TIFF 2006 #4: Cuts

Okay, so it’s after 1 a.m., I’m just sitting down to write this blog entry, and I’m beyond pooped. It was a day of mad running around, poor nutrition and very warm weather. So, in order to maintain the level of quality of the TIFF diary, I’m making an executive decision and invoking the Margaret Cho Blog Brevity Law ™ which, as per last year’s creation of the law, states that I may drastically shorten my rambling if it’s really late. I will, however, try to revise and expand upon today’s goings-on tomorrow night, when I should be home by 9pm. So, check back later tomorrow night for the full scoop.

For now, may I present: highlights!

First off, karma did, indeed, lay the smackdown on Obnoxious Man last night – 25 minutes into the film, the projector at the Borat screening broke! You should have seen my face when my friend Lee Sister #3 (or #1, depending on which way you’re counting) informed me of this news today. UTTER GLEE! I mean, I feel bad for the hundreds of other patrons who suffered as a result of Obnoxious Man’s heinous faux-pas, but so goes karma. For more, check out the comments section from two entries ago, where Matt has very kindly offered a link to a recap of the night’s technical glitches.

The haircut this morning was lovely. I went to the Aveda Institute downtown and had a lovely young woman named Laura snipping away. I’d been warned in advance that the process could be quite slow, and that the cut itself could take two hours (since the cuts are done by students who must, in turn, run everything past an advisor before beginning), but it took less time than I thought – I was in and out in under two hours. Plus, a free relaxing massage, and all for only $14!

Three movies today. Without further adieu:

Time (4/8), a Korean drama/thriller about a young woman (Park Ji-yun) who believes her boyfriend has grown tired of her looks. So, she takes off, dramatically alters her face through radical plastic surgery so that she’s now played by a different actress (Sung Hyun-ah), poses as a different person, returns to re-woo her devastated boyfriend…only to discover he’s mourning the loss of her original self (whom he believes is missing). It was okay, but it started getting really repetitive about 45 minutes in. Oh, and it was also repetitive.

Next was a heavy but terrific little drama about teen suicide from New Zealand. It was called 2:37 (7/8), it featured some amazing performances from its young cast and was written and directed by a 19-year-old, who explained – in surprising detail – the fact that he wrote the film after his own unsuccessful suicide attempt. The story follows a half dozen high schoolers through the course of a day, which ends with one student’s on-campus suicide. We see their assorted problems, ranging from incontinence to closeted homosexuality to an unexpected pregnancy, and watch as they all melt down. It was cleverly laid out, so that – despite the film’s opening dealing with the discovery of the body – the identity of the student who dies isn’t revealed until the very end. All in all, very well done…though my friend Lee Sister #3 felt the director was overly self-involved and needlessly rambly during his Q&A.

Oh, and before this film began, I also heard the funniest exchange between a woman climbing the dark stairs inside the theater, and her friend, who was trying to direct her.

“Bev?”

“Over here.”

“I can’t see you.”

“I know.”

“Am I close?”

The third movie of the day will likely wind up being my favourite at TIFF 2006. Much in the same way that I saw Imagine Me & You on the first Friday night of TIFF 2005, and knew that it would be my fave of that fest, this one had me at hello. It was the documentary Summercamp! (8/8 – a full pie!), which follows a bunch of Illinois kids to sleep-away camp for three weeks. It was FANTASTIC! It was simultaneously hilarious and heartbreaking – I laughed for much of the film, sniffled at other times, and was near bawling at one particularly poignant and completely unexpected moment. I won’t spoil it for you, but if you have it scheduled for later in the week (Angela, I’m looking at you ;-)), bring Kleenex. (Look for Angela’s comments on the film later in the week! ;-))

The screening also had the BEST introduction I have ever had the pleasure of witnessing at any of the 16 (17?) TIFFs I’ve attending. The co-directors were there, along with a number of the counselors from the featured camp, all dressed in wild and crazy camp-esque gear (funny hats, bright colored and mismatched clothes, necklaces that had blinking lights, etc.), and they had us all stand up for a SING-ALONG! Plus pre-song stretching! It was great! And the post-film Q&A was just as good. They all trucked back onstage and, just like when I went to see Spellbound several fests ago, the directors revealed that a couple of the young campers (Holly and Cameron…whose names will only mean something to you after you see the movie) WERE THERE! OMG! Huge, huge applause from the audience.

Then it was time for the big Star! Schmooze party. In short, special thanks to my friend Greg, who was my “date” for the night and who made sure I was never alone. We got there just after 9pm, wandered a lot, ran into a few people we knew, I ate a bunch of really great food (they had tons of delicious food stations…which was good since I hadn’t eaten since my power bar around 2:30 p.m.), and then found an ideal spot for celeb sighting! Amid the plethora of less-interesting Canadian talent who wandered past (look everyone! it’s Gordonn Pinsent and the overly Botoxed stylist guy from Canada’s Next Top Model!), we came within inches of Samuel L. Jackson, Billy Connolly, Eugene Levy, Dylan Baker (oddly, MUCH less creepy in person!), Tom Sizemore (we were hoping for a meltdown, but alas no), Paulo Costanzo (yawn), Chantal Kreviazuk and husband Raine Maida, Sarah Polley, Julie Christie, John Abraham (the Bollywood star) and…drumroll please…Brittany Snow.

For those of you who just said, “Who?”, I say: for shame!

As many of you know, and many of you will now learn, I loved the show American Dreams. LOVED IT. It was heartwarming and comforting and sweet and moving and brilliantly written. I wanted to take the whole Pryor family and put them in my cupboard so that I could spend time with them whenever I wanted. It was an amazing television drama cancelled well before its time.

Well, Brittany Snow played the show’s cute-as-a-button young heroine, Meg Pryor. (She was also recently in John Tucker Must Die, but I’m not holding that against her.) I tell you, it was all I could do not to run over and hug her and ask her whether Vanessa Lengies tagged along for old time's sake. Needless to say, I refrained, and opted to internalize my fangurl tendencies. (Seriously, though, of everyone we saw, I was most excited about seeing her. Greg can attest to that.)

Then, as predicted in yesterday’s forecast, a massive thunderstorm hit , rain poured down, people fled for tent coverage and tried not to step into the ever-growing puddles of water that were forming everywhere. We left just before 11:30 p.m. feeling pretty satisfied at the star wattage we encountered, considering we didn’t have access to the V.I.P. area where everyone of note had been herded.

Okay, it’s after 1:30 a.m. now and I need to sleep. Gotta be up early for Volver first thing tomorrow. *yawn*


Celebrity Sightings: See above for the surprisingly beefy who’s-who list! Sam Jackson, people! Right there!

Crappiest Crap I Consumed Today: Almost everything. A stale blueberry danish for breakfast, a power bar for lunch and two mini Smores chocolate bars for dinner (until arrival at the Schmooze).

Line Buzz: Lots of good buzz for 12:08 East of Bucharest, Fido and Penelope, which I have on deck tomorrow.

Weather for Tomorrow: Showers in the morning. Partly cloudy in the afternoon. High near 18C.