 |
 |
 |
TIFF 07: Midnight Madness Wrap Up With Colin Geddes
by Stevie Wong
Let me get it out in the open, Colin Geddes is my god! Throughout TIFF 07, with it's gala premieres, interviews, screenings and running back and forth to the press office, I knew that at the end of the night I could find solace (and loads of blood) at the popular Midnight Madness series.
Formed two decades ago as an alternative showcase for cutting edge and well, horror-filled mayhem, the Midnight series hit onto the mainstream zeitgeist when a little film called "Borat" was chosen to world premiere there.
This year, the choices ranged from zombies ("Diary Of the Dead" by George Romero) to a Japanese western ("Sukiyaki Western Django" by Takashi Miike) and a pair of post punk gore fests from France of all places ("Frontiere(s)" by Xavier Gens and "A L'interieur" by Alexandre Bustillo and Julien Maury).
I just had to chat with this guy and fawn a bit over how much I enjoyed the whole experience. Here is my 5 minutes with Colin Geddes:
Stevie: I see you saved the best film for last to close the Midnight Madness series.
Colin: Well, I won't say it's the 'best' film, but "A L'interieur" definitely ranks up there as one of the bloodiest movies of the year.
S: It's just CRAZY bloody! Just when you think it will pull back...
C: ...the film actually goes there. It's a great film to end the festival with and I can't wait for the audience to see it tonight.
S: Did you first see the film at Cannes, where it premiered?
C: Yes. A filmmaker friend of mine tipped me on the film and at my screening at Cannes, a quarter of the audience walked out. I knew that I was onto something when I saw that (laughs).
S: Is shocking your audience one of the main factors of choosing your films?
C: No, the main reasoning we've chosen these films is because they're just good films, period.
S: I have to admit that I love coming here at the end of the night and just be among the Midnight Madness crowd.
C: Aren't the fans great? They really make the evening a fun experience. You know, every night, a large part of our audience has already seen maybe three or four films that day. This is their last stop. And it's my mission to wake them up.
S: That's why I love finishing up my TIFF experience with you. So I guess I'll be seeing you around the festival circuit in the coming year?
C: Definitely, I'm basically starting to watch films for 2008 as of... tomorrow! Also feel free to drop by my personal blog kung fu fridays and the TIFF Midnight Madness blog for more information of the movies we screened this year plus personal updates throughout the year.
S: Thanks again Colin.
TIFF 07: Chilling With Some Blood Brothers
by Stevie Wong
After immersing myself in loads of movies by western directors, I thought I'd give myself a nice break and check out the film 1930's Shanghai gangster film Blood Brothers (directed by first time director Alexi Tan).
Produced by John Woo and his partner Terence Chang, Blood Brothers features a who's who in current Asian cinema, led by Daniel Wu, Chang Chen (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, 2046) and Shu Qi (who didn't make it) brought together under a lush stylized presentation filled with song and violent gunplay.
At the Gala Presentation, the cast (who had just flown in from their world premiere at Venice Film Festival) looked totally sharp and well... sexy!
.jpg)
I got to talk to both Daniel and Chang Chen the next day and here's what they had to say about the film and showing at Toronto Film Festival.
And here's some more:
TIFF 07: Ryan Gosling wows in Lars & The Real Girl
by Stevie Wong
How does one explain falling in love with a movie about a socially disassociated young man (Ryan Gosling) who finds his soul and his community via their acceptance of his 'girlfriend' played by a... ahem... sex doll?
Oh yes, quirky (and surprisingly heartwarming) is the way to go with the film Lars and the Real Girl, in which director Craig Gillespie gathers together a smart cast who avoid the potential 'wink wink' aspect of Nancy Oliver's original screenplay and play the film with utmost respect.
The end result is a crowd pleaser that many didn't expect to see when they sat down at my packed screening.
.jpg)
It's a hard sell (trust me, when I talk about this film to my festival peers, some of them glaze over when they hear the words 'sex doll'), so I'm really hoping that proper word of mouth will take this film to an audience that will fall in love with it like I did.
At the press conference, Ryan admitted that he now owns one of the dolls (Bianca) because he really grew fond of it during the shoot (get your head out of the gutter please!).
In response to the laughter, Ryan quickly added, "laugh all you want, but I challenge all of you to spend 20 minutes in Bianca's presence and not fall in love."
The next day, I was lucky enough to get some 1 on 1 time with him to find out more about his special movie and his love for Bianca.
Honestly, go check out Lars and the Real Girl. This film and Juno are my two favorite movies of TIFF 2007!
TIFF 07: Ellen Page in Juno
by Stevie Wong
I'm in love with a pregnant girl... and it all happened at TIFF!
No... my life altering experience happened in a dark room shared with 500 other viewers who probably had the same conclusion after watching the crowd pleasing comedy Juno.
Starring Ellen Page as a smart alecky teen who discovers she is pregnant, Juno quickly transforms into a moving, hilarious and insanely smart film directed by Jason Reitman (who had a great debut at TIFF two years before with "Thank You For Smoking").
.jpg)
Flawlessly written by 1st time screenwriter Diablo Cody (pic above), my gut feeling is that big things will be happening for her in the coming months. Heck, during the Q&A section after the screening, all Jason and Ellen talked about was Diablo!
Check out some pics of the premiere below:
I also then dropped by the Sutton House to catch a bit of their press conference in which the ever quotable Diablo Cody gave this as a reason to write this movie:
“America needed a black comedy about the scourge of teen pregnancy, and I’m here for them.”
If you want to take a look at the whole funny press conference click on the TIFF website link and look for JUNO under press conference.
As I mentioned before, Juno quickly became THE movie of the festival for me, so it was a real pleasure to be able to nab an exclusive 1 on 1 with Ellen Page where we were allowed to chat freely (and for a good 10 min!) about her experience with the film.
Isn't she just darling? I know I'm not supposed to make sweeping statements showing my opinion, but I think I've seen one of the best movies of the year.
Thank you TIFF!
