Toronto International Film Festival (Oh, the places I'll Go)

Two years ago it was to Sundance. It was a major dream of mine to go, now an item removed from my personal bucket list. Up next—Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF). I fly away tomorrow for a ten-day trip in Canada visually soaking in all the films that I can. It is almost so unreal, that I have to keep telling myself that I am really going, trying to capture all of this excitement into something that I can process.

Personal enthusiasm aside, the line-up this year has some of the most anticipated films in the festival circuit. Celebrating its 35^th anniversary, Toronto has never failed to reveal the best in American and International cinema. I will go as far to say that this is the best festival in North America.

This is my first time with Industry Credentials. In non-festival speak, that means that I have a pass that will get me into the industry screenings of TIFF. To back up, TIFF is a market festival. This means that industry professionals, buyers, festival organizers and studio folks come to purchase the films that screen here that do not already have studio distribution. But these people do not screen the films with the general public; there is an entirely different screening schedule and set of theaters for us.

I have no idea what to expect, but I am as prepared as I can be. I have done my research on what is playing and what I really want to see. There are 300 films screening and my tentative schedule has me viewing between 35 and 40 films in 9 days, averaging about 5 films a day. There are so many good ones to choose from!

I know that I will not be able to see them all and for the sake of the Newport Beach Film Festival, I have to choose my films carefully, being that films with release dates already set are really no use to me. I am also heading into the screening room with our CEO and former Director of Submissions, so there are three of us with eyes on the screen; divide and conquer.

After splitting up the schedule, I am a giddy child with my wish-list. Even if I am unable to catch all the films that I want, I am just excited to be a part of the discussion, among film lovers like me. Here are just a handful of the titles, in no particular order, that I am excited about at this years TIFF (whether or not I get to see all of them):

BIUTIFUL (Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu)

YOU WILL MEET A TALL DARK STRANGER (Woody Allen)

THE ILLUSIONIST (Sylvain Chomet)

THE CONSPIRATOR (Robert Redford)

WHAT”S WRONG WITH VIRGINIA (Dustin Lance Black)

THE DEBT (John Madden)

THE PROMISE: THE MAKING OF DARKNESS ON THE EDGE OF TOWN (Thom Zimny)

ROUTE IRISH (Ken Loach)

ANOTHER YEAR (Mike Leigh)

CAVE OF FORGOTTEN DREAMS (Werner Herzog)

JOHN CARPENTER’S THE WARD (John Carpenter)

BLACK SWAN (Darren Aronofsky)

THE KING’S SPEECH (Tom Hopper)

127 HOURS (Danny Boyle)

BEGINNERS (Mike Mills)

EVERYTHING MUST GO (Dan Rush)

…the list goes on.

If you dare to follow what I will be watching, I will be updating as often as I can. And now, time for the next wild ride.

DVD Munch: $5 A Day

$5 A Day refers to how much someone can get by on a day; this includes food, shelter and transportation, accompanied with a great con. If you know how to work the system, then the system will work for you. Much like the title of this film, $5 A Day can get by on its charming low-budget mentality, although flawed it comes together in an unexpected way that becomes satisfying.

This film, directed by Nigel Cole, toured the festival circuit for a year, playing at Toronto International Film Festival and Palm Springs, to name a few, before having a limited release in Los Angeles and New York. If you were unable to catch this film, you can now.

Flynn (Alessandro Nivola) has just lost his job and his girlfriend of two years (Amanda Peet). When he is confronted with news that his father is dying, he decides to make a trip to Atlantic City to see if he really is on his deathbed. Christopher Walken play’s Flynn’s father, Nat Parker, who is a small-time conman; scamming radio shows and phone deals so that he never has to pay for anything and has lied about almost everything. After convincing Flynn to take him on a road trip across the county, they slowly mend a relationship that was built on lies and start a relationship that they never really had.

Walken is truly dynamic in this film. As long as the camera stays on him you can believe that he is lying about everything and at the same time he is doing it for the love of his son. The director has given Walken room to be nimble, dance and even the time to pause and reflect, which is so rare and often missed in father/son films. The whole film Nat is looking to be accepted by his son and you believe in his genuine goal.

The film unpretentiously combines comedy and drama in a way that seems so simple, but really is quite difficult to execute. The little nuances of driving an obnoxious pink “Sweet n Low” car and eating at Ihop restaurants are familiar and funny in their tackiness.

There is not much time spent on back-stories of the characters, which is both a good and bad thing for the film. It is not fully understood when and why Nat and Flynn had such a bad relationship. But the film is consistent, always moving forward. They are more often seen arriving somewhere then driving to that destination. They become closer out of proximity and when they run into different people along the way and spend time together, Flynn pieces together a different story about his father.

$5 A Day is really a film about relationships and what it means to be a family, however flawed that it may be. Nat has been living by his own rules for so long and when you find out how flawed the relationship with his son really is, you cannot help but feel for the sincere bond between father and son.

The most worthy extras on the DVD are the Interviews with the cast/crew. There are multiple interviews, most notably with the Director, Nigel Cole and actress Sharon Stone. Unfortunately, there is no interview with Christopher Walken, but there are many informative and interesting interviews that are broken up in a way that give a great insight into how the film was made.

GUILTY PLEASURES...introduction

I've decided that I simply must have a section of this blog devoted to all the cheesy cinema that I decide to watch when I'm in the mood to be entertained. I don't really feel "guilty" about watching these films, being that they can or cannot be critically acclaimed, they are really just movies that I was in the mood to see. You certainly do not have to agree with my choices in "guilty pleasure" films, but there will be small reviews on why I enjoy the film so much and why you might want to revisit it. Enjoy!