Final List and Miscellaneous

Sorry for the delay. I don't usually celebrate holidays, but I attend a convention every labor day weekend with friends and didn't have time to update.

Anyway, on with the TIFF. By some happy twist of fate, my wife and I managed to get all of our choices this year. Here's the list:

Friday, September 8
Brand Upon the Brain! (Guy Maddin)
The Host (Bong Joon-Ho)

Saturday, September 9
The Bothersome Man (Jens Lien)
The Fall (Tarsem Singh)
Rescue Dawn (Werner Herzog)

Sunday, September 10
The Postmodern Life of My Aunt (Ann Hui)
Pan's Labyrinth (Guillermo del Toro)
Waiter (Alex van Warmerdam)
Black Sheep (Jonathan King)

Monday, September 11
Woman on the Beach (Hong Sang-Soo)
Khadak (Peter Brosens, Jessica Woodworth)
Fay Grim (Hal Hartley)

Tuesday, September 12
Kurt Cobain About a Son (A.J. Schnack)
Offside (Jafar Panahi)
D.O.A.P. (Gabriel Range)
Renaissance (Christian Volckman)

Wednesday, September 13
Mon Colonel (Laurent Herbiet)
I Don't Want to Sleep Alone (Tsai Ming-Liang)
Syndromes and a Century (Apichatpong Weersethakul)
Bugmaster (Katsuhiro Otomo)

Thursday, September 14
Alatriste (Agustin Diaz Yanes)
Invisible Waves (Pen-ek Ratanaruang)
This Filthy World (Jeff Garlin)
Severance (Christopher Smith)

Friday, September 15
Time (Kim Ki-Duk)
Hana (Hirokazu Kore-eda)
Manufactured Landscapes (Jennifer Baichwal)

Saturday, September 16
Exiled (Johnnie To)
The Banquet (Feng Xiaogang)
Big Bang Love Juvenile A (Takashi Miike)

Despite all my blather about systems, tiers and 'core choices', I found scheduling to be monstrously difficult this year. After much weeping, gnashing of teeth, and consulting of the ancient scrolls, I finally settled on a surefire method for this year--choose some damn movies and move on. It was surprisingly effective and I've since come around to being very happy with the list.

On a side note, I was honored to be one of twenty-four film enthusiasts quoted in this article at the Toronto Star, one of those attempts to guage the buzz at the festival. I'm not sure I'm the go-to guy for that kind of thing, but it's flattering regardless. It's very minor, but being quoted alongside some professionals I respect is still a thrill. Thanks to Ray at tiffreviews (who's also in the article) for the heads up.