The TIFF Hangover - 2015

Indeed what a hangover it was.  In TIFF 2014 I pathetically caught the TIFF cold right at the start of the festival and was ship shape by the end, watching everyone else fall prey. This year I held out until the very end, then as soon as I got home from watching the People's Choice film, my nose instantly started running. Grr...

I caught 29 films during TIFF 2015, the festival's 40th anniversary, plus some stuff beforehand.  I should also note that I have seen an earlier version of Into The Forrest in one of those research screenings, but I'm told there have been some significant changes made since so I cannot accurate judge the film based on my memory of it.

The films I saw this year included:

Pre-fest:

Ninth Floor - my TFS review
Brooklyn

My Short Cuts program consumption wasn't so straightforward this year, TIFF combined Canadian and International shorts and Toronto Film Scene was only committed to covering the Canadian shorts programming.  What this means is that I probably watched just over a third of the Canadian Shorts spread out through all the SC programs.  In short, follow this link for my capsule reviews and director interviews.

During the festival:

Hitchcock/Truffaut
Te Prometo Anarquia (I Promise Anarchy)
Demolition
Lolo
Girls Lost
Maggie's Plan
Anomalisa
The Danish Girl
Heat
Women He's Undressed
The Man Who Knew Infinity
The Dressmaker
Being Charlie
Zoom
Victoria
Baskin
The Steps
The Family Fang
Northern Soul
Ville-Marie
Stonewall
Keeper
I Smile Back
Legend
The Paradise Suite
Mr Right
Vertigo
Der Nachtmahr
Room

Everyone seems to be weighing in with their top 5, for me it was more like 3 standouts, and then 5 other films I would still highly recommend:

Standouts:

1) Northern Soul
2) The Danish Girl
3) Zoom

Also highly recommended:

• Women He's Undressed 
• Demolition
• Lolo
• The Dressmaker
• Mr. Right

Beyond that the remainder of the programming that I personally saw was of high standards this year. I would recommend 21 out of the 31 features I saw, and even then, some of the un-recommended 10 are in reality ok...

Zoom is three tales woven together in a story about a story about a story, presented in the mix of live action and animation.  It's got lots of wiry, dark humour, and of course, sex dolls. A Canadian/Brazillian co-production that I caught at the end of a 5-film day that managed to keep me awake and laughing throughout.

The Danish Girl will surely be an oscar contender for something. I personally hope it's best actress (best supporting actress?) for Alicia Vikander, she was definitely the standout even opposite a powerhouse like Eddie Redmayne in a skillfully crafted film.  This is my new favourite Tom Hooper film, granted I don't normally consider myself a fan, I cannot deny the merits of The King's Speech and even Les Mis had its highlights.

That said, I will admit it's far from perfect.  I've heard a couple people remark on the story unfolding at breakneck speed, leaving the audience detached from the characters never having properly taken the time to understand who their are and their inner workings. I agree it's a lot of story to cover, but this takes me back to a discussion I had at this year's TIFF overnight line with my friends Jae and Sachin about the importance of story vs character in the making of a film...

Jae admires a director's ability to recognize when a character has become larger than just the story he's in, and to follow that character down a path even if it deviates from the original intended plot.  It's important to be able to shift focus and take your audience on that exploration. (Jae, apologies if I'm way off your original point, but this is what I took away in my sleep deprivation) Whereas I'm more focused on the story, I'm willing to overlook a few character deviations, ie. silly out-of-character actions, if it means the story hits all the major plot points and gets to where it needs to be.

Anyway, this is how I felt about The Danish Girl.  I can live with the amount of story they pack into the film's running time (though it could've easily been another half an hour longer and it would have been just fine), I can take a leap of faith in both Lily and Gerda's evolving relationship and how they come to terms with it.  If anything, my hesitation towards The Danish Girl is that it chronicles the life of a transgendered individual from a privileged class, Lily obviously had the wealth and means to undergo treatments, surgery, and seek sanctuary from those who would scrutinize her behaviour.  What of those who did not come from wealth and fortune? 

This is a slight deviation from my discussion of my standout films, but my thoughts in the previous paragraph make me think about Stonewall, which focuses on a similar minority (albeit decades later), that is getting ALL the criticism.  Ok fine, having seen Stonewall as well, it rightly deserves a good portion of the backlash it's getting.  Not being overly familiar with neither The Stonewall Riots, nor the life of Lily Elbe, I can't say for certain... but I'm guessing The Danish Girl more closely chronicles the life of Lily vs Stonewall which is a fictitious story played out against the background of the events in New York City.

I've read a couple articles lashing out against the film Stonewall.  Should the golden boy quarterback from middle America have been portrayed as the hero of rebellion?... heck no, but it's one of those things that many may have dismissed or written off it wasn't presented in conjunction with a number of characters whom they claim are based on real people who participated in the events... that gives the illusion that our fictional hero is real too. Some of Emmerich's remarks about using that character to give mainstream audiences someone they could relate to is unsettling as well.  A strong story with good characters shouldn't need a draw, it should stand by itself and compel those who previously had no connection to the subject.  Or is that only my definition of good filmmaking?

And it is within those same parameters that Northern Soul (you see what I did there? ;) ) was my standout film of TIFF 2015.  Also a fictitious story, this time set in Northern English against the backdrop of the underground soul music scene, Northern Soul feels genuine and intimate.  It hits a few cliche notes and doesn't delve into the tough topics, the accents are challenging to say the least, but the infectious spirit of the movie never makes you consider tuning out even for a second.

Perhaps I have a bit of a soft spot for underground music movements, but it was a movement I knew nothing about until I saw the film, despite always having favoured faster tempo soul music.  Northern Soul also struck me a precursor for other scenes such as New Wave, Indie Rock, and Rave (real rave, not Zac Efron DJ bullshit)  Makes me want to re-watch 24 Hour Party People, and last year's Eden. Seeing director Elaine Constantine take the stage afterwards for the Q&A confirmed that was made by someone who was familiar with the films characters and setting. (I have a video of that Q&A that I will try to upload to my YouTube)

Another thing to note about what makes a successful film within this niche is that the good ones always place the greatest emphasis on friendship instead of politics, romance, or something else.  In tightknit communities such as these, connections are made from the music and the friendships, choosing to base it on anything else I think will make it harder to win over audiences.

Speaking of friendships (I'm just full of segues!) I cannot to a TIFF hangover post without mentioning all the random run-ins and movies I unexpectedly saw with friends over TIFF 40.  I tried my best to get photos with all my old friends as I ran into them (some more closely resemble shadows of my good friends as they were taken in darkened theatres)

I'm grateful to my readers for indulging me during the month of August and all my random festival memories.  I actually have a story from this year that I think will go down in the #AdaTIFFmems history books, we'll know for sure in the years to come...

It was only day 1 or 2 but as volunteers we already had access to some special screenings, including one to Julie Delphy's film Lolo (great film btw).  My generous friend Paul got a ticket to that show that he couldn't use, so he messaged me after he got home from his volunteer shift to see if I wanted it.  I already had a ticket but knew a couple others who were interested.  The challenge quickly became how to get the ticket from Paul as it was closing in on 1am and Paul was off to work and me to a film first thing in the morning.  We came up with the great idea for Paul to stash the ticket in his mailbox so that I, or anyone else, could grab it at any point before the film.

I didn't have any luck waking the first person, but just earlier had gotten a message from my TIFF-partner-in-crime (one of a few partners in crime I guess) Jerry F. that he was at Midnight Madness so I knew he was around. I was ready to climb in bed at this point, so my message to him said something along the lines of "If ur interested in a ticket to 11am screening of Lolo tomorrow, go to ### Jarvis St, and look for a ticket in the mailbox inside a supermarket flyer"

I love how Jerry doesn't question why there's a movie ticket stuffed inside a random mailbox in the middle of the night, his response after getting out of the theatre was simply "ok, heading there now" lol.  I was asleep or half asleep for the remainder of the events, but from what he tells me, he went and grabbed a bikeshare and went up to Paul's.  First he couldn't find the townhouses, then he couldn't find Paul's mailbox.  He didn't see a ticket in the mailbox but saw some supermarket flyers sitting nearby so he leafed through all of those too (haha) before sending me several text messages that woke me up enough to go message Paul.

Paul confirmed that he put the ticket in the mailbox after a short while, during which time Jerry had biked back to his car in another part of downtown. So Jerry drove up to Paul's again and finally got the elusive ticket.  He shared the entire story of his middle of the night scavenger hunt with me the next day at the Elgin where I nearly died from laughter.  Just another one of those things that happen during TIFF...

I'll leave you with some of my favourite photos from TIFF 2015:

The one where I'm two feet away from Geoffrey Rush!

My longtime friends Judith & Sue

My beloved #teamElign and #teamWG (Winter Garden) in our annual group photo

Christopher & I - friends for 26 years!

Random good looking people that I count amongst my friends (Irene, Christopher, Vincent, James, Davor) 

The Danish Girl Q&A with acclaimed director Tom Hooper

Jerry #1 (aka the 'TIFF husband' aka guy who went on the middle of the night ticket hunt) & I

The worse-lit photo in existence of Jerry #2 (aka my 'favourite stalker' - he's ok with this nickname for the record lol) and I

[pause for story:  I shared my google calendar with my schedule of films with Jerry and he accidentally merged it with his own film schedule, leaving him very confused...and very knowledgeable about my whereabouts lol]

Getting in the shot with two of my favourite ladies whom I work with the Orientation Sessions - Shaista & Lina

  Group shot from Vertigo screening and probably my favourite photo of  TIFF15... row selfie taken with the long-arm of Veronica (from closest to furthest... Veronica, Judith, me, Jerry, Sachin, Jae, Melanie, Melanie's friend (lol), Hope (hiding), and David)