Toronto Day 7
The Score: 25 movies, 4 press conferences, 1 round table.
Now that I'm looking at the final days of the Toronto Film Fest, I'd say it has been pretty good but not spectacular. When you have the choice of over 300 films, your selections, based on directors, actors and sometimes countries of origin, can go either way. On a manic Monday I managed 6 movies, plus a press conference with Sigourney Weaver and Kate Bosworth, discussing their film Girl In The Park. Their performances anchor an interesting story about a woman (Weaver) who has never fully recovered from losing her daughter in a New York City park sixteen years earlier. It takes a hustler con woman (Bosworth) to get Weaver's character Julia to finally get past her sense that her daughter will someday turn up.
Manic Nonday also featured a Hong Kong detective flick, Mad Detective, about a cop who is totally crazy; a dysfunctional family drama Margot at the Wedding from the director of The Squid And the Whale, Noah Baumbach; Cleaner, a drama about an ex-cop who cleans crime scenes starring Samuel L. Jackson, and Sleuth, a remake of the 1972 original, starring Michael Caine and Jude Law.
One of my favorites so far was John Sayles' Honeydripper, a terrific blend of character-driven comedy drama and music starring Danny Glover, Charles S. Dutton and Stacy Keach. I've said this in the past, but I really think this might be John Sayles' commercial breakthrough.
Speaking of Jude Law and Michael Caine, I went to the Sleuth press day today (Wednesday) and had a chance to hear them articulate their thoughts on their new film and each other. I'll have more on that when I return home.
Coming up tomorrow is the press day for Before the Devil Knows Your Dead, a film by 83-years young Sidney Lumet about a family that really puts the "dys" in dysfunctional.
That's enough for now; I need to rest my eyes. There ain't enough Visine to keep your eyes from going wacky after 25 films in seven days.