Once Upon a Time in Toronto
By Carl Spence

On the first Tuesday of the Toronto Film Festival I found myself speedwalking from my hotel to the Varsity Cinemas for an 8:30 am screening of Mira Nair’s Monsoon Wedding. There was much buzz surrounding the film, since it had just won the major award at the Venice Film Festival. The film revolves around the loves of five different pairings, unabashedly mixing the traditions of Bollywood with a bit of Robert Altman.

Monsoon Wedding was the perfect film to renew my viewing appetite and I left the screening with a huge smile on my face ready to tackle anything the festival would throw at me next.

On my return to the theater I retrieved a voicemail saying, “Your sister is safe back at her apartment. It is a terrible day for the world.” End of message. Attempts to return the call ended with busy signals. Struggling to make sense of the cryptic message, I returned to the Varsity where I joined a group standing stunned in front of a television set. Bombarding particles of light could not make it through the numbness of my mind. Initially, not understanding the magnitude of what I was watching, I saw one of the World Trade Center towers on fire, the impact of an airplane crashing into the other tower and then the collapse of the first tower and then the second.

Stupidly, in an effort to escape the horror, I attempted to watch another film, a French comedy of which I can’t even remember the title. As the credits began to roll, it was impossible to focus. The frames of the film flashed before my eyes. I left after five minutes. Festival screenings were canceled for rest of the day, and friends began to congregate in restaurants, bars and hotel rooms to make sense of our lives and to discuss our plans to return home. Some booked trains, others contemplated buying used cars, because rentals were sold out.

The festival continued the next day, and I dutifully returned to watch films in consideration for the upcoming San Francisco International Film Festival.

In Praise of Love, the newest from Jean-Luc Godard) was shot in two halves: black -and-white and color. The film is an engaging assessment of questions about life, the world and politics, although a few jabs at American culture (or lack thereof as presumed by Godard) seemed insensitive the day after the attack. Manoel de Oliveira’s I’m Going Home (also from France) is the fascinating journey of a well known actor (Michel Piccoli) whose wife, daughter and son-in-law have been killed in a car accident. Initially devastated, he is drawn back into the world by his grandson and the theater.

In Safety of Objects from new director Rose Troche Glenn Close gives an Oscar-worthy performance. This ensemble piece also stars Dermot Mulroney, Moira Kelly and Mary Kay Place. Set in a posh suburban neighborhood, the film interweaves the lives of four families struggling to crawl out from a past tragedy. All About Lily Chou-Chou, by Shunji Iwai, is an intensely expansive, moody, moving and highly original portrayal of Japanese youth growing up and communicating in the numbness of the Internet age.

Time Out by Laurent Cantent (Human Resources) is one of the grand prize winners at Venice. This brilliant film is an absorbing human drama of a man whose life takes an unforeseen turn when he loses his job and continues as if it never happened. The Indian film Lagaan directed by Ashutosh Gowariker was produced by Indian superstar Aamir Khan (the leading man in Deepha Mehta’s Earth). It marries the conventions of Bollywood with Hollywood-style narrative structure. It’s full of fabulous songs and crazy comedy and runs at a bladder-bursting length: All the ingredients that make Indian cinema a distinct viewing experience.

In Samsara, directed by Pan Nalin, a young monk devoted to the religious life since age five has just completed a three-year meditation. With his awakening he finds himself experiencing profound sexual feelings. The film is an ambitious tale of spiritual pursuit set against the breathtaking views of the Himalayas augmented with luscious CinemaScope photography.

The Israeli film Late Marriage, directed by Dover Kosashvili, is an intense exploration of unyielding cultural traditions and the devastating control they can exert over relationships. The film revolves around Zaza, an unmarried 30-year-old. He humors his parents as they expound on their desire for him to marry one of many eligible twentysomething virgins. When they discover that he has been carrying on a long-term affair with a 34-year-old Moroccan divorcée (who also has a six-year-old daughter), the stage is set for the ultimate conflict.

The preceding is what I managed to salvage from my trip to Toronto. And, by the way, I did finally make it back to Seattle via a flight to Vancouver and a rental car trek across the border. Further adventures to be continued . . . in San Francisco.