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"