So as the title of this post suggests, today I found myself thankful for the chance to take a breath amongst all of this running around town. Not to say that I’m not enjoying myself (since I surely am)…just that by the end of the day yesterday I found myself a touch weary. With only one screening today, I’m enjoying the chance to recharge and get ready for the final four day push.

Monday began by watching SUPER with Courtney from Small Mind. If I haven’t said this yet, allow me to now – I am truly lucky to have made so many moviegoing friends as it has made this festival especially fun. As you might or might not have heard by now, Courtney and I took a moment and parlayed our thoughts on SUPER into a podcast – which also includes a short conversation with SUPER director James Gunn.


The day then took me to 127 HOURS, which as you now know I loved. Speaking of friends I caught a lucky bounce as it was looking like I’d be watching this alone, until my new volunteer friend showed up and was nice enough to wait in the ticketholders line with me and shoot the breeze on movies and TV. Once the screening was done, there was a rather lively and brief Q&A with director Danny Boyle. This is the third time I’ve been witness to one of his TIFF conversations, and if I have my way I won’t miss any of his future ones. The guy is really lively, and indeed quite gracious when it comes to interacting with fans.

From there it was on to a mid-festival pub night. It brought back a memory or two actually, as TIFF was where the pub night idea began two festivals ago. It was certainly great to catch up with everyone, meet some new folks, and raise a glass…or four.

After a night’s sleep to sober up, we find ourselves on Tuesday which began with Julian Schnabel’s MIRAL. I got a bit of a laugh where my MIRAL experience was concerned. See, I was trying to rally up with Matthew Price from MAMO for this screening, but there was no sign of him as the lights went down. After the screening, I got a message “Overslept – didn’t make it to MIRAL”. Matthew, in case you didn’t know, is trying to squeeze in over sixty movies. Think I’m nuts for doing 21? I point you to exhibit A.

The afternoon took me to LET ME IN which was a fun watch (one where I caught up with yet another old friend), but one that left me perplexed as there were an inordinate number of empty seats. My guess is that most people who come to TIFF are deep lovers of LET THE RIGHT ONE IN, and thus already predisposed to stay away – or stay away during the festival anyway.

After a brief stop home to recharge, I was off to my late show BALADA TRISTE, which took me to The Scotiabank Theatre for the first time. It’s here where the weariness caught up with me as I found myself drifting in and out of sleep while waiting for the movie to begin. Must have been snoozing pretty soundly as I didn’t even notice James and Sasha take their seats three rows behind me.

The weariness really didn’t go away, as I was fighting to stay awake through what was a really wild film.

Oh well…at the very least it all led to a good night’s sleep, and a renewed vigour for the last few days.