Black Sheep Gets TIFF'd

Hello Readers. How ya doin' huh? I'm a little spent. After just one weekend too. Anyhow, I wanted to explain briefly why I haven't posted so that I can get it all out of the way and start posting again. I was in Toronto. It's festival time if you haven't heard. And while I was not able to get accredited again this year (hence my expensive stay being limited to one weekend), it was certainly a different experience than the year before. I can't figure out quite the precise moment when I knew but it could have been while I was standing in the hallway of the Intercontinental Hotel waiting for my interview with French director, Martin Provost. Press people and agents kept buzzing past me. Ben Mulroney zipped past me. I heard things like, "I'd like to get a sense of what you're going to want to eat as we only have an hour lunch with the Fox Searchlight people." Then Steve Zahn was standing in front of me, shirt open, chest hair out. I was suddenly in the middle of some behind the scenes, tongue in cheek Steven Soderbergh picture. Or it could have been when I was running from my screening of Fernando Meirelles's BLINDNESS to wait for a roundtable interview with VOY A EXPLOTAR executive producer (and coincidentally, star of BLINDNESS), Gael Garcia Bernal. He was a little late and my impending departure time was looming. I ended up chatting with the young gentleman for five minutes before a cab whisked me away and I panicked internally until I was safely on the train five minutes before it was due to go. Yes, something was definitely different this year. I couldn't understand what I was in the middle of until my good friend, Holly, explained to me that it was my life. She's direct that way.

Source: cornershopstudios

What wasn't different this year was my sheer joy for the privilege of seeing such wonderful films with such appreciative filmgoers. I really liked the Coen Brothers' BURN AFTER READING. Very funny. I have to say, I was moved by Jonathan Demme's RACHEL GETTING MARRIED though. That was a very big surprise. Very big. NICK & NORAH'S INFINITE PLAYLIST was adorable and Michael Cera continued to show just how many different variations there can be on awkward. I mostly enjoyed Danny Boyle's SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE .. uneven but definitely intriguing. And it was a miracle that I actually made it through the incredibly long and overwrought Spike Lee film MIRACLE AT ST. ANNA. The stars were all out and I saw every one of them ... from very far in my expensive seat at the back. And if I wasn't at the world premiere, it was the North American premiere. I was smiling all the time, despite the rain. I smiled when the crowd erupted in cheers of support for the volunteers. I laughed out loud when I first heard an audience "Arrrr ... " in true pirate fashion when the anti-piracy warning appeared on screen. (Good one, mateys.) And I smiled randomely every time I remembered where I was.

Now I am home and I have a ton of writing to do. I apologize for skipping this week's box office report (there was nothing to report anyway from what I read). I will return to regular posting this weekend with my review for BURN AFTER READING. Have a great week!