{"id":1125,"date":"2012-09-18T21:56:41","date_gmt":"2012-09-19T02:56:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jenny-chan.com\/blog\/?p=1125"},"modified":"2012-09-18T22:10:09","modified_gmt":"2012-09-19T03:10:09","slug":"tiff12","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jenny-chan.com\/blog\/?p=1125","title":{"rendered":"TIFF12"},"content":{"rendered":"

Wrapped up another year at TIFF! I had a really great time at the film fest this year. Lots of great movies from Asia in my line up. I was lucky I got tickets to all my first choices. <\/p>\n

For the first weekend, I headed downtown on Saturday to watch the red carpet opening for Thermae Romae. Since I didn’t buy tickets to the gala, I had plenty of time to wait for the guests to arrive. I was really surprised by the amount of fans that were waiting by the gates when I got there. I had to stand way off to the side since there were so many people crowding around the entrance. Abe Hiroshi and Ueto Aya arrived shortly after and it was a frenzy with fans trying to get autographs and take photos. Both Abe and Ueto were really gracious and spent quite a bit of time with the fans. I was able to get some good shots from a distance. They stayed for about 10 minutes before finally making their way into the theatre. After the hype died down, I scooted over to the box office to pick up my tickets.<\/p>\n

\"Ueto<\/p>\n

I didn’t have a movie till much later that night, so I ended up spending about half a day wandering in T.O. I met up with Kari after her shift and we lazily hung around at her place. Actually I should mention we were both really sick that weekend, so we were pretty much just commiserating together. LOL.<\/p>\n

Anyway, my first real<\/em><\/strong> movie at TIFF was Stephen Fung’s Tai Chi 0. I was really looking forward to the movie mainly because of the director and its good looking<\/s> cast. Just from the trailers the stylization of the movie seemed very unique. I was pleasantly surprised by the use of graphics and animation. The acting was great and the action scenes were impressive as well. The story itself wasn’t as captivating, but I think it made up for it by the way it was told. Stephen also attended a Q&A session and it was really interesting to hear him talk about his thoughts behind the movie. I’m really hoping Part 2 will be shown in Toronto this year, but it seems highly unlikely. When someone in the audience asked him when the sequel will be released, he only replied with a “soon”. So reassuring Stephen. =P<\/p>\n

\"Tai<\/p>\n

My second movie at TIFF was on Sunday. We caught the second screening of Thermae Romae. Unfortunately Abe Hiroshi and Ueto Aya didn’t attend the screening, but I was happy to have seen them on the red carpet the day before. Thermae Romae was incredibly funny. I think Abe Hiroshi is the only actor who can look so cool sitting on a toilet. I wonder if the manga is as good as the live action.<\/p>\n

\"Thermae<\/p>\n

I took a break after the weekend and caught my third movie on Tuesday night. We went downtown to see Key of Life with Sakai Masato. I think it was my favourite movie at the film fest this year. The cast was stellar and the script was amazing. At the Q&A session afterwards, Director Uchida mentioned that he wrote a total of five scripts with the same characters. I thought it was brilliant the way the entire movie was setup. I hope the Japan release does well.<\/p>\n

\"Key<\/p>\n

My last two movies happened this past Sunday. I ended up seeing two movies about an hour apart. The first one was Dreams for Sale with Matsu Takako and Abe Sadao. The story seemed really intriguing when I read the synopsis but I was actually a little disappointed upon seeing it. The movie was a draggy and anti-climatic. The English translation seemed a little off to me and made the story seem more choppy than it was. The acting was great, but overall it didn’t seem to save the movie.<\/p>\n

I had about an hour before my last movie to grab a quick bite to eat then I was back in the theaters for Motorway with Shawn Yue. It’s been a really long time since I’ve seen a HK film but I must say I was impressed. The story was simple, but the action sequences were amazing. Of course Shawn Yue seem to fit these roles really well. I’m glad I ended my TIFF run with this film.<\/p>\n

\"Motorway\"<\/p>\n

Overall another great festival! I was really happy when they announced the first ever Asian Film Summit at TIFF. Too bad it was exclusively for industry people. However TIFF has been doing such a great job putting Toronto on the map. I think we’re finally being recognized as one of the biggest festivals in North America. It was really great to take part in the festival this year and I am already looking forward to next year. (^_^)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Wrapped up another year at TIFF! I had a really great time at the film fest this year. Lots of great movies from Asia in my line up. I was lucky I got tickets to all my first choices. For the first weekend, I headed downtown on Saturday to watch the red carpet opening for Thermae Romae. Since I didn’t buy tickets to the gala, I had plenty of time to wait for the guests to arrive. I was really…<\/p>\n

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