In years past when the Toronto International Film Festival has come to a close we've wrapped things up around here by having each writer that attended the fest score the films, after which we add up and average out the scores to arrive at a wholly arbitrary but nevertheless entertaining ranking of what we saw as a group at the festival. This year, however, there was remarkably little overlap amongst us as far as what we saw - which makes averaging scores impossible - and so we're trying something different. Over the next day or two Michael, Kurt and I will all post lists of - in our opinions - the top ten and bottom five films that we saw at the fest, and I believe Simon will chime in with his favorites as well though he was only here for a few days and didn't see enough to do full lists. Again, these are totally arbitrary and reflect our tastes only, and you should expect some wild variations from list to list. It's all in fun and meant to foster discussion, so here we go.
My titles are arranged in alphabetical order: it was bloody difficult to get this list down to ten, continuing to rank past that point would have been impossible.
TOP TEN
A Film With Me In It
The title is apt, yes, as the writer is also the star but more importantly from where I sit, this is a film with Dylan Moran in it and he's just brilliant. A black comedy that skimps on neither the blackness nor the comedy it just gets funnier as the bodies pile up. My review here.
Detroit Metal City
Sometime you want a film with subtext and layers of deeper meaning, sometimes you just want to laugh your ass off. Detroit Metal City made me laugh my ass off playing its ridiculous premise to absolute perfection. My review here.
JCVD
I've been proclaiming my love for this film since catching it in the Cannes market back in May and I'm not going to stop now. Smart, funny, impeccably crafted and featuring a shockingly strong dramatic performance from the Muscles From Brussels himself, Jean Claude Van Damme. JCVD deserves to be more than a cult hit. My review here.
Martyrs
I said going in that Pascal Laugier's Martyrs would be one of the most divisive films of the festival and I was proved correct. Love it or hate it everybody has a strong reaction to it, which means it must be doing something right, and I firmly believe that this is such a smart film with so many layers of meaning that it will become a major touch point for years to come. My review here.
Rock N Rolla
It's been a long sojourn into the wilderness but Guy Ritchie is back in a big way. The swagger has returned along with the smarts and it certainly doesn't hurt that he has by far the best cast he has ever worked with for this one. Gerard Butler has the makings of a major comic action star. My review here.
Slumdog Millionaire
The latest from Danny Boyle took home the Audience Choice Award and I'm not about to argue with the public's choice. Funny, tragic, inspiring, horrifying ... Boyle plays a lot of cards here and he plays them all well. The fact that it's not in English means it'll probably be one of the Scotsman's weakest performances at the box office, which is tragic because it stands with Trainspotting, Shallow Grave and Millions as absolutely top tier stuff. My review here.
Tokyo Sonata
The latest from Kiyoshi Kurosawa finds him stepping into some new territory, leaving the ghosts behind to instead tell the story of a family breaking down, and his step is sure and certain. An insightful, lyrical and surprisingly funny film. My review here.
Waltz With Bashir
I don't think masterpiece is too strong a word to apply to Ari Folman's stunning animated war documentary / memoir. Like Spiegelman's Maus did for his experiences as the child of holocaust survivors, Waltz With Bashir reframes Folman's experiences fighting in Lebanon so effectively that they become shocking fresh and universal. This is truly haunting stuff. My review here.
White Night Wedding
On one hand this is a major departure for Icelandic director Baltasar Kormakur who leaves behind the crime trappings of his recent work in favor of romantic-comic-tragedy but on the other hand it's more of the same, which means stellar writing, sharp direction and a very strong cast. The genre blend makes it a harder sell than his last couple films but it's probably Kormakur's best film yet. My review here.
The Wrestler
The latest from Darren Aronofsky trades in his normal stylistic flourishes for a simple, compelling character study of a man on the fringes. Mickey Rourke is an absolute powerhouse in this film, which went on to be the big buzz title of TIFF. My review here.
BOTTOM FIVE
Edison and Leo
The scriptwriter normally works with Guy Maddin and he should continue to do so. With Maddin he's great, in the world of stop motion animation, not so much. My review here.
The Ghost
Fantastic premise, great lead actor, impressive cinematographer. Should've been great but really, really wasn't. The energy is just completely flat from start to finish, completely wasting a boat load of positives. My review here.
Restless
Such ... bad ... acting ... My review here.
Sexykiller
By all accounts the midnight screening of Miguel Marti's Sexykiller went incredibly well and I know a number of people who absolutely love it so I know I'm in the minority here but the film just did not work for me. At all. My review here.
Toronto Stories
Yes, I'm putting the hate on my home town here, and the local press has actually been surprisingly kind to this one but I'm sorry to say I can only put that down to local bias because Toronto Stories just feels rushed and slightly amateur for most of its running time. I expected much better than this. My review here.
Thanks for getting so many of your reviews up so fast! I got to the fest late, and it helped me pick a couple of the films we saw. I didn't agree with you on everything- the midnight screening of Sexykiller was indeed a blast- but we can definitely agree on Detroit Metal City.
There was I weird energy in the room that night, even by Midnight Madness standards. The screening was on the edge of a riot (god forbid if there was a Borat mishap, the Ryerson may have been burned to the ground! I enjoyed the movie too. It was light and fun and pretty stylish too. A cult film for the not-so-hardcore. Reminded me more than a bit of NIGHT OF THE CREEPS.
You know, Sexykiller is the one film I ended up watching in the video room. The disconnect I have with it makes me wonder if there were differences between the screener version and the finished version - which happens sometimes - or if it just needs to be a big screen experience ...
Too bad to hear about Sexykiller... will still be giving it a try when the opportunity arises.
Take those two sequences of fight-club (the Ikea apartment spread, and the TYLER restaurant/cinema petty-terrorism) and merge in the goofiness of Dead Alive and Scream with hints of De La Iglasias and Fred Dekker and you've got a pretty solidly entertaining flick. Where it lacks in originality, it more than makes up with enthusiasm and presentation (Macarena Gómez is a natural star). Yea, I'll be buying and lending SEXYKILLER when it is out on DVD.
I think Sexykiller is a film that is best suited watching with a happy, pumped-up crowd (some of whom may have had a couple of drinks) which may be why it was just so much fun at the Ryerson. It's the kind of thing that could be fun with some friends and a few beers. It's that kind of goofy movie.
If I had watched it alone I might not have enjoyed it as much; it was the most fun overall experience I had at TIFF, even though it was far from the best movie.
The Q&A;afterward didn't hurt, either. Macarena Gómez was pretty funny.