Kat: Festival Wrap and Top 5!
Posted by Katarina Gligorijevic on October 6, 2010 · Leave a Comment
As mentioned in the Sept 17th diary, I took Saturday off from TIFF to attend a wedding. It was heartwarming and lovely and while I missed Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall his Past Lives and various others on my theoretical must-see list, it was pretty terrific to spend the day in the bosom of my dearest friends.
I came home the night of the 18th (not to the hotel, but to my actual home, finally) after the wedding to find an after party of TIFF stragglers who were still in town at this late date. A motley crew of friends, filmmakers and assorted ne’er-do-wells filled our small apartment until 6am, bless their hearts. I didn’t get up until 6:00pm on Sunday, venturing out of the house for dinner and to watch Easy A in the non-TIFF half of the AMC. I could have seen Álex de la Iglesia’s The Last Circus on the TIFF side, but dammit, I needed some brainless fun. And actually, Easy A was really great.
Now that it’s all over and everyone’s left town, I’m really looking forward to my life going back to normal. But of course, I’ll miss the constant stream of amazing movies constantly at my fingertips. I guess that’s where TIFF Bell Lightbox comes in. They’ve already announced theatrical runs of several TIFF hits and their fall programming looks amazing overall. For a while though, I wouldn’t mind just reading books and going to bed at 10:00pm.
Now that a few days have passed and I’ve had some time to reflect on the films that really made an impact on me this TIFF, here are my top five. I’ve got some major regrets (missing Cirkus Columbia, Erotic Man and Tabloid among them) but on the whole I had a really stellar festival.
Here are my top five, in alphabetical order:
1) Curling (Denis Côté) – A slow-paced, contemplative little drama from Quebec about an overprotective single dad and his clever but totally stunted 12 year old daughter. It’s not exactly a thrill-ride of a film, but this languidly unfolding story of strange small town life and one man’s discovery of how fun curling can be really drew me in.
2) A Horrible Way to Die (Adam Wingard) – yes, the screenwriter and producer are friends of mine. Yes, I met the director and actors at TIFF and thought they were the loveliest people ever. But I stand by my opinion that this is one of the smartest independent horror films in recent years, and I can’t wait to see what every last one of them does next.
3) I Saw The Devil (Kim Ji-woon) – So much blood spurting out of heads in this one, and so many inventive scenes of horrifying violence! A genuinely gripping thriller and a surprisingly fresh take on both serial killers and the quest for vengeance. Plus, that Lee Byung-hun is dreeeeeamy.
4) Monsters (Gareth Edwards) – I found the story, the dialogue, the acting and, of course, the monsters, so utterly charming that I can’t recommend it highly enough. It’s slated to come out in select theatres in Canada on November 5th. Don’t miss it, Torontonians.
5) Our Day will Come (Romain Gavras) – This one will invade the fabric of my dreams and my nightmares for quite some time to come. And Vincent Cassel can throw liquor on my naked body and set it on fire any day. I’m just sayin’.
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