Screening Toronto: And We're Off!

Brian De Palma

By S.T. VanAirsdale

Some of today's New York movie news of note from around the Toronto International Film Festival:

--I know what you're thinking: "New York movie news of note from... what?" You'd better believe it. While it may not be the parallel NYC film universe of Sundance or the aggressively urban monolith of Tribeca, the Toronto Film Festival is the most important in North America and features no fewer than 30 New York films and filmmakers among this year's selections. Sure, that accounts for less than 10 percent of its total program, but it's plenty to keep The Reeler busy for the next five days. Look for ReelerTV coming up and a bunch more news from the industry front.

--We might as well start with Brian De Palma, whose graphic Iraq War mashup Redacted arrives at TIFF with a trail of controversy and supposition following its Venice premiere. The film is also en route to the New York Film Festival in October, but The NYT's Virginia Heffernan is already swiping at it with her media-critical brush. "(T)he mainstream media had qualms about the images because they were too violent for network TV, and not because they might turn audiences antiwar," she writes, responding to De Palma's recent allegations in Editor and Publisher. "It’s not clear whether this fact dampens Mr. De Palma’s insinuations about media complicity in a would-be cover-up, but it’s worth noting." Thanks anyway, Virginia, but your Washington bureau can (and should) defend itself just fine on its own.

--ThinkFilm made the first official buy of the fest, picking up the Italian import My Brother is an Only Child for North America. Think was the film's international sales agent as well; I hope it cut itself a good deal.

--This week in The Voice, Nathan Lee's TIFF preview contemplates forks in the critical road: "Kick back for the same old, same old with a new Woody Allen flick (Cassandra’s Dream) or brace for Takashi Miike’s possibly excellent, potentially intolerable Sukiyaki Western Django?" As if Allen handling Colin Farrell wasn't itself some recondite revulsion straight out of the goriest Miike film. Tough call indeed.

Posted at September 6, 2007 7:05 AM