9-6-2002: DAY ONE

My first day at the fest was, for the most part, a good one. It takes a couple of days before the frenzy truly sets in and I wind up running on adrenalin and sugar, but the proceedings got off to a nice start.

Ran into my film fest friend Ann(e?) before I even saw my first movie. We caught up... and then stood in line for an hour. I saw Gus Van Sant wandering through the Manulife Center (which houses one of the fest's anchor cinemas, The Varsity). He's a rather slight man, but he sat next to me at a screening last year so I kind of feel a strange connection to him. He didn't seem to recognize me, so I just assumed he was "playing it cool."

The first movie of the day was Les Diables (The Devils). It's a disturbing and mildly depressing movie about a pair of young orphans—one of whom appears to have some form of autism (it's never really addressed directly)—as they flee foster homes and state-run institutions in search of the parents who abandoned them on the streets years earlier. The two young actors in the film (Adèle Haenel and Vincent Rottiers) were fantastic—especially considering we learned (at the Q&A) from director Christophe Ruggia that both were emotionally troubled children whom he worked with for six months prior to shooting.

Couldn't stay for the whole Q&A because I had to head to my next screening—Heaven, the new Tom Tykwer (Run Lola Run) drama starring Cate Blanchett and Giovanni Ribisi (who also co-starred in The Gift). Cate's a British woman in Italy whose efforts at vengeance (detonating a bomb) against a drug kingpin go awry when innocents are killed instead. Giovanni is the police translator who falls for her. The movie was very tranquil and serene, given it's essentially about a woman who blew people up, and it had kind of a slow, steady pace that (I admit) did start to make me sleepy. I was kind of bummed that neither cast member attended the festival. Cate Blanchett, where wert thou?! Ah well. At least it gave Tom Tykwer the freedom to share the amusing story of how he was basically stalked by Giovanni for his role. We laughed.

Oh, I should mention that just before Heaven started I made it into the theatre and found an empty seat next to a woman who was "saving" the one right next to her. So I put my knapsack on the seat I wanted and explained that I was just running out to go to the washroom. (At the fest, you normally don't even have to do that—people are very respectful of bags, jackets, newspapers or whatever on a seat as a sign that it's taken.) I came back from the washroom and was horrified to see my seat gone, having been stolen by some guy. More importantly, where the hell was my bag?!?!? "Oh," the woman said nonchalantly. "This gentleman moved your bag and took your seat." She pointed to a seat in the row in front of her, on which sat my (apparently) ineffective seat holder. In hindsight, the guy was actually pretty smart. Distract me at first by creating the illusion that all my belongings have been stolen (HOLY CRAP!!!!!) and then you're saved by my relief that I haven't lost my stuff and don't care as much that you also swiped my seat. Whatever. Some people have no shame. And a special thanks to the greedy lady who let my seat be stolen AND (I discovered as the film ran) who wasn't really saving the seat next to her for anybody. She just wanted a place to park her big fat beach bag. She needs to read my rules.

Anyway...

Then it was off to Personal Velocity. Parker Posey and Kyra Sedgwick attended (yay!), as did director Rebecca Miller and her extremely longwinded cinematographer. The movie, which tracked moments in the lives of three different women, was okay, but not really my cup of tea—kind of slow, a little dull. Nevermind the fact that the theatre was ROASTING hot because God forbid the ever, EVER get a comfortable temperature at The Uptown! It's either freezing cold (usually in the mornings) or sweltering hot (hi, welcome to my late-night screenings). Tonight, it was the latter. My sister actually had to leave an hour into the film because she was feeling so ill. Towards the end of the movie, a rather large man lumbered up the aisle next to me, wheezing. I thought, "Oh my god, he's going to pass out." No, no. Instead, monsieur sat down in the aisle, took off his shoes (I kid you not) and sprawled out on the floor. Then Shoeless Joe moved to an empty seat in front of me for the Q&A session which, to the credit of Ms. Miller and her team, at least helped me understand her vision. I also got to hear more than I ever wanted to know about the realm of digital video from the aforementioned cinematographer who rambled on and on and on and on and ON about the medium and made sure to name-drop the Big Name Movies she's worked on. Kyra Sedgwick actually made a "yaaaawn" gesture as this woman droned on. I don't remember her name, and I don't care enough to look it up. Then we, the melting audience, fled to the outdoors where the air was cool.

And now, it's almost 1 am and I'm very sleepy. Four movies tomorrow and FIVE on Sunday... plus a three-day heatwave that will have temperatures in the mid- to high-90s for the next few days.

I need some sleep.

— Vickie

CELEBRITY SIGHTINGS:

Parker Posey (yay!), Kyra Sedgwick, Tom Tykwer, Sydney Pollack, Gus Van Sant... plus the rumor that Pauley Shore arrived at a theatre mere minutes before I did

ROGER EBERT SIGHTINGS:

None (rats!)