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"