23 Films / 11 Days— My TIFF 2013 Line-Up

This is so exciting. My first ever TIFF experience the way it should be. Though I have seen plenty movies at TIFF in the last decade, never more than 2-3 a year. This year however, planets seem to have lined up just perfectly for me to jump-in with both feet in.  The plan is to watch 23 Films at least (17 Confirmed + 4 Rush Tickets + 2 If I can get the tickets) in 11 Days!

TIFF is the only live-action festival that I have explored in-depth. Ottawa Animation Festival and Annecy are of course, all animation. Planning in advance to get choice screenings for Annecy seemed challenging until I entered the maze that is TIFF! Choose a package, the number of movies, limited booking windows, pick from 300 movies, schedule your 1st , 2nd , 3rd, 4th AND 5th choices, reserve ALL your tickets in a nail-biting 1 hour window while balancing what seem to be a million  considerations, virtual waiting rooms, long line-ups and the list goes on. Am not complaining, it is fun for me, but I doubt a casual movie goer can sign up for this time-consuming and quite a cerebral (if you REALLY want to have an optimised festival experience) exercise .

So after all the drama and planning, I have ended up with the following list. Have purposely avoided some sought -after premiers of big releases like The Fifth Estate or 12 Years A Slave in the favour of smaller films because you know the latter will have distribution lined-up if not already. Some smaller movies like Blue Is The Warmest Colour were just impossible to schedule, unfortunately! These are what I could slot-in AND get tickets for.

Day 1: Sep 5, 2013
1. The Big Chill - SE (6:00 pm, Princess of Wales Theatre)- A supposed classic I have not yet seen. What better way to see it than on its 30th Anniversary with a Q&A with cast and crew...including Glenn Close! :)
2. The Past - SP North American Premiere (9:30 pm, Visa Screening Room)- Last year's Oscar winning director of A Separation, Asghar Farhadi's newest. Starring Bernice Bejo, the best thing about The Artist.



Day 2: Sep 6, 2013
3. Faith Connections - TDOCS World Premiere (1:45 pm, TIFF Bell Lightbox)-  I planned for this because I mistook the director to be Ron Fricke of Samsara (2011) and Baraka... but this looks promising none-the-less.
OR
3. Tim's Vermeer - TDOCS World Premiere(1:30 pm, Scotiabank)- This is the one I originally wanted to see. Changed to Faith Connections because of the misunderstanding. Might move back to this if I can get tickets exchanged at the last minute. Looks extremely intriguing!
4. Horns - VAN World Premiere (6:00 pm, Bloor Hot Docs Cinema)- Looks like fun. Starring difficult-to-avoid Daniel Radcliffe, who has THREE movies at the festival!!


Day 3: Sep 7, 2013
5. The Railway Man - GALA World Premiere (11:00 am, Visa Screening Room)- "RUSH-ing" this!
One of the big movies could not resist watching. Don't want to miss the opportunity for a live Q&A with Nicole Kidman & Colin Firth !
6. Therese - SP World Premiere (3:30 pm, Princess of Wales Theatre)- A period, romantic thriller starring  the awesome Jessica Lange (also attending the screening)
7. The Double - SP World Premiere (8:00 pm, Winter Garden Theatre)- An Dostoevsky update, starring Jesse Eisenberg and Mia Wasikowska (cast & crew Q&A)


Day 4: Sep 8, 2013
8. Dallas Buyer's Club - SP World Premiere (11:00 am, Visa Screening Room)- "RUSH-ing" this!
Great buzz, promising trailer and an awesome cast (also attending), Matthew McConaughey, Jennifer Garner, Jared Leto and the director of C.R.A.Z.Y
9. Visitors - SP World Premiere (6:00 pm, Visa Screening Room)- MOST pumped about this. Steven Soderbergh will introduce Godfrey Reggio's latest! The man behind the ground-breaking Koyaanisqatsi Trilogy. Cherry on the cake... the sixty-six member  Toronto Symphony Orchestra will play the score by Philip Glass, LIVE!! Once in a lifetime experience.


Day 5: Sep 9, 2013
10. Devil's Knot- SP World Premiere (9:00 am, TIFF Bell Lightbox)- "RUSH-ing" this!
Never seen an Atom Egoyan film. This would be my first. Stars Reese Witherspoon and Colin Firth.
OR
10. Philomena - SP North American Premiere (11:00am,  Visa Screening Room)- "RUSH-ing" this! Though I am slightly more curious about Devil's Knot, might go for this Judie Dench film directed by Stephen Frears (The Queen) just because it is in a larger theatre and hence a better chance of a successful RUSH ticket purchase :)
11. The Disappearance Of Eleanor Rigby: Him and Her - SP Work-In-Progress Premiere (2:00 pm, Visa Screening Room)- A love story from two point of views. Great cast of James McAvoy, Jessica Chastain and Viola Davis (all attending)!
12. August: Osage County - GALA World Premiere (6:30 pm, Roy Thomson Hall)- Fingers crossed for tickets for this! Red carpet with Meryl Streep & Juila Roberts. Enough said!


Day 6: Sep 10, 2013
13. Third Person- SP World Premiere  (3:00 pm, Ryerson)- Paul Haggis's (Crash), newest multi-narrative piece. Great ensemble cast of Liam Neeson, Adrian Brody, James Franco, Mila Kunis etc (all attending)
14. Tom At The Farm - SP North American Premiere (6:15pm,  Ryerson)- A French psychological thriller.
15. Stranger By The Lake - CWC North American Premiere (9:45 pm, Scotiabank)- Winner of best director (Un Certain Regard) at Cannes. Giving something from Contemporary World Cinema programme of TIFF a shot!


Day 7: Sep 11, 2013
16. Kill Your Darlings- GALA International Premiere  (2:30pm,  Visa Screening Room)-  Daniel Radcliffe plays a young Allen Ginsberg.
17. The Wind Rises - SP North American Premiere  (6:00pm,  Visa Screening Room)-  One of the highlights of the festival for me. Miyaziki's newest (yay!) and seemingly the last (sigh!). Just cannot wait!
18. Gravity - SP North American Premiere (9:00 pm, IMAX Scotiabank)- Fingers crossed for tickets for this! I was kicked to see this movie the day I heard about it. Alfonso Cuaron has yet to disappoint me. Did not want to see it at the festival as the wide release is just around the corner but since TIFF added an IMAX screening (the ONLY way to enjoy this movie), I am so so tempted!


Day 8: Sep 12, 2013
19. Attila Marcel- SP World Premiere  (12:15 pm, Bloor Hot Docs Cinema)- Yet another gifted animation director makes his live-action feature film debut. Fan of Sylvain Chomet's work (The Triplets of Belleville, The Illusionist and Tour Eiffel short from Paris Je t'aime) and am pretty excited to see this!


Day 9: Sep 13, 2013
20. Prisoners- SP World Premiere (2:30pm,  Visa Screening Room)- Definitely wanted to see this Hugh Jackman, Jake Gylenhall, Viola Davis, Melissa Leo  starer, however not at TIFF as wide release is just around the corner. Ending up watching this as this is the only thing available AND scheduled AND on my short list on this day!



Day 10: Sep 14, 2013
21. Beyond The Edge - TDOCS World Premiere (9:00 am, Scotiabank)-  A 3D documentary on the Norgay's expedition to Everest. Should be fascinating!
22. Can A Song Save Your Life?- SP World Premiere  (12:00 pm, Ryerson)- Writer/Director of the wonderful Once, starring Keira Knightly & Mark Ruffalo.
23. Labour Day - SP World Premiere (6:00pm, Ryerson)- "RUSH-ing" this!
Directed by Jason Reitman (Juno, Up In The Air) and starring Kate Winslet. A no-brainer!


Day 11: Sep 15, 2013
Ran out of tickets for the last day! Still, might watch some left-overs which I could not make to earlier in the festival because of scheduling conflicts and non-availability of tickets.

Possibilities:
24. Ida -SP World Premiere  (9:00 am, Bloor Hot Docs Cinema)-  A interesting black & white film.
25. Fading Gigolo- SP World Premiere  (12:45 pm, Scotiabank)-  John Turturro writes, stars and directs Woody Allen, Sharon Stone and Sofia Vergara!! Very high on my list but just could not manage to get tickets for the right screening! A strong possibility.
26.Under The Skin -  SP North American Premiere (3:00pm, Ryerson)- Scarlett Johansson stars as an alien seductress!
27.The World Of Goopi And Bagha - KIDS World Premiere (3:15pm, Scotiabank)-  Hurray for Indian animation!! Looks gorgeous! :)
28. Enough Said - SP World Premiere (9:00pm, TIFF Bell Lightbox)- Rom-com with Julia Lois-Dreyfus and the late James Gandolfini.

Hope to keep updating blog with reviews...hope!
What are you watching? Happy festival!

The Academy's Oscars 2013 Report Card... And Mine!

Another movie year wraps. Another bittersweet ending. Another report card... for Oscar and me.
How did I do? 
19 out of 24 for my "Will wins" and 15 out of 24 for my "Should wins". A high score on the latter was a distant dream, but 19 on the former... ain't my best. Could have been reduced if I did not take some silly risks like, Best Actress- Riva instead of the hot favourite, Lawrence.

How did the Academy do? 

I guess, since this is all so subjective, a different choice here and there among deserving equals is no big deal. But what gets fans all riled up (including myself)is when some work significantly below par than the competition gets awarded or when the significantly superior work gets snubbed. The idea of putting in the word 'significant' is to say that if most people can see this difference, why cannot a supposed expert body like the Academy. Many times the reasons for that happen to be things like... unfair bias, politics, hype, herd mentality...well , anything BUT merit! So keeping our minor differences aside like Christoph over Tommy Lee, I think this year the Academy goofed big-time in 3 categories:

1) Best Picture: Argo was good, unfortunately Life of Pi was great. There have been movies like Argo before and there will be again. However I really wonder if a movie like Life of Pi (a combination of its story, execution and artistry) exists or will again any time soon. To me this is what Best Picture represents. Something different, innovative and marks a special moment in the history of cinema. I can say without a doubt that LoP fits that bill over any Argo. Again, this is not to take away from the fact that Argo is good film on most counts... just not that special!

Secondly, though I wholeheartedly support the Best Director for Ang Lee, it seems a bit tainted in the light of the 'Affleck Snub'. Lee's deserving win would have been better served if it was in-spite of Affleck being nominated for director or if LoP won best picture too. That way, there would not be any room for doubt that the Academy knew what they were doing and REALLY wanted Lee to win.

2) Best Lead Actress: I gave up on my personal favourite performance of the year, Naomi Watts winning because of the almost non-existent buzz. Even though I have read many high profile industry veterans thinking similarly about her performance. However choosing to award Jeniffer Lawrence over the subtle and hard hitting performance of Emanuelle Riva is puzzling. Lawrence has her whole career in front of her, she is capable and will do much more deserving work in the future. Riva, in my opinion brought something else to that role, something nuanced and rare.

3) Best Animated Film: This is by far the worst mistake this year. If it were not a weak year for animated features,  Brave probably would not have even been nominated. After winning mostly all honours including those from the animation community (Annie), Disney's Wreck-it-Ralph was clearly the most deserving. Personally I preferred Frankenweenie, but I would be very happy with WiR too. Hell any of those nominated movies were better than Brave. This unconditional Pixar love is damaging not only to the general morale but to Pixar too. It reduces the value of their really great wins like Toy Story 3, or monumental Pixar snubs like Shrek winning over Monsters Inc. The tragedy is, since the conception of this category 12 years ago, Team Disney Animation— the inventors of American feature film animation,  have yet to win!! Yes, they have faltered but they have also had some great success like Lilo & Stitch and Tangled (not even nominated!) So, Wreck-it-Ralph, coming so close to ending this draught and tripping... that too over a flimsy thing like Brave... is very very sad. The silver lining here is the winning of Paperman in animated short category... a small but great respite for Disney Animation (first since 1969). Oh well, maybe Frozen will change things for them in the feature category next year!

The ceremony itself was good fun...Seth was not the best nor the worst. I love musicals but the idea of using that as a theme to shine light on ONLY a couple of not-so-awesome(relatively speaking) and not-so-long-ago musicals (Chicago, Dreamgirls) seems unnecessary and somewhat screwy. They could have been so much more creative with this theme using musicals from across the decades. A coincidence no doubt that the producers of the telecast are also the producers of two of the movies that were celebrated, Chicago and Hairspray! Aah...show business. Till the Tonys Oscars 2014!

My Oscar Predictions 2013

No matter how much I procrastinate on blogging, the Oscars never fail to bring out the blogger in me. For the first time in years, I have covered a good 90% of the nominated work. Seen all the best picture nominations ( yes, all) and most nominated performances (barring those from 'The Sessions' & 'The Master') and missed 'Moonrise Kingdom' for script. Predominantly have fallen short on these categories: documentaries (long and short), live action shorts and foreign films– predictions concerning these are purely based on 'consensus'. Hopefully will get around to seeing them over time, but not in time for more informed predictions. Winning predictions are in RED, while GREEN are the ones where I beg to differ from the 'consensus' / Academy though process. I have taken some risks with my RED votes too, like putting down the awesome Emmanuelle Riva instead of the current favourites, Jennifer Lawrence /Jessica Chastain. However my heart lies with the underdog, Naomi Watts who was totally W-O-W in The Impossible. 

 All in all there are 4 wins I am really passionate about this year– Anne Hathaway in Les Miz, Naomi Watts in The Impossible, Paperman for animated short and Life of Pi for everything else! Other than that, 2012 has turned out to be somewhat disappointing year at the movies for me– and I include animated ones here too! Oh well... here are my annual predictions anyways. Let the best geek win! Happy Oscars :)