That portly gentleman on the left would be me. And that lovely young lady on the right just happens to be my daughter, Lyra. She was born March 10th and she's sort of dominated my life since then, as you can probably guess. No movies, very little sleep, not a lot of getting out and doing the things that most people do. That might sound horrible to some, but it's been pretty amazing so far. I mean, look at that kid. How could you not want to spend time with that kid?
Anyway, I'll try to keep the gushing about my kid to a minimum, since I rolled my eyes at that stuff before I became a dad and can hear the eyes rolling right now (FYI, they sound like warm gummi bears rolling around in a plastic bag). But the experience is so overwhelming, so completely a part of my life now that I can't ignore that little 14 lb. bundle of awesome. So expect to read some really lovey-dovey stuff from here on out. It's just fair warning, folks.
So on to TIFF. I suppose there's not much to say, since they've only bothered to announce one movie so far: Score: A Hockey Musical, which looks like "Glee" as re-imagined by a bored Canadian teenager. It's not my sort of thing, but eh... Still, my thing or not, it's sort of sad that the first film announcement from North America's biggest film festival (in size, if not influence) is of something this nakedly commercial. On the other hand, they have already announced the Future Projections selections, which sound much more interesting.
Or I could just be cranky because I miss poring over the announced films and pre-planning for the festival. Since I have no interest in Score, I'm reduced to reading lists of potential TIFF entries, which is kind of fun, but not nearly as fun as savoring the films that will be there. In a future post, I intend to look at some of those possibilities, many of which look flat-out amazing.
That's about it for now. I have a new reality to contend with down here in Tennessee and a festival to prepare for in the coming months. I hope you'll join me on the way.
Oh yeah. I never finished my TIFF '09 wrap-up. Well, no one gives a damn about that, much less me, so here are my brief, brief, brief thoughts on the remaining films I never got around to.
- I Am Love - Swoony melodrama, with a modernist kick. Not a masterpiece, but gotta love Tilda Swinton.
- Face - Grows better in my mind every single day. Breathtaking set-pieces and surprisingly funny at times.
- Enter the Void - Can a movie be amazing and deeply stupid at the exact same time? Oh god, yes.
- The Time That Remains - Favorite film of the festival. I'm a sucker for filmmakers who traffic in heavily stylized tableaux, for some reason.
- Valhalla Rising - Weird drone-metal science fictiony mythological awakening arthouse awesomeness.
- Lourdes - Magnetically slow film about faith and miracles and whether either one really exist.
- Some other stuff I can't remember right now...
