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Toronto: Feast on Film
| Article
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13800 |
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Section : |
THE ARTS
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| Issue
Date : |
12 / 1988 |
2,230 Words |
| Author
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Lawrence O''Toole
Lawrence O'Toole writes for Entertainment Weekly and other
national publications. |
Toronto seems, on first consideration, one of the most unlikely places for a major film festival. The squeaky-clean, aggressively consumer-oriented metropolis doesn't have the exotic appeal of European fests such as Cannes and Venice, the dangerous excitement of Miami, the ultrasophistication of New York, the mountain air of Telluride, or even the distinctive culture of Montreal.
And yet, this past fall the Toronto Festival of Festivals—now in its thirteenth year—proved itself to be increasingly one of the foremost international film festivals. Undeniably, it is the festival with the best party atmosphere, the flesh-and-fantasy marketplace of Cannes notwithstanding. It manages to be both serious and fun: 288 films in ten theaters for ten days hardly allows much opportunity for boredom.
The whole city seems to participate. Long queues prevail at nearly every showing. People (and even press) are turned away at some showings. The local newspaper gossip columnists are practically exhausted from dropping names. The stores along Bloor, aka Chrome and Steel Street, get into the act and devise window displays for the occasion. What distinguishes the Festival of Festivals from many others is a sense of occasion.
But any film festival is only as stimulating, provocative, and sophisticated (in other words, as good) as its films. Toronto was not lacking in quality or in quantity, though perhaps the festival needs fewer movies and more theaters to show them in. Being in Toronto was like being a child in a candy shop, suffering the almost paralyzing anxiety of having to choose among
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