[Above: Philip Seymour Hoffman and Laura Linney in The Savages (© Twentieth Century Fox)]
Twenty films in just over five and a half days. I think I’ll read a book on the plane ride home. It’s been a fantastic festival, though. Unlike Sundance, which has me watching films that maybe someday will have distribution, the line-up at Toronto is like a list of films coming to a theater near you in the next six months. It was a heavy slate; I saw films about genocide in Rwanda, genocide in Darfur, 13-year-olds coerced into prostitution in the U.S., and psychopathic killers. So I’m sure my top pick benefitted from my desperate need for a comedy. And I’m sure there were plenty of great films I missed. In particular, I’m still looking forward to seeing Eastern Promises, Across the Universe, Rendition, Here Is What Is, Nightwatching and Persepolis. But these are my favorites that I saw here:
1. Juno (Director: Jason Reitman, Starring: Ellen Page, Michael Cera, Jason Bateman, Jennifer Garner)
2. No Country For Old Men (D: Joel Coen, Ethan Coen, S: Tommy Lee Jones, Javier Bardem, Josh Brolin)
3. The Visitor (D: Tomas McCarthy, S: Richard Jenkins, Hiam Abbass, Haaz Sleiman, Danai Gurira)
4. Son of Rambow (D: Garth Jennings, S: Bill Milner, Will Poulter)
5. 4 Months, 3 Weeks, 2 Days (D: Christian Mungiu, S: Anamaria Marinca, Laura Vasiliu)
6. The Savages (D: Tamara Jenkins, S: Laura Linney, Philip Seymour Hoffman)
7. Margot at the Wedding (D: Noah Baumbach, S: Nicole Kidman, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Jack Black, Zain Pais)
8. Shake Hands With the Devil (D: Roger Spottiswoode, S: Roy Dupuis)
9. I’m Not There (D: Todd Haynes, S: Christian Bale, Cate Blanchett, Heath Ledger, Richard Gere)
10. Tie between two light-hearted, but enjoyable films: The Jane Austin Book Club and Run, Fat Boy, Run.
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