Toronto International Film Festival 2016!

First of all, thank you for reading! September 2016 was my first month EVER not posting an entry since I started this blog, partially because I was working on a magazine article (I AM SO EXCITED and I will post a link to it once the final edits have been done) and mostly because I was once again a part of the all-consuming Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF).

 

 

I decided to go with a different format this year and relay my Festival experiences to you via short anecdotes and capsule reviews. Thank you to long-time Festival-goer Mark Slutsky for his inspiration in this regard. His hilarious article about his 11 years of TIFF can he found here.

Day 1:

Festival staff weren’t invited to the Opening Night Party this year at TIFF 😦…so me and a friend tried to crash the party, without success…(too much security at all doors and we didn’t feel like trying to punch out a big, burly security guard to get in). Instead, we joined a line to get into a random film across the street at the Princess of Wales Theatre. That theatre is beautiful! I am sure a lot of you have seen shows there.

 

 

 

The movie (I Am Not Madame Bovary) was really good too. The story concerns a young Chinese woman who finds herself drowning in the depths of bureaucracy. In particular, the main character (Xuelian) and her husband “conspire to get a “fake” divorce. Once the divorce goes through, however, Xuelian is shocked to discover that her husband has moved into the apartment with another woman. Thus begins Xuelian’s mission to have her extant divorce annulled so she can remarry her husband and then divorce him “for real…the film is a cleverly comic commentary on Chinese bureaucracy and male fear of single-minded women.”

 

 

Not too bad of a way to begin the Festival!

Day 2:

Yesterday a parton came up to the box office and asked me what film was playing.

I said “It’s called ‘All Governments Lie.'” I paused and then added, “It’s a documentary.”

 

 

Day 3:

Leonardo DiCaprio is visiting my theatre for the red carpet premiere screening of his documentary The Ivory Game! My fellow supervisor was so excited that she said she was going to wear a gown to work.

 

 

Day 4:

This morning I saw a GREAT movie called The Limehouse Golem. For those of you who like suspense/murder mystery/horror movies set in Victorian-era London, this one’s for you. IT’S GREAT!!  Did I already say that? Haha.

 

 

Actors Bill Nighy and Douglas Booth along with the director and producer introduced the film at the beautiful Winter Garden Theatre! I was pretty excited to see Mr. Nighy!

 

 

 

Day 6:

I just saw the most insane, perhaps dangerous, documentary called “Gringo: The Dangerous Life of John McAfee.” Remember the McAfee Anti-Virus software from the 90s? Well, it turns out that John McAfee, the creator of said software, moved to Belize in the early 2010s where he promptly bribed the entire police force of two cities and then (99% probably) murdered two people and violently assaulted another. Upon feeling the heat, he ran into the jungle of Guatemala and was in hiding until escaping to the States where he RAN FOR PRESIDENT. Also, he has been threatening people involved with this film, including the director. In the Q and A after the film she confirmed some of the details surrounding the threats. She has been changing her phone number and email address almost on a daily basis. HOLY @#$% ! ! !

 

 

On another note, I saw my first “Wavelengths” movie today. Films in this category are more like “film art” – they often have a non-conventional style and almost always do not follow a traditional narrative structure. This one was called “I Had Nowhere To Go” and was a “portrait of Jonas Mekas, the legendary poet, film critic, risk-taking curator, “the godfather of the American avant-garde cinema” — and, at 93 years old, among the remaining few to have escaped and survived Nazi persecution.”

 

 

It was a different way of approaching a familiar story, and it made me think about the possibilities of film as art.

Day 8:

I just saw movie fans almost mob a star! At the premiere of South Korean crime drama “Asura: The City of Madness,” the fans were so excited that they were rushing the stage, screaming, shouting, trying to touch the actors, etc, etc. Also, during the introduction, the director said that “it might be hard for Canadians and old people to watch this film because it’s so violent and the style is so realistic,” but he assured us that “not all Koreans are that violent.” 🙂

 

 

The film itself is about “a shady cop [who] finds himself in over his head when he gets caught between Internal Affairs and the city’s corrupt mayor. [It’s an] epic crime drama about the creeping corruption that threatens a modern metropolis — and jeopardizes one man’s beleaguered soul.”

 

 

I thoroughly enjoyed it – especially Hwang Jung-min’s performance as the deliciously evil mayor.

The second movie I saw today was ARQ, a Canadian sci-fi feature entirely shot in Etobicoke. It concerns a couple “living in a dystopic future who become trapped in a mysterious time loop — one that may have something to do with an ongoing battle between an omnipotent corporation and a ragtag band of rebels.”

 

 

P.S. It actually came out on Netflix the day after I saw it at the Festival, so you can probably watch it right now. I would recommend it!

Day 9:

I just watched the movie that I think is going to be my favourite Festival film this year. Without Name is an Irish film about “a land surveyor [whose] mysterious client sends him on a prolonged…excursion in a dense forest. But deep in the woods, the comforting predictability of Eric’s minimalist steel-and-concrete city life is replaced by Mother Nature’s chaotic embrace — and by something more sinister and not altogether natural.

 

 

Lorcan Finnegan’s feature debut depicts Ireland’s woods as a verdant nightmare steeped in dread….Finnegan uses creative optical tricks that seem to make the forest ominously breathe and expand as it absorbs the psyche of his protagonist.”

 

 

Once again, I am afraid to go out into the woods alone. Thanks, Lorcan Finnegan. 🙂 But seriously, Hollywood could learn a thing or two from this film. A solid, well-told story? Actual suspense? Special effects that enhance the themes of the movie without resorting to a lot of silly CGI?  Take note, Hollywood…. and do yourself a favour and watch this movie if you get the chance.

The second film of the day involved a lot of ass-kicking. Birth of the Dragon “chronicles Bruce Lee’s emergence as a martial-arts superstar after his legendary secret showdown with…Shaolin martial arts master Wong Jack Man (Xia Yu), [who] has been sent from China to stop Lee’s heretical education initiative.” Back in the 60s, Kung Fu was considered a cultural “secret” of the Chinese, and was not known to outsiders. Bruce Lee was about to bring martial arts to the world, and this did not make some people very happy. “And so things lead towards an epic showdown between Lee and Wong — with the very legacy of Chinese tradition at stake.”

 

 

If you enjoy martial arts movies, I would highly recommend this one.

Day 10:

We are almost at the end of Festival, and fatigue is setting in. Between a busy work schedule and seeing all the films I can possibly cram in, I am pretty damn tired. So that must be why I decided to see a Midnight Madness film on the second last day of the Festival…right?!

A couple years ago I had the pleasure of seeing New Zealand vampire mockumentary What We Do In The Shadows at Midnight Madness (do yourself a favour and watch it if you haven’t already), and this year creepy horror film Sadako vs. Kayako was my pick. It did not disappoint.

 

 

Remember the creepy ghosts from The Ring and The Grudge? Well, in Sadako vs. Kayako a pair of schoolgirls are cursed by each ghost… “the real fun begins when the girls figure out that the only way to save themselves is to pit the vengeful spirits against each other. Sadako and Kayako will battle to show the world who the evillest evil entity really is.”

Oh – and almost as fun as the movie was the fact that THE GHOSTS APPEARED ON THE RED CARPET and at the Q and A to answer questions ! ! Don’t believe me? Here is proof! Here they are at the film’s introduction!

 

 

We were all given out #TeamSadako and #Team Kayako hats while waiting in line…

 

 

…and the ghosts apparently thought they were so cool that they wore them for the Q and A after the film! Of course the director is wearing both hats at once (he is standing to the right of the ghosts).

 

A creepy, hilarious and memorable way to end this year’s Festival!

Stay tuned!

 

Credits:

Information about TIFF films and still photographs: tiff.net

Princess of Wales interior photo: http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/princess-of-wales-theatre-emc/

 

 

 

 

 

 

Top Ten Things I Have Learned About Toronto

I moved to Toronto in October of 2013 and started this blog not long afterwards.

It has been a year and almost two months in my new city. Instead of a long, rambling essay on the good and bad and ups and downs I have experienced in that time, I have compiled a Top Ten list of things I have learned about Toronto and Torontonians.

1.  Once you move to Toronto, you are expected to know the general location of every single major intersection in town. When you meet new people and you ask them where in town they live, they will say something like “College and Dufferin” or “Gerrard and Carlaw” and you are supposed to know where that is. People also use this in general conversation. For example, they will say things like “you should try this great new restaurant called ___. It’s near Dupont and Ossington.” They seem to think that you will 1) remember that and 2) that you have an idea of where that is. Considering the fact that Toronto is the biggest city in Canada and probably has more than a hundred major intersections, this can be quite difficult.

2.  People in Toronto pay exorbitant prices for tiny homes. I recently lived in a mid-sized city about one hour from Toronto. It was three times as big as the house I live in now, and it cost $100 000 LESS than the house I am in now.  And my old house? It was not big by ANY means. It was a two bedroom, one and a half bathroom house with no garage. It did have a huge yard though, which relates to my next point:

3.  People in Toronto are very used to and very good at dealing with crowds, lineups, and a general lack of personal space. Ever take the TTC at rush hour?

Ever shop in the store I work at, where the aisles are so narrow that customers regularly send breakable items crashing to the floor simply because they are wearing over-the-shoulder handbags? And if you are a Torontonian, do you have a yard? If so, is it the size of a postage stamp?

And have hordes of raccoons made it their home? This brings me to the somewhat surprising fact that…

4.  Toronto, the biggest city in Canada, is full of wildlife.

I have started calling my backyard the Urban Jungle. I had heard stories about the raccoon problem in this city (for an unintentionally hilarious article on the subject, go to  http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/toronto/torontos-exploding-raccoon-population-sparks-city-council-debate/article20105718/), but I didn’t know that an entire family of them would regularly walk across my lawn every single night at 8:00pm and stare at me from nearby trees as I am approaching my front door.

I have also had many encounters with fragrant skunks, gangs of angry squirrels, a colony of bats, multiple stray cats, and most recently, mobs of ravenously hungry birds.  I recently put up a bird feeder and was surprised by the sheer number of birds visiting it. If I fill it two times a day, they will eat it right down to the last kernel.

I should also mention that there has been a lot of coyote activity in the Toronto area lately. They are smart, and bold…which is a little bit disconcerting.  It is unlikely that I will see one in my area, but if I lived in the Beaches I would be on the alert (see http://toronto.ctvnews.ca/coyote-sightings-in-urban-areas-more-likely-in-winter-officials-warn-1.1677507).

5.  It is very difficult to find a good job in Toronto.

This article – http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/economy/economy-lab/toronto-is-canadas-hottest-job-market-for-better-or-worse/article14683922/ – explains that ” there are really two sets of expanding job opportunities, at either end of the income spectrum – and not much in the middle (jobs that pay in the $20-something per hour range).

“The biggest gain in any occupational category is in IT, computer and information systems professionals – jobs that pay a median wage of about $35 an hour. The big surprise was that three of the top four “hottest” jobs in Toronto over the past three years were retail sales clerks, labourers (not skilled tradesmen), and people working at food counters and in kitchens. These three occupations account for more than one-third of all the job growth in Toronto in the past three years, and their median pay hovers between $10.25 an hour, which is the minimum wage, and $13 an hour.

“There are lots of points of entry at the low end of the scale. But they are not generally the types of jobs that lead you down a career path to something better, nor do these jobs fully employ many workers’ skill sets.”

____________

I have found the information in this article to pertain exactly to my current job situation. I have applied to literally hundreds of middle-paying jobs only to find that I am competing with hundreds of other people for each and every job. The competition is so fierce that, despite all my efforts, I have not yet succeeded in being the first at the finish line.

Sometimes I feel like one of those hungry birds at the bird feeder, just trying to get their share in the midst of all the competition.

Now for something more positive……and perhaps the best thing about living in this city:

6.  Toronto is full of interesting and fun things to do, many of which can be done without spending any money at all.

I have been exploring Toronto for over a year (which I have documented in this blog) and I still feel like I have only seen a small fraction of it.  A few of my favourite places to go/things to do in Toronto (which, incidentally, are either free or inexpensive) include visiting High Park,

hiking on one of the many beautiful waterfront trails,

and taking in the atmosphere in places such as Kensington Market,

Queen Street West,

and Chinatown.

 

And that’s just a start.

Speaking of busy streets…..

7.   Driving in Toronto is not for the faint of heart.

Traffic jams and rude drivers are pretty much guaranteed most of the time. Additionally, a lot of streets here are narrow, which creates a sense of claustrophobia while in the car (that gigantic bus or transport truck in the lane beside you can be literally only inches away). This, combined with the aforementioned gridlock and bad drivers, equals a sense of impending doom to any occupant of a car in Toronto.

Needless to say, I take the TTC instead of driving to work. Which brings me to my next point…..

8.  The Toronto Transit Commission (the TTC) is both a blessing and a curse.

Torontonians love to complain about the TTC. Yes, service needs to be improved, service is very bad in some areas, and the TTC needs more money in order to operate at the level that is expected and needed in a city this size (see http://news.nationalpost.com/2014/11/10/toronto-transit-union-pledges-to-make-ttc-funding-a-key-issue-for-2015-federal-election/ ). However, the TTC is better than any other transit system that I have used in any other city I have lived in. I used to wait half an hour for the bus. Now I wait for about five minutes. And I still think riding the subway is kind of cool.

I am also looking forward to riding the sleek, shiny new streetcars.

9.  People in Toronto are – generally speaking – nice, polite, and friendly.

I know that Canadians are supposed to be polite as a rule, and Torontonians follow this rule very well. However, on the whole, they are nicer and friendlier than people in other cities that I have lived and/or visited in the past.  Perhaps it is because they have grown up with crowds, lineups, and small spaces, and they have learned that it is a lot better for themselves and for everyone else to maintain a sense of civility in such an environment.

10.  I am going to leave #10 up to you! What is one thing about Toronto that you notice the most, like the most, or dislike the most? What most appeals to you about living here? Conversely, if you have left the city, what were your reasons? What do you think I have left out on my list, if anything? Discuss!

Stay tuned!