20070829_tracey.jpg

Matt's picks for TIFF 2007

The complete schedule for this year's Toronto International Film Festival was released yesterday, as was the year's programme book; pass holders around the city are now feverishly charting out their first and second choices, which are due in about 40 hours. (That's Friday at 1:00, in case my math sucks.)

What to pick? Well, take it from someone who just spent the day creating a 2-layer grid of fifty first picks and fifty second picks, none of which overlap and all of which must have appropriate travel time in between: it ain't easy.

Factors in my choices: Nothing that's getting a 3,000-screen release next month, nothing programmed by Cameron Bailey, anything programmed by Colin Geddes, nothing before noon, nothing from a country with a GDP less than ten billion USD, everything with Ellen Page in it, and at least one exception to even my best-considered rules.

Here's a flick for each day of the festival, the one that I am looking forward to above everything else that day:

Thursday the 6th: Persepolis

Gorgeous black-and-white animated film about a young Muslim woman coming of age in Tehran, based on the graphic novels.

Friday the 7th: Lust, Caution

Ang Lee's new film just got slapped with an NC-17 in the States, making its release future uncertain. See it while you can.

Saturday the 8th: Chacun son cinema

Nearly three dozen filmmakers make 3-minute films apiece for this massive anthology work.

Sunday the 9th: The World Unseen

Lesbian love during Apartheid. Right on!

Monday the 10th: Une vielle maitresse

I'm a fan of Catherine Breillat's work, and am looking forward to seeing what she cooks up in this adaptation of a 19th century novel about sexual intrigue.

Tuesday the 11th: Very Young Girls

I can't imagine this documentary about underage prostitutes will be terribly fun to watch, but then, last year's best film (Lake of Fire) was no chuckler either.

Wednesday the 12th: The Tracey Fragments

Bruce McDonald's experimentalish feature covers the tormented inner world of a teenage girl in an audacious split-screened visual design. (Don't worry, I'm sure it's more fun than that sounds.)

Thursday the 13th: Smiley Face

Gregg Araki's stoner comedy? SOLD.

Friday the 14th: Son of Rambow

Two British boys go overboard when they're exposed to the first Rambo film. Hey, I can relate.

Saturday the 15th: A l'interieur

The Saturday night closing Midnight Madness is the slam-bang party the end of the festival deserves. And this one's being called the goriest film since Dead Alive.


Latest Videos



Latest Videos


Join the conversation Load comments

Latest in Film

What's new on Prime Video Canada this November

Here's what's new on Netflix Canada this November

You can watch a classic Halloween film scored by a live orchestra in Toronto this week

Guillermo del Toro just shouted out a Toronto store calling it 'world-class'

Disney+ cracks down on password sharing in Canada

You can watch free screenings of horror movies in Toronto all next month

Cineplex fined $38.9M in 'deceptive marketing' scandal

An unofficial list of the best movies from TIFF 2024 you're going to want to watch