Making a List . . . (2007)
With Christmas morning now only three days away, and with a very busy work week ahead of me, I've spent most of this weekend researching the TIFF lineup and making final tweaks to my spreadsheet. The end result is a working list of sixty or so films, sequenced (more or less) by order of priority. The research process was much simplified this year thanks to two sites: TOFilmFest.com and TIFFReviews.com. Girish's site, as usual, is also a locus of informed discussion and recommendations.
For your viewing pleasure, here are trailers and clips from a few of the films that have caught my attention. Feel free to post more in the comments.
EDIT: I forgot to mention that a couple of these clips aren't safe for work (unless, of course, you live in a culture that isn't offended by the sight of breasts).
- 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days
- Alexandra
- L'Amour Cache
- Angel
- The Banishment
- California Dreamin'
- Contre Toute Esperance
- Corroboree
- Dans la ville de Sylvie
- The Edge of Heaven
- La Fille Coupee En Deux
- A Gentle Breeze in the Village
- I'm Not There
- Import Export
- In Memory of Myself
- Iron Ladies of Liberia
- Margot at the Wedding
- The Mourning Forest
- Naissance Des Pieuvres
- No Country for Old Men
- One Hundred Nails
- L'Ora di Punta
- Paranoid Park
- Persepolis
- Please Vote for Me
- Ploy
- Sad Vacation
- Secret Sunshine
- Silent Light
- Starting Out in the Evening
- A Stray Girlfriend
- Terror's Advocate
- Une Vieille Maitresse
- Le Voyage de Ballon Rouge
- Wolfsbergen
- XXY
- You, The Living
12 comments:
A great selection, Darren, many of which are on my radar as well. Thanks also for the pointers to TOFilmFest and TIFFReviews. I'm pleased that they reference Twitch so respectfully.
Received an email from Stephen Lan's film slate for TIFF and some of the talent he's representing. A few of those films appear on your list and I thought you might be interested in furthering your interests on his slate. You can download the press kits and high resolution photos for future write-ups.
I've been featuring a few "previews" of stuff I want to see on my site, and have written a bit on 18 films, with links to sites and trailers as well. Hard to get it down to a paltry ten!
Darren, thanks for the link to TOfilmfest.com ...hope it helps everyone 'pick the best of the fest'... ;-)
PS. and, James, nice site, too! 8-)
Twitch has likewise just mounted their annual one-stop trailer shop, which will be continiually updated from now through the festival as websites and/or trailers become available.
Michael, one thing that's kind of interesting about that link to Stephen Lan's site is that it already lists the screening schedules for his films. I'm pleased to see that Ploy, Help Me Eros, and The Man from London are all playing at the Paramount (aka the Scotiabank Theatre).
Darren, thanks for this post -- very helpful. I'm gonna spend a good chunk of the day on Monday going through all of the links.
Can't wait til Wednesday. :)
I saw Starting Out in the Evening earlier this year. It's a bit preposterous, but the performances are very nice. I like Lily Taylor in anything, although she does not have a very large role.
Note that advance screenings times/dates from publicists are subject to change. Be sure to double-check 'em when the official schedule is released.
Michael, I actually haven't watched most of the trailers I linked to. Many are to films I know I definitely want to see, and I prefer to go into the screening cold. But the trailers really come in handy with films I'm unsure about.
Rob, I think it was Anthony Kaufman's review of Starting Out in the Evening that caught my attention. I doubt I'll see it, but I kept it on my list in case it happened to be showing during a dead spot in my schedule. I feel a bit odd saying this, but I'm a big fan of Frank Langella, and his performance is drawing raves. Plus, I'm curious to see Lauren Ambrose in a different role.
Frank Langella is really good. I kept thinking of a Sherlock Holmes play that I saw on HBO when I was, like twelve, in the early days of HBO when it was such a novelty in our house. Langella is sort of cemented in my head as Sherlock Holmes.
It took me a while to figure out why Lauren Ambrose looked so familiar. I'd sampled a few episodes of Six Feet Under, but it took me half the movie to make the connection.
Darren, that's a good approach, actually. I'll probably hold off viewing trailers of films I know I'm going to see, but like you view the ones I'm unsure of or know nothing about. And, now, one day down, and two more to go ...
I'm a nervous wreck.
hi darren, i will ouright suggest a peek at my own film premiering at Toronto, because no one's ever heard of it or me! it's called, "Eat, For This Is My Body", shot in Haiti and France with Sylvie Testud starring. Hope someone out there will go there with me!
info and screening times:
www.tiff07.ca/filmsandschedules/ filmdetails.aspx?id=707201513301345
thanks,
michelange
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