Best and Worst of TIFF!

Sunrise, sunset. I can barely choke back the tears as I think of waiting another whole darn year until I can enjoy the Four Movie A Day Lifestyle again. I really like that lifestyle, guys. And while this TIFF didn't enjoy the big break-outs or as many buzz films as last year, it still had many terrific films on offer. It also featured a number of great movies that could be described as genre pieces which made their way into the wider festival outside their usual home in the Midnight Madness program. Whether this is an indication of TIFF becoming more daring in it's programming, or that genre film is also enjoying a larger profile elsewhere I can't say, but I appreciate the shift, whatever the reason.

But enough of my prattling! Let's get on with each of our best and worst picks from this years Toronto International Film Festival.

Kat's Top Three
Sauna
Tony Manero
Vinyan

Kat's Bottom Three
In the Shadow of the Naga
Nothing but the Truth
Paris, Not France

Kat's Favourite Memory of TIFF
Riding with producer Peter Block, and actors Karl Geary and Clancy Brown to the Midnight Madness premiere of The Burrowers. To my great surprise, they spent the drive talking about live theatre. Clancy talked about the first time he saw A Streetcar Named Desire, and the great productions he'd seen at Soulpepper during his past visits to Toronto, and I got to tell him about bursting into tears while watching Alan Bates in a local production of Ibsen's The Master Builder.

Aaron's Top Three
Vinyan
Eden Log
Wendy and Lucy

Aaron's Bottom Three
Paris, Not France
Gigantic
The Brothers Bloom

Aaron's Favourite Memory of TIFF
Having a drink in the park with the Burrowers gang before the film's premiere and realizing halfway through a conversation about our love of proper theatre projection that I was speaking to (big time producer) Peter Block. Yes, this happened a few minutes before Kat's favourite memory. It was a swell night.

Hey, check it out, Jeff can't follow simple fucking instructions:

Jeff's Top Five
Gomorrah
Hunger
Still Walking
Not Quite Hollywood
Eden Log

Jeff's Bottom Three
I didn't see any total stinkers, so no need for a "worst of" list.

Jeff's Favourite Memory of TIFF
Meeting Grady Hendrix of Kaiju Shakedown after years of loving his blog, only to find out that I kind of love him too.

So Kat places last for talking about live theatre, and Jeff places second last for colouring outside the lines. I guess that makes me the winner. Big surprise.

While we may be done with attending fancy screenings and behaving like assholes at open bars, our film festival work is not yet done. OH NO. We will continue to review TIFF content over the coming week(s), so please check back regularly for more exclusive reviews. Keep an eye out for that handy TIFF 2008 label. A big thanks to all of you who have been reading our coverage over the last couple weeks. I hope you've enjoyed it and I hope you'll stick with us through the coming wretched non-festival times. Sniff.