There is a lot of street activity and a lot of excitement in the air. The weather is cooperating and giving us a very comfortable waiting in line experience. TIFF seems to have listened to the complaints from last year and I have yet to experience the frustrations of being in the wrong line for a film. I think that there is a better scheduling of films so that we're all not lined up for many different titles.

(1) My Tehran for Sale -- I do like Iranian movies because they are authentic and fraught with real life drama. Just filming life in modern day Tehran is drama enough without the added danger of non propaganda movie making. This movie deals with the underground culture of the young adult generation of urbanites in Tehran. They dance, they drink, they do drugs, dope & ecstasy and they have sex. (Altho' filming, the director made sure that everthing was off screen and implied, it was way too dangerous for the actors & actresses to be explicit). They get punished, 35 lashes for going to a rave. Our heroine is trying to get a visa to escape to Australia to be with her love and to make her art. The narrative was gripping, the acting was excellent but, as expected, production values were not gala presentation quality. But it did not really matter. An unexpected bonus was being introduced to a new genre of music, "Persian Blues". It is really good. And I am on the lookout for the music of Mohsen Namjou. A great soul singer.

(2) The Vitner's Luck.-- This is a New Zealand/France film (English lang) and has full production values. It is lusciously shot and is a very sensual film using grape growing and wine making as a metaphor for life. There is a gorgeous angel in it who provides a homoerotic angle (helloooo Gaspard Ulliel, as charming in the Q&A as he was in the film). At 2 hours & 6 minutes, it is a long film that drags in the middle. I enjoyed it but I'm not sure that it has enough va va voom to be a box office smash or even a critical success. Gorgeous actors and gorgeously shot but this movie may get lost in the art film bin. How'ere, it is not a dud. Keisha Castle-Hughes was in the film and present for the Q&A. She reminded me of the old song "the Queen is a very nice gal but she doesn't have a lot to say".

Another few days of beautiful Sept. weather in Sept.  It feels wonderful to be wandering the streets and sitting on benches reading a novel between movies.  La vie est belle.  I have to say though that I am getting a lot of amusement at standing in line in front of recently retired teachers. They cannot help themselves basking in their admittedly smug delight at being in line to a movie and not in front of a class. I thint that they are the happiest group of film goers in the festival.

(3) Carmel is an Israeli movie directed by Amos Gitai.  He had directed the thoughtful film "Kadosh" about Orthodox Hassidic Judaism in modern day Jerusalem.  This film dealt with the director's musings and meditations on being an Israeli in a country that has been war torn for 2000 years.  Unlike Kadosh which had a strong narrative, Carmel is an innovative image loaded film with no narrative.  It may be seen as self indulgent as the director believes that film is more than just story telling. This film goes back and forth in time and while I found it deeply personal & touching for the director, it left me looking at my watch.  Definitely an art film, not quite stream of conscious as in literature, more like stream of images and music.  The good thing about the film was that Gitai was present at the end for Q&A

(4) Bran Nue Dae, on the other hand, is a rollicking and satiric Australian musical.  The theme song starts off with the lyric "There's nothing I'd rather be that an aborigine And watch you take my precious land away". The film is set in the red dust beautiful land of Broomme on the north-west coast, just down the road from Perth (my brother-in-law's birth place).   It is an Australian aboriginal original and there are only 3 white roles.  It's great fun & the irony is sharp & biting.  The producer was present as the director Rachel Perkins is back in Australia awaiting the birth of her baby.  The main actors, (the young lead), Rocky Mackenzie, (the English school master), Geoffrey Rush, and (the garrulous older guide of our young hero) Ernie Dingo were around for Q&A and there responses to the questions were as funny as the film.  This film is a definite crowd pleaser.  Go see it in the depths of the Feb. blues.

(5) Soul Kitchen is another musical set in Hamburg Germany.  Unlike Bran Nue Dae, it is a darker film about a young man's struggle to keep his restaurant. But the setbacks and the attempts to overcome the obstacles are quite funny.  The pacing is fast and the actors are excellent and the soundtrack is infectious.  The director, Fatih Akin, and the star, Adam Bousdoukos, were present and sat behind me during the film.  They said it was the 1st time they had seen the film with a general audience.  I like this aspect of TIFF.  It has become an industry convention but the public still gets a chance to participate.

(5)The 5th film that I saw was a Lebanese/ French/German (go figure) movie called Everyday is a Holiday. The title is definitely ironic because even the TIFF programmer described the film as stark & absurd. It is a road movie but don't go thinking of screwball comedies a la Hope/Crosby. There is a busload of women on their way to the men's prison outside of Beirut. Once outside of Beirut, the landscape becomes stark, rocks & desert with the odd tree. Mounds & mounds of nothingness. The busdriver is shot by a sniper & the women are alone along with their birthday cakes, their gifts and their high heels walking through this desert. No cell phone reception either, Not much dialogue, just a lot of walking. 3 women are picked up by a driver in a truck carrying chickens and they are going to get help. It is these 3 women who are the foci of the film. The truck driver, is of course, an insurgent who is going to deliver the women to his commandant. Everything goes awry. The women do eventually get to the prison only to find that it has been destroyed by the insurgents & all the prisoners & the guards are dead. Yeah, I know, a downer. The message is that there is a lot of "disappeared" men in Lebanon & the women are left looking for them & living on their own. The director and the 3 leads were present and I had to decide between listening to them or getting my own bus. I opted for my bus.

(6) Shirley Adams - is a South African film by the very young director (25 years of age), Oliver Hermanus. It was his thesis for his master's or doctorate in film studies @ the London School of Film. He wrote the screen play when he was 15 & let it percolate for 10 years. It is an extremely intimate movie filmed by hand-held camera with lots of close behind-the-head shots. The director said that he was influenced by a favourite artist that he had seen in the galleries who had painted characters from behind, so that the viewer was taken into that character's world without being distracted by the face of the character. The actress, Denise Newman, a S.A. stage actress does a superlative job as the long suffering Shirley taking care of her quadriplegic son. The son is a victim of gang violence. We don't know the details of the shooting but do discover that the shooter has been a childhood friend of the victim. Health care in S.A. isn't much good after 3 months & Shirley is on her own. Denise portrays the proud mother struggling with her resposibilities brilliantly. If not for that actress, this would have been a yawn of a film but this actress is mesmerizing. The director said that he, himself, came from the projects in which Shirley & her son live, and that Cape Town is still one of the most racially segregated towns in the world--not because of politics but because of history and the location of ethic settlements in that city. I hope that Oliver Hermanus goes on to bigger & better things. He is talented.

Some people have wanted gossip. Let me see. When you go to Contemporary World Cinema and Discovery sections of the festival, there is not a lot of star gazing. How'ere, in line, I've overheard people say that they saw George Clooney (he's a huge favourite, Cary Grant Version 2.0) just a couple of metres away from them. And that they also saw Ewan McGregor ... "My, my,he's short" It is astounding how short all these male stars are. Also overheard, there will be fewer films in the festival next year. Due to the global recession, fewer films are being made. Some people close to me think that it would not be a bad thing for TIFF to have fewer films. There have been a lot of dogs in the film line-up over the years. And a volunteer told me that they get vouchers and recommends for films that are not sold out. There have been a number of films that have shown to half empty theatres which may be 2nd & 3rd screenings, but still ... Honestly, the end of the festival is a very slow time for gossip. There are only Torontonians in the line-ups and mostly retired teachers who are still giddy with delight at not being in the classroom. However, it is the time of the festival that I have come to enjoy the most. One more posting & then it's time to get ready for my vacation from my vacation from my retirement.

The last of the festival and I have enjoyed it. The weather has been nothing short of superb. Today, Sat. had clear beautiful skies, unlimited ceiling as JC calls it, lots of warm sun but a cool breeze that hinted at what is to come. I started off the Festival 10 days ago in sandals and capris & sleeveless tops, I finished the festival in socks & sneakers & jeans & jean jacket. Oh well, it has been glorious.

(8) Affaire farewell was a French thriller that takes place in Moscow in the Regan era just before the USSR collapses. The collapse, according to the movie, is helped along by a traitorous KGB agent who has had it with the corrupt regime and has fond memories of Paris & Fr. culture. He gives away important state secrets to an unwilling Fr. national who is working in Moscow. The narrative is interesting and the actor who plays the Russian KGB agent, Emir Kusturica gives a wonderful performance. Not exactly a nail biter but an entertaining movie. Sat. the last day was one of musicality.

(9) Coco Chanel & Igor Stravinsky is the most beautiful film that I have seen in the festival. The film has 4 characters, Coco & Igor and Coco's fashion designs & Igor's music, specifically, The Rite of Spring. It is a stunning feast for the visual senses. Initially, the movie opens with a kalaediscope of black & white colours & shapes. Amazing. We see Coco from her beginnings in 1913 as she abandons the corset & starts wearing & designing loose clothing to 8 years later when she is achieving great success not only with her dresses but with her new perfume. Her palette is, at this time, strictly black & white Her home is decorated in black & white and there is so much Lalique glass and wonderful furniture and accoutrements of the period that I was gaga. Stravinsky's music, especially the Rite of Spring runs throughout the film. It is the 4th character in the growing passionate relationship between Coco & Igor that develops when she opens her country home to him and his family. The director, Jan Kouren and the actor who played Igor, Mads Mikkelsen were present for the Q&A. Mads struck me as the kind of guy that no mother wants her daughter to bring home. In fact, he is a Danish actor and has been voted as Denmark's sexiest man. I would have to concur with that conclusion after watching him in the love scenes in the movie. Zowie, that man is sexy. But more than that, he is an amazing actor. A couple of festivals ago, I had seen him in Adam's Apple (a wild & whacky Danish comedy about a priest Adam, played by Mads) and did not recognize him. He certainly became the musician, Stravinsky. A wonderful film for the senses. It has received a distributor, Sony, and will be released in the spring.

(10) The White Stripes Under Great White Northern Lights is a "Rockumentary" about the band, the White Stripes. Like Coco, they have a strict colour code but their colours are red, white & black. As the director, Emmet Malloy, said Canada's colour scheme of red & white fit right into the band. The White Stripes went on a tour to far out places in Canada like White Horse, Yellowknife, and Inqaluit as well as smaller venues like Glace Bay, N.S. and Charlottetown, Ottawa and Winnipeg and so on. I really like Jack White's guitar work. He is quite the virtuoso. And Meg uses so much energy drumming. They are grand performers. They did meet with Inuit elders in Inqaluit and Jack White would make his mother proud with his kindness & courtesy to the older people. Jack White is a distant relation of the musical family, the MacIssac's of Nova Scotia, that would include that crazy fiddler Ashley MacIssac. It was a very entertaining rock documentary. Except for Carmel, I did not see any dogs and I guess I would say that my favourites were in no particular order Soul Kitchen, Coco & Igor, My Tehran & Bran Nue Dae. Until next year. Adieu