TORONTO ‘08 | “Still Walking,” “Goodbye Solo,” “The Wrestler” Tops With TIFF Critics, Bloggers

Frequent indieWIRE writer Anthony Kaufman noted, “This year’s fest was actually one of the better that I can remember. The fest’s premieres usually don’t hold a candle to Cannes’, and while I can’t say anything was utterly transformative, I saw a solid batch of films. Even those that tested my patience.”

a scene from Ramin Bahrani’s “Goodbye Solo.” Photo courtesy of the Toronto International Film Festival.

“I was more than happy with the ratio of good to bad that I saw here, but it’s telling that I first saw the film I named as my absolute favorite of the fest in the market at Cannes four months ago,” noted Karina Longworth from Spout.com. “Of the three films that seemed to monopolize conversations during the fest—‘The Wrestler,’ ‘The Hurt Locker,’ and ‘Rachel Getting Married’—all premiered first in Venice.” And citing a lack of new would be Oscar contenders in Toronto, she added, “If the professional prognosticators aren’t going to pick their horses here, where will they find them? Has the mystery “There Will Be Blood” slot at Fantastic Fest suddenly become that much more important?”

“I usually try to steer away from films with distribution and aim to discover those foreign gems that’ll never get released in the States,” explained Peter Debruge from Variety. “This year, my instincts failed me—or maybe the offerings were just more disappointing. At any rate, I didn’t come away from Toronto feeling like I’d seen anything transcendental, whereas, on a good year, I can expect to have that reaction two or three times during the fest.”

“A good year, not a great one,” said Peter Howell from The Toronto Star. “TIFF is a festival in transition that needs to reexamine its misson.”

“Overall a perfectly fine festival, I thought,” concluded A.O. Scott from The New York Times, “I don’t quite get why people seem to be complaining about it. As always, I found it a good mix of high-profile stuff I’ll have to see anyway and smaller movies it would be a shame to miss.”

TIFF ‘08 SURVEY RESULTS:

BEST FILM
“Still Walking,” directed by Hirokazu Kore-Eda (16 points)
“Goodbye Solo,” directed by Ramin Bahrani (13)
“The Wrestler,” directed by Darren Aronofsky (13)
“35 Rhums, directed by Claire Denis (11)
“Summer Hours,” directed by Olivier Assayas (10)
“The Hurt Locker,” directed by Kathryn Bigelow (10)
“Treeless Mountain,” directed by So Yong Kim (10)
“Slumdog Millionaire,” directed by Danny Boyle (9)
“Rachel Getting Married,” directed by Jonathan Demme (9)
“Hunger,” directed by Steve McQueen (8)

BEST PERFORMANCE
Mickey Rourke in “The Wrestler” (29)
Christian McKay in “Me and Orson Welles” (18)
Souleymane Sy Savane in “Goodbye Solo” (15)
Anne Hathaway in “Rachel Getting Married” (10)
Jeremy Renner in “The Hurt Locker” (10)

BEST DOCUMENTARY
“Les Plages d’Agnes,” directed by Agnes Varda (14)
“Soul Power,” directed by Jeffrey Levi-Hinte (13)
“Of Time and the City,” directed by Terence Davies (11)
“Every Little Step,” directed by Adam Del Deo and James D. Stern (10)
“Waltz with Bashir,” directed by Ari Folman (9)
“A Time to Stir,” directed by Paul Cronin (9)

CRITERIA: Critics and bloggers were asked to list their top three choices in each category—best film, best performance and best documentary. First choice selections were given three points, second choice received two points and third choice received one point.

SURVEY PARTICIPANTS:
Thelma Adams |  John Anderson |  Melissa Anderson, Time Out New York  |  David Ansen, Newsweek |  Sean Axmaker, website  |  Marjorie Baumgarten, Austin Chronicle  |  Peter Debruge, Variety |  Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun Times  |  Cheryl Eddy, San Francisco Bay Guardian  |  Howard Feinstein |  Scott Foundas, LA Weekly  |  Pam Grady | Tom Hall, The Back Row Manifesto  |  Eugene Hernandez, indieWIRE  |  Peter Howell, Toronto Star |  Anthony Kaufman, indieWIRE  |  Ben Kenigsberg, Time Out Chicago  |  Peter Knegt, indieWIRE  |  Eric Kohn, indieWIRE |  Michael Koresky, Reverse Shot  |  Gary Kramer |  Eric Lavallee, Ion Cinema)  |  Dennis Lim, Moving Image Source  |  Michael Lerman, indieWIRE  |  Karina Longworth, Spout  |  Scott Macaulay, Filmmaker Magazine |  Steve Ramos, indieWIRE |  B. Ruby Rich, SF360  |  Joshua Rothkopf, Time Out New York  |  AO Scott, New York Times |  Ella Taylor, LA Weekly  |  Keith Uhlich, The House Next Door  |  Kim Voynar, Cinematical