TIFF10: The Last Two Days in Summary

Vera Farmiga and Keanu Reeves

I was quite busy during the last couple of days and I did not have time to post reviews.  Also such, I am going to post thoughts on all the films I saw during the last two days into one combined post.

Henry’s Crime
This film was a nice little heist comedy about a man who is falsely jailed for a bank robbery only to decide to rob the bank for real when he is released.  It was a fairly decent film with alright performances, especially from a scene-stealing James Caan.

8/10

After the screening on Wednesday afternoon, there was somewhat of a surprise Q&A by stars Keanu Reeves and Vera Farmiga, since it is quite rare for the stars to show up at the second screening of a film.

Michael Angarano and Max Winkler

Ceremony
This was a comedy about a pair of friends who crash a wedding, since one of them is in love with the bride.  The film was the directorial debut by Max Winkler, who is the son of Henry Winkler.  The film features a decent cast, including Michael Angarano, Uma Thurman, and Lee Pace and seemed like the average independent comedy.

 8/10

Isabelle Blais and Zach Braff

The High Cost of Living
This was a Canadian drama about a Montreal drug dealer (Zach Braff) who runs over a pregnant woman (Isabelle Blais), which results in the loss of the baby.  Guilty over the incident, he proceeds to befriend the woman, even though she is unaware he is the driver in the accident.  It was fairly decent enough for a Canadian film and it was definitely the most serious film I saw at the festival this year.

8/10

Dirty Girl director Abe Sylvia

Dirty Girl
This was a very lighthearted film.  The film seemed to be a throwback to the teen comedies of the 1980s, complete with a soundtrack from the era.  The film deals with a sexually promiscuous girl (Juno Temple), who goes on a roadtrip with a closeted homosexual classmate in order to locate her birth father.  The film has a great supporting cast including Milla Jovovich, William H. Macy, Mary Steenburgen, and Dwight Yoakam It was definitely a funny film and it was definitely the least serious film I saw at TIFF this year.

8/10

Insidious
My second Midnight Madness film of the festival (albeit in the middle of the afternoon).  This film deals with a family who moves into a new house, only to be the victim of a series of hauntings.  I felt that the film partially seemed like a throwback to horror films from the 1950s, especially through the title card and a score filled with screeching violins.  The plot of the film started to get somewhat ridiculous towards the third act, however I still ended up enjoying the film.

8/10

Director Gareth Edwards, and stars Whitney Able and Scoot McNairy

Monsters
This film is an independent sci-fi film about a world in the future, where there are constant attacks by alien creatures in Mexico, as a result of a crashed space probe.

The film deals with a photojournalist (Scoot McNairy) who has to escort his bosses daughter (Whitney Able) back to the US and after missing the last boat, they have to cross right through the infected zone.

The film ended up being more character driven than I expected, with the actual monsters making only a handful of appearances.  However, it was an intriguing film and definitely a very realistic take on the monster film.

8/10

That’s all for now.