O, TO be in Canada/Now that Fall is there

The summer is drawing to an end and as September approaches a young man’s fancy lightly turns to thoughts of film. That’s right the Toronto Film Festival announced its 2002 Schedule this week and all over North America film lovers with disposable income were anxiously awaiting the FedEx delivery man.

This rite of Fall consists of the arrival via overnight delivery of a Film Program guide as thick as the old Sears Wish Book Christmas Catalog and a Schedule booklet with more possible permutations than the Power Ball Multi-State Lottery. Luckily almost all of the possible combinations in Toronto are winners.

Still, Wednesday morning Festival Pass holders were pouring over the film schedule like race track punters studying the Racing Form looking to bet the housekeeping on the Trifecta.

I have participated in this ritual myself, but this year I will have to take my chances with the box office and the rush lines (with a little help from my friends), since I have no Pass and will only be going for a four day weekend. Still I look forward to many delightful hours in the dark.

Some Highlights of this years festival that I am especially excited about:

Hayao Mizaki’s Spirited Away. The new animated film by the greatest director of animated films ever. Probably my favorite Toronto memory was attending the screening of Princess Mononoke at the 1999 Toronto Film Festival at the Elgin Theatre with Miyazaki there to present his masterpiece. The audience erupted into a spontaneous and heartfelt standing ovation and he humbly accepted the love. No one went away disappointed by Princess Mononoke and Spirited Away is said to be an even greater film.

Bowling For Columbine. Michael Moore takes on America’s obsession with guns in another docu-comedy that blew away audiences in Cannes.

The Quiet American. Philip Noyce’s adaptation of Graham Greene’s precient classic about French and American involvement in Southeast Asia. Post 9/11 jingoism may make it impossible to release this film, critical of American foreign policy, in the States. See it in Canada where they love stuff that makes America look stupid. One of two new films from director Noyce.

Rabbit-Proof Fence: Also directed by Philip Noyce and starring Kenneth Branagh. Based on the true account of three Australian Aborigine girls trying to escape from the British by traveling over 1000 miles of the Australian outback. Their only guide is to follow the rabbit-proof fence built to keep the rabbits (brought by the British) from overrunning the countryside.

Heaven: New film by Tom Tykwer director of Run, Lola, Run based on a script by Krystof Kieslowski writer/director of The Decalogue and the Trois Colouers Trilogie.

Bubba-Ho-Tep: One of the Midnight Madness films. Features Bruce Campbell (of Evil Dead fame) as Elvis, not dead but in a nursing home in Texas where an ancient mummy is sucking the souls from the residents. Elvis teams with a wheelchair-bound resident (Ossie Davis) who believes he is John F. Kennedy, and the geriatric duo devises a plan to blast the Egyptian monster back to the sands from whence it came.

The Trials of Henry Kissinger: In a documentary, inspired by Christopher Hitchens's eponymous book, producer Alex Gibney and filmmaker Eugene Jarecki detail Kissinger's war crimes and crimes against humanity. Hitchens is already well know for his attacks on Princess Diana and Mother Theresa. Kissinger should make a much easier target.

Shaolin Soccer: A Hong Kong Kung Fu Action Comedy directed by its star Chinese comedy sensation Stephen Chow. Using high flying martial arts wire work and state of the art CGI the Shaolin brothers apply the art of Kung Fu to the sport of soccer to defeat the Superhuman Evil Team assembled by soccer kingpin Hung.

Real Women Have Curves: A warm and funny chick flick that was a big hit with Sundance audiences. With a talented and primarily Hispanic cast. Based on a stage play by Josefina Lopez, and directed by first time director Patricia Cardosa.

Personal Velocity: Three stories of three women (played by Kyra Sedgewick, Parker Posey, and Fairuza Balk) are subtly and playfully intertwined by director Rebecca Miller. Her screenplay is based on her own eponymous (its a good day when you can use the word "eponymous" twice in a single blog posting) book of short stories. Her first feature Angela was a haunting family story of a single mother, her two daughters and angels.

Well that is just the first weekend and those ten films are just the tip of a very big iceberg. Ten films would be a good number to shoot for in a three day festival binge, since after all in Toronto there are many great bookstores to wile away your time and money as well.