Toronto Film Festival 2009, Film
TIFF Reviews: A Prophet, The Hole, The Disappearance of Alice Creed, White Ribbon, Police Adjective, House of Branching Love, Cleanflix, Trash Humpers, Defendor, The Ape
Here are the films we've seen in our last set of TIFF reviews.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
A Prophet
This film won the Grand Prix at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival and had no trouble winning over audiences at the Visa Screening Room last night who gave director Jacques Audiard and a couple of cast members a standing ovation. The film is set in a French prison and chronicles the six years spent there by a young, illiterate North African inmate who is forced to navigate the rival Corsican and Arab gangs. (Tim)
Toronto Film Festival 2009, Film
TIFF Tickets
Tickets to TIFF can still be had. Even though the most buzzed about films have already sold out, there are still plenty of second, daytime and less-hyped screenings that have not yet gone to Rush. On the official TIFF site they're posting a daily audio slideshow highlighting films that still have tickets available. The box offices as well as the online order form also have a current status of which screenings still have seats to be filled.Meanwhile, on Craigslist, a healthy after-market is surfacing for tickets to the most sought-after films. The second George Clooney flick, Up in the Air (see review here), which screens at the Ryerson tonight at 6pm is seeing bids of more than $100 a ticket - a 500% premium over the box office price. It's a reminder that TIFF isn't just about seeing good films from around the world, it's big (or at least a healthy) business for pro or one-off scalpers.
In fact, it's enough to make me seriously consider whether I should be selling my pair of tickets above to subsidize my entire 10 ticket package, if not a nice trip somewhere.
Toronto Film Festival 2009, Film
TIFF Reviews: Up in the Air, Broken Embraces, Jennifer's Body, Fish Tank, The Time That Remains, An Education, Creation, Enter the Void, Dogtooth
Now that we're two days into TIFF we've actually been able to get into regular screenings and watch films with our fellow festival-going public. Here's what we've seen since our last set of reviews.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
Fish Tank
Andrea Arnold is proving to be a powerhouse of a filmmaker. Fish Tank follows her acclaimed first feature Red Road - and packs just as much punch. The film's juicy bit is a budding relationship between a 15 year old and her mother's boyfriend, but it's the startlingly real characters that drive the story. This is the set up: Mia is a tough delinquent type and her young mom is a hot party chick. In a volatile and alcoholic household, the arrival of a seemingly solid paternal figure, Connor (played by Michael Fassbender from Hunger), intensifies the rift between the two women. This is not your not your run-of-the-mill teen angst movie. (Chandra)
Toronto Film Festival 2009, Film
TIFF Videos
Looking for TIFF related videos? There's no shortage of them now that the annual film festival has begun. Both local and international media are obsessed with covering TIFF - many of them chasing the same photos, the same sound bytes and the same moving images. It's enough to drive a media pundit crazy. With so many worthy stories not being covered by both traditional and online outlets, why dedicate precious resources to publish the same stuff that can be widely read or viewed elsewhere?
Toronto Film Festival 2009, Film
Where to TIFF for Free
We're only hours away from the 34th edition of Toronto International Film Festival, our annual 10-day celebrity glitzfest and showcase of world cinema. While stalking celebrities is a cheap way to kill time between screenings, as luck would have it, there are plenty of other free (and worthwhile!) TIFF events scheduled throughout this year's fest.
Toronto Film Festival 2009, Film
TIFF Reviews: Hipsters, Ahead of Time, A Gun to the Head, Youth in Revolt, 5 Hours From Paris, Giulia Doesn't Date at Night, The Boys Are Back, Les Herbes Folles, Glenn Gould, Crackie, Phantom Pain, Hadewijch, Mall Girls, Agora
Another week means another slate of films reviewed leading up to the start of the Toronto International Film Festival. We've been escaping the (finally) summer weather for air conditioned comfort inside various screening rooms at the Varsity Theatre. Here's a summary of the films we've seen since our first slate of TIFF reviews.HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
Hipsters
Okay. Let me preface this by saying if you hate musical theatre, you may not like this one. But despite my very own pre-existing disinterest in the genre, everything about this flick -- the colours, the music, the fake saxophone playing, the costuming, and the dramatic love story -- kept me hostage. I credit it to the Moscow setting, which definitely eased the cheese factor of similar theatrical productions based in North America. Communist Russia meets Swing Kids meets Footloose. Chalk this under well-filmed Guilty Pleasure. (Connie)
