Toronto film fest wraps with its share of gossip, glamour and good movies
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TORONTO -- Brad had been here before. So had George. Even Oprah made an appearance a couple of years ago.
But another single-name superstar, Madonna, was a newcomer to the Toronto International Film Festival, thanks to "W.E.," although few people actually talked about her movie tracing two love stories.
True, a radio reporter wearing a helmet-cam (bike helmet with smartphone lashed to it) compared it to a "Chanel fairy tale" during a press conference, but much of the chatter was about whether her security detail really ordered volunteers to turn their backs as she passed or if she brought her own mattress to the posh Hazelton Hotel, a rumor reported by the Toronto Star newspaper.
PG VIDEO: SCENES FROM TORONTO FILM FESTNeither may be true, but it made for delicious gossip, better than anything surrounding Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie or George Clooney and squeeze Stacy Keibler.
On the far, far opposite end of the spectrum were filmmakers looking for a little love and buyers for their movies so someone other than a festival audience might see them.
Pittsburgh native and executive producer Jesse Shapira found a U.S. distributor for his R-rated hockey comedy, "Goon," as did movies as diverse as "Shame" starring Michael Fassbender as a sex addict, Lasse Hallstrom's "Salmon Fishing in the Yemen" and the documentary "Sarah Palin: You Betcha!"
At least 32 films were sold to territories in North America, Europe, the Middle East, Asia, South America and Australia. Nearly 4,000 industry delegates attended, a 20 percent bump from 2010.
Some festival impressions:
Personal favorite: "The Descendants," starring Mr. Clooney as a native Hawaiian, husband and father of daughters ages 17 and 10. His wife is gravely injured in a boating accident, his extended family must decide about selling 25,000 acres of pristine land and, for good, gut-churning measure, he learns an unsettling secret about his wife.
Director and co-writer Alexander Payne pivots effortlessly from comedy to tragedy to drama and uses Hawaiian backdrops and music in a way that's as fresh as just harvested pineapple.
First Published September 19, 2011 12:00 am
