DAY ONE OF TIFF 2010

Well, my little Cine maniacs, welcome to Day 1 of the festival. now in reality today is actually Day 2 of TIFF, but for yours truly it's Day Uno.

O.K., so my first flick of TIFF 2010, was a Canuck one and it was a real sleeper. It was called, DAYDREAM NATION and it really rocked and marked an audacious and auspicious start for it's writer-director, MIKE GOLBACH.

The film is kinda hard to describe: it's sorta JOHN HUGHES meets DAVID LYNCH with a healthy dose of HEATHERS.

KAT DENNINGS, in a tour de force performance, plays the new girl in a small-town Ontario town. She is a misfit, who does not fit in and so she chooses to seduce her hunky teacher to stir things up. DENNINGS, is by turns sexy, seductive, alluring and beguiling, sometimes in the same scene.

GOLDBACH'S script is an interesting amalgam of ideas and one of it's great strengths, besides being so visually stunning is it's unpredictability. It is that rare film that besides being hilarious has a palpable sense of menace.

The cast is uniformly fine but special kudos have to go out to REECE THOMPSON, JOSH LUCAS and in a fine supporting role, ANDIE MACDOWELL (that's right TVs hair babe, who's come a long way since her film GREYSTOKE, in which her southern accent was considered so thick, she was badly dubbed by GLENN CLOSE, in post - talk about damages.)

A great start...next!

Well, the second film is in a category all it's own. I have to say upfront, that I was highly anticipating this flick. The movie is called, I'M STILL HERE, which is the story of the aborted, hip hop career, of JOAQUIN PHOENIX, as documented by his brother-in-law CASEY AFFLECK (those AFFLECK'S are spawning faster than the BALDWIN BROS!)

The first hint that this documentary was scripted, is that it has a written by, credit. Also, at the end it has a cast list - hmmmmmm.

I can't say, I'm sorry I saw the film, but I also can't say it was a very pleasant experience. If you enjoy seeing a bloated self-loathing and pot smoking JOAQUIN, not to mention male genitalia, puking and defecating, then dude, this is the film for you. However, if you prefer a coherent doc, with a point of view, well...not.

Anyways, Day 2 tomorrow, who knows what the day will bring.

Until next time TIFFsters,

T.T.F.N.