TIFF Diaries: Post-fest

Another film fest over.  Since I was doing a day-by-day recap, I realized that I had some leftover tidbits to share.

I found out on the last day that the People's Choice winner was "Where Do We Go Now?", a surprise to say the least.  There was a significant lack of buzz this year about People's Choice, which led me to believe that either there were no good films (not possible) or there were too many good films to narrow it down.  It's going to be Lebanon's Foreign Language film entry for the Oscars this year, so it probably has a good shot.  It wasn't enough to interest me in seeing it at the free screening though.  I was glad to hear that "Starbuck" was a runner up.  This was the film that the volunteers got to see prior to the festival.  A French-Canadian film about a slacker who finds out that, through his donations to a sperm bank years ago, he is the father of 533 children.  It's a really good film, surprisingly touching at some points.  I hope it's released outside of Quebec.

I had taken as many photos as I could when I wasn't volunteering.  Here's a sampling:

The Edge and Bono spoke a little during the intro for "From the Sky Down".

Alexander Payne, George Clooney, and the cast of "The Descendants".

Freshly made Lindor chocolates in the Visa Lounge at the Elgin.  Yum.

The director and cast of "Anonymous" during the Q&A. 

My vantage point of the directors of "Jeff, Who Lives at Home".

The director of "Violet & Daisy" during Q&A.  Dang it, give me a clue!

So, just when I thought I was done for the year...one of my TIFF friends is the volunteer coordinator for the Reel Asian film festival and has corralled me into helping out.  Here we go again.

"Every day I'm shuffling"

TIFF Diaries: Day 11

Last early morning of the festival.  Had to get downtown in time to meet up with Olivia and her mom to see "A Simple Life" at the Scotiabank.  Unfortunately, Olivia had a last minute work committment, and couldn't join us.  By some miracle, there was a rush line for the film, and I was able to trade the ticket for a voucher from another volunteer.  With that out of the way, we walked up the bazillion steps (cruelly, both esclators were out of order) and went into the theatre.  Once again, I ran into my film fest friend.  There were quite a number of Cantonese-speaking people in the theatre, which wasn't surprising.

I usually try to see one Chinese film at the festival, to maintain some kind of cultural balance.  That isn't to say that the films aren't good.  Last year, "Aftershock" was one of my favourites.  A majority of the time, the films are in Mandarin, so I can't understand any of it and need to rely on the subtitles.  This year, I was able to find a Cantonese film, not to mention a really good one.  I don't follow Chinese films often, but I do know who Andy Lau is.  And going in to the film, I knew that Deanie Ip had won the best actress award at the Venice Film Festival a couple of weeks ago, so I was prepared for a good film and to bawl my eyes out, as most Andy Lau films are typically tear-jerkers.

"A Simple Life" is about a traditional family dynamic in Hong Kong and China, where a nanny or "amah" takes care of the children.  In this case, Tao Jie has served the same family for four generations.  Now, after having a stroke, she feels that she is a burden and retires, opting to live at a retirement home.  Roger, having been cared for by this woman his whole life, decides that it's his turn to take care of her.  Extremely touching, really funny at some parts, but not overly dramatic and sentimental, and I was able to hold it together for the most part.  I can see now why she won the award, and after seeing photos of her at Venice, I am totally blown away by the make-up department for this film.  It won't be released until 2012, but it's another highly recommended one from me.

The rest of the day was spent having lunch with Olivia and her mom, walking around downtown, and generally killing time until the Staff & Volunteer party , which I wasn't entirely keen on attending, but this year having met a lot of volunteers, I thought I would just go to say hi and catch up on the week.  Sure enough, the party was the usual, and I left around 10:00 with the hopes of being able to get to bed at a decent hour (no such luck).

And with that...it was over.

"Cheers to the freakin' weekend, I drink to that, yeah yeah"

TIFF Diaries: Day 10

Just when I thought I could sleep in, I checked online in the morning to see if "Albert Nobbs" had gone back on sale, and it had.  CRAP!  So I called the box office to see how many tickets were actually available, to gauge my chances if I went downtown now.  Alas, the automated voice lied to me (My wait time is four minutes? Yeah right!), so I hung up, got myself together and rushed downtown.  There was no line-up at the box office, and I held my breath as the ticket agent looked it up.  Finally he said there was a ticket available!  I handed over my voucher and he told me that he tries to remain emotionless until he's sure that it's good news.  A good practice, I think.

So now I had a ton of time to kill before my first screening of the day.  I went back to my standard Starbucks breakfast and surfed the internet until the parking meter ran out.  Then I moved my car to a more central location (for the theatres I was going to today) and wandered around a quiet Eaton Centre.  I ended up at Indigo, surfing again (more specifically, trying to get caught up on my blogs).  Finally, I got in the ticket holders line, somewhat early but still not the first one there.

"Moneyball" was a surprise for me, in that I didn't think I would be able to get a ticket.  But the Elgin is a large theatre, and it was the last Saturday of the festival, which is typically when things start winding down.  I knew given that it was a Brad Pitt film to keep my expectations slightly lowered, but the premise of the film was kind of interesting by itself (Math and baseball?  What??).  It was a really great film!  Both Brad and Jonah Hill were at times hilarious and serious, and the girl who plays Brad's daughter is a cutie, and a good musician.  The really great thing was that the most climactic part of the movie ACTUALLY happened in real life (I looked it up later).  It all takes place in 2002, which is fairly recent memory.  It started to come back to me as I kept watching.  Definitely see this film, even if you don't like baseball.  Or math.  Or Brad Pitt for that matter.

After the film, I wandered around while I waited for my friends to arrive.  We had to correct a minor parking issue, but we got it sorted out, then went to Salad King for dinner.  Back at the Ryerson for "Albert Nobbs", a film that had a really interesting plot (a woman in the 1800s has disguised herself as a man for over 20 years to be employed as a butler at a fancy hotel in Dublin), but it didn't really execute it as well as I had hoped.  Glenn Close was fabulous, as usual, and at times I really forgot that she was a woman.  Everything else that happened was...muddled, I think is the best word.  We were all left a little confused in the end.

I'm starting to forget what sleep feels like...

"I'm just a little bit caught in the middle, life is a maze and love is a riddle"

TIFF Diaries: Day 9

Day 8 was my ONE day off, and I actually considered signing up for another shift, but then came to my senses.  But what did I do at home?  I sat on my couch and watched a movie.  I must be crazy.

Today after work I waited for my friends to stop by and pick up a pair of tickets for "Sleepless Night", which is a French crime thriller, I think.  An interesting choice, but would make sense for them, being a French teacher and a police officer.  I have yet to hear the reviews from them, but I had heard from others that it was a good film.

I made my way downtown and had dinner before getting in line at the Ryerson for "Violet & Daisy".  I ran into a volunteer friend and ended up standing in line with him.  Once we were inside, sitting in the first row of the balcony, I glanced down and thought I saw my film fest friend.  I texted her and sure enough, she was in the 6th row, next to the woman who was throwing t-shirts into the crowd.  Watching people react to free stuff is funny.  But I have to admit, I'm guilty of it too.  I can't stand diet soft drinks but when presented with a free one I still took it.  It was so gross but I couldn't bring myself to let it go to waste.  Damn my upbringing!

The film had gotten reviews both ways (some really loved it and some really hated it), so I tried to keep an open mind.  It is definitely different, but I really liked it.  The film is about two teenage assassins (Alexis Bledel as Violet and Saorise Ronan as Daisy), who are assigned a hit that doesn't go quite the way they planned.  James Gandolfini is so great in this!  There's a lot of unexplained imagery too, which the director wouldn't get into during the Q&A, leaving it open to your own interpretation.  But, he said, everything you need to explain it is in the film.  So crap, I have to watch this again!  I especially loved the use of music, which included an obscure Sarah McLachlan track that I absolutely love and can actually play on the piano.

"And fate has led you through it, you do what you have to do"

TIFF Diaries: Day 7

Back to the real world, and a day of work while trying to stay awake.

Today's rush was "Jeff, Who Lives at Home".  For the first time, possibly ever, I was caught in the rain in a rush line.  I knew this would happen, since I had left my umbrella in the car in my hurry to grab dinner at the Eaton Centre and run over to the line.  I was surrounded by fellow volunteers, some from Ryerson, some I had never met before, which made for interesting conversation.  Luckily, my friend Olivia was able to join me for the film, umbrella in hand.  We were relatively dry by the time we got into the theatre.

It was too bad that none of the stars (Jason Segel, Ed Helms, Judy Greer, Susan Sarandon) were on hand, but the two directors were there.  The film is about a 30-something slacker named Jeff who interprets random occurrences as signs from the universe, telling him to do something.  In other words, a perfect film for me.  Along the way, he encounters his brother who  suspects that his wife is cheating on him.  And in a seemingly separate story, his mother is trying to solve a mystery at her workplace.  Incredibly funny, but then strangely serious at the end.  Final verdict was that I really liked the film.

The directors gave a really great Q&A at the end.  You can see where some of the humour comes from.  But another late night for me.  We're in the home stretch now.

"I've had my run, baby I'm done, I gotta go home"

TIFF Diaries: Day 6

MAJOR success!  Made it down to the festival box office and scored the 2nd last ticket to "50/50"!  No rushing for this girl today!  Next thing I knew I was sitting in a Starbucks, enjoying caffeine and free wi-fi, looking up and seeing Richard Crouse enjoying a cuppa whilst possibly working on a review.  Lots of time to kill before the first film of the day.  I totally felt like I belonged there. I was an honourary Downtowner.

This was my big festival day: three films. The first was "The Lady", a film based on the life of Aung Sang Suu Kyi, the activist from Burma who was the democratically elected leader of the country but had been under house arrest by the military dictatorship for the better part of two decades. It mentioned the political struggle for democracy but also focused on her relationship with her husband, which totally ripped my heart out. Michelle Yeoh was so good in it. I had to pull myself together and run out of the theatre, skipping the Q&A, in order to get to my next film.

I knew "50/50" would be funny yet sad, and it was. An interesting view of the cancer experience, not just by the person who has it but also the people around him/her. Good job by the cast, and great job by the filmmaker on the soundtrack. Radiohead, Pearl Jam...awesome!

The exhaustion was setting in, so I stayed in the food court at 10 Dundas. I had begun to perfect the art of sleeping while sitting or standing upright. Given that I was tired since 9 in the morning, I was really astounded that I was only tired in between films, but not during. I had been really worried that since I was alone, if I started snoring in the theatre, there wouldn't be anyone around to prod me awake. But I didn't miss a thing, which was excellent.

The last film of the day, "Sisters & Brothers" was a choice I made on a whim, not really knowing much except that Cory Monteith was in it. It was a wholly Canadian film, and the third of a trilogy (after "Mothers & Daughters" and "Fathers& Sons"). And, as I found out during Q&A, completely improvised without a script. Really entertaining, it was a collage of four unrelated stories about five sets of siblings, interspersed with interview segments. Since it was improv, the director had to shoot each story from beginning to end, and then edit them together with transitions. A nice light way to end the long day.

"And I know it aches, and your heart it breaks, you can only take so much"

TIFF Diaries: Day 5

After a day at work, it was a bit rough to start my final shift in the evening. However, it had to be the most entertaining one of all. First off, I was a little bummed that I would miss the premiere of "50/50" due to my volunteering commitments, but it was okay since I was going to try and see it the next day. I would have liked to have seen Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Seth Rogen though. When the movie was letting out, I ran into a snowboarding friend as well as my box office saviour, who loved the film and was going to go see JGL at the "hitrecord" event. I knew how much aggravation she had to endure to get those tickets, so I hoped it would turn out to be really good.

The next film, "Ten Year", was having a red carpet, with all the girlies screaming for Channing Tatum and Justin Long, but strangely the film hadn't gone rush. We had some issues with fans bursting through the line to try and get a better shot of the stars arriving on the carpet, so the line supervisor had to herd them out while I tried to usher legitimate patrons in. Once we had reestablished order, I figured enough was enough and put my foot down, sending industry members to the ticket holders line regardless of whether they had been let through in the past or not. Then a couple of guys showed up, wanting to join the red carpet party. The shorter guy kept saying that they were "Ben and Scott". The supervisor replied "Scott who?" The taller guy laughed, and when we both looked up, we realized it was Scott Speedman, who wasn't in the film but had a ticket to the screening. The ticket holders' line was just starting to go in, so I suggested they go towards the head of the carpet and see if anyone could help them out. The supervisor offered to let him wait by the barricade but he was cool about it and said it wasn't a big deal. They walked away, but a few minutes later I saw them next to the red carpet anyway. I continued to laugh all night about the fact that I had shut down Scott Speedman.

Once the film had gone in, Justin Long came back out to the carpet and spent an hour with the hangers-on, taking photos, signing autographs, talking on someone's cell phone, and giving out random hugs. The social networks must have been buzzing because a scattering of people kept showing up throughout the hour, including a couple of girls in their PJs who most likely lived in the building across the street.

The final film of the night, "The Incident", was thankfully incident-free. In fact, we let everyone in, including the few who were rushing with passes and vouchers, in record time. Tear-down of the carpet was equally quick. Once we were signed out, I made my way to my friend's condo, where she had kindly let me crash for a few hours before I would start my most serious day of festing.

"I gotta feeling that tonight's gonna be a good night"

TIFF Diaries: Day 4

A moment for 9/11...

The action packed weekend continued, starting with another shift at the Ryerson.  I was on time for my shift but there was already a significant rush line in front of the theatre.  They were waiting for "Take This Waltz", about which I had heard some positive buzz but didn't realize it would be this popular on a Sunday morning.  While the ticketholders crowd went in, I ran into my friend who had stood in the box office line up for me, and I saw a couple of familiar volunteer faces here and there.

Second film of the day was a bit torturous, since I had to repeat "Martha Marcy May Marlene" umpteen times, but at least I eventually got it rolling off the tongue.  It impressed a number of people, actually.  There was a red carpet, featuring the Olsen twins' little sister Elizabeth, who eerily is just a taller version of them.  Sarah Paulson was there too, who was great in "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip" which I watched every week until they lost out to the popularity of "30 Rock".  I heard Hugh Dancy was also there but I missed his entrance.  Juliette Lewis was considerably late, given that most of the fans had already left the carpet by the time she got there.

At one point, there was a couple standing in front of me, who I will name "Guy with Hat and Blonde Girl".  A couple of girls in the rush line came up to them and excitedly asked the Guy with Hat if they could take a photo with him.  I tried my very best sly look, but I had absolutely no idea who he was.  Best guess: soap actor?  The other volunteer and I were so tempted to ask the two girls, but we missed our chance and they disappeared into the theatre.

After my shift, I had some time to grab a snack and shop at the mall before getting in the rush line for "Anonymous".  Fortunately, someone came around giving away tickets to the film.  I was able to get one and head over to the ticket holders line.  Then I realized that Ihad my gold Visa card with me, so I stepped into the priority line.  I was let into the lounge downstairs to wait for a while and have first dibs on a seat.  There was a station set up in the lounge where they were making FRESH Lindor chocolates.  The round shells were set up, and the girl in the chef's outfit was piping milk chocolate into the centres.  Another chef girl had a tray and offered me a chocolate.  It was so melty...  They also had all the other flavours set up in martini glasses, and you just helped yourself.  So, this is how the other half lives.

An announcer came on the PA and told us that the previous film was running late by about half an hour, so we'd be delayed getting into the theatre.  That was fine with me, I was inside and sitting down.  As the time drew closer, lines were forming by the staircases.  The moment the PA lady started talking, there was the most ridiculous mad dash to the theatre that I had ever seen.  For goodness sake people, there's no need to kill yourself to get to your seat!  I ended up in the front row of the balcony whilst avoiding loss of life or limb.

The director of the film, Roland Emmerich, is more famous for films like "Independence Day", "Godzilla", and "The Day After Tomorrow", so for him to do a British period piece about Shakespeare was kind of strange.  Essentially, it could go either way - really well or gigantic train wreak.  I think it went well.  He even had an opportunity to blow something up.  I stuck around for the Q&A, even though it was fairly late.  Someone asked Joely Richardson what it was like to act in a film with her mom, Vanessa Redgrave.  She was gracious in her answer, gently pointing out that they didn't actually get to act together, since they were playing the same person at different ages (Queen Elizabeth I), but they did get to hang out in each other's trailer, go to costume fittings together, and compare wigs, so it was fun.  Perhaps not the most thought-out question ever.

"I'm not the kinda girl to get messed up with you, hello"

TIFF Diaries: Day 3

First shift of the day meant setting up the red carpet.  It's a bit of a beast this year, being one continuous strip.  I was pretty impressed with the engineering of the photo backdrop stand though.  It opened and closed like an accordian.

"Trishna" was the first film.  An easy film to let in, since there wasn't a red carpet.  Still, two ladies showed up over an hour after the film started and tried to get in.  We usually allow people who are late to go in, but after a while the theatre is closed so that the people inside watching the film aren't disturbed by people walking back and forth (other than the ones who need to use the restroom or something).  They were giving me some attitude, so I promptly passed them off to a supervisor.  They continued to argue for another twenty or thirty minutes.  Apparently they had come a long way to be at the festival and they had friends inside or they "knew someone" or something.  They were still hanging around outside the theatre when I went on my break.

The next film was "Goon", a hockey film.  I knew it was going to be crazy when a bunch of guys on rollerblades, wearing hockey jerseys and covered in fake blood came around the red carpet.  It got worse when the zamboni pulled up.  Yes, we had to rip up part of the red carpet in order for the zamboni to drive up and park next to it.  The first film let out around the time that the red carpet started, so of course it was madness trying to get people to keep moving in the right direction and quit looking at Seann William Scott.  Amid the throng, a lady came up to me and told me that she was Alison Pill's mom and she was looking for Jay Baruchel's mom, who had her tickets.  I thought that was super cute.  I let her in to see if she could find her.  A little while later, a man approached me, also looking for Jay Baruchel's parents.  I made a stab and asked if he was Alison's dad, and he was.  Extra cute.  I found out later that Allison and Jay were engaged.  Cutest thing in the whole world.

We got out of our shift a little early, which worked for me since I had to run down to the Elgin to try and rush "The Descendants".  Yonge Street was blocked off, as expected, but they were erecting a stage in front of the theatre, which I thought was odd.  I found the rush line and stood behind a girl who was waiting for "The Oranges", which started two hours after my film.  She REALLY loved Hugh Laurie, and as it turns out she was a real doctor too.  Luckily, someone came up to the line soon after we had gotten there and was selling tickets to the screening, so she was able to get out of the line and go relax somewhere for a few hours.

After an eternity on my feet, I got into the theatre, and got a decent seat in the balcony.  A very enjoyable film, and a slightly different role for George.  Slightly predictable but it has some twists in it, and some really funny parts. The Hawaiian scenery was amazing.   And dear lord, Matthew Lillard has aged!  At the end, the director and cast came out for a Q&A.  I finally figured out where I had seen the girl who played the older daughter, she's the lead character in "The Secret Life of the American Teenager".  Both she and the younger girl were really good in the film and during the question period.  George was as charming as ever.

I found out while watching the late night news that the stage was for the following film, "Breakaway", a singing, dancing, Bollywood style film about hockey.  One of the actors is also a singer, and he came up to the stage on a white horse and started singing while a hundred bhangra dancers and drummers paraded down the street, followed by an elephant. It was apparently a recreation of a scene from the movie.  Russell Peters and Rob Lowe were also there, both of whom were pretty blown away by the extravaganza.  Just when you thought you'd seen it all...

"Hit me with your best shot, fire away"

TIFF Diaries: Day 2

First shift at the Ryerson, my favourite festival theatre.  I was fortunate enough to have missed the red carpet madness of Megan Fox and the rest of the cast of "Friends with Kids".  Most of the crazies were probably camped out at Roy Thomson Hall for the double whammy of "Moneyball" (Brad) and "The Ides of March" (George AND Ryan, this year's prom king of the festival).

The red carpet for "The Hunter" was sort of hilarious.  Sam Neill and Willem Dafoe showed up, and they must have the quietest fans in the world.  Sure, there was some bunching on the sidewalk as Sam Neill got out of the car, and I even saw some mild elbowing and jostling, but there wasn't a single sound.  No hysterical screaming, no shouts of "SAM!" or "WILLEM!"  Just people thrusting papers and pens at them and a few flashbulbs here and there.  It was almost like watching a silent film.  Hooray for civility!

There wasn't much of a red carpet for the Midnight Madness film, "God Bless America".  I had heard that Bobcat Goldthwait might be there, but I didn't see him.  Wow, talk about "Whatever Happened to...?"

"One love, one heart, let's get together and feel all right"

TIFF Diaries: Day 1

It was a harrowing moment at work, when I thought that I wouldn't be able to leave in time to get downtown and rush the opening night U2 documentary "From the Sky Down".  At the last moment, everything came together, and I tore out of there.

My voucher wasn't eligible for the actual Gala screening at Roy Thomson Hall, but I was more than happy to stand in the rush line at the Elgin.  It was a relatively short line, and I was able to get in and go upstairs to the balcony.  It was surprisingly empty!  I was able to get a seat in the front row.  As the intros started, I very slowly started to pull my camera out of my bag.  The second the director said "Mr. The Edge and Mr. Bono", I started snapping away while everyone around me went bananas.

The woman sitting next to me was a bit put out, saying that the volunteers outside had lied and said that nobody from the film was coming to the screening.  I had to explain that it's the policy not to make any promises or declarations, because you never know if they're going to change their mind and go to a party instead.  Besides, it's more of a pleasant surprise, a bonus on top of getting into the film in the first place.

The film was pretty good.  They overdid the "band on the verge of breaking up" bit, but watching the process of writing Achtung Baby was amazing.  Not to mention seeing archival footage of the band in their crazy hair days.

"Is it getting better, or do you feel the same?"

TIFF Diaries: Pre-fest

It's the day before the film fest, but I've been a busy bee for the past week and a half.  My stint at the box office went something like this:

Boring day

Quiet day

Missed the busy period day

Utter insanity day

Quiet day

I hadn't gone to the first day of single ticket sales in a really long time, so why I thought I could get through the line within the 3.5 hours that I had before my shift began, I will never know.  Of course, having the entire system crash for an hour didn't help me.  Thank goodness a friend was available to stand in the line and put in my order for me while I went to work. 4 hours later, she passed my ticket order to me before going off in search of food.  I so owe her a meal...

Actually, I've already had a chance to see a film!  The volunteers were treated to a sneak peek screening of a Gala film.  It was a French Canadian film, which I knew almost nothing about but it was extremely entertaining and actually quite touching.  More about it at a later date.

So, my box office days are done, and I'll be spending 4 straight days at Ryerson, my fave theatre.  Lots to see and do in the next eleven days.  I'll try my best to keep the diary going.

"I'm on the edge of glory, and I'm hanging on a moment of truth"