/* Bonjour y'all */ - Dixie Chicks refuse to just shut up and sing! in sold out show at Toronto Air Canada Centre

October 28, 2006

There's nothing more ideal than being in Air Canada Centre on a Saturday night with $100 tickets for the 300 section at centre ice - except there was no hockey game. The crowd was filled with mothers and daughters, families with babies, and lots of ladies on the town bedecked with cowboy hats. Welcome to the New Country, heralding the Dixie Chicks to a packed ACC on the first of two nights, just off the start of the current swing of the Accidents and Accusations tour the night before in Ottawa.

The crowd was already on the Dixie Chick's side - shown during the stage change when the promotional trailer for the movie Shut Up and Sing! played on the centre ice scoreboard brought a loud long cheer afterwards. The stage change music was classic rock and roll : the Rolling Stones, the Pretenders. Finally by 9:15 p.m. the lights went out.

After a cheeky entrance of Hail to the Chief, a reminder of what all the fuss is about, the band entered launching into the new album with Lubbock or Leave It, a song which has been received critically by those of the Lone Star bible state. The statement song Truth No. 2 from the album Home followed:


You don't like the sound of the truth
Coming from my mouth
You say that I lack the proof
Well baby that might be so
I might get to the end of my life
Find out everyone was lying
I don't think that I’m afraid anymore
Say that I would rather die trying

The very stirring and rebel rousing night was not just a straight showcase of their current Taking the Long Way album - it was a set aimed square at cementing current Dixie Chicks fans and bringing in the new fans. The night on a stripped down stage without all the fancy lighting and effects was a blend of their bluegrass and twang, along with their multi-instrumental ability to rock out. Plus they had their best touring band to date. The ardent followers of the trio: vocalist /guitarist Natalie Maines and the two sisters of the band Emily Robinson [vocals, guitars, banjos] and Martie Maguire [vocals, various strings, violins] clearly knew the lyrics of the early 1998 Fly album favourite - the fun Goodbye Earl which was launched early as the third number of the set. The crowd was eagerly waiting for some word from singer Natalie Maines. She finally got around to quietly saying "Bonjour there" and making polite conversation with the crowd before reminding the world how the Dixie Chicks made their start by taking The Long Way Around. Then it was back to one of their best covers from their best selling 2003's Home of Fleetwood Mac's Landslide. For the longest while, Natalie kept the politics on the backburner as they dipped into their past four albums [ starting with their major record company 1998 debut Wide Open Spaces, the 1999 Fly, then Home in 2002, and Taking The Long Way in 2006] until she introduced a new song written because of the movie, The Neighbor.

"I am normally a people pleaser, but I don't know how to shut up AND sing, so I'm not going to shut up and sing."

After a quiet moment devoted to Lullaby written because they wanted a song for their seven children in the band, their country roots were rousted by the likes of Cowboy Take Me Away, White Trash Wedding and the furiously fast instrumental Lil Jack Slade which had the crowd alive again and Natalie really beginning to loosen up and stomping on stage. The crowd's clearest support of the Dixie Chicks' stance came after their current hit Not Ready To Make Nice with its verse of

I'm through with doubt
there's nothing left for me to figure out
I've paid a price
and I'll keep paying
I'm not ready to make nice
I'm not ready to back down
I'm still mad as hell
and I don't have time to go round and round and round
It's too late to make it right

followed by a standing ovation from the floor and the seated crowd.

The rest of the evening sailed through some more Natalie joking: "You may be wondering why Emily and Martie don't say anything. They said something bad once and I had to put a stop to it." The evening soared to the painful hurting of Top of the World and So Hard. Then the set came through to the conclusion with their favourite song from the movie - their anthemic: Wide Open Spaces which is the best descriptive of the Dixie Chicks countryside, then dashing through the fast and furious downhome Sin Wagon and Ready to Run.

The encore was the touching Travelin' Soldier which really does hit home these days, followed by the Bob Dylan cover of Mississippi and the crowd chanting during the rousing Ready to Run.

"It's time!" shouted Natalie at the end, and everybody took their stage bow then she curtsied her way off stage.

TRICK OR TREAT ! - oh ... there will be blood - Midnight Madness at the Toronto International Film Festival redux

Tonight after watching Ghost Whisperer and Supernatural we will finally unwrap the shrinkwrap around the cover to watch a little 2004 Toronto International Film Festival Midnight Madness entry called Saw.

The same festival programme that brought you Cabin Fever, Underworld, Hostel and a Mickey Rourke treat called Spun, Midnight Madness tends to be a visceral treat for Horror fans. Who can forget the year the cast of Versus came to the venerable grand theatre 8 of the Varsity. Isn't it just cool? Then My Little Eye with Jennifer Sky just around the time of Cleopatra 2525, there was an actual movie poster for My Little Eye heralding a theatre release that never came. Ditto for Unleashed - great poster, no zombie theatre except the Bloor Cinema for one night. In any case, watching the much anticipated vampire lychen battle film Underworld at a quarter to one in the morning after lining up for more than hour at the late lamented Uptown in theatre one - with Kate Beckinsale present and the direcotor and her soon to be husband Les Wiseman is probably the highlight of my Midnight Madness memories. Along with seeing Mickey Rourke. "You're the man!" And the more Matrix than The Matrix thriller [ and comedy ! ] from Korea called Volcano High.

Among the 06 TIFF entries for us this year was the creepiest movie ever Abandoned set in Russia [ if you saw The Return this is even more haunting ]. There's no place like home, there's no place like home. Guillermo del Toro's Pan's Labyrnth was a visual golden feast with a dark Alice in Wonderland touch, and a paean to the era of Franco's Spain. And all capped off with [ thanks to the same effects workshop that brought you Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings ] the killer Black Sheep from New Zealand ! They're baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaad !!!!



P.S. Saturday night we will be posing as a Dixie Chicks fan and head down to Air Canada Centre for the concert!

Boo!

TIFF 06 bursts into mainstream this weekend : Death of a President, Shut Up and Sing! Catch a Fire

It's always a bit unsettling having the public intrude into the protective bubble of films that you had battled so hard to see during the time of the 06 Toronto International Film Festival. This week three movies from the festival are opening - of which we have already seen two. [Babel opens in the USA but not here quite yet. Also, American Hardcore which played at the festival leaves the Carlton already, and Terry Gilliam's TIFF 05 entry Tideland closes after one week at the Cumberland].

One of my favourite times at 06 TIFF was a morning with the Dixie Chicks as the centre of the documentary Shut Up and Sing ! The three ladies from Texas are back still not ready to make nice; they're bold and brassier and sassier than ever. Even if you are not devout fans of the trio of ladies in the Dixie Chicks, you will find the film bemusing, amusing, with much laughter and candor.

It's been two long years now
Since the top of the world came crashing down
And I'm getting' it back on the road now

Two years ago these words from Natalie Maines's mouth during their Top of the World tour in Shepherd's Bush in London, England hit the news headlines and brought their own world back home crashing down - the words: "Just so you know, we're ashamed that the president of the United States is from Texas." Back in the USA the Dixie Chicks - Natalie Maines, Emily Robinson, Martie Maguire - were at the height of their popularity but their anti-Iraq war comments against the President sparked protests by callers to radio station in Nashville and the anger kept on snowballing with pickets calling them traitors, radio station boycotts, organized CD burnings. Their former conservative fan base legion of country fans stayed away in droves. This was at a time when Bush's popularity was at its height. The war couldn't have gone better for him. Radio stations south of the Mason-Dixon line boycotted playing the Dixie Chicks and their new singles which debuted in Billboard actually headed downwards from the get-go. The Dixie Chicks toughed it out as seen in Shut Up and Sing! even braving death threats made to the band. The movie covers the hiatus recording their comeback album, flashing back and forwards through time from when they were at the top to the present coping with these new hard times, having babies and dealing with the media, the fans and other issues, the absurdity of it all. They emerge back into the public light with the new Taking the Long Way album and tour - unrepentant and defiant, finding new markets, including Toronto ! [which brought cheers from the Ryerson audience]. "We are sisterhood, we go through the good, the bad and the ugly together." The movie comes full circle back to the scene of the crime Shepherd's Bush in 2005 two years later - it's a different climate - and what more can Natalie say? "We're ashamed that the President of the United States comes from Texas." In the long run, you may find yourself becoming a Dixie Chicks fan!

To cap it all off, the Dixie Chicks are here in Toronto this weekend of October 28 and 29, just in time for the movie opening here Friday.


DEATH OF A PRESIDENT

Is there a problem?

Chicago hates Bush!
Chicago hates Bush!

In the programme book for 06 TIFF the title of this movie was coyly reduced by the organizers to its initials D.O.A.P. This movie got off to a controversial start here at 06 TIFF with an angry question and answer period with press after its world premiere at the Paramount. It was more eerie to see the security guards with their night goggles patrolling up and down the aisles than to watch the proceedings on screen.

Of course, the controversy is over the subject of the material : the death of a president - not just any president - not just another instance of Kiefer Sutherland's 24 or The Sentinel.

This bold and audacious movie made by Channel 4 in England takes documentary to new territory - to dare to not just kill a fictitious president, but THIS president. It is with remarkable adeptness and technical skill that the events of the near future are brought to hyper-realistic play. Using the available footage of archives and blended in with the re-enactment of the people and events of October 19, 2007, the path of inexorable events leading to the death of a president is shown in all its horror. The documentary is further supported by the aid of actual experts, those who were responsible for the security of the President.

The year is 2007. A tide of anger is about to be unleashed on the streets of the Windy city as President George W. Bush is about to land in Air Force One and deliver a speech at the Economic Club in Chicago. Organized militant protesters are lining the street, facing off against a phalanx of police. As the events in Chicago moved inexorably onwards to the climactic moment of the assassination a series of talking heads - those close to the President including his loyal speechwriter, the Secret Service, recount the happenings and slip-ups of that day of October 19, 2007. The head of security notes that things were not going well right from the beginning - during the ride from the airport through downtown Chicago, a protester actually managed to elude security and get close enough to touch the President's car in the calvacade to the hotel. This is a first. And this was just the beginning of many foul-ups.

At the hotel that night, before the Economic Club, it is with some wonderment and marvel that you actually see the President deliver a speech to the throngs in the room - a speech that has never been made before in history - an adept assemblage of words and phrases and delivered entirely naturally.

Then of course at the hotel, the real assassin strikes. The rest of Death of a President deals with trying to capture the culprit and bringing him to justice. Unfortunately one man happens to be at the wrong place at the wrong time is caught on tape, and methods of profiling puts him in the crosshairs of the investigation while the real assassin whose name has been tipped off to the Homeland Security is ignored.

Stretching history with just enough prescience [ could they have foreseen the events of North Korea now unfolding ] to speculate about the future but in actuality the documentary is a castigating look back upon now and the aftermath of the post 911 world of the Freedom Act, which was by 2007 to be further re-enforced by the Freedom III Act - of should we say the unFreedom Act? The film is a highly critical examination of the loss of freedoms and civil liberties since 9/11 and the ever-tightening clamp of government and Big Brother.

Death of a President is a documentary of these times that should not be missed.

Running with Scissors - sharply dangerously funny confessions of a dramatic teen queen

Running with Scissors is the musical travelogue of young Augusten Burroughs's life from 1972 to 1979 - ranging from the age of 7 to 15 - the movie is a harrowing yet sharply funny look at his coming of age. An unbalanced mother played to the brink by Annette Bening as Deirdre Burroughs who is surely up for consideration again for the Academy Awards, and father Norman [ Alec Baldwin in another great character role not unlike in Cameron Crowe's Elizabethtown ] driven to drink by his wife Deirdre defines Augusten's early life. She is a driven poet who has self-published her first book of childhood reminiscences, chasing her dream of dressing in black and reciting at Carnegie Hall someday. Wonderfully caring and funny one moment, she finds herself challenged and trapped and angry at Norman the next moment. She uses her anger to fuel her feminist drive but her stability is divided. In order to save their marriage, they both go to a highly opinionated and judgemental psychiatrist Dr Finch who in their first session is quick to analyze - who fosters her dreams of becoming a published poet and judges Norman dangerous. Dr Finch played by Brian Cox [ and why do the very trained British always find an excuse to play better American accents than most Americans themselves and it's never quite the same the other way around ] is more of a charlatan psycho psychiatrist than a curer - nonetheless he is licensed and very controlling, dishing out the pills at a whim. And as further proof of his eccentricity his house he practices out of is pink and the picture of chaos and disorder. His wife Agnes played by the shocking Jill Clayburg tries to raise her children as best as she can in the conditions: the Christmas tree has been up for two years and the shambles of the kitchen reflects the mess of the lives of the family which includes their two daughters Hope, a humourless catatonic religious freak who uses the Bible to answer questions such as what's for dinner? and adopted daughter Natalie who Augusten meets on his first day at the house. Natalie introduces herself as the other daughter - as portrayed as as a tease by Evan Rachel Wood dressed in the halters and platform shoes of the time the two of them get to playing *Doctor* with her administering the electro shock therapy machine to Augusten. natalie is the foil to Hope who is daddy's favourite played by Gwyneth Paltrow in another of her small but essential roles of the moment but played just as brilliantly as her part in The Royal Tenenbaums.

Of course, the whole movie is predicated by the memoirs of Augusten portrayed by the up and coming Joseph Cross [ also seen in the current Flags of our Fathers ]. His Dear Journal is the voiceover to the film, mirroring his thoughts and crises; the funny moments are poignant and funny without diving into deliberate comedy, knocking out the roof of the kitchen with Natalie because he like his mother needs high ceilings with the music of AWB Pick up the Pieces in the background typifies the emotional power of music recall. Dr Finch approves noting the skylight adds humour to the kitchen then he finds the jar of Viennese sausages in the pantry. There is depth to Natalie - even though she dresses and acts like a rebellious strumpet she despairs that her dreams of getting into college and Vassar are ruined by the reputation of the crazy Finches. Imagine the background check.

During the course of his mother's sessions, Augusten still loyal to his mother throughout her descent into madness finds that he has been given up for adoption by her to the extended Finch household. Shocked, he tries to call his father collect who hangs up on him! He seems to put up with it all with an amazing grace and humour - and he has Natalie as a shoulder. And we did not mention yet the Lina Wertmuller movies and his coming-out of age to the schizophrenic and gay 35 year old Neil Bookman [ Joseph Fiennes from Shakespeare in Love ! ] who lives in the backyard of the Finch household. That he is gay, Natatlie knew all along. So Augusten pursues and practices his own dream of becoming a "cosmetologist", a fancy world word for hairdresser on the family.

In a near Proustian moment [echoed in Little Miss Sunshine] Dr Finch says to Augusten what would life be without childhood hardships ? The question remains at the end as he prepares to go to New York to get away from his mother and away from the craziness of it all: what will happen next?

Running with Scissors recalls the very best moments of American Beauty, with those little touches of Donnie Darko, Wes Anderson movies such as The Royal Tenenbaums and Rushmore with the melancholy of Ghost World at the end. The movie does meander at times but life is never a straight line.

That this movie is indeed based upon Running With Scissors: the memoirs of Augusten Burroughs - who is still alive and kicking to this day as seen at the end of the film, that he survived being given up for adoption, that he took after his mother despite so, that he came out to a schizophrenic gay no less, is a character testament to his faith in himself, his humour and never giving up hope.

Eternal sunshine in Little Miss Sunshine

A quirky family rallies together for the Little Miss Sunshine talent pageant.

In this sardonic little tale Little Miss Sunshine proves that family values triumph over all adversity.

Little Miss Sunshine is actually the name of the youth beauty and talent contest but is just as appropriately bestowed upon the new up and comer Abigail Breslin - the twelve year old girl who steals the movie away from the likes of her distended movie family co-stars Toni Collette, Steve Carrell, Greg Kinnear, Paul Dano, Alan Arkin.

The Science of Sleep - Stephane and Stephanie in Michel Gondry's eternal sunshine gone dark

All is not unbearably lightness and being in Michel Gondry's followup to Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. This is the stuff that dreams are made of: memories of the afternoon, reminiscences, Stephane TV


Disjointed
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d
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Randomness is hard to achieve

You have a way of inverting reality

a one second time machine

Order only gets in the way


Parallel
Synchronized
Randomness

CONFOUNDING
O
N
F
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You can have what you want if only you would stop doubting that I love you

a return to The Black Dahlia - the ultimate film noir

Without a doubt, Brian de Palma knows how to make a woman look good in a movie. From Angie Dickinson in Dressed to Kill to Femme Fatale's Rebecca Romijn, in The Black Dahlia he has the sultry Scarlett Johansson, the quixotic million dollar baby herself Hilary Swank and the exotica Canadian Mia Kirshner. He dresses these figures in the film noir mystique of The Black Dahlia based on the suppositions of James Ellroy's of the 1947 Black Dahlia murder, one of the most bizarre murder of starlet Elizabeth Short in 1940s Hollywoodland. The novel itself is a fiction based upon the real unsolved crime, then de Palma condensed the plotpoints and characters to something that was manageable for him - which still leaves a sprawling movie filled with many contingency and twistpoints.

Her case was called "The Black Dahlia murder" due to Elizabeth Short's dark hair and she always wearing black or dark clothing. The crime solving is down to the hard-oiled partnership of the two cops dubbed Fire and Ice - Josh Hartnett as "Fire" - Bucky Bleichert and Aaron Eckhart's "Ice" - Lee Blanchard.

An Inconvenient Truth - Gore's plea for the environment

Al Gore - I used to be the next President of the United States - takes his show on the road. His show proves beyond an doubt that global warming is no myth - in fact we are this close to the next ice age.

An Inconvenient Truth is imbued with Al Gore's earnestness as he presents his slideshow to the audience of the uncontestable images that global warming is in effect: the snows of Kilimanjaro are almost extinct, glaciers have retreated, the ice caps are crumbling within. The redistribution of the moisture in the atmosphere means places of great flooding and winds - witness Hurricane Katrina - and areas of devastating drought - Darfur - and the political consequences.

Gore delves into his life as the son of a cattle farmer and Senator - a simpler life filled with a oneness with the environment. His cites his college professor as a mentor who converted him to the cause. An Inconvenient Truth is free of party politics, and is more of a way to get people to wake up and do something now.

/* good night Lois */ - Superman Returns

Superman Returns soars in this triumphant return to the screen. Stirring and emotional Superman Returns focuses on the heart and soul of the story: the love story between intrepid reporter Lois Lane and Superman in the guise of mild mannered reporter Clark Kent. Brandon Routh makes more than a credible Superman and is an hommage to the late Christopher Reeve. Kate Bosworth's Lois Lane is modernized - and this Lois Lane is a mother in a relationship with Perry White's nephew who is now the head of the international section of the Daily Planet.

Superman's return to Earth - and he saves the day [ and Lois ]again - Lex Luthor as dastardly as ever discovers the Fortress of Solitude and learns the secrets of the crystals and kryptonite as the worlds and words of Jor-el from the distant Marlon Brando echo again.

How Clark Kent discovered his flying abilities and his powers in the IMAX version is in 3D and presented in a condensed history and does more in five minutes of screen time than five years of Smallville.

Kevin Spacey gives Lex Luthor a sinister comedic edge with a penchant for one liners :I want to be Prometheus - I want to give power to the people - but I want my cut.

The quarrel with Superman Returns may be with the casting of Brandon Routh who gives Clark Kent that affable quality so reminiscent of Christopher Reeve - but as Superman despite his showings of great strength and superpower has a touch slightly too delicate. However, this is a Superman with great humanity with the daunting challenge and responsibility of trying to save all the world.

Bring it on.

The son becomes the father and the father becomes the son.

Hollywoodland - look! up in the sky

Living in Hollywood can make you famous. Dying in Hollywood can make you a legend.

Hollywoodland investigates the mysterious death of George Reeves - literally investigates the death of George Reeve - who became synonymous with playing the 1950's television incarnation of Superman.

The blaring headlines of the 1959 paper November 16, 1959 ? read TV's Superman - out of work, shoots self. The story treats the shooting as a suicide, George Reeves mother thinks otherwise and employs the gumshoe Louis Simo.

It's a murky tale explored through the plodding of down on his luck investigator Adrien Brody. He tries to put the pieces of the story together, trying to make them fit. His imaginings of the events of the night that George Reeves's died in his home postulates murder - shooting - suicide - but what can be proved ? The arc of his investigation parallels the career of George Reeves played with chameleon aplomb by Ben Affleck. Through magic, Ben Affleck's television transformation into the black and white Clark Kent - Superman is perfectly captured.

Diane Lane adds the glamour as Toni Mannix, the wife of powerful movie studio mogul Eddie Mannix who uses Reeves as her playtoy. "You were the most beautiful girl in the room," and yes, Reeves thought he could use her to get ahead. His career stuck playing in lesser movies and serials, the equivalent of movie soap operas. In 1949 he was the lead in The Adventures of Sir Galahad - 10 years previous he was in Gone with the Wind. But by the time of Superman, it was as good as it would get for him.

The ploy of using Adrien Brody as the PI to investigate the murder - and giving him a backstory of his own unfortunately adds to the muddle of Hollywoodland - but does not detract from the fine performances within.

The Last King of Scotland - a charistmatic dictator

Fresh out of 06 TIFF - The Last King of Scotland looks at a stranger in a strange land in the country of Uganda during the days of Idi Amin making major splashes in the headlines. Opens this weekend. More to come

More releases from 06 TIFF out this week: Little Children and Shortbus

October 1, 2006

Anyone who survived the ordeal that was Inside the Bedroom have more of the same to face this week with the limited screen release of Little Children.

What should be more fun is the Canadian film Shortbus which attracted attention at the fest due to its non-simulated sex scenes. Whether the fuss extends outside the festival is another question. After all, 05 TIFF gave us Atom Egoyan's Where The Truth Lies with its controversial sex scene which plummeted the film to the deadly R rating in the States, and Clement Virgo's Lie With Me, a highly female in charge spoken point of view Canadian version of Last Tango in Paris which was that close to explicit.

Already out since the close of 06 TIFF include: THE JOURNALS OF KNUD RASMUSSEN which was the 06 Opening Gala, the documentaries The USA vs John Lennon and Manufactured Landscapes, Zach Braff in The Last Kiss, Sean Penn and Patricia Clarkson in All The King's Men . And do not forget Alex Rider: Operation Stormbreaker ! with Alicia Silverstone and Ewan McGregor ! how did that get into 06 TIFF ?

Le retour de Last Kiss - /* I could be your last chance for happiness */

Thursday, Sept 28, 2006
Paramount
6:30 p.m.



I've been thinking about my life lately, and everything feels pretty planned out. There's no more surprises.


The 06 TIFF is long over but upon this second viewing of The Last Kiss away from the festival, the film maintains its quirky charm and insouciance. The laughs are present as ever - but with a different audience in a different theatre where the seats were not packed to the rafters the experience is quite different. Akin to the headspin that was I Heart Huckabees which had the festival crowd rollicking from the get-go, The Last Kiss garnered a more of a hmmmm reaction. [Just wait until Stranger Than Fiction comes out]. On the heels of Garden State, Zach Braff has left his imprint all over this film - from his zany Scrubs like expressions to his the soundtrack of his life imprinted on the film. In Garden State, he featured the au courant Shins and Iron and Wine as backdrops to his quirky adventures and romance with Natalie Portman; here in The Last Kiss, with Imogen Heap it's a game of Hide and Seek and what the hell is going on.

On the verge of turning thirty, Michael and his longtime friends are facing anxious moments as they dare face growing up. Michael has the life he envisioned - a good job, still best friends with the guys he grew up with and in love with a beautiful girlfriend - life is just as he pictured - and at dinner she is about to deliver the good news to her parents : she is going to have a baby. Michael is the envy of his friends - Jenna is beautiful, perfect and just like a guy. Everyone around him and their relationships are falling apart - a co-worker at the architecture firm is married with a new baby - what was supposed to kickstart their marriage is tearing them apart. Another friend is a pathetic mess who still pines for for ex-sweetheart. The bartender has casual sex with a new girl almost every night and nearly becomes ensnared by a girl into meeting her parents. So no wonder Michael feels trapped. "There are no more surprises."

At their friend's wedding he panics his way into the charms of young Kim who has come with her three school chums. The winsome junior college student, the long haired brunette Kim [Rachel Bilson] notices Michael and strikes up a flirty conversation with Michael [Zach Braff]- setting off a chain of events that spell the end of his idealized life and three year engagement to Jenna [Jacinda Barrett].

Michael and Kim make small talk easily - Kim does most of the chatting and he falls for her easy charms. They meet up later days after the wedding at a coffee shop. As he drives her home, he admits, "You make me feel 10 years younger." "Good, I'm dating a younger man."

Shallow and self-absorbed is he? A jerk is he? The fact there are no more surprises left in his life, the seeming finality of it all has Michael scared and panicked.

"I could be your last chance for happiness," she whispers in his ear. And thus precipiates Michael's perilous decline. The script adaptation by Paul Haggis [director and writer of Academy Award winner Crash] of the original Italian version dictates that people's lives bump and collide, that actions have consequences and for Michael to untangle himself from his mess will demand whatever it takes to hold on to the one good thing he had.

DAY 10 - once upon a time there was Candy and Dan - the last day of 06 TIFF

the sounds of Camera Obscura Lloyd, I'm Ready Ready To Be Heartbroken

42 films so far and the last day is at hand.

Double double toil and trouble - but we have chosen at last and we are landing these last three/four films - starting with a revisit to Candy


CANDY
1:15 pm
Varsity

Viewing Candy for the second time is still as great as the first. Clearly my favourite film of 06 TIFF.

Once upon a time there was Candy and dangerous Dan. Be ready to have your heartbroken - a tale of a couple fuelled by their deep love for each other - and drugs, lots and lots of drugs. The tale depicts their fall from Heaven to Earth to Hell itself. The couple are played to the hilt by Abbie Cornish, my favourite Australian actress from 04 TIFF's Somersault, who can go from zero to 60, and Heath Ledger as the loser junkie Dan. In the beginning Candy is an innocent, new in the way of taking drugs and this wild lifestyle. Their refuge in the storm is Dan's longtime friend Kasper, portrayed by Geoffrey Rush, as a gay Professor of chemistry at the university who can manufacture his own drugs and has found the way to transform morphine into liquid heroin - his golden elixir. He gives Dan money when he comes begging for it, and the fix they need when necessary. He befriends Candy with the cautionary words. "new to this way of wonder, you can quit when you want to, but when you want to quit " - it's the paradox.

"I did not set out to destroy Candy's life, I just wanted to improve mine," narrates Dan [ Heath Ledger ].


ELECTION / ELECTION 2
3:45 pm
Varsity

Hong Kong director Johnny To brings three films to this year's festval. Exiled, and these two parts of Election which tells the tale of the Triad [ the Chinese Mafia so to speak ] and the politics of the ascension to power and the post of Chairman or Godfather. Election 2 is the more polished effort and takes place two years after the first Election. The current chairman is loathe to give up power and has designs to keep power. Jimmy Lee has tried to put his Triad's days in the past and has become a very rich and powerful businessman, mainly through his distribution networks and the pirating of discs. However, he has the backing of many of the nine Uncles who decide who becomes the next Godfather. No matter how he tries to distance himself, just when he thought he was out he is brought back in. And thusly concludes Election 2.

Of course any movie about the Triad and the Godfather demands the third part Election 3 - and hopefully we will be able to see this soon at a future TIFF.

LONDON TO BRIGHTON
8 pm
VARSITY

It's 3:15 in the morning and the lady and the girl are on the run for their lives.
London to Brighton is the gripping story of a middle aged woman and a nearly teenage girl on the run for their lives. In this story of power, violence and sordidness, it turns out the woman is a hooker under threat from her boss to seek out suitable prospect for a client with a taste for young girls. The hooker finds the young runaway bumming for change on the streets and befriends her. When the pimp himself is intimidated by the client by immediate violence and given 24 hours to find the girl or lose his life, the chase is on. As the pimp with his mate tries to find the two, interludes of the girl innocently playing on the of the beach in Brighton while they seek refuge with the hooker's friend in Brighton, underscore the painful tragedy of their lives.

Turn on the lights - exit the theatre - and just like that the film festival is over and back to reality - but the magic of cinema lingers

10 days - 46 movies later - many gems - much enchantment - enduring the line-ups and the mad dashes between movie theatres - the chance to see your favourite movie stars and directors of now and the past and future this year amidst the red carpet throngs [ Laura Linney, Christina Ricci, Emily Barclay again, Werner Herzog, Christian Bale, Jeremy Davies, Zach Braff, JLo ] - we are counting killer black sheep tonight - it's all about the movies. What more can you want out of 06 Toronto International Film Festival? except to hope to do the same again in 07 ?

DAY 9 - Our lives on this planet are too short - BOBBY, "I underestimated Katrina, that was mistake #1" - Suburban Mayhem, Hottest State, Magic Flute

cue Zero 7 - In The Waiting Line - Garden State

The September antsiness is in the air - the cloudy skies and the cool air nipping at the jacketless who hold onto their summer statements.

Bobby
9:30 a.m.
Ryerson

Bobby Kennedy was the voice of a generation of American youth - his ideals and his speeches were emblematic of a time of hope in the air and he stirred the nation disenchanted by a war that was claiming young American lives. This view at history directed by Emilio Estevez is a strong, bold and compassionate statemen looking at the events and the stories of the lives of the staff and guests at the Ambassador Hotel on that June day in 1968 where RFK is campaigning for the 1968 Democratic leadership and the presidency. The cast has been noted as being the size of a Robert Altman film with many notable names: William H Macy, Sharon Stone and Demi Moore, Laurence Fishburne, Lindsay Lohan and Elijah Wood, and others, their sequences flow along, sometimes intersecting. In one notable scenes, Laurence Fishburne delivers the most moving speeches about his kitchen staff colleague who has had to surrender his ticket to the Dodgers game on the night of his sixth consecutive shutout because he has had to work a doubleshft at the last moment. Fishburne compares his worker to a young, selfless King Arthur: "the once and future king" = which will reference the ending of the movie as well. As in Death of a President a foreboding overshadows the events of the day as they move along to climactic moments. Bobby Kennedy's presence is always seen and felt in the background through television coverage, speeches and references from the cast. After delivering his California primary victory speech, the denouement is tragic. "Our lives on this planet are too short."

Bobby is a noble movie with the punch of a worthy Oscar contender.

Suburban Mayhem
11:45 a.m.
Varsity 6


"I knew the grandmother, she was mad - I knew the mother, she was madder. It's genetics I reckon, that's the only thing I can come up with. You can't get clean water from a dirty tank."

After Bobby meant less than 15 minutes to get up to the Varsity for the very last chance to see Emily Barclay in Suburban Mayhem. Timetable conflicts by the 06 TIFF schedulers has thwarted all previous attempts to see this movie which was at the very top of the list of movies had to be seen at 06 TIFF [after Candy].

Pretty Beach is suburbia nowhereswville up the coast north of Sydney in New South Wales, Australia. Emily Barclay is 19 year old Katrina Skinner, the young mother partying and living out of control. A contented housewife with a kid? No. This is not the mere disaffectation of American Beauty suburbia. This is full on carnage - starting with her brother Danny she loves so much who was sent to jail for life for decapitating the head of his murder victim. Danny was a leader among his wildstyle friends. Katrina is conniving and irresponsible, but wants to hold on to it all including her baby. Nonetheless she leaves in the hands of her beautician school friend Lilya for days while she goes out partying and looking for money to pay for a lawyer for her brother. Katrina is not reluctant to use her body and her wiles to keep sway over her boyfriend Rusty and their mentally challenged friend Kenny. As she plots to get the money to get Danny out of jail, the question arises: can she get away with the murder of her father? Suburban Mayhem is just that and more - and one wild and crazy ride we are so glad to be a part of.

The Hottest State
3 p.m.
Paramount

Once upon a time Ethan Hawke was in a movie called Reality Bites.

That philosopher poet character prevails over Ethan Hawke's latest written and directed movie based upon his own novel The Hottest State.

My heart is gold
What will you give me for it?
he declares to his lady love

The Silence
6 pm
Royal Ontario Museum

My second viewing of this Cate Shortland piece is full of atmosphere and brooding. The Silence deals Richard Roxburgh so perfect coping with his suspension from active duty, who froze in the line of fire. He now works now at the Museum of Police History with his young sassy colleague played by ta-da! Emily Barclay. Referential to the imagery in pieces such as Michelangelo Antonioni's Blowup, The Silence is a photographic mystery. Who was the lady in the silk dress?


The Magic Flute
8:30 pm
Varsity 8

Mozart is magic, and hearing and seeing The Magic Flute was a magical way to end the evening. Kenneth Branagh's take on the opera and setting it in the background of World War I, it works as a plea for peace and the end to war, due to the magnificent singing, the libretto sung entirely in English and the acting talents of all the cast who deliver the pathos and humour, including our own Canadian in the lead role of Tamino.

Day 8 - I'd rather be a rockstar - Kurt Cobain About a Son : Death is the road to awe - The Fountain, This is England, Renaissance, Coeurs

It's been one week in this coccoon that is the festival. It's been 37 films down and here we are heading into the final three days of the festival to reach the magic 50 - nowhere to go onward ! sleep, where are you?

Day 8 was a series of astounding performances and intelligent, well articulated directorial movies in This is England; Alain Resnais masterful in Coeurs with one of my favourite actresses at 05 TIFF : Isabelle Carré; a trip through Olympia and Seattle that might have been through the eyes of a rockstar named Kurt, the dazzling looks of Darren Aronofsky's The Fountain, and the black and white future of Renaissance.

This is England
9:30 a.m.
Ryerson

This is England is a nostalgic recollection of the rise of the skinhead movement in Thatcher era England after the Falklands war. As seen through the eyes of the director / writer Shane Meadows at his 11-year-old counterpart of the time, This is England is articulate and defies the usual anarchic UK stereotypes of this blank generation. The year is 1983 - the ethos is punk, the music is the Jam, the Sex Pistols, Subway Sect and the fashion is Siouxsie Sioux. Unemployment is a major problem, with immigrants in the underground economy taking jobs away. It is a time of tension. Living with just his mother, Shaun is an 11 year old boy who lost his father in the war. He is a loner, and outsider, given to losing his temper and fighting. On his way home one day as he is passing under the bridge, he is befriended by an older group of punk teens. Oddly enough, beneath the rough exterior, they are well-mannered around each other and put each other in their place. They take a shine to Shaun and make him feel one of their own, and he feels wanted. Of course with boys boys being boys, there is a measure of destruction for destruction's sake, to blow off steam and boredom. The girls think he's sweet and give him a skin haircut and stylish clothes. Rather than being horrified, his mother thanks the kids for taking care of Shaun.

The bomb gets lit with the entrance of Combo [played by Shane Meadows himself]. He is rough and tumble, yet very smart and well-reasoned. He take over control of the gang. He is a member of the National Front, and rather than tolerance, he sees the immigrants as a problem. Shaun is forced to take sides and he falls under the spell of Combo and is introduced to the concept of racism even at this young age. At a recruitment meeting at a pub, one begins to see how the Nationalists justified their ways - trying to defend their England from outsiders who become targets of hate. Here it is only a small group of disaffected youth and adults listening to the passionate words from the National Front leader, but you can see how this grows. Initially being a skinhead was all about the music, ska, reggae, the genuine article from Jamaica adopted by two-toned groups such as the Specials AKA, but soon the Front saw the skinheads as a ready-made army ready to be recruited.

By the end, This is England is almost like Quatre Cents Coups [400 Blows] where Shaun comes to face himself and you.

Renaissance
12:45 p.m.
Paramount

AVALON Health, beauty, longevity, we're on your side for life

Christian Volckman's Renaissance is a bleak cutting edge look at the future that is a marriage of Ridley Scott's Bladerunner transplanted to Paris 2054. Avalon is a leading edge company in the field of beauty and their top scientist has been kidnapped. The detective known for his methods of doing whatever it takes at all cost has been hired to get her back. Renaissance is a futuristic movie filled with corporate espionage, big brother surveillance everywhere, and a surfeit of dead bodies and bad guys. The black and white animation is spectacular as the French have been leading the way in movies such as Immortel Ad Vitem. The secrets of Avalon's research could have an impact on humanity forever.


The Fountain
3 p.m.
Ryerson


What if you could live forever?

In this parable about the search for eternal life, Hugh Jackman transcends time and space.

At the heart of Darren Aronofsky's The Fountain is a love story; it's the biblical passage of Genesis 3:24 the tree of life set against the Spanish quest in search of the fable of the fountain of youth. Zigzagging back and forth through time - it's the quest of Hugh Jackman's character to keep his wife Rachel Weisz alive physically and in spirit - the crush of painful memories and what ifs? forsaking his one last time with her in order to pursue his scientific work - while trying to find a cure for his wife's tumour by experimenting on lab monkeys, he finds a procedure that stops the aging process. But the cancer is still there. The story of The Fountain is wild and fabulously excessive, going far into the future, without the editing quirks of his previous Requiem for a Dream, suffused in golden tones and transcendent spirit. Faith, hope, rebirth. Death is the road to awe.


Kurt Cobain - About a Son
6 p.m.
Varsity

An outsider changes the cultural landscape - Kurt is a tip of the iceberg. "People don't deserve to know about me," he states in these hours of interviews compiled for Come As You Are: The Story of Nirvana. "I'd rather be a rock star." Sarcastic yet caring. Nihilistic jerk. I hate journalists. Everyone wants to see us die.
Re-bar Dry Acres Crocodile Restaurant Mecca Cafe Vain Lewiston Queen City Moore Theatre Olympic Fireplace Twinkle Pig #3 Cherry St Milk Terrace Oak Harbour City Pawn Caffe Vida United States Post Office Broadway Super 97 cent Store Lambert Building
I've thought about dying all my life. Thank you Kurt.

Coeurs
8:45 p.m.
Varsity

Director Alain Resnais who won the Silver Lion at Venice for Coeurs has a magical touch with relationships and nuance - almost 50 years ago he gave the world Hiroshima Mon Amour and in 1961 won the Golden Lion at Venice for Last Year at Marienbad. Coeurs is his latest little gem - based on the play Private Fears in Public Places - six degrees of delicately told personal stories of six people whose lives mesh in the most delightful and surprising ways in a wintry Paris. Beneath their very Parisian grace, there is an underside that reveals hidden aspects of their character and how these come to light is the mark of Alain Resnais. Life is a balance - the spiral road downward is paved with good intentions and destiny trips into their lives - the careless word from a bartender trying to be witty with his customer sends a relationship down the tubes, a well-meaninged gesture from a caregiver has disastrous results. A melancholy prevails over Coeurs. The beautiful Gaelle [played by Isabel Carré who was in my favourite movie Entre Ses Mains at the 05 Toronto International Film Festival] is the sister of Thierry, the real estate salesman. She is a wallflower who goes out every night to the bar, apparently looking for company but is always alone, sipping on her cafe. But to her brother, she is always out with the girls. Personal complications arise in the story - think Francois Ozon's 8 Femmes on a smaller scale. The gentle snowfall adds that winter wistfulness of the heart. Coeurs is a gently mannered comedy that deserves to be seen to see a master at work.

37 films down - 2 days to go

DAY 7 - Top of the World - Dixie Chicks Shut Up and Sing

Have to fly down to see the Dixie Chicks - Shut Up and Sing and the rain is coming down.

DIXIE CHICKS - SHUT UP AND SING
Ryerson
9:30 a.m.

Day 7 started the day with a very uplifting documentary by directorial duo Barbara Kopple and Cecilia Peck of their look at the Dixie Chicks : Natalie Maines, Martie Maguire, Emily Robinson - from back in the day when they were the #1 country act in the USA and were touring Top of the World - then contrasted with their lives and career now since the "incident". The incident of course is the comment made by lead singer Natalie Maines - known for her mouth getting the Dixie Chicks in trouble [ not just for Bush but also their feud with Toby Keith ]- at their London concert at Shepperd's Bush in 2003 just on the crest of the Iraq conflict: "We're embarrassed that the President is from Texas."

The Dixie Chicks toughed out the subsequent fallout. Shut Up and Sing is often very humorous with the especially sassy remarks by Natalie and the Dixie Chicks manager Simon Renshaw - the audience is often laughing at lines that drip with dramatic irony and moments when they were in a running feud with Toby Keith complete with FUTK and FUDC t-shirts [ Natalie jokes the DC refers to Vice-president Dick Cheney ] - at the time how were the Dixie Chicks to know the consequences, including the boycott by country radio and their conservative members of their audience south of the Mason-Dixon line? The documentary goes behind the scenes with very personal looks at the Dixie Chicks' lives, their children, visits to the hospital for ultrasounds, listening in on recording sessions for the new direction on their new album Taking The Long Way. On the morning of the selling of the tickets for their 2005 tour, it is shown their return is not totally triumphant with a steady refusal south of the Mason-Dixon line - but they have found a new audience in Canada. The end of the film shows the girls back at the scene of the crime two years later back in London and still unrepentant. The Dixie Chicks rule! They are my new heroes.

Then the race up to the Varsity in the rain for Guillermo Del Toro's Pan's Labyrnth.

PAN'S LABYRNTH
Varsity
11:45 a.m.

A grim fairy tale come to life, Guillermo del Toro's flight of fancy stands as a gorgeous retelling of an Alice in Wonderland story on its own - but beneath the exterior is an allegory of the 1940's Franco Spain which del Toro tries to subvert and cast it into nothing but a faded memory.

LITTLE CHILDREN
Varsity
2:30 p.m.


A refusal to accept a life of unhappiness triggers out of marriage relationships and personal collisions in this desperate housewives suburban nightmare of secret lives and frustrations. Directed by Todd Field of In The Bedroom, Little Children moves tediously slow.


THE ABANDONED
Paramount
5 p.m.


In this spooky Midnight Madness horror portion of the festival, The Abandoned proves the adage there is no place like home.

JINDABYNE
Ryerson
9 p.m.

Laura Linney ! She was there with Gabriel Byrne ! and she was just in the row over watching the movie with the crowd - Jindabyye, a compelling take on the Raymond Carver short story expanded to a full length movie taking place in the Snowy Mountain district of NSW in Australia.

Gone fishing. The men on a fishing trip find the body of a dead teenage Aboriginal girl. So what do they do? They keep fishing and tie her leg to a log so she does not float away. The fallout, the reaction of the communities to the men's inactions spark the movie. Laura Linney and Gabriel in the third failed marriage together onscreen [ they were together 2 year's ago P.S. at 04 TIFF ] - it's marvellous to see the two together.

Day 6 - /* i never wanted to be away from her */ - Away from Her, Macbeth, Black Sheep, Prague, El Cantante

Day 6

Metric Poster of a Girl and Monster Hospital in the background

AWAY FROM HER
9:30 AM
RYERSON

Canada has grown up with Sarah Polley - following her from her days on Road to Avonlea through television productions such as Straight Up, Slings and Arrows, starring in The Sweet Hereafter, Guinevere, flirting with Hollywood in Go! Dawn of the Dead, internationally with My Life Without Me, Beowulf and Grendel, and after directing several shorts, she comes out with her phenomenal directorial debut in Away from Her. Based on an Alice Munro short story, it is the tale of Grant and Fiona, (Gordon Pinsent [ Canada's treasure ], and Julie Christie [o for the days of Far from the Madding Crowd]) who have been married 44 years. The signs of lapsing mental faculties are revealed early on in Fiona as she leaves a frying pan in the fridge. As she is slowly but surely declining, Fiona knows she is in the grip of Alzheimer's disease while he refuses to acknowledge it. Finally after one incident, he is forced to acknowledge the facts and place Fiona in a home - the two have never been apart during their long marriage.

Sarah Polley as writer and director to her credit never becomes overly sentimental yet brings out the love and anguish between Grant and Fiona, and Grant's grief as he sees her slipping away and losing her to the affections of another patient at the home.

Yes, the public viewing audience [ we the ones who do not go to the Roy Thomson Hall $40 ticket black tux and monied galas ] gave Sarah a standing ovation after the movie.

MACBETH
1:30 PM
PARAMOUNT

All the hurlyburly and mayhem, the bloody gunplay, Shakespeare's Macbeth brought to contemporary life by Romper Stomper director Geoffrey Wright in a surprisingly faithful to the text rendition.

BLACK SHEEP
4:45 PM
PARAMOUNT

"The tale of New Zealand that had to be told." 40 million sheep in New Zealand, 4 million people. A ten to one ratio. You do the math. A very original story as only New Zealand can do, and helped along by the WETA effects team that brought you Lord of the Rings, very zany and many baaaaaaaaaad jokes.

PRAGUE
6:30 PM
PARAMOUNT


"Life is hard but you can't have it all."

Could this be the new Lost in Translation. Directed by Denmark's Ole Christian Madsen who brings back the beautiful Stina Steingarde from Kira's Reason which played at 01 TIFF to Prague to play Maja alongside Mads Mikkelsenm as her husband Christoffer. Prag has both poignancy and bits of absurdity. The city is the crux to discovering more about Christoffer's relationship with his wife Maja dead father and himself. Prag is a commentary on relationships, both personal and culturally. Communication is tantamount, and even the briefest of understood words can bring two people together. Sometime all you have to say is an "I love you".

Stina and Mads along with Ole were there for a brief and humourous question and answer.


EL CANTANTE
9 PM
VISA ELGIN

Yes - we survived the sight of Jennifer Lopez on the red carpet - and the world premiere of El Cantante. Jennifer Lopez in her smashing dress did present a brief speech to the gala crowd citing the movie as coming from the heart and soul of all involved.

TIFF has been a launching pad of sorts for Oscars for Ray, Walk the Line - but El Cantante is going to be a harder sell - what with Marc Anthony as the Salsa superstar Hector Lavoe whose meteoric career was consumed by mass adoration and the pressures which he drowned out in copious hard drug use in the 70s and Jennifer Lopez in a rather one-dimensional loving loyal but living the high life demanding wife - which all coming to a peak in 1985 then all comes crashing down with his contracting HIV and his literal fall from grace and the limelight. But what is left is the glorious music - the soul of salsa and the singer himself El Cantante.

[ 27 movies so far - four more days to go ] and we have to be up in four hours for Day 7 :

Dixie Chicks - Shut Up and Sing [ Dixie Chicks ! ]
Pan's Labrynth [ Guillermo del Toro ]
Little Children [ Kate Winslet ]
The Abandoned [ chiller ]
Jindabyne [ Aussie Aussie Aussie ! ]

Day 5 - Little did he know - /* Life is a delicate negotiation */ - Love and Other Disasters - Stranger Than Fiction, Fay Grimm, The Dog Problem,

to the sounds of Substitute by The Who

Short and sweet for now

Love and Other Disasters
9:15 a.m.
Paramount

A sexy and smart with Brittany Murphy as English Vogue assistant. Think last year's clever and funny Imagine Me and You and this year's The Devil Wears Prada. A genuine crowd pleaser

Stranger Than Fiction
12:30 p.m.
Ryerson

Little did one know that Stranger Than Fiction would luck into a winner with Will Ferrell, Dustin Hoffman, Emma Thompson and, of course, Maggie Gyllenhaal in this existential comedy. Will Ferrell is Harold Crick, an IRS auditor locked into his mundane life with his methodical ways and measured timed down to the exact instant - except for one Wednesday he would be rattled from his routine. Little did he know one day he would hear the narrator's voiceover his life telling him his impending demise was at hand. Dustin Hoffman back in one of his quirkier roles continuing on from the fabulous I Heart Huckabees seen back at 04 TIFF. Continuing on in a practice started in 05 TIFF in Winter Passing , Will Ferrell plays his comedic role an understatedly restrained way. Maggie Gyllenhaal is Ana Pascal - the baker who he has to audit and eventually falls for. He brings her flours. Maggie who is drop dead charming was a former law student who used to bake the best cookies and other desserts for her study partners so they would feel good - but eventually she would up with 27 study partners and a D average. So to make the world a better place she turned to baking. She is rebellious and drop dead charming. Harold Crick falls for her - bringing her flours. The overriding arc of Stranger Than Fiction is determining why Harold Crick is hearing the voice and he turns to Dr. Jules Hilbert [Dustin Hoffman], a literary theorist at the university to help him figure out if he is in a tragedy or a comedy. Emma Thompson is the crime author who is facing a huge case of writer's block who turns out to be the voice and whatever she writes on her typewriter becomes the reality in Harold Crick's life and eventually Harold knows he has to die.

Sharkwater
3:30 p.m.
Ryerson
Sharkwater is a compassionate plea to save the sharks being hunted to extinction by man. Sharkwater is a clear labour of live by Toronto's own shark fanatic Rob Stewart who tries to debunk the myth of sharks as one-tracked vicious man-killers. In the movie's stunning opening shot he is hugging a shark in his arms. The underwater shots are gorgeous and are an impetus to pushing the story of how Stewart became fascinated by sharks and involved with Paul Watson of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society and its Greenpeace style boat tactics in saving sharks as they are being poached everywhere by the millions for their fins and "medicinal" values for the Orient shark mafia. Stewart is more concerned about saving sharks than saving his leg at one point in time.

Fay Grim
6:30 p.m.
Ryerson

Parker Posey is the indie queen and a TIFF without her is like no TIFF at all. Last seen we saw her was at the premiere of Personal Velocity at the 2002 film festival at the Uptown. Looking glam and gorgeous along with fellow stars Kyra Sedgwick and Fairuza Balk and director Rebecca Miller.

Eight years after 1997's Henry Fool later, director Hal Hartley and stars Parker Posey Jeff Goldblum, Saffron Burrows and the rest of the cast return to the next chapter in the story in the life of Henry Fool. Hartley and all the main cast showed up for Q&A. The zaniest spythriller - watch Henry Fool again and head into Fay Grim, Henry's wife. Dutch framing and imposed letter blocks add to the espionage style zaniness of Fay Grimm's plot and complications arising from the discovery of what the contents are of Henry Fool's journals. Just you wait for part 3!

The Dog Problem
8:30 p.m.
Ryerson

The surprising and charming The Dog Problem is Scott Caan's second directorial. Life is a delicate negotiation. This is so good. Giovanni Ribisi plays an indebted and loveable Solo loser on the downside after the "success" of his first novel. At his last session his psychiatrist [Don Cheadle] suggests he perhaps get a pet. The scoundrel and arch confident confidante Scott Caan is Solo's best friend Casper and his opposite. Casper abandons Solo for a beautiful girl as they go to the mall to pick up a dog from Pet Mart and obviously Solo falls for a little mutt who proves to be too untrainable and yappy for him. Casper takes Solo and dog over to his friend [ Mena Suvari ] who wants to buy the dog. Solo refuses the many offers for him, even though the sale would solve his money woes compounded by the loanshark who is after Solo who also takes a shine to the dog. At the dog park, Solo meets up with a young lady whose own dog takes a bite of Solo's dog, and he has to beg her for the money to put up with the vet bill. The lady turns out to be a stripper [with a heart of gold] and they begin to fall for each other - but the loanshark gets in the way. Then the dog escapes.

Scott Caan, Giovani Ribisi and Mena Suvari were all watching in the audience watching this first ever screening which turns out to be a clever smart funny ribald heartwarmer and showcase for Los Angeles. It's an incredible journey.

And so ends this day and night at Ryerson.

DAY 4 - Actions have consequences - Death of a President and Babel highly realistic looks at events in the world

DAY 4 – the watchwords: actions have consequences – Babel, Death of a President, The Last Kiss


A Good Year
9:30 AM
Ryerson

A few vintages ago in a land far away known as France.

Does the day start any better than the new Ridley Scott comedy with Russell Crowe as a top of the line capital trader? “Good morning labrats”, and Albert Finney as his uncle living the good life on an estate in the vineyards of Provence. The very blonde Abbie Cornish, Albert Finney's unknown American daughter? Clue in Matchstick Men. It’s a good day for A Good Year, a good film.


Babel
11:30 AM
VISA Elgin

Babel is like the great white elephant of this year's festival, impossible to ignore and luring everyone to it after its splash debut at Cannes. Babel is the worthy successor by Alejandro González Iñárritu to 21 Grams. Babel rings more of a plea for compassion everywhere, act local think global, a seeking for communication between cultures everywhere. The world is a fractured place, but compassion and healing can take place at the smallest levels to overcome prejudice and misunderstanding. Babel is emotionally wrought, displayed through four seemingly diverse storylines with deeply personal performances from the stellar world cast from Brad Pitt to Cate Blanchett to Gael Garcia Bernal, and the other side of the planet, from locals in the Moroccan desert to the bustle of Tokyo - trying to break down communication barriers at all levels - how one mistimed gunshot gets blown up to a terrorist incident - to a teenage girl who is deaf falling out with her father. And watch out there's another Fanning sister - Ellie Fanning, Dakota's sister.


Paris Je T‘aime
3 PM
Ryerson

Bonjour tristesse. A compendium of films by 21 directors of renown, not just French, but including Alexander Payne [who was at the screening], in a series of vignettes set in the neighbourhoods around Paris – the city of love. Directors matched with top notch actors, some of the most notable being Natalie Portman in Tom Tykwer’s piece that is clearly evocative of Lola Rennt, Maggie Gylenhaal in a piece by Oliver Assayas, Elijah Wood in a sin city style vampire piece by Vittorio Natali. However, the most delight came from the Gena Rowlands written piece that paired her again with Ben Gazzara and a little cameo by Gerard Depardieu.

The spirit of Paris Je T’Aime is summed up in the American speaking mailperson in bad French while narrating her time in Paris she says at the end of her tale: “I was feeling both happy and sad, and in that moment I fell in love with Paris.”


The Last Kiss
6 PM
Ryerson

The Last Kiss is a worthy successor to Garden State for Zach Braff having an about to turn 30 personal crisis –he has achieved his goals, a successful job as an architect, scoring with a perfect beautiful girlfriend, “she is a god” Jacinda Barrett who has become pregnant by him, an achievement celebrated by her parents: the aces in the hole Tom Wilkinson and Blythe Danner as Barrett’s parents who are undergoing through their own crisis His relationship with Barrett is held as the highest ideal as the relationships of the friends around Braff and Barrett are falling apart. But Braff is paranoid, he feels his life is over, he has the perfect girlfriend with no imminent plans for marriage [at his insistence, the job, he is about to become a father, she is hinting at getting a house of their own, his life has no surprises left. Then at a friend’s wedding along comes the young brunette in the guise of Rachel Bilson – the O.C. girl Summer – She is scrumptious and hot as she has her eye on him. They get along easily, they talk [but being the guy he is does not tell her the girlfriend he has is pregnant], she gives him a small kiss. She tells him “she could be his last chance for happiness.” Once again, Braff's actions have consequences.

The Last Kiss is clearly NOT a sequel to Garden State but the characters are back in fine form.


Death of a President
8:30 pm
Paramount 4

“Chicago hates Bush! Chicago hates Bush!”
At the world premiere at Paramount 4 – 100 people were turned away at the rush line. The idea behind Death of a President is the use of a real president provides the impetus and “verisimilitude” to this documentary of the assassination of George Walker Bush in the near future on October 19, 2007 is a platform to comment and condemn Bush Patriot Act policies since 9/11, including the use monitoring and racial profiling in the “rush to judgement.” The film uses the documentary style of insiders giving their viewpoint in one on one camera sessions while the events of the day are depicted. Protesters are out in full force as the President lands in Chicago to deliver a speech at the Chicago Economic Club. The film provides an utterly realistic look at the events of the day. The protesters have become more dangerous and headstrong and the security around the President is clearly slipping. After the assassination, suspects by the hundreds are rounded up. But the focus lands on one individual who is actually innocent. However, since the assassin fit the profile of being Islamic, therefore he became the lead and only suspect despite the contrary evidence that has been provided by the son of the real culprit.

Once again, the final question is "Why did you use the gun? Do you not know that actions have consequences?'

The dramatic question and answer with the director afterwards had a very decided angry tones to it at times when someone asked the director: “Why did you use Syria?” In one incident, security people with their infrared goggles landed upon an individual who was recording just the Q&A.