Thoughts on TIFF Day 5, 6, 7 & 8

What an interesting few days it’s been.

Monday would prove to be memorable for several reasons. It was my first sunrise run to the box office, and a successful one I might add. In past years, this trip was commonplace, but this year a heavy dose of luck has avoided me needing to do much in the way of same day add-on’s. On Monday though, it was a quest for Cronenberg tickets – and the fact that my good friend Steve really wanted ’em – that had me leaving home at 5:30 a.m. ‘Twas successful though, so things got off to a promising start!

It always gives me a slight high to introduce a newbie to this chaos, and while our opinion of A DANGEROUS METHOD was muted, I could tell Steve had a good time being a part of the action for even just a taste.

From there it was off to the bar to catch up with the entire brood of Toronto movie geeks – yes, we get together to get our drink on during TIFF. It actually ended up being a slightly quieter affair than we’re used to, mostly because with people coming and going all night (and some leaving to catch more films) we weren’t quite as prone to rowdiness. Guess we’ll have to make up for it in two weeks.

That sent me off to the now-notorious HitRecord happening, which I’ve already talked about plenty between the post and all the comments. I will however offer one more photo from the evening – a moment when he called Anna Kendrick up on stage to read a short story.

Anna reads; Joe records.

Tuesday mercifully allowed a chance to sleep in (and catch up on writing) since my first screening wasn’t until three in the afternoon. The cool thing about that screening, is that it was yet another moment where I was surrounded by a lot of friends. Thus, not only was the line-up to get in a good chance to catch up, but the post film discussion was lively…especially since the screening in question was Steve McQueen’s SHAME.

A quick note on that, McQueen was on hand to introduce the film and answer questions afterwards. Unfortunately, the man isn’t really interested in discussing his work so much as he is talking down to the audience and quickly offering up the briefest possible retort. Seriously, if you ever have the chance to talk to the man, don’t even think about challenging his position.

Don’t Mess with McQueen

With Tuesday being the official midway point of the festival, I found myself hitting a bit of a wall. I came home after SHAME, with the intention of heading back out an hour later for my second show of the day COUNTDOWN. But as I thought about little things I could do like simple chores, running nearby errands, and eating something I cooked myself, the temptation became too great and I tore up my ticket to COUNTDOWN.

Wednesday morning was a little tough. Despite staying in to chill on Tuesday night, I was up late doing a guest spot on The Row Three Cinecast. A 9am show the next morning wasn’t quite what the doctor ordered. It all worked out though, since the selection in question was DAMSELS IN DISTRESS which was a wonderful palette cleanser and a cheery start to the second half of the festival. Unfortunately, that night’s showing of HELENO couldn’t keep the momentum running. It’s also worth noting, that these two films would mark the first time all festival I went back-to-back watching a film alone…and it might well be the only time.

The sleep deprivation must have been working overtime after HELENO, because I arrived at the ticketholder line for SLEEPING BEAUTY a whopping 90 minutes  before showtime, thinking I only had 60 to go (That might rank as the dumbest move I’ve made all festival long). That said, I was happy enough to rally up with company again in the form of Matthew Brown and the potentially concussed Sasha James.

Random: I swear the subway ride home felt twice as long for some reason.

Julia Leigh handles questions about her polarizing film, SLEEPING BEAUTY.

For a day with only two screenings, Thursday proved to be surprisingly busy. Things started on this brisk morning with seven of us (including my first sighting of Little Brother) rallying up to see the new Duplass Brothers film JEFF, WHO STILL LIVES AT HOME. This my friends was the unquestionable film-watching joy I’d been waiting for since THE ARTIST on day two.

From there we all took a field trip to a Thai restaurant Matthew Price knew of to enjoy lunch at a table for seven. In case I’ve never said it before – and I’d wager I have – there are few things in life I love more than talking film over good food. As plates were licked clean (so good!), a plan was hatched to kill time at TIFF’s Fellini exhibit. On the one hand, I have no excuse for not having gone to check this out at The Lightbox yet – especially considering how often I’m in that building and that I had free admission. In the end though, it proved to be a good move since it allowed me something relaxing festival-related to do in the middle of all the mayhem.

After getting our fill of Cinema Italiano, we went our separate ways, with Corey Atad joining me on my walk to The Visa Screening Room. I’ve had a lot of time to get to know the guy in the last week, and his film knowledge never fails to impress me (he’ll even go toe-to-toe with you on why CARS 2 does not suck).

The final screening of the day turned into a bit of an amusing cha-cha. The flick in question was VIOLET & DAISY, and it was right up there with EXTRATERRESTRIAL as the film where I knew a lot of people attending, but many of them didn’t know each other. So I spent much of the waiting in line time bouncing from group-to-group saying hello, handing over tasty treats, and feeling like the popular kid that everyone wants to talk to (which I’m not, of course). I’ll be writing about it soon enough, but I must say that VIOLET & DAISY capped of the day perfectly…making Thursday a day of pure end-to-end awesome.

Saorise Ronan believes some details are better left unexplained. The Matinee concurs.

Get all that? Good. More reviews and podcasts on tap, I’ll check in with you again on Monday.

Note: The Saorise Ronan photo was captured by good friend and fellow blogger Monika Bartyzel and used with permission. All other photos are the work of yours truly – RM.