海角大神

Where else but in Canada would a world-class film festival feature a hockey musical for its opening night gala?

The enjoyably clunky 鈥淪core鈥� was, however, something of a red herring for the Toronto International Film Festival, which screens approximately 300 movies in 11 days and previews everything from Hollywood Oscar bait to the Finnish-English-Russian-Swedish entry, 鈥淟aplander鈥檚 Odyssey.鈥�

鈥淩ainer鈥檚 Odyssey,鈥� as I am tempted to call my cinema sojourn in the Great White North, has taken in 20 of those 300 movies thus far 鈥� the festival wraps this weekend 鈥� and encompassed manifold meet-and-greets. Racing up and down the long avenues en route to innumerable screenings, I have become an adept practitioner of parkour.

What you see as you whiz by is sometimes as entertaining as the films themselves. Is that Martin Sheen on a picket line of disgruntled hotel workers? (Yes.) Is the geeky guy encased in his entourage Bill Gates? (Yes.) Is that mega-bearded dude really Joaquin Phoenix? (Maybe not. A press release from a company called Nuclear Lounge Media stated that 鈥淔ans are being tricked and disillusioned by a fraud who arrives by limousine and is accompanied by a massive entourage of security and scantily clad groupies.鈥�)

Bruce Springsteen, perpetually black-leather-jacketed, is in town along with his singer wife, Patti Scialfa, for the hero-worshippy but fascinating documentary 鈥淭he Promise: The Making of 鈥楧arkness on the Edge of Town.鈥� 鈥� As part of the festival鈥檚 鈥淢avericks鈥� chat series, Springsteen revealed to chat mate Edward Norton, also in basic black, that his 20-something children aren鈥檛 interested in seeing him perform. 鈥淲hy would any kid want to come and see thousands cheer their parents? They鈥檇 rather see thousands boo their parents.鈥�

Fun guy Woody Allen, at a press conference for his soon-to-be-released new OK movie 鈥�You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger,鈥� was similarly upbeat. 鈥淚鈥檒l be 75 in a couple of months and I do see myself as being waning and decrepit. For me, it gets worse and worse: I see absolutely no advantage in aging. It鈥檚 total annihilation with no hope of resurrection.鈥�

On a brighter note, Keanu Reeves, in town to promote the romantic caper movie 鈥淗enry鈥檚 Crime,鈥� said he might be up for a sequel to 鈥淏ill and Ted鈥檚 Bogus Journey鈥� 鈥� but 鈥渙nly if they come up with a good script.鈥� Reeves was often mobbed by the public in what, in the trade, is now referred to as a 鈥渃luster grope.鈥�

The reliably cranky Mike Leigh was in fine form at the public screening of his mostly terrific new film 鈥淎nother Year.鈥� I always look forward to his meltdowns when confronted with dumb postscreening audience questions. A few years ago, at the Q-and-A for 鈥淗appy-Go-Lucky,鈥� a woman wanted him to fill her in on what she missed when she ducked into the ladies鈥� room. (His reaction is unprintable.) This year, someone asked him why 鈥淎nother Year鈥� had to end sadly. 鈥淲ell,鈥� he responded, with a look that would wither granite, 鈥渨e were going to have a happy ending with elephants and monkeys but we ran out of money.鈥�

Werner Herzog, with whom I had dinner, is another famous festival character. His new movie, 鈥�Cave of Forgotten Dreams,鈥� is about the 30,000-plus-year-old cave paintings in Chauvet-Pont-d鈥橝rc in southern France, and it鈥檚 in 3-D! It鈥檚 a remarkable experience. The 3-D brings out the curvatures in the caves so that the charcoal drawings of horses and rhinos and, in one case, a female torso, have a roiling monumentality. These are not only the first-known drawings by humans, they are also, in a sense, the first movies.

Herzog being Herzog, he also manages to work in a digression about twin albino alligators, which his executive producer has suggested is in the movie so that the great director, who also narrates the film, could intone the word 鈥渄oppelg盲nger鈥� on the soundtrack.

The distinction between documentary and fiction, between 鈥渟ubjective鈥� and 鈥渙bjective,鈥� is never clear-cut, least of all with Herzog, who for his entire career has shuttled back and forth between filmic forms. He tells me about the time he confronted a viewer who claimed that documentarians should be like 鈥渁 fly on the wall.鈥� 鈥淣o,鈥� he replied, 鈥渨e should be the hornets who come out and sting!鈥�

I was yanked away from the worldly otherworldliness of Herzog鈥檚 film by Davis Guggenheim鈥檚 documentary 鈥�Waiting for Superman,鈥� about America鈥檚 failing public school system. Guggenheim wants to do for education reform what his 鈥淎n Inconvenient Truth,鈥� at least in theory, did for climate change reform. He has Bill Gates, who is interviewed in the documentary and thinks it 鈥減owerful,鈥� in his corner. But Guggenheim鈥檚 denigration of teachers unions and his starry-eyed appraisal of charter schools brought forth a mass e-mail to journalists from American Federation of Teachers president Randi Weingarten, who writes, 鈥淚s America ready to settle for a good education 鈥� for the few? That鈥檚 the unfortunate takeaway from [the film].鈥�

Just in case Canadians are blas茅 about education reform 鈥� according to a 2006 international survey, Canada ranked 5th among 30 developed nations in teen proficiency in math and science while the United States ranked 25th 鈥� the film鈥檚 producer, Lesley Chilcott, told a panel audience: 鈥淢y understanding is things are starting to slip here.鈥� Cue the creepy music.

This was the year when the festival finally unveiled its new year-round home, Bell Lightbox, after a decade of promises and fundraising pitches and hard-hat tours. A five-story downtown complex set beneath a 42-story residential development, it features a three story atrium, twin escalators leading up to five public cinemas, two galleries, three learning studios, a bistro, a restaurant, and a lounge. Everything, it seems, but a heliport. And it all has that new-building smell. A temporary installation features a flurry of split-second clips from 100 鈥渆ssential鈥� movies ranging from 鈥淭he Passion of Joan of Arc鈥� (No. 1) to 鈥淧laytime (No. 100). Robert De Niro鈥檚 cabbie鈥檚 license, dating from the penurious days when he was a taxi driver instead of just playing one, is enshrined in a glass case. All in all, a movie nut鈥檚 mecca.

My favorite mishap at the festival: Jean-Luc Godard鈥檚 talky 鈥�Film Socialisme鈥� was screened without much in the way of English-language subtitles. Since for decades his movies have been incomprehensible with English-language subtitles, I didn鈥檛 see what the fuss was about.

My favorite movie star encounter: chatting over dinner with Colin Firth, who plays the famously stuttering King George VI in the marvelous 鈥淭he King鈥檚 Speech鈥� (out in December). He said of the king, 鈥淗e would rather have faced machine-gun fire than a microphone.鈥� Geoffrey Rush plays the speech therapist, Lionel Logue, who saved him.

Firth is a fixture in Toronto and a babe magnet for women of a certain age 鈥� of any age, actually. He seems to have finally shucked the Mr. Darcy vibe that saddled him as surely as Gandhi鈥檚 once saddled Ben Kingsley. For all that, he remains impeccably well-mannered. I have no doubt he would be unfailingly polite even to twin albino alligators.