In Toronto, It’s All About Movies--Seriously

This year’s Toronto International Film Festival is the morning after--not to be confused with a hangover--following last year’s 25th anniversary festivities. Unlike last year’s mega-bash, this year’s festival reverts to form--a non-flashy, never vulgar, pleasantly innocuous venue for a staggering number of films (326 this year, 175 of which are making their world or North American premieres).

“It was very stressful last year, to be honest,” says Piers Handling, now in his eighth year as director of the festival, which started Thursday and runs through next Saturday. “This was an easier one to put together, to say the least.”

In Toronto, the films start on time; they’re presented in flawless prints on big screens; and the audiences are polite, knowledgeable and enthusiastic. Hollywood is here in force, but the presence of agents, publicists and talent is somehow absorbed or blunted by all the efficiency and goodwill. And the local press doesn’t seem interested in raking stars over the coals.

As a consequence, Toronto has become the perfect place for the studios and major independents to launch serious fall and holiday fare. “American Beauty” premiered here two years ago, and “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” made its North American debut at the festival last year. The thinking among marketing types is that Toronto cannot hurt a film and can only help it. In fact, audiences here are supposedly so gung-ho that they can deceive filmmakers and studios into believing that their films are better, or more commercial, than they really are.

Often this is true, but Toronto audiences aren’t going to be bullied or buffaloed into loving a film either. Scott Hicks’ eagerly awaited “Snow Falling on Cedars” and Cameron Crowe’s equally hyped “Almost Famous” made their debuts in 1999 and 2000, respectively, and the Toronto response was tepid, anticipating what would befall these films at the box office.

This year there are no such highly publicized films, because there are relatively few Hollywood studio movies here. There are just six, in fact: three from Warner Bros. (Antoine Fuqua’s “Training Day,” Hicks’ “Hearts in Atlantis” and David Mamet’s “Heist”), two from Fox (John Dahl’s “Joy Ride” and the Hughes brothers’ “From Hell”) and one from Universal (David Lynch’s “Mulholland Drive”).

“Most of the Oscar-bait movies aren’t ready until December,” says Terry Press, marketing chief for DreamWorks, which is taking a break from Toronto this year. “I would have shown [Rod Lurie’s] ‘The Last Castle’ if it had been ready. Maybe it’ll be better for the smaller movies at Toronto.”

Handling would like to see more from the studios--if nothing else, the industry’s presence and the stars that come with it raise the festival’s profile--but he insists that Toronto is not really about that. He says it’s about exposing the public and the press to films they otherwise might not see. Distribution deals--75% to 80% of the films here, many of them foreign, do not have distribution--are welcome but a sideshow here.

This year deal-making is even more of a sideshow. According to Artisan Chief Executive Amir Malin, a 20-year veteran of Toronto, there are only a few films that distributors are likely to acquire, because most of the movies with commercial potential have already been screened privately or at other festivals and have been spoken for.

Among the films he hasn’t seen that he’s interested in are Gregor Jordan’s “Buffalo Soldiers,” with Ed Harris and Joaquin Phoenix; Erik Skjoldbjaerg’s “Prozac Nation,” with Christina Ricci, Jessica Lange and Anne Heche; Peter Chelsom’s romantic comedy “Serendipity,” with John Cusack and Kate Beckinsale; and Mike Figgis’ experimental “Hotel.” Of these films, only “Serendipity” has distribution; Miramax is releasing it in October.

Fine Line Features President Mark Ordesky would add to the list of unacquired films of interest Fred Schepisi’s “Last Orders,” a road movie with Michael Caine, Ray Winstone, Tom Courtenay and Helen Mirren; and, a peg or two down in terms of its profile, Rose Troche’s suburban angst melodrama, “The Safety of Objects,” with Glenn Close.

War, particularly World War II, is the subject of a number of films in Toronto this year, including Jan Sverak’s “The Dark Blue World,” about Czech RAF pilots; Michael Apted’s “Enigma,” about British code breakers; Istvan Szabo’s “Taking Sides,” which deals with postwar Berlin; Danis Tanovic’s “No Man’s Land,” about the Balkan conflict; David L. Cunningham’s “To End all Wars,” about British soldiers in a Burmese POW camp; Tim Blake Nelson’s “The Grey Zone,” set in Auschwitz; Minoru Matsui’s documentary “Japanese Devils,” about the Japanese in World War II; Francois Dupeyron’s “La Chambre des Officiers,” set during the First World War; and Ermanno Olmi’s “The Profession of Arms,” set in medieval Italy.

This indie war mania seems to reflect the mainstream war obsession (“Pearl Harbor,” “Band of Brothers”), for some of the same reasons. Baby boomers are coming to grips with the war their parents fought. And it may also be that, given the international nature of these films, some of the filmmakers are responding to the wars on their doorstep, in the Balkans.

This year is also notable for the number of powerful casts and high-octane performances: Geoffrey Rush and Barbara Hershey in “Lantanna”; Nicole Kidman, speaking passable Russian as a mail-order bride in Jez Butterworth’s “Birthday Girl”; Ben Kingsley in Claire Peploe’s comedy, “The Triumph of Love”; Alan Arkin, Matthew McConaughey and John Turturro in Jill Sprecher’s “Thirteen Conversations About One Thing”; Julianne Moore and Billy Crudup in Bart Freundlich’s man-in-search-of-himself drama, “World Traveler”; and Jeanne Moreau in Josee Dayantk’s “Cet Amour-la.”

Also sure to attract attention are Irwin Winkler’s heart-tugging “Life as a House,” with Kevin Kline and Kristin Scott Thomas, and David Atkins’ dark dental comedy thriller “Novocaine,” with Steve Martin and Helena Bonham Carter.

Finally, attention must be paid to a couple of films that screened at Sundance but flew under the radar (though both have distribution): Patrick Stettner’s “The Business of Strangers,” a psychological battle between a middle-aged businesswoman and her young assistant, starring Stockard Channing and Julia Stiles; and Richard Linklater’s date-rape drama “Tape,” with Ethan Hawke, Uma Thurman and Robert Sean Leonard.

Such films can be overlooked at one festival and celebrated at another. A case in point is “Memento,” which premiered last year at Toronto but attracted attention only when it appeared six months later at Sundance.

“These things happen,” says Handling, who might be summing up the festival biz (and buzz) in general. “They’re quirky.”