Dazed and Confused on Day 8

At least I think it's day 8... lol

I've been on holiday from my regular job since yesterday and done my volunteer shifts as of last night - how did I celebrate?  I celebrated by sleeping through the bulk of Soloman Kane! :P  I find that a little odd since I still managed to pick up on all the important plot points and survey the scene composition, special effects, and battle sequences.  Not sure what the says about the movie and it's potential simplicity.  I won't venture a review though, I don't think it would be fair.

I've made lots of notes on films throughout the festival and will post them here shortly (I hope).  We've all been struggling to name our stand out film of TIFF 09 but I have to say, after seeing Micmacs today, that might have to be it.  It didn't surpass the rest by miles or anything, but is definitely of a higher calibre and I greatly enjoyed.

For now I want to end of my blurb about Vengeance, which I saw two nights ago (on day 6, where I also got to meet and greet Johnnie To - by meet I really mean saying "can I get your autograph?" in Cantonese but whatever)...

Much as I admire Johnnie To, I had pretty low expectations for Vengeance.  I mean, this is a man who does dirty HK gangsters and low/mid level hitmen, and now this is his foray into the Melville-esque film noir realm - let's face it, LOTS of room for error there, getting over the top, especially when you're blessed with a big budget and a french rock star.  But no, it was fine.

You could argue that the story progression stalled halfway through the film, or that certain parts felt like they were written in too suddenly to give the character more significance, but none of it was a deal breaker for me.

The Q&A with Colin Geddess and Johnnie To (this is video from my camera - currently "being converted" on Megavideo at the time of this posting, so you might have to wait to see it, it's the full Q&A though) was the best part of the screening though.  Colin inserted little tales of him meeting Johnnie To and visiting Milky Way's studios in Hong Kong.  Johnnie talked about the crew of actors he often works with, gave us a back story and Lam Yuet and how he got his start.

For me personally, it was all topped off by getting Johnnie To's autograph :)  When he was leaving out the front of Ryerson he had to walk by me, I smiled at him and he even patted my arm as he went by!  What a great guy! :)