I’ve just realized that 2009 marks the more-or-less 20th anniversary of the beginning of my cinephilia. Back in the late ‘80s, Toronto had a handful of repertory cinemas under the Festival banner. The flagship was the Bloor Cinema, but I also saw films at the Revue, the Capitol (now an “event theatre”) and the Fox. The Kingsway, the Paradise, and later the Royal were a bit far for this east-end boy to get to at the time, but luckily they rotated the films around a fair bit. Each month, the newsprint Festival programme opened up a world of cinema riches to a young lad like myself. Though the Festival theatres no longer operate as a chain, most are still functioning movie houses, though it’s painfully evident that the best days of Toronto’s repertory cinemas are now gone. Here are some of the films I saw that made an impression on me all those years ago. In particular, I think the first four are sadly overlooked nowadays.
- Paperhouse (1988, Director: Bernard Rose)
- Toto le héros (1991, Director: Jaco van Dormael)
- Paper Mask (1990, Director: Christopher Morahan)
- Chameleon Street (1989, Director: Wendell B. Harris Jr.)
- The Sacrifice (1986, Director: Andrei Tarkovsky)
- Delicatessen (1991, Directors: Jean-Pierre Jeunet and Marc Caro)
- The Cook, The Thief, His Wife and Her Lover (1989, Director: Peter Greenaway)
- Mediterraneo (1991, Director: Gabriele Salvatores)
- Cinema Paradiso (1988, Director: Giuseppe Tornatore)
- Metropolitan (1990, Director: Whit Stillman)
- Life Is Sweet (1991, Director: Mike Leigh)
- Roger and Me (1989, Director: Michael Moore)
- Withnail and I (1987, Director: Bruce Robinson)
- The Double Life of Veronique (1991, Director: Krzysztof Kieslowski)
- Wings of Desire (1987, Director: Wim Wenders)
Thanks to John Vetterli for making his photo available under a Creative Commons licence.
I’m generally not a fan of year-end “best of” lists but on the other hand, I always seem to have an opinion on every other list I see so it’s only fair that I try to put together my own. It’s bound to be a little idiosyncratic, since I see most of my films at film festivals. There are a number of significant films that I haven’t (yet) seen but I wanted to limit my list to what I actually saw in 2008. Since I see so many documentaries, they get their own list, although I think the hard boundary between documentary and fiction is becoming more permeable all the time. I’ve limited myself to ten in each category, though there is no ranking.
Documentaries
Dramatic Features (and One Short)
Filmmaker AJ Schnack (Kurt Cobain: About a Son) is putting together his list of the top 25 documentary film festivals in the world, with lots of input from other filmmakers and industry representatives. I was very pleased that Toronto took two places in the top ten, with TIFF coming in at #2 and Hot Docs at #6.
As of this writing, he’s only posted the top ten, but I’m looking forward to seeing the rest of the list, and (hopefully) getting to attend some of these festivals in the future.
As a side note, I’m heading to #4 (South by Southwest) in just over a week! Maybe I’ll have a chance to talk up Toronto a little bit with AJ and others while I’m there.
In 2007, actors and actresses were presented with challenging roles, many of which garnered much acclaim and bountiful awards. However, the
performance of the year, without a doubt, goes to Casey Affleck for his work in THE ASSASSINATION OF JESSE JAMES BY THE COWARD ROBERT FORD.
Affleck embodies his role with such conviction, intelligence and humanity, that it leaves one in utter amazement. A great performance is able to extract multiple reactions from the audience, and not just empathy, for example. As Robert Ford, Casey Affleck allows the audience to enter his world, but there is always a distance between us and his character. And that distance encompasses tension and unpredictability. The result is an absolutely memorable performance by this relatively new actor and is one of the highlights of this fine film.
BEST ACTORS
- CASEY AFFLECK — The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
- MATHIEU AMALRIC — The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
- EMILE HIRSCH — Into The Wild
- DANIEL DAY-LEWIS — There Will Be Blood
- SAM RILEY — Control
- RYAN GOSLING — Lars and the Real Girl
- PHILIP SEYMOUR HOFFMAN — The Savages, Before The Devil Knows You’re Dead & Charlie Wilson’s War
- GEORGE CLOONEY — Michael Clayton
- JOSH BROLIN — No Country For Old Men & American Gangster
- SASSON GABAI — The Band’s Visit
BEST SUPPORTING ACTORS
- JAVIER BARDEM — No Country For Old Men
- VLAD IVANOV — 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days
- ARMIN MUELLER-STAHL — Eastern Promises
- TOM WILKINSON — Michael Clayton
- JOHN CARROLL LYNCH — Zodiac
- HAL HOLBROOK — Into The Wild
- MARTIN PIROYANSKY — XXY
- OMAR METWALLY — Rendition
- HEATH LEDGER — I’m Not There
- CHRISTIAN BALE — I’m Not There
BEST ACTRESSES
- ANAMARIA MARINCA — 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days
- JEON DO-YEON — Secret Sunshine
- MARION COTILLARD — La Vie en rose
- INES EFRON — XXY
- LAURA LINNEY — The Savages
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESSES
- TILDA SWINTON — Michael Clayton
- SAOIRSE RONAN — Atonement
- SAMANTHA MORTON — Control
- MARIA BONNEVIE — The Banishment
- AMY RYAN — Gone Baby Gone
