You’re Missing

Posted on Author Ryan McNeil

So the brain has been racked, the picks have been made, the order has been submitted. Nothing to do now but sit and wait for Monday to arrive and find out what I’m seeing for sure, and which films I’ll be lining up for later.

But just a little while ago, I spoke with a family friend about my choices, and while she seemed to give thumbs up on many, there were one or two that she sounded rather iffy on. This got me thinking.

Inevitably, every year I’ve gone to the Toronto Film Festival, I have missed out on seeing something amazing. True- in the end I always catch up with these films when they get their inevitable release, but that’s not the same. I suppose my popcorn-loving-heart isn’t too badly broken, I mean – it isn’t like I missed out on watching ELEPHANT because I opted for OUT OF TIME instead, but there are one or two pucks that have gotten past this cinematic goaltender. Here are some of the highlight-reel-worthy beatings…

2002: BEND IT LIKE BECKHAM, WHALE RIDER, SPELLBOUND, WINGED MIGRATION, FAR FROM HEAVEN, BOWLING FOR COLUMBINE, and most painfully CITY OF GOD.

2003: THE BARBARIAN INVASIONS, ZATOICHI, 21 GRAMS, THE TRIPLETS OF BELLEVILLE, and most painfully LOST IN TRANSLATION.

2004 (The not-so-bad year): OLDBOY, SHAKE HANDS WITH THE DEVIL, A DIRTY SHAME, and most painfully HOTEL RWANDA

2005 (The year the fates make up for the year before): C.R.A.Z.Y., TRANSAMERICA, TSOTSI, BREAKFAST ON PLUTO, THE DEVIL & DANIEL JOHNSTON, THE SQUID AND THE WHALE, and most painfully DAVE CHAPPELLE’S BLOCK PARTY

2006 (The year of the three-way tie): VENUS, THE WIND THAT SHAKES THE BARLEY, and PAN’S LABYRINTH

So…any guesses? What’s going to be the break-out, “it” film that this humble Hatter misses?

5 Replies to “You’re Missing”

  1. Out of the films you listed, the two that pop out would be Lust, Caution and Persopolis that have the most buzz. I hope that you get all of your selections though!

    You might get to know your picks earlier than Monday, check out the comments section at http://1stthursday.blogspot.com/ re: Waiting is STill the hardest part, they mention being emailed (with hit and miss results), but also that you can log in to the box office site to view what you successfully got.

    Oh course I was planning on having a weekend free of thinking and second guessing about my selections, however now I might be wearing out the ole ‘Refresh’ key…

  2. I’m gonna agree with Shannon that both those titles do look stellar. I think you’ll also hate yourself a little if you’re not able to catch “I’m Not There” or “Here is What is”.

  4. I think that Michael Clayton, Reservation Road and Rails & Ties are going to be the breakouts. The Savages and The Girl in the Park seem like the kind of movies that do really well at festivals, but don’t find audiences. Lust, Caution I’ve already heard some mixed things about and it doesn’t help that it got a NC-17 rating, a bit of a kiss of death. I’m most curious about Across the Universe and your thoughts as well as if it’s just muddled and crazy or imaginative and brilliant or, of course, somewhere in between.

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