Yesterday was a day filled with TIFF action for me. I had plans to take the bus into Toronto and TTC it around the city. Unfortunately, I was running late in the morning and it can take a good 2 hours to get from my house in Mississauga to downtown. So, the car went with me (thank goodness for green P parking). I was running so late I didn't get a chance to eat breakfast or lunch before my first movie (I was starving). First up for the day was 'The Secret of Moonacre'. This was my second choice for early Saturday afternoon. My first choice was the 'The Largest Chinese Restaurant In the World' (but no one seemed to get this movie - from discussions I had with people at the festival). 'Moonacre' was a fantasy kid's movie. I love fantasy so I was looking forward to this. I wasn't too far in the line and it was playing at the Winter Garden Theatre (which is such a beautiful theatre). Two of the stars were there (one being the girl from 'The Golden Compass'). Unfortunately, the movie didn't find it's groove. It wasn't fantastical, it just felt like it was trying too hard. There were a couple of instances where it felt like it had found that right mix of fantasy and real, but then it lost it again. I was rather disappointed.
After that I had a few hours before 'Nick and Nora's Infinite Playlist'. This was the movie I was most looking forward to. I grabbed some food and walked around the Eaton Centre but wasn't really feeling it so I went and got in line about 2 hours before the movie started (which meant I was pretty close to the front of the line - probably about 30th). It gave me lots of time to knit :) Here's the issue with the film festival: I'm going to see the movie so I'm in line, which means I can't see the red carpet. I can't see the stars! I like the stars. I want to see the stars. But, if I want a good seat I have to get in line. So, I saw the limos. I saw the cameras. I heard the girls screaming for Michael Cera, but I didn't get to see anything. Well, that's not exactly true. I saw Tyler Labine (Sock from Reaper) waiting to walk the red carpet and I did see Michael Cera talking to the reporters when I was walking into the theatre (but they keep you walking pretty quickly so I was only able to stop for a quick second and one picture). Before the movie started they brought out the cast to say a quick hi (apparently this was the World Premiere so everyone was there - people were commenting on how many rows were sectioned off for reserved seating - normally there are one or two rows but this time there were at least 10). When Michael Cera came out on stage there was a lot of screaming (for those of you who don't know, he's from Brampton and was in Arrested Development, Juno and Superbad); then when the movie started and the first frame was of Michael Cera everyone screamed again (there was a lot of love for Michael in the theatre); after the movie the MC told us she would not accept questions that started with 'Michael We Love You. We take that as a given.'
The movie was really good. Michael was awesome as always. There were a couple of scenes that I felt were a little flat, but it was a good 'crazy night in New York movie'. I've had nights like this and they were always so awesome (maybe not quite as crazy, but definitely nights that just had a lot going on, where you didn't want them to end).
After the movie I met up with Lisa and friends for a drink before heading over to see her brother Mark's movie. Lisa had the job of trying to get her family in line for the movie. I would say Mark definitely had the largest contingent of people in the theatre. There were 6 short films at this screening and all very different. I've never really seen a group of shorts before so this was pretty cool. One of the shorts, 'Next Floor', was really interesting but also very disturbing. Mark's movie was good. I really liked the look of the film, but there were parts of the acting that kind of took me out of the enjoyment, overall though, I really liked it and was really happy for Mark to be at TIFF. After the presentation we headed over to Coca for the after party. The patio is really nice and it was a gorgeous night.
Today I had one movie to see, 'Witch Hunt'. This was a documentary about Bakersfield, California and a number of people that were wrongly accused of child molestation. It was a very emotional movie and one of the really interesting things they did was talk about how this affected the children involved. The children were coerced into accusing the adults and it has now affected them in their adults lives. It was very moving. Sean Penn narrated and he was in the audience. But, what was really great was the fact that a number of the kids and the accused were in the audience and they were available for the Q&A after the film. There were a lot of tears in the audience and a number of standing ovations. It was a very powerful moment for me (and I believe a number of others) at the festival.
This is what I love about the festival and why I am so glad that I chose to go to more than one movie this year - the moments that you weren't expecting. Friday night I wasn't expecting to be sitting in the same theatre as Jimmy Page, today I wasn't expecting to be so moved by a film and last night I was able to see a movie made by a friend. I only have two more movies left and I am wishing I had more.
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