By day two of the Toronto International Film Festival, one can almost smell the champagne in the air.
It’s right around now that everybody coming into town for the festival has arrived and started making the rounds. So if the timing of TIFF isn’t enough to make one feel like it’s the first week back at school, then the moments spent reuniting with old friends certainly is.
My day began at The Art Gallery of Ontario for Mark Cousins’ A Story of Children and Film.
You might recall yesterday that I described the documentary feature as a sixteenth chapter to Cousins’ The Story of Film. That description was actually incorrect – deeply incorrect. The film – which is every bit as joyous, insightful, and airy as advertised – is not designed as an encyclopedia of great performances by juvenile actors. Rather, it’s a look at the very nature of childhood, and uses a litany of examples from worldwide film history to make its point. By taking this approach, Cousins’ has created something that transcends. It’s not a text book meant to appeal to film scholars, but a reflection on the very nature of childhood, that can be appreciated by any mother, father, aunt, uncle, or other adult familiar with the habits of kids.
The small surprise for anyone who has been spending time with Cousins’ A Story of Film, is how energetic and bouncy he is. The man of the stoic narration with the Irish lilt was nowhere to be found when this film finished. Instead, the man with the mic was joyous, impish, and infectious.
As suppertime arrived in Toronto, it brought with it a replay of a familiar song. At TIFF 2012, Jason Reitman held a Live Read of Alan Ball’s script for American Beauty. The event – a continuation of a series that has been staging in Los Angeles and New York – was so well-received, that Reitman decided to do it again at TIFF 2013.
This year’s selection: Boogie Nights, continuing the theme of films that had their launch at TIFF in years gone by.
The cast of characters assembled for this experiment went as follows:
— Jesse Eisenberg as Dirk Diggler (Mark Whalberg in the original film)
— Josh Brolin as Jack Horner (Burt Reynolds)
— Olivia Wilde as Amber Waves (Olivia Wilde)
— Dakota Fanning as Rollergirl (Heather Graham)
— Dane Cook as Reed Rothchild (John C. Reilly)
— Jason Sudeikis as Buck Swope (Don Cheadle)
Various additional roles were played by Jarod Einsohn, Marc-Andre Grondin, Jordan Hayes, and Scott Thompson.
While the full-house gathered at The Ryerson Theatre was shown a good time, and voiced their approval on multiple occasions, one couldn’t help but feel that this event was a little off from what had transpired last year.
For starters, the cast assembled didn’t quite feel like a starting nine; more like three choice selections and then whoever was available on Friday night. But that said, some surprises were in-store. Specifically, one couldn’t help but be impressed with what Olivia Wilde brought to the table (both as Amber and as Dirk’s mom), and at the pure amount of fun Sudeikis and Cook were having with the material.
That said, while he gave a valiant effort, and hit the right note now and then, it was painfully obvious that the character of Dirk Diggler requires a certain amount of boyish charm, and that it’s not an arrow Eisenberg has in his quiver. What’s more, as the night wore on, it became apparent that there are a lot of things that make Boogie Nights such a special film – things beyond its script. After a while, their absence was felt more and more.
While the event gave audience a decent amount of bang for their buck, one wonders if Reitman now wishes that he’d chosen a different script, different actors, or both.
By the time night fell on day two, word was ringing out about the rousing debut 12 Years a Slave had had on Friday night.
That ringing was enough to leave (ahem) certain people super-stoked that Steve McQueen’s new film was the top ticket on the stack for day three.
