Ryan McNeil
With a big cup of coffee in hand, I face my last shift at the office and my favorite day of the whole year.
Apologies if these words seem familiar, but it’s a mission statement I make every year around this time.
Long ago, I noticed that when I do a podcast episode dedicated to a lower-profile title, it tends to get less listens (read: FRANK). The reason for this is obvious…and I’m guilty of it too: Why does one want to listen to people discuss something one hasn’t seen? It’s not even like I’m accredited press and can report on “the vibe” of the festival.
In some ways, I believe this carries over to film festival coverage. I mean really, beyond wanting to me to act as the canary in the coal mine where films like ST. VINCENT, ROSEWATER, and WILD are concerned, why would you want to read what I’m writing about films that might not make it your way for months (sometimes years)?
I’m hoping for this reason: Hopefully, if I’ve selected wisely, I can see something and write about it in a way that will make you want to keep an eye out for it. If I’ve really selected wisely, this will be kindled for a film you may never even have had your eye on.
As an example, three of my favorite films from this past summer – OBVIOUS CHILD, SNOWPIERCER, and ONLY LOVERS LEFT ALIVE – were ones I watched because of passionate festival word-of-mouth. In the case of the latter two, that word-of-mouth came from last year’s TIFF
I guess what I’m saying is “stick with me”. I won’t give away every twist and turn, but hopefully you’ll discover something new over the next eleven days.
I hope to check out some of your reviews of these films in the near future. Everyone’s been talking TIFF lately, and frankly I’m jealous of the amazing film festival that is close to you. I can’t complain – Milwaukee has some form of a film scene, but nothing too significant.
Also, I’ve heard a lot of positive stuff about Snowpiercer. Didn’t realize that came from last year’s TIFF. I take it it’s worth seeing?
Snowpiercer is TOTALLY worth seeing, and I think has made its way on-demand now. It was actually one of the better films I saw in theatres all summer long. Hell, would you believe that there is actually such thing as “an action movie with brains”?
Hopefully you’ve been enjoying what I’ve been putting up all week, and there’s still a lot of content yet to come before I put up my summary of the whole thing on Monday afternoon.
PS – Considering how much fun I’ve been having with my out-of-town bloggers friends the last few festivals, I vote you and your guy think about planning a trip to join us some September. You’d be surprised how much fun you can have at TIFF if you even came for just a long weekend!