Another TIFF has come and gone! Here are five films we loved this year.
For many film buffs, when the Toronto International Film Festival comes around each September, everything else stops. The city turns into a hub for celebrity spotting and premieres of films big and small. This year was no different, and although I didn?t see quite as many as I would have liked, there were a few that really stood out.
DRIVE
This film starring Canadian heartthrob Ryan Gosling has everything an Oscar worthy film should have ? great direction, nuanced writing, an entertaining yet plausible storyline, incredible performances from a stellar cast, slick editing and a soundtrack that elevates it to another level. The buzz around it is not just hype.
Gosling plays a young stunt driver in Hollywood, who, after falling for his neighbor, agrees to help her ex-con husband with a robbery that will supposedly clear him of his debt to past associates who threatened his family. When the robbery doesn?t go off as planned he is left holding the bag of dirty money.
Danish director Nicolas Winding Refn won the Best Director Award at Cannes, and after seeing the film I completely understand why. Action films are rarely elevated to a place where they can be called art, but Drive proves it can be done.
PAUL WILLIAMS STILL ALIVE
Documentaries were a big part of the festival this year, considering opening night began with one. I had not planned on seeing Paul Williams Still Alive ? but when I ended up with tickets I decided to give it a chance, and am so glad I did.
Filmmaker Stephen Kessler opens the documentary explaining his childhood love for songwriter Paul Williams ? who wrote hit songs such as ?We?ve Only Just Begun? and ?An Old Fashioned Love Song?- and how this short, entertaining singer made him feel like he belonged as a kid. He had always thought Paul died too young, until one day he googled him and realized he was still alive, thus beginning his journey to find out what happened to his childhood idol.
Throughout the film we see Kessler trying to find out why Paul basically disappeared after the 1980s when he struggled with addiction. And it is fascinating to see how much happier and at peace Paul is now ? he plays small club shows ? than he was when he was a staple on the Johnny Carson show surrounded by yes men. The fame and money didn?t bring him happiness, but as he sees it, made him lonelier, selfish, and more interested in attention than making music. Without it, he is a good husband and father, he is sober, and he?s still making his living playing music.
The film brilliantly debunks the rock star myth of it being better to burn out at the height of your fame than to fade away into obscurity.
WHERE DO WE GO NOW?
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Source: http://www.50plus.com/entertainment/top-5-favourite-films-at-tiff/133863/
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