Another year done at the Toronto International Film Festival. It was a pretty uneventful trip into the city—besides a rogue Customs official’s 5 minute power trip before we reached the border—that saw a smooth two hour drive both to and from, a far cry from the parking lot car jams of a few short weeks earlier to hand in film picks for the advance lottery. 2010 saw its fair share of rain, the umbrella while waiting in line for Andrew Lau‘s screening of Jing mo fung wan: Chen Zhen [Legend…
Read MoreTag: Neds
TIFF10: Day Three Recap
Day Three at TIFF was by far our craziest of the year—seeing five films back-to-back from 11AM to 2:30AM. The late start allowed for a bit of sleeping in for preparation, as well as a semi-lengthy breakfast at Timmy Ho’s, both of which probably kept us from falling asleep during the marathon sittings. And while the last two of the night finally saw a bit of humor infused into the otherwise heavy schedule of dramas that do take something out of you, the morning opened with what could have been…
Read MoreTIFF10 REVIEW: Neds [2010]
“Marcus is in the garden, but … shhh” Young John McGill’s Aunt Beth, played by Marianna Palka, tells the boy, “your dreams are gonna come true, ya know”. It’s a telling statement once you watch Peter Mullan’s very Scottish—to the point it had English subtitles for an English language film—Neds. Sitting through the World Premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival, I began to wonder if an adolescent in 1972 Glasgow could dream, let alone think it would become reality. The title is an acronym/abbreviation of the common Scottish detrimental…
Read MoreTIFF10 PREVIEW: 4 Days, 16 Films, 200 Miles …
September is once more synonymous with four words: Toronto International Film Festival. Fellow Spree’er Christopher Schobert and I will again travel north for a weekend of what could be the top candidates for Oscar gold come next winter. Of course, they could also be films that may hit theater screens within the next two to three years depending on distribution deals. It’s another jam-packed schedule of sixteen films in less than four days. Daunting for sure, but a challenge we rise toward with excitement. Sadly, the most coveted title of…
Read More