when the character of a slave began rolling around and banging himself on the head, something told me I was in the wrong movie, let alone theatre. Running over to Scotiabank, I was the only one relieved that the film hadn't entered the auditorium. After 45 minutes, I decided to head to TRISHNA, directed by Michael Winterbottom and starring SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRES Frieda Pinto. I was glad I had. It's an amazing view of India from the largest cities to the smallest villages. My luck began to wane as did the day with 360, a tragicomic view of love lost and found all over the world with a stellar cast, DARK HORSE, a disappointing new Todd Solodonz film where I kept waiting for the TS to come through, and the last film of the day UNION SQUARE, directed by Nancy Savoca and starring Mira Sorvino. But the saddest part of my day is depicted in this shot:

This is the red carpet at the Fox Searchlight Party. It represents my missing Bono and GEORGE CLOONEY who made a ten minute appearance before we arrived. One chicken dog, no dinner.

Day 2: Rooftop Bliss

Today was a mixture of mainly wasted time spent in dark rooms and a wonderful experience on a roof top. The day started out with an early morning foray into a modern day Manson Family with MARTHA MARCY MAY MARLENE, strange and disquieting, followed by my favorite film so far, ANONYMOUS, with Rhys Ifans and Vanessa Redgrave as the elder Queen Elizabeth, and Joely Richardson as the young monarch. A sweeping, huge drink of a movie that presumes that William Shakespeare never wrote his plays, but rather a brooding Earl. LOVED it. Next we saw Pedro Almodovar's left turn (far left) turn THE SKIN I LIVE IN, about a mad scientist played by Antonio Banderas who recreates his dead wife. Much a departure for the famed Spanish filmmaker. We were invite to Sony Pictures Classics 20th Anniversary party on the Rooftop at the Bell Lightbox. What a wonderful space! And some pretty cool folks came to help celebrate Michael Barker and Tom Bernard on their co-presidency and accomplishments. Director Atom Egoyan (The Sweet Hereafter), Sony Chairman Sir Harry Stringer and director Norman Jewison. Last movie of the day, ALWAYS BRANDO was an 'eh'. One chicken dog. One late night.

Day 1 and 'Melancholia' Has Set In

My overnight flight was a breeze save for the lady in front of me who seemed to think her seat was a 'rocker' and spent five hours testing the springs. But hey, that huge machine took off from the ground and landed me in Toronto. At 5.30 in the morning. I now know to where to find the only Tim Hortons in the airport open at that ungodly hour. Found our hotel (The Victoria) to be fantastically newly remodeled. Our rooms are larger than a Paris hotel room, but smaller than a walk in closet. Pretty, clean, comfortable and with Netflix. After checking in and picking up our credentials, it was time to begin to see movies. Lars Von Trier has a new one out called MELANCHOLIA. Lord help him but this guy must be sad. With a lot of money to make a movie that's slower than tar dripping off a dinosaur. We left because we had to hit another happy film, WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN, with Tilda Swinton and John C. Reilly. I was thinking, 'cool, he can be funny and so can she', forgetting the plot: they are parents of a kid who basically pulls a Columbine. Happy. I hit a film called THIS IS NOT A FILM, a fascinating doc about Iranian filmmakers not allowed to conduct their craft due to political issues and last but not least saw IDES OF MARCH, directed by and starring George Clooney as a front runner in a presidential race with Ryan Gossling. A bit sad considering the current state of affairs. I'm hoping for a better day 2. No chicken dogs, but one of the best meals ever at Lucien in our neighborhood.

What Exactly is a Film Festival and Why Do We Go?

In the days leading up to a film festival, I am generally reading as many stories as possible that have been written on the fest I'm going to attend, trying really hard to equate titles I've never heard of posted on the festival site with a multi-colored grid that plots our days and nights. Ok, I admit it, the first thing I look at is the cast list. Ok, I admit it, I grew up in LA. I used to buy maps to the stars homes (once) and read movie star bios inside my text books. While I love an intellectual film that expands my senses, I'd just as soon do it while watching a film star I like. Shallow? Yeah, sure.

What is a film festival? That question has no answer. There are hundred of festivals and they are all different. The ones we go to afford us the opportunity to see 4-5 movies a day in controlled circumstances, designed for folks in the industry.
And why do we go to film festivals? It's the most fabulous opportunity imaginable to see films in advance of distribution and in fact, sometimes, in fact of being attached to a distributor. How amazing is it to see a movie in September and say - oh, yeah, it's perfect for our audience - we have to play it - what can we do to get it? Our patrons are the very best. They love movies. They write to us religiously to ask us to play films.

This year my grid is a mess. For whatever reason, the festival plays 3 movies at 9 am that we need to see, 4 movies at noon that we have to see and nothing in the evening. Maybe they presume we are all so hip and cool that we have a plethora of parties and minions to meet with. I don't - I want to see films at night. So we're going to huddle and split up the must-sees. Again this year, I'm dreaming of chicken dogs. The consumption count will be an integral part of this blog. Oh yeah, as will a thorough review of the films.