The last days of TIFF: "Ryan Reynolds is like a fucking Ferrari"

King Street starts to empty. TIFF posters peel off the bulletin boards and street lamps. Foreign journalists flee town with haste. The days of the Toronto International Film Festival are coming to a close.

There are still lineups around the block and the sandwiches in the media room still have about a 15 minute shelf life before they’re devoured. But much of the buzz is fizzling out of the TIFF Bell Lightbox building. It’s been something of a blessing (actual sleep? My god!), but it’s also sad as there’s an excitement around this town during TIFF that’s unmatched. 

Some observations

Another year at the Festival, another exceptional posthumous performance from James Gandolfini. Excelling last year against type in the romantic comedy Enough Said, Gandolfini is fantastic again, this time back where his career took off, in the shady underworld of Brooklyn withThe Drop. Costar Tom Hardy is equally good and the two hold the film together captivatingly, even without much of a plot to support them. 

Sigh. Sometimes you hope so hard for something to be good that you give yourself seemingly rational reasons to feel optimistic about it even though you’re doubtful. The recent acquisition of Ryan Miller by the Canucks for instance. This is how I felt going into The Cobbler. The second film starring a toned-down Adam Sandler at TIFF (the other is Jason Reitman’s Men, Women & Children), this effort was written and directed by Thomas McCarthy (The Station Agent, The Visitor, Win-WIn), who hadn’t misfired before this. Yeah, before this. I won’t ruin any plot points but… Sigh. 

If I were casting my life, I’d want Channing Tatum to play me. It’d work, cause, you know, we have pretty much the same body type and charisma, etc. In all seriousness, he’s way too nice a guy to be as well-rounded and successful as he is. Damn him. 

Contrary to The Cobbler, a film I went into with zero expectations was The Voices, starring Ryan Reynolds. And it blew me the fuck away. Destined to be the most polarizing film of the fest, the heavily-stylized horror/comedy/thriller is directed to a delicious absurdity by Marjane Satrapi, who previously rose to fame with 2007’s animated Persepolis. As a factory worker who goes off his meds, Vancouverite Reynolds turns in his best performance so far—by a mile. I read that he’s been taking on different, more difficult projects lately but holy shit, I didn’t expect this. 

Another film revolving around people with mental illness is Welcome to Me with Kristen Wiig as a troubled woman who wins the lottery and uses her winnings to fund an opera-style show about herself. There are some hilarious moments as Wiig’s performance becomes a mashup of her crazier SNL characters. She appears buck naked in a Las Vegas Casino at one point and is neutering dogs on live TV in a montage set to the Pixies’ “Where Is My Mind” in another. You’ll laugh and you’ll cringe. That much is guaranteed. 

Noah Baumbach’s While We’re Young has a lot of buzz going for it, and the first half of the drama is certainly excellent, as it examines generational gaps with poignancy and hilarity. The film drags a little as it goes on and the finale is a little too Ben Stiller-y but it’s an effective effort from a master filmmaker. 

Adult Beginners is a great little comedy. Co-writer Nick Kroll mans the lead and while he’s outshone by the ubiquitous Rose Byrne and the excellent Bobby Cannavale, he does his best as a tech entrepreneur who’s life suddenly falls apart. It’ll be that film that you take a shot on while you’re nonchalantly cruising Netflix. You won’t regret it. 

Heard around the Festival 

“It’s the best festival in the world. It feels like a very natural home”
—Actor Paul Bettany, here with his directorial debut, Shelter

 “I love TIFF!”
“Oh yeah? How was that movie? Is it animated?
“Paper Planes! It was great! No, it’s not animated, it’s realistic.”
—My 8-year-old cousin and I, conversing 

“I love this, with print groups, there’s this protocol about who goes first. I did one awhile ago in Venice, we had Topsy-Turvy there, and everyone was being very polite. And this Israeli journalist just piled in before everybody was ready, and said, 'So why’d you make a film about Gilbert and George?!’ And I said ‘It’s not about Gilbert and George.’ And of course the others were so pissed about him starting before they were all ready that they were all sort of giggling away. Anyway, off you go.”
—Mr. Turner director Mike Leigh starting things off as only he can 

“Shakespeare does a great job taking five thousand year old stories and turning them into modern pieces that are true to the original essence but completely remade. And that’s kind of how this feels. There’s a true story but it’s lifted up into the eternal, the universal.”
—Mark Ruffalo on Foxcatcher 

“Ryan Reynolds, he’s like a fucking Ferrari and people, they drive him like he’s a bike. The guy has this range of all these possibilities and they say, ‘Play the beautiful boy.’ He’s smarter than beautiful. You just have to trust him, you have to give him the place to explore whatever he wants.” 
—Marjane Satrapi on directing Ryan Reynolds in The Voices