TIFF!

One of the perks of living where i do is being able to make my way each year to The Toronto International Film Festival. It's a great way to see movies that i might otherwise not get to see for a long time (if ever). In the past I've gotten to see such great films as The Drop, Still The Water, The World of Kanako, and even the North American premiere of Hayao Miyazaki's The Wind Rises. Sometimes you see things like The Drop, which was in theatres locally barely a month after TIFF. Other films like Still the Water, still haven't been released anywhere in the world with English subtitles, so I feel super lucky that i got to see it.

This year I got tickets to 4 films, and hopefully I'll be able to make all the showings. First up is tomorrow where i have a ticket to see Hirokazu Koreeda's latest film Our Little Sister. Koreeda's films have sadly not found their way to North America often enough, or with enough care. The Criterion Collection released the excellent Still Walking, but films like Like Father, Like Son just end up getting a bare bones DVD only release in states. A lot of his other films can only be acquired as DVD only releases from other territories. Hopefully this trend reverses sooner rather than later.

On Monday night i hope to see a double feature, including Sion Sono's Whispering Star. This might be the film I'm most excited about as Sono is the type of director who can pull off almost any genre of film, and is always able to surprise you. Some of his films I love, and others I'm much cooler on, but I'm always glad I've watched another of his films. There can never be too many Sion Sono films in my collection (and considering he's already directed 7 films in 2015, it will be a long time before i have them all).

Rounding out my Monday night is a super interesting looking film called Imbisibol about undocumented Filipino workers in Japan working jobs under the table.

My final film of the festival will be next Sunday as i start my vacation. Naomi Kawase's latest, An. Every time i read a review of a Kawase film at a film festival it always gets ripped about, but I've enjoyed both films (Still The Water, and The Mourning Forest) that I've seen by her. I guess no likes her films except me and the festival programmers?