When the line for Me And Orson Welles (tiff) started to move into the theatre and abruptly stopped for ten minutes, I knew what was happening: the stars had arrived. At the Ryerson the line crosses the red carpet, so when the limos pull up they stop the line and let the celebrity masturbation start.

I was well back in the line and didn’t see the arrival or star-walk down the media phalanx, but as I got closer I could hear it. I didn’t stop to see who it was all the teenage-girl shrieking was for, and I couldn’t remember who was in this movie except for Claire Danes, so it wasn’t until I got into a seat and checked the cast list that I realized who it was.

Zac Efron. Of High School Musical fame. Oh, splendid.

Right after I figured this out two girls in their late teens — maybe even early twenties — sit behind me and start gushing. “Ohmigod ohmigod ohmigod…he is, like, SO famous!!!” And so on. I’m thankful that there were more film fans than Efron fans in the theatre, since when director Richard Linklater was introduced, he got the biggest round of applause of the day (followed by Mr. Efron when he took the stage). Finally the film began.

The film was really quite good. It was set in New York in the 30s, and the first time on the big screen for the actor playing Welles, who did a great job. I actually felt a little bit sorry for Efron, since he just couldn’t keep up with the actors around him, but it didn’t ruin the film. I had to give Linklater credit for taking on a project like this, working from a book that seems awfully far from his usual work.

The Q&A afterward was an embarrassing string of questions to Efron from swooning girls (like the 12-year-old in front of me who pouted and practically beat her mother bruised when neither of them could get their camera working well enough to capture Zac’s dreaminess) and someone even asked Claire Danes about My So Called Life? Tragic. I left the theatre hoping to escape the swooning. Clearly I’d forgotten what I was seeing next.

B-

[tags]tiff, tiff08, me and orson welles, richard linklater, zac efron[/tags]

I was worried that we’d joined the line for Rocknrolla (tiff) too late. We were half an hour ahead of the screening, but the line at the Ryerson still stretched all the way down to Gould Street and wrapped around nearly to Victoria by the time we got in it. I was a little concerned about seats, since I was with two other people and we wanted to sit together, but we made it in and got seats with no problems. These friends were amused by the cries of “Yarrr!” when the anti-piracy message went up.

Since the film had made its big debut the night before at the Elgin, and the screening was before noon, we figured we’d get no glimpse of the cast or crew, but it turns out Guy Ritchie dragged himself out of his hotel room long enough to come down and introduce it for us. Nice of him.

I must say, I was pleased with the film. Arthouse cinema this was not. It was precisely what I’ve liked about Guy Ritchie films in the past: fast-paced, fast-talking, hard, violent, funny, gritty and sexy. I thought of it as a logical arc from Lock Stock to Snatch and then to here. Highly enjoyable, if you liked either of those films.

B-

Oh, and on the way out of the theatre HBO stopped my friend’s wife and asked if we’d liked to be interviewed. I wanted no part of it; she hemmed and hawed for a while but eventually decided no. I don’t like the fawning celebrity worship that’s (predictably and understandably) become part of the TIFF, but this was only to be my first little taste of it at the Ryerson that day.

[tags]tiff, tiff08, rocknrolla, guy ritchie[/tags]

-HBO

My first festival film of 2008 was Waltz With Bashir (tiff) at the Ryerson. It was a beautifully animated story about the director’s attempts to remember everything about his experiences in the 1982 Israeli invasion of Lebanon. Conversations with friends, army colleagues and war footage were all transformed into this amazingly expressive animated world, and you were never entirely sure whether what you were seeing was meant to be real, or part of director Ari Folman’s imagination. Throughout the film, as he uncovered what was real, we were taken right along with him, right up to the jarring final scenes.

After the screening Folman was asked why he chose animation as the medium for this story. He said he could imagine it no other way, as it was a pastiche of memories both real and imagined, and anyway so little footage of that time existed. I couldn’t help but wonder what Air India 182 would have been like had they chosen this route? I think films like Waltz With Bashir and Persepolis prove that emotion can be conveyed in animation; it should be used more to describe this space between fact and imagination.

A-

[tags]tiff, tiff08, waltz with bashir[/tags]

My first time picking 30 film festival movies went better than I could have expected. Not only did I get all 30 tickets without missing any, but I got my first choice in every case. Here’s the final list:

• Waltz with Bashir
• RocknRolla
• Me and Orson Welles
• It Might Get Loud
• Sauna
• Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist
• Religulous
• Deadgirl
• Is There Anybody There?
• Slumdog Millionaire
• Zack and Miri Make a Porno
• Not Quite Hollywood
• New York, I Love You
• Het Zusje van Katia
• A Christmas Tale
• Flash of Genius
• Er Shi Si Cheng Ji
• The Brothers Bloom
• The Hurt Locker
• Leonera
• Martyrs
• Fifty Dead Men Walking
• Synecdoche, New York
• Tokyo Sonata
• Acolytes
• El Cant dels Ocells
• L’Instinct de Mort (Formerly Mesrine)
• Domovoy
• Bajo Suelos Ricos
• Miracle at St. Anna

I like that list. I like the mix of bigger, more popular releases and small international titles.

I didn’t realize this when I was picking them out, but the Ryerson is easily the most frequent theatre for my viewings. In fact, 11 of my first 12 screenings are there! Fine by me, since the Ryerson and the AMC are the closest theatres to my place. Here’s my breakdown by theatre:

• Ryerson 19
• AMC 5
• Scotiabank 3
• Varsity 2
• Isabel Bader 1

Note the absence of the Cumberland (they were all but shut out this year), and the paltry number at the Varsity. In years past I’d have spent most of my time at the Varsity and seen at least one or two at the Cumberland. The inexorable march downtown continues, I guess.

Now I have five days to relax before the games begin. Must buy Gatorade, nutrigrain bars and an ass pillow…

[tags]tiff, tiff08[/tags]

I’ve just gotten back to the city after a few days at my boss’s cottage up north. Work thing…get some people out of the office for a couple of days to actually think about some stuff instead of just putting out fires. And bond a little too. My boss made ridiculous amounts of ridiculously good food (lot of ridiculous going on up there, including the above-captioned nickname) and it was nice to wake up next to a lake again.

But now I’m back, and have returned to film festival news. We were in box 32 of 78 (thanks baby!) and they appear to have drawn box #9 in the lottery. I think that puts us in pretty good shape. With 30 films I suppose I’ll miss one or two, but I’m feeling pretty good about it. Now I just have to wait for the email…

[tags]tiff, tiff08[/tags]