Hey…there’s shit going on in the world not related to the film festival. Huh. I wasn’t aware.

For example, the pope has been trashing Canada, scolding us for having the audacity to “exclude God from the public sphere.” I would counter by saying that the pope should really exclude his head from his own ass.

Then there’s the sad news that The Rheostatics are breaking up. I can hear M² weeping from here. Even more than the Tragically Hip, the Rheos are the quintessentially Canadian band. I’ll miss their annual and epic fall/winter nationals at the Horseshoe.

.:.

I finished watching a (non-TIFF) documentary this morning called Twist Of Faith (imdb | rotten tomatoes). A 30-something firefighter from Toledo, OH finally opens up about the abuse he suffered at the hands of his priest twenty years earlier, and the betrayal he feels by the church he still tries to love, and Kirby Dirk takes us along. You see Tony Comes try to deal with what happened, explain things to his 9-year-old daughter, fight to save his own marriage, wrestle with whether or not to attend his daughter’s first communion, and deal with the shock of moving into a new house only to discover that the abusive priest lives five doors away. He also discovers resentment from his friends about his decision to sue the diocese, his mother’s divided loyalty between her son and her church, and deceit from the various church officials who lie about the number of accusations over the years. Tony Comes was a time bomb, and the documentary captures a sample of the inevitable eruption.

.:.

OK, I can’t let a post go by without something about the festival. As much as I love the TIFF, there are unsavoury parts. As far as I can tell there are four main species of people who attend the festival:

1. The folks who buy tickets for a few movies…maybe 2, maybe 5, maybe even 8-10 (if they get, say, the Visa Screening Room package). They know the quality of the films, or even the festival itself, and they want to watch a few good flicks and take part in the atmosphere that’s created in downtown Toronto for 10 days. This is basically how we started out: slowly eased into it and fell in love with it.
2. The fans who go hard. They book anywhere from 10 to 50 movies and take time off work, sometimes even travelling to Toronto just to attend. They may be fans of a particular genre, or they may be generalists. These are the poor tired bastards you see in line, looking around frantically for a Starbucks to get one last espresso shot before heading into the Midnight Madness rush line. They’re the heart of the festival.
3. The press and industry people. Sometimes they’re enthusiastic critics, sometimes they’re wanks on their cell phones looking for a deal or wondering why other people don’t seem to realize how famous they are. Those two groups don’t really mix — the film-loving critics have more in common with group #2 than with the industry wanks — but they all have special badges and special lineups, so it’s easier to classify them this way.
4. The lowest form of life at the festival: the starfuckers and autograph seekers. The thirty year old little girls who go into hysterics at the sight of Brad Pitt. The losers who stake out the back entrance of the theatre because getting someone’s autograph is more important than watching their movie. The poseurs who yell into their cell phones, requesting entry to tonight’s after-party while applying more product to their hair or adjusting their Gucci sunglasses. The celebrity gossip reporters on the constant, urgent hunt for more boldface.

The first three groups are what make the festival endearing and worthwhile. The last group is just a necessary evil.

[tags]pope vs. canada, rheostatics, twist of faith, tony comes, tiff species[/tags]