This being the first year that ComingSoon.net will be covering the prestigious Toronto International Film Festival (affectionately referred to as "TIFF" by entertainment hipsters everywhere), we felt that we had to do our homework a bit more than usual to try and provide as much coverage and information on our Official Festival Blog as we could.
It was obvious to us right off the bat that there were two very distinct film festivals in play here. There's one showing the movies by big name directors with big stars that already have distributors who are using the festival to promote them, knowing that they'll have the largest group of entertainment journalists from all over the world in one place who can help their movies get attention… and then there's all the rest. Sadly, it's the latter that needs and deserves the attention--especially the docs and the foreign films--because they're the ones that need to find distribution in order to be seen by more than a festival crowd, and it's tough getting attention away from all the high profile movies with big stars and name directors. Put it this way, if you have a choice between seeing a movie starring George Clooney or Brad Pitt or seeing a little movie about kids in Queens called Chop Shop, which would you go for?
Yeah, me too, which is why Toronto has to be such a hard festival for journalists and critics to cover thoroughly, and it's so important to make good choices, since the two hours spent watching a bad movie can keep you from seeing one of the bigger films that everyone's talking about later. This was somewhat of a problem at my first Sundance Film Festival earlier this year, but it's compounded by the fact that there are a lot more studio junkets and interview opportunities in Toronto, which means some movies might have to wait until the New York Film Festival later this month.
The question I'll be trying to figure out over the next week and a half is how does one person cover so much when there's only so many hours in a day and only so many movies that the body and mind can possibly withstand in one sitting? At the Sundance Film Festival, I set a personal record for myself with six movies in a single day--three of them which I barely remember--but Toronto is a different beast and not all of the screenings will be at the Varsity, a megapex in a mall on Bloor Street, so this festival will involve a lot more running around. I already have two and sometimes three screenings possible in any particular time slot, but I also hope to do some interviews with some of the directors attending like Anton Corbjin, Joe Wright, Kevin Macdonald, Julie Taymor, Brian De Palma, Paul Schrader, Sidney Lumet and others.
At least TIFF has graciously set-up a number of screenings before the festival in hopes that reporters get a chance to see smaller movies they might not see otherwise, things like Nina Davenport's doc Operation Filmmaker or the Japanese teen coming-of-age tale A Gentle Breeze in the Village or the aforementioned Chop Shop before the festival starts, but that's still a couple dozen movies out of 349. (Since I've already seen a bunch of movies, I hope to include some info and opinions on them before the festival begins on Thursday.)
This year, there are more movies playing at the festival that will open in theaters almost immediately. Six movies playing TIFF's first weekend will open either in limited or wide release on September 14. The highest profile of these is Warner Bros.' The Brave One starring Jodie Foster and Terrence Howard, which will have its premiere in Toronto, following a similar pattern as Foster's 2005 thriller Flightplan, which also debuted there. Julie Taymor's long-delayed Beatles musical Across the Universe, starring Evan Rachel Wood (who has two movies at TIFF, both opening next week) and Jim Sturgess, will hold its premiere at the festival as will Eastern Promises, the latest thriller from Toronto native David Cronenberg, following his 2005 hit A History of Violence, which also featured prominently at TIFF.
Paul Haggis brought Crash to the festival three years ago sans distributor where it was picked up by Lionsgate and taken all the way to Oscar gold, and he returns this year with In the Valley of Elah starring Tommy Lee Jones and Charlize Theron. It's a murder mystery/police procedural set amidst the current situation in Iraq and how the war has affected the young soldiers sent there.
Picturehouse has Silk, one of two movies showing at the fest starting Keira Knightley, the other being Atonement. It's based on Alessandro Barrico's novel about 19th Century French silkworm merchant Herve Joncour (played by Michael Pitt). After debuting at the Sundance Film Festival, Mike Cahill's King of California plays at Toronto with both Michael Douglas and Evan Rachel Wood in attendance. The eccentric comedy has Douglas playing Wood's father who takes on a hunt for lost Spanish gold after being released from the asylum where he was committed for two years. Sean Penn's first movie as a director in six years Into the Wild (Paramount Vantage), stars Emile Hirsch as Christopher McCandless, the athlete who hitchhiked to Alaska to live in the wilderness, and it will also premiere at the fest before being released on September 21.
TIFF will also be presenting the North American premieres for new movies by some of the greatest filmmakers of our time, including the latest from Woody Allen (Cassandra's Dream), Sidney Lumet (Before the Devil Knows You're Dead), Paul Schrader (The Walker), Richard Attenborough (Closing the Ring), Ken Loach (It's a Free World), Francois Ozon (Angel) and John Sayles (Honeydripper). There are also new documentaries by Jonathan Demme (Jimmy Carter Man of the Plains), Brian De Palma (Redacted) and Barbet Schroeder (Terror's Advocate) playing the festival before their releases over the next few months.
Other docs of interest include Kevin Macdonald's My Enemy's Enemy on Nazi war criminal Klaus Barbie and Jessica Yu's latest Ping Pong Playa, plus there's lots of music-related docs like Amazing Journey: the Story of the Who directed by Paul Crowder (
Tom McCarthy, who wowed audiences with his directorial debut The Station Agent in 2003, is bringing his new movie The Visitor to the festival and Alan Ball, writer of American Beauty and creator of "Six Feet Under" directs his first movie Nothing is Private, both movies arriving at the fest looking for distribution.
To make everyone's life easier in navigating TIFF (for those of you lucky enough to attend), I've made two lists, one of movies I haven't seen that seem like ones that shouldn't be missed, and the other list includes five excellent movies I've already seen that one should try to catch if possible.
Ten TIFF Movies Not to Miss
I haven't seen these ten (actually eleven) movies yet, but they're the ones I'm most excited about seeing during my time at TIFF, and a few of these will certainly be some of the hottest tickets. Usually, I'd include Cronenberg's latest in this list because there's nothing like seeing a movie from the master in his own hometown, but since it opens so soon after the festival, it seems silly to include it.
1. The Coen Brothers' No Country for Old Men (Miramax) - The first new movie in over four years from the master filmmakers will have its North American premiere nearly two months before its limited U.S. release and anyone who says they're not excited to see what they'll do with the novel by Cormac McCarthy is either delirious or lying.
Public Screenings: Sat. Sept. 8 at 6pm (Elgin/VISA Screening Room) and Tues. Sept. 10 at 9 AM (Ryerson)
2. Todd Haynes' I'm Not There (The Weinstein Co.) - There are many worries that Haynes' arty portrait of singer/songwriter Bob Dylan with six actors including Cate Blanchett and Richard Gere might be the type of movie that only fans of Dylan might appreciate, but it's also one of the movies that everyone's going to be expected to see. At Toronto, you'll get a chance to see it over two months before the rest of the world, since it won't be opening until November 21.
Public Screenings: Weds. Sept. 12 at 8:30pm and Fri. Sept. 14 at 12:30pm (Ryerson)
3. Joe (Pride & Prejudice) Wright's second film Atonement (Focus Features), based on the bestselling novel by Ian McEwan, won't open until December 7, but Keira Knightley, James McAvoy and Wright will be on hand for the film's North American premiere. This is already on many short lists for awards this year, and a lot of journalists will be interested to see if it stands up to the hype. (Expect this to be the hottest ticket at the festival being one of the few movies with two screenings at the prestigious Elgin Theatre.)
Public Screenings: Mon. Sept. 10 at 9pm (Elgin/VISA) and Weds. Sept. 12 at 2:30pm (Elgin/VISA)
4. Ang Lee's Lust, Caution (Focus Features), his follow-up to Brokeback Mountain for which he received an Oscar, returns to China with an WWII espionage thriller about a young girl, played by newcomer Tang Wei, who becomes part of a mission to assassinate a Japanese collaborator, played by Tony Leung (2046) by having an affair with him.
Public Screenings: Friday, Sept. 7 at 9pm (Elgin/VISA) and Sun. Sept. 9 at 9:15am (Scotiabank)
5. Universal will officially kick off their Oscar campaign for Elizabeth: The Golden Age, Shekhar Kapur's long-awaited sequel (of sorts) which reunites the entire cast of Elizabeth including Cate Blanchett reprising her Oscar-nominated role as Queen Elizabeth I (look out, Helen Mirren!) and Geoffrey Rush, and they're joined by Clive Owen as Sir Walter Raleigh. If all goes well, I'll be at the premiere on September 9.
Public Screenings: Sun. Sept 9 at 6:30pm (Roy Thomson Hall) and Mon. Sept. 10 at 3pm (Elgin/VISA)
6. After taking on divorce with 2005's The Squid and the Whale, Noah Baumbach returns with a movie about marriage. Margot at the Wedding (Paramount Vantage) stars Nicole Kidman and Baumbach's wife Jennifer Jason Leigh, and it also will be playing at a couple festivals before opening in November.
Public Screenings: Tues. Sept. 11 at 6pm (Ryerson) and Thurs. Sept. 13 at 12pm (Elgin)
7. Two years ago, Jason Reitman brought his debut Thank You for Smoking to TIFF where it was picked up by Fox Searchlight and this year, the studio will be bringing his second movie Juno to the fest. It stars Ellen Page as the titular teen who has to help her friend deal with an unplanned pregnancy by finding the baby parents.
Public Screenings: Sat. Sept. 8 at 6pm and Mon. Sept. 10 at 3pm (Ryerson)
8. Terry George, the director of Hotel Rwanda returns to Toronto with Reservation Road (Focus Features) with a premise about two families dealing with tragedy and a cast to kill for: Joaquin Phoenix, Jennifer Connelly, Mark Ruffalo and Mira Sorvino. Sounds like another potential Oscar pic if it's half as good as it sounds.
Public Screenings: Thurs. Sept. 13 at 6:30pm (Roy Thomson Hall) and Fri. Sept. 14 at 9:30am (Ryerson)
9. George Romero's Diary of the Dead - The one movie in Toronto's Midnight Madness track that absolutely can't be missed (which means I'm likely to miss it) is George Romero's latest installment in his zombie series, following 2006's Land of the Dead.
Public Screenings: Sat. Sept 8 at 11:59pm (Ryerson), Mon. Sept. 10 at 1pm (Scotiabank), Fri. Sept. 15 at 11pm (Varsity)
Control (The Weinstein Co.) - We get two for the price of one in tenth place because as a bonafide fan of Joy Division and the subsequent New Order and here are two very different approaches to telling their story, the first being a documentary by Grant Gee with the cooperation of the surviving members, the second being a biopic about Ian Curtis by renowned photographer (and music video director) Anton Corbjin.
10. Joy Division / Joy Division Public Screenings: Fri. Sept 7 at 2:45 pm (Scotiabank), Sun. Sept 9 at 5:30 pm and Sat. Sept 15 at 8:15 pm (Cumberland)
Control Public Screenings: Fri. Sept 7 at 9:45pm and Sat. Sept. 8 at 9am (Scotiabank Theatre)
Those last two picks might seem rather frivolous when there are movies like Kenneth Branagh's remake of Sleuth, starring Jude Law and Michael Caine, and the Gavin (Tsotsi) Hood thriller Rendition with Reese Witherspoon, but hey, this is my list as is this…
Five Early Faves
Here are five of the best movies I've already seen (full reviews coming soon), which will not only be likely to end up being some of the Best of the Fest, but also some of the best movies of the year.
1. Sidney Lumet's Before the Devil Knows You're Dead (THINKFilm) – The director of classics like Dog Day Afternoon and Network returns with a crime drama starring Philip Seymour Hoffman, Ethan Hawke, Albert Finney and Marisa Tomei about a jewel heist gone wrong that tears a family apart. It's told using a clever non-linear format from multiple points-of-view and it's clearly one of Lumet's best films in decades.
Public Screenings: Thurs. Sept. 13 at 9pm (Elgin/Visa) and Sat. Sept. 15 at 2:45pm (Ryerson)
2. Juan Antonio Bayona's The Orphanage (Picturehouse) - Mexican genre fave Guillermo del Toro produced this Spanish-language horror-thriller which continues the run of strong including Amenabar's The Others with Nicole Kidman and del Toro's own The Devil's Backbone. A genuinely scary film, Bayona takes many ghost movie cliches and turns them into something original and poignant. This is doing the festival circuit before its release on December 28, which makes one think that Spain might make this their selection for the foreign language Oscar.
Public Screenings: Fri. Sept 7 at 9pm (Scotiabank) and Sun. Sept 9 at 12pm (Isabel Bader)
3. Julian Schnabel's The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (Miramax) - Movies about quadriplegics tend to be hard sells--just look at Alejandro Amenabar's poorly neglected Oscar winner The Sea Inside starring Javier Bardem--but the director who helped take Bardem to the Oscars a few years before is back with his third movie, based on Jean-Dominique Bauby's autobiographical novel as adapted by Ron Harwood (The Pianist) about the struggles of the Elle France editor who suffered a stroke that left him immobilized and unable to communicate except for a technique using the blinking of his one working eye. You can catch it months before it opens in limited release on December 19.
Public Screenings: Tues. Sept. 11 at 6pm (Elgin/VISA) and Thurs. Sept. 13 at 3pm (Ryerson)
4. Tony Gilroy's Michael Clayton (Warner Bros.) – The writer of the "Bourne" movies takes on corporate corruption in this dramatic thriller starring George Clooney as the "fixer" of a corporate law firm who gets pulled into the deep end when he discovers a conspiracy involving one of their biggest clients, who are willing to do anything to cover it up. The movie will have its North American premiere in Toronto before its release in October, and with George Clooney on hand to answer questions afterwards, expect this to be a hot ticket as well.
Public Screenings: Fri. Sept 7 at 9:30pm (Roy Thomson) and Sat. Sept. 8 at 12pm (Ryerson)
5. Andrew Dominik's The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (Warner Bros.) – This long-delayed and likely to be polarizing Western from the director of Chopper is pretty much what its title says, and it takes 2 and a half hours to tell that tale, but the performances by Brad Pitt as the legendary outlaw Jesse James and Casey Affleck as the friend who killed him is a riveting cinematic experience. It will have a high-profile premiere in Toronto--like Atonement, it has two screenings at the Elgin Theatre--before getting a limited release on September 21. One can expect that Brad Pitt will be on hand in Toronto to promote it.
Public Screenings: Sat. Sept. 8 at 9pm and Mon. Sept 10 at 11am (Elgin/VISA)
The 2007 Toronto International Film Festival runs from September 6 through the 17th, and you can find a lot more coverage over the next week and a half on the CS Blog. You can also check out the full schedule of films here.
