We thought there were only 15 films opening in town this weekend. We were wrong. It turns out there are two more, both landing at the Cineplex Yonge-Dundas 24: the fashion documentary Jeremy Scott: The People’s Designer is playing two shows daily, and the Newfoundland comedy How To Be Deadly runs tonight (Friday September 25) through Monday (September 28) as part of its cross-country tour.
The Jeremy Scott doc is pretty much what we’ve come to expect from a contemporary fashion documentary – a parade of runway footage and celebrity cameos interspersed with clips of Scott at work and at home.
As with every other contemporary fashion documentary, it’s at its most interesting when it captures Scott trying to articulate his vision or get an idea just right. But if you’re not already invested in his story, it’s exactly like every other movie of its kind. Obligatory trip back to Kansas City to meet his parents and discuss his childhood: check. Exclusive interview with Scott shot artfully against a backdrop of TV monitors: check. Montage of fashion-show triumph set to recognizable opera music: check.
How To Be Deadly at least tries to do something different. An East Coast comedy about a would-be dirt bike champion who dreams of fortune and glory while being a general disaster, it’s the feature-film debut of Donnie Dumphy, a character created by St. John’s comic Leon Parsons for filmmaker Nik Sexton’s skateboard videos.
It plays a lot like an East Coast version of Mike Dowse’s legendary FUBAR, though with a slightly more poetic vision and a considerably more recognizable cast: Andy Jones, Cathy Jones, Greg Malone and Rick Mercer all turn up in cameos. I am led to understand that Parsons-as-Donnie will be present for a Q&A after the 7 pm screening tonight.
One of the best things about covering TIFF is that eventually I get to sit down with an actor or filmmaker I genuinely love this year, that was Wim Wenders, who came to the festival with his 3D drama Every Thing Will Be Fine. During our conversation, we discussed the World Cinema Foundation restorations of his work – but I had no idea they’d be playing in Toronto so soon.
In support of Wenders In The Cities, its ongoing exhibition of material from Wenders’s archives, the Goethe Institute is screening six of the director’s films at the TIFF Bell Lightbox – five of them newly restored.
It kicks off Monday (September 28) with Alice In The Cities at 6:30 pm (introduced by my friend and colleague Adam Nayman) and Wings Of Desire at 9 pm, continues Thursday (October 1) with The State Of Things at 6:30 pm and Land Of Plenty at 9:15 pm and wraps up on October 6 with Tokyo-Ga at 6:30 pm and Notebooks On Cities And Clothes at 9 pm.
Land Of Plenty is the only unrestored film, but it’s also the most recent – and it’s being screened in 35mm, so that’s nice. Admission is $10 per film, tickets available on the day of the screening at the Lightbox box office or by calling 1-888-599-8433.
Finally, a self-promotion alert: NOW has a booth at Sunday’s Word On The Street festival, as per tradition, and I will be sharing the 1 pm shift with staff news writer Jonathan Goldsbie. Booth 150! Come down and say hi!
