Ok, we’re beginning to wind down. This debacle is almost over. Last year we somehow cranked out reviews two-three hours after every screening like clockwork. That’s kind of insane and it’s no wonder we didn’t do it again.
Today was only three pictures. The day started out with Drew Barrymore’s directorial debut “Whip It” which turned out to be enjoyable after a very dull and rough start that almost forced a walk out on our part. But it rallied. Someone said to me, “better than ‘Juno’ ” which is patently untrue (not that “Juno” is sacred or genius or anything). Thank god for Daniel Stern, Marcia Gay Harden and some actual meaningful scripting because, at first, the thing felt as slight as a chihuahua fart. Barrymore proved she could actually direct too, but it took some time to make anyone care about what was going on.
After that it was the English school-girl drama, “Cracks,” by Ridley Scott’s daughter Jordan Scott. Clearly everyone in this family knows how to put together exquisite looking and well-crafted films and Jordan’s directorial debut was no different. Eva Green and Juno Temple were both excellent, but we’re not sure if we totally bought where the ending went (though Scott was just following the book it was based off).
Lastly we had Tim Blake Nelson’s “Leaves Of Grass,” starring Ed Norton as a pair of twins, one a successful academic, famous thinker and published author, the other a crook and pot-dealer. This one had to be the surprise of the festival simply because it was so much more than the stoner pot comedy we thought it would be. Uhh pot comedy, family identity drama, anti-semitism commentary, violent drug thriller and intolerance parable with deep philosophical themes? Holy shit, this was not what we expected. Easily the nuttiest picture we saw during the festival and perhaps because we were expecting something much, much different and far less multi-layered and complex.
Tomorrow is TIFF ’09’s last day. We have Jason Reitman’s “Up In The Air,” Nicolas Winding Refn’s “Valhalla Rising,” the Cannes-picture, “Dogtooth,” and if we’re lucky, “The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus.” Email us if you have an extra ticket to the latter because we’ll buy it up immediately.
