Movie highs and lows from the Toronto International Film Festival

[Tati]

The Toronto International Film Festival ended Saturday after unspooling 349 films for thousands of movie-goers during a 10-day cinematic marathon. The writers who covered the festival for The Canadian Press pick some of the highs and lows among the movies they saw:

BEST FILMS

Into The Wild, a riveting tale of survival based on the best-selling novel by Jon Krakauer. Opens Friday.

Lars and the Real Girl, a sweet and moving film, containing not a hint of creepy frat-boy humour, about an emotionally scarred misfit who falls in love with a sex doll. Opens Oct. 12.

Sleuth, a tale of psychological warfare waged between an older mystery novelist and the young actor who's run off with his wife. Opens Oct. 26.

Michael Clayton, a fast-paced corporate thriller starring George Clooney as a down-on-his-luck "fixer" for a powerful New York law firm who has to bring an out-of-control partner to heel. Opens Oct. 12.

Eastern Promises, a bloody Russian mob thriller from David Cronenberg set in the seamy underbelly of London. The film won the fan favourite award at the festival. Opened this weekend.

Juno, an offbeat comedy about teenaged pregnancy from Jason Reitman. Opens Dec. 14.

No Country for Old Men, a tense crime thriller from the Coen brothers set on the Texas borderlands. Opens Nov. 21.

Body of War, the directorial debut of onetime talk-show host Phil Donahue and an utterly engrossing and heartbreaking portrait of a young soldier who was paralyzed in Iraq. Release date yet to be announced.

BEST PERFORMANCES

Ryan Gosling brilliantly humanizes the emotionally paralyzed misfit who falls in love with a sex doll in Lars and the Real Girl.

Tommy Lee Jones steals the film as the father of a marine who's returned from Iraq only to disappear from his New Mexico base in the otherwise flawed Paul Haggis movie In The Valley of Elah.

Mark Ruffalo is gripping as a tormented divorced dad who's involved in a fatal hit-and-run in Reservation Road; Jennifer Connelly is also a standout as the grief-stricken mother of the young victim in the same film.

Viggo Mortensen wows as a Russian mob underling in Eastern Promises – particularly during his full-frontal-nudity steam-room scene.

George Clooney, looking exhausted and beaten down, deftly plays against type in Michael Clayton as the title character.

Cate Blanchett nails her version of Bob Dylan in I'm Not There.

Emile Hirsch turns in a devastating performance as a troubled young man who decides to live off the land in Alaska in Into the Wild.

Nova Scotia-born Ellen Page delivers a spirited performance – some are even suggesting it's Oscar-worthy – in Juno as a strong-willed pregnant teen.

Casey Affleck steals The Assassination of Jesse James by The Coward Robert Ford from Brad Pitt as the sneaky and conniving Ford. It's another performance that's generating Oscar buzz.

Tom Wilkinson is a scene-swiper in two movies: as the powerful lawyer who goes off his meds in Michael Clayton and as the wealthy but shady uncle who counsels his nephews to kill a business foe in Cassandra's Dream.

Meryl Streep terrifies as a callous CIA official in Rendition.

Javier Bardem in No Country is enthralling as a relentless killer who stops at nothing in the hunt for $2 million in stolen drug money.

STRANGE CASTING

Roy Dupuis, at 44, is too old to be playing a youthful-looking Susan Sarandon's son in Emotional Arithmetic, and seems wasted in the film, spending most of his scenes in the kitchen, cooking and looking understandably pained.

Mischa Barton is undeniably lovely yet her wooden acting is hard to watch in the Second World War melodrama from Richard Attenborough, Closing the Ring. Charlize Theron also hams it up too frequently during In The Valley of Elah.

Uma Thurman is strangely cold-faced in a role that calls for emotion as the suburban mother in In Bloom.

While Ewan McGregor and Colin Farrell charmed in Cassandra's Dream, even their matching haircuts couldn't distract from the fact that they looked about as much like brothers as Brad Pitt and Don Cheadle.

Toronto Star, TheStar.com

[sweet and sexy]

Thanks for posting that Tati. I've heard this is a cool film festival.

[Tati]

Originally Posted by sweet and sexy

Thanks for posting that Tati. I've heard this is a cool film festival.

No problem! I like little blurbs like this - I don't always want to read a long review that gives away the plot, I just want to know if a film is worth seeing or not. I plan on checking out a lot of these.