Copernicus Sends Some (Almost) Final Thoughts From TIFF!!

Merrick here...
Copernicus sent in his perspective & summation on the recently concluded Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF). There's a lot of material here, so I'll get out of the way and turn you over to... COPERNICUS!!!

Another Toronto International Film Festival is finished. Ten days, 275 feature or mid-length films. I managed to see 40, but I know I missed a lot of great ones, including most of the award winners listed below. The big surprise for me was JUNO losing out to EASTERN PROMISES for the People's Choice award. EASTERN PROMISES was good, but it only barely cracked my top 10 of the festival. Audiences really responded to hometown favorite director David Cronenberg, and Viggo Mortensen's balls-out performance. The famed naked fight scene was one of the best, and most brutal fights I've ever seen on film. There were actually screams at the press and industry screening I attended, and those things are usually populated with church mice. I'll keep sending in reviews over the next few weeks and months but first a few thoughts on the trends and the buzz. This is a very incomplete rundown of my impressions of the fest this year. In previous years, directors have mostly addressed the Iraq war obliquely, and some big names are still doing that this year, the decent but too Haggissed-up IN THE VALLEY OF ELAH, and Alan Ball's exceptional NOTHING IS PRIVATE. But this year for the first time filmmakers are going after the war head-on in significant numbers, either in docs like BODY OF WAR and HEAVY METAL IN BAGHDAD, or fictionalized versions of real events like BATTLE FOR HADITHA and REDACTED. American policy was also dealt blows to varying degrees: softly by Jimmy Carter in Jonathan Demme's MAN FROM PLAINS, dramatically by Gavin Hood's RENDITION, and luridly in CHAOTIC ANA where (spoiler) I hear a Spanish character shits on the face of an American politician (end spoiler). I saw the beginning of that one, but walked out before the coprophilia for failure to suspend disbelief about the past-lives aspect of the plot. Genocide was another war theme, either in the excellent DARFUR NOW or SHAKE HANDS WITH THE DEVIL, which I missed but heard universally positive things about. On the heartwarming front there were two standouts that I happened to catch, SON OF RAMBOW, and LARS AND THE REAL GIRL. SON OF RAMBOW follows a pair of pre-adolescent boys in England in the early '80s who are so nuts for FIRST BLOOD that they shoot their own action sequel. Elementary school politics and cult religion are impediments. Meanwhile, LARS AND THE REAL GIRL takes the most unconventional tack possible to tug at the heartstrings, following the cripplingly shy Lars (Ryan Gosling) as the community plays along with his delusions that the Real Doll he ordered off the internet is his girlfriend. Sounds creepy, but amazingly, it isn't. It is like the inverse of MANNEQUIN -- she isn't real, and the movie is actually good. Full reviews of these two to follow soon -- both played to massive theaters and were huge hits. There were a surprising number of movies with a "teen girls in trouble" theme, and two had Ellen Page. You've already heard about how she gets lightheartedly knocked up JUNO, but in THE TRACEY FRAGMENTS she's a troubled teen runaway who is nearly raped. The movie has its flaws, but does feature exceptional use of elliptically repeating split-screens laid out as if in a comic book, which put us right into the jittery mindset of the character. And the best thing is that you can make your own edit: all of the dailies are available for download under a creative commons license, even the soundtrack by Toronto favorites Broken Social Scene. Other features with a teen girl sex theme include the mostly lighthearted THE BABYSITTER in which the main character heads a cabal of high schoolers who bundle prostitution along with babysitting. Also in the "you should know better" department, several adults are after teen Jasira in the already-reviewed NOTHING IS PRIVATE, and in PINK the adult lead character befriends an 11 year-old girl, while his brother tries to parlay acting fame for teen action. Finally one doc tackled the subject of teen prostitution: VERY YOUNG GIRLS. Twenty-something sex was covered thoroughly in YOUNG PEOPLE FUCKING, which followed five sexual encounters: a first date, a longtime couple, an ex-couple, friends wanting to hook up, and a threesome. It was entertaining, funny, and well written but maybe a little too Canadian (sweet, neat, no edge, unknown actors) to get a wide release. In what seems like an unlikely coincidence, two masters of 70's cinema have returned to make brother-caper gone bad tragedies. Woody Allen's CASSANDRA'S DREAM features Colin Farrell and Ewan McGregor as siblings who must murder someone, and in Sidney Lumet's BEFORE THE DEVIL KNOWS YOU'RE DEAD Ethan Hawke, who is somehow supposed to be the brother of Phillip Seymour Hoffman, jointly mastermind a caper that goes horribly wrong in the hands of a henchman. No matter how genetically improbable the pairings, there is great acting in both films (including a career-best performance by Ethan Hawke), and both also feature knockout work from actors playing older family members, Tom Wilkinson in CASSANDRA, and Albert Finney in DEVIL. Both movies are well made, though they don't touch the heights each director achieved in their youth. Both seem tailor made to corner the market on Best Actor nominations. Longer reviews later. Betrayal was at the heart of two high profile studio releases, LUST, CAUTION and THE ASSASSINATION OF JESSE JAMES BY THE COWARD ROBERT FORD. Both explore the ethics and consequences of betraying a murderer that you have befriended. And in both cases the protagonist is given a gift by the sociopath right before their moment of truth. Heightening the betrayal, Bob Ford uses his to shoot Jesse James (not a spoiler, see title). I won't spoil LUST, CAUTION, the ending to which I already danced around in my review, but I will say that it is interesting that the two movies each have a different take on what you ought do when you befriend a murderer. And come to think of it, THE BRAVE ONE plows similar ground, and has yet a third solution -- consequences, schmonsequences, wrap it up with a Hollywood ending and everyone goes home happy. Except the audiences and critics. Music, as always, played a big role at the festival. JOY DIVISION was a doc about the band which I missed, but I did love Anton Corbijn's feature take on the same material, CONTROL. I missed GLASS: a portrait of Phillip in twelve parts, but I heard it was good no matter how many ways he was divided. LOU REED'S BERLIN was a concert film covered by Anton Sirius. I regret missing John Sayles' HONEYDRIPPER, where Danny Glover has the blues and more. Again with regret, I did manage to see rock gods the Beatles and Bob Dylan mortalized with the mostly dreadful ACROSS THE UNIVERSE ($45 million Cop Rock) and I'M NOT THERE (a never-ending Saturday Night Live skit where a half-dozen people do seriously unfunny Dylan impressions). Finally, half of the meaning of the title HEAVY METAL IN BAGHDAD refers to music, and is the reason I skipped it, though I hear I am both uncool and unfortunate for that. Finally Midnight Madness rocked the world of drunks, vagabonds, the unemployed, and other degenerates like me who could stay out until 2 on a weeknight, or generally those with an unhealthy appetite for the extremes of cinema that would scandalize respectable filmgoers. I've already covered the sci-fi anime, VEXILLE, and the Yen/Yip everything-fu extravaganza FLASHPOINT, much to the chagrin of Talkbackers. STUCK was Stuart Gordon's take on the hit and run and park and get high and wait for your victim to die phenomenon. It was an underdog film that managed to charm me and others, though I realize that seems an unlikely emotion. Anton Sirius has covered the Argento family bloodbath MOTHER OF TEARS, the Miike-insanity SUKIYAKI WESTERN DJANGO, and GEORGE A. ROMERO'S DIARY OF THE DEAD (yes that is the official title in all its vainglorious, um, glory). In the next few days I plan to write up reviews of DAINIPPONJIN, a truly inspired Japanese mockumentary about a superhero who fights giant monsters, and the pregnancy horror INSIDE (A L'INTERIEUR) which truly takes depravity to new heights or depths. The tagline is "Open the door and I'll open your belly!" All in all, another great fest, and I'd like to say thanks to everyone who made it happen. Here is the awards press release. -Copernicus

Toronto - The 32nd Toronto International Film Festival comes to a close today with a highly-anticipated Awards Reception at the Fairmont Royal York. AWARD FOR BEST CANADIAN SHORT FILM The award for Best Canadian Short Film goes to Chris Chong Chan Fui's POOL. The jury states, "in an unforgettable film about overcoming devastation, the main and title character is a water reservoir." The award goes to POOL "for telling us this story with restraint, subtlety and compassion." The 2007 short film jury members are filmmaker Brad Peyton; Director of Original Production for Showcase, Rachel Fulford, and Berlin-based curator Stefanie Schulte Strathaus. The award offers a $10,000 cash prize. CITYTV AWARD FOR BEST CANADIAN FIRST FEATURE FILM The Citytv Award for Best Canadian First Feature Film goes to Stéphane Lafleur's CONTINENTAL, UN FILM SANS FUSIL. The film follows four people whose lives unexpectedly intersect due to one man's disappearance in the woods. The jury is pleased to present this award to "a film with singular vision, an economical and subtle beauty and a cinematic maturity that belies the director's relative inexperience." Established by sponsor Citytv, the award carries a cash prize of $15,000. The Citytv Award was presented by Larysa Harapyn, reporter, associate producer and presenter of Star! Daily. TORONTO-CITY AWARD FOR BEST CANADIAN FEATURE FILM The Toronto-City Award for Best Canadian Feature Film goes to Guy Maddin's MY WINNIPEG. Maddin's very personal portrait of his hometown is a poetic meditation - a docu-fantasia - on Winnipeg's history as well as his own childhood. The jury states "in a year when many masters of Canadian cinema have made new and exciting movies, one film stands above as a work of remarkable ingenuity, originality and that, within its specific, personal vision finds a universal appeal." Generously co-sponsored by the City of Toronto and Citytv, the Toronto-City Award for Best Canadian Feature Film carries a cash prize of $30,000. CANADIAN FEATURE FILM AWARDS JURY Winners of the Citytv Award for Best Canadian First Feature Film and the Toronto-City Award for Best Canadian Feature Film were selected by a jury of film industry professionals, consisting of filmmakerJennifer Baichwal, winner of last year's Best Canadian Feature Film award for her film MANUFACTURED LANDSCAPES; award-winning actor Colm Feore (BON COP, BAD COP; THIRTY TWO SHORT FILMS ABOUT GLENN GOULD); acclaimed producer Roger Frappier (JÉSUS DE MONTREAL, MAELSTRÖM); and Olivier Père, head of programming at Cinémathèque Française, and Artistic Director of the Directors Fortnight. DIESEL DISCOVERY AWARD The DIESEL Discovery award goes to Israel Cárdenas and Laura Amelia Guzmán's COCHOCHI. After returning home from elementary boarding school, two brothers Tony (Luis Antonio Lerma Torres) and Evaristo (Evaristo Lerma Torres) are sent to deliver a package to a far community in the Sierra Tarahumara, Mexico, by their grandfather. Without permission, the brothers take the family horse but lose the horse and one another after making a wrong turn. They each then embark on a separate adventure, leading them to discover a new world. The Festival press corps, which consists of 1000 international media, voted on the DIESEL Discovery Award. The award offers a $10,000 cash prize and custom award sponsored by DIESEL Canada. ARTISTIC INNOVATION AWARD The Artistic Innovation Award honours the artistry, innovation and audacity of one of the Festival's inventive Visions titles as selected by an international industry jury of major visual artists. This year's award goes to Anahí Berneri's ENCARNACIÓN, the second feature film by Anahí Berneri (A YEAR WITHOUT LOVE). The film is the story of aging B-list actress Erni Levier (Silvia Pérez) who decides to make the difficult trip back to her hometown and face her family who knew her as Encarnación - the girl who fled to the city to sell her body in salacious B-films. The jury notes that the film "stands out for its economy of vision. We attribute this to its superb direction and editing. We appreciate the director's ability to render the fetishized female body in a distilled and forceful examination of both the "movie star" and "movie industry" and their relationship to everyday life. " The jury consists of Dutch multimedia artist Lonnie van Brummelen; Vancouverbased influential pioneering photoconceptual artist Ian Wallace and renowned curator Christopher Eamon. The award offers a $10,000 cash prize. PRIZE OF THE INTERNATIONAL CRITICS (FIPRESCI PRIZE) The Prize of the International Critics (FIPRESCI Prize) is awarded to Rodrigo Plá's LA ZONA. This prize is annually bestowed upon a feature film directed by an emerging filmmaker, and making its world premiere at the Festival. The Festival welcomed an international FIPRESCI jury for the 16th consecutive year. The 2007 jury consists of jury president Grégory Valens (France), Pamela Biénzobas (Chile), Scott Foundas (USA), and Katherine Monk (Canada). CADILLAC PEOPLE'S CHOICE AWARD The Cadillac People's Choice Award is voted on by Festival audiences. This year's award goes to David Cronenberg's EASTERN PROMISES. Cronenberg reunites with his A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE leading man Viggo Mortensen for a new thriller. EASTERN PROMISES follows the mysterious and ruthless Nikolai (Mortensen), a Russian gangster tied to one of London's most notorious organized crime families. His carefully maintained existence is shaken when he crosses paths with Anna (Naomi Watts), an innocent midwife who accidentally uncovers potential evidence against the family. First runner-up is Jason Reitman's JUNO and the second runner up is Phil Donahue and Ellen Spiro's BODY OF WAR. The award offers a $15,000 cash prize and custom award, sponsored by Cadillac. The Cadillac People's Choice award was presented by Norm Sawula, Cadillac Marketing Manager. The Festival is a presentation of The Toronto International Film Festival Group (TIFFG), a charitable, not-for-profit, cultural organization whose mission is to transform the way people see the world. Its vision is to lead the world in creative and cultural discovery through the moving image. Canada First! and Short Cuts Canada programmes are generously sponsored by Star! and etalk. The Citytv Award for Best Canadian First Feature Film is generously sponsored by Citytv. The Toronto-City Award for Best Canadian Feature Film is generously co-sponsored by the City of Toronto and Citytv. Discovery and the DIESEL Discovery Award are generously sponsored by DIESEL Canada. The Cadillac People's Choice Award is generously sponsored by Cadillac. The Awards Reception is generously hosted by the Fairmont Royal York.