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Tim Blake Nelson Returns Home in 'Leaves of Grass'

By Soraya Roberts (Subscribe to Soraya Roberts's posts), Posted Sep 15th 2009 2:30PM
Filed under: Toronto Film Festival, Reviews

You have not known what you are; you have slumber'd upon yourself all your life,
Your eyelids have been the same as closed most of the time,
What you have done returns already in mockeries,
(Your thrift, knowledge, prayers, if they do not return in mockeries, what is their return?)
The mockeries are not you,
Underneath them and within them I see you lurk,
I pursue you where none else has pursued you...

-Walt Whitman, 'Leaves of Grass'


Keri Russell's character quotes the above passage to Edward Norton's buttoned down professor in Tim Blake Nelson's new film, 'Leaves of Grass.' Norton stars as a pair of twins: Billy, a classics professor who has abandoned his Oklahoma roots for the Ivy League; and Buddy, a small-time pot grower who basks in the clichéd hockey-haired idiocy of his hometown. The film takes off when the former returns home for the first time in years when his brother tricks him into helping to take down a local drug lord.

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Fear and Loathing in Tokyo: Gaspar Noe on 'Enter the Void'

By Soraya Roberts (Subscribe to Soraya Roberts's posts), Posted Sep 13th 2009 10:30PM
Filed under: Celebrity Interviews, Features, Toronto Film Festival

It seems fitting that Gaspar Noe's latest film would have a warning sign outside the theatre. This is the director whose 2002 release, 'Irreversible,' included a graphic 9-minute rape scene that caused critics to walk out of the screening. This time, the warning is not for pornography but for the strobe lights that act as a theme throughout 'Enter the Void.'


"It also goes out of focus, you think that you are losing your sight and it's impossible to fix," Noe says while in Toronto for this year's Toronto International Film Festival. "That's just playing with the audience."

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Together Forever and Never to Part: Filmmakers and Their Muses

By Soraya Roberts (Subscribe to Soraya Roberts's posts), Posted Sep 11th 2009 12:00PM
Filed under: Toronto Film Festival, Hot Topic
With Pedro Almodovar's 'Broken Embraces,' this year's Toronto Film Festival marks the fourth collaboration between the Spanish director and Penelope Cruz. But while this duo may be the most demonstrative partnership in film, it certainly is not the most prolific. From France's Isabelle Huppert and Claude Chabrol to the US' Martin Scorsese and Robert DeNiro, modern film overflows with filmmakers and their muses. To celebrate the Canadian premiere of 'Broken Embraces,' we pick the top ten pairings in cinema.
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Why Lars Von Trier's 'Antichrist' Is Not Misogynistic

By Soraya Roberts (Subscribe to Soraya Roberts's posts), Posted Sep 9th 2009 2:01PM
Filed under: Toronto Film Festival, Hot Topic, Reviews
It's easy to understand why the name Lars Von Trier sets off the ire of countless feminists. If you look at them a certain (incredibly narrow) way, the Danish director's films can be distilled into one big pile of woman-hating celluloid. In 'Breaking the Waves', Emily Watson stars as a woman whose husband becomes paralyzed and encourages her to sleep with other men; in 'Dogville,' Nicole Kidman's character is raped and enslaved; and in 'Dancer in the Dark,' Bjork plays a woman who is slowly going blind and eventually falsely accused of a crime she did not commit.

The actresses who have worked alongside Von Trier often attest to his bizarre relationship with women. Kidman famously asked the director why he hates women, while Bjork was so disturbed on set that she began to consume her own sweater. All that highly negative press is probably what led to Von Trier hiring a misogyny specialist for his latest film, 'Antichrist.' But he needn't have bothered. Anyone in their right mind (i.e. none of the characters in the film) would realize this movie is not about men or women, at all, but about the repercussions of depression.

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Meet the Women Behind 'Jennifer's Body'

By Soraya Roberts (Subscribe to Soraya Roberts's posts), Posted Sep 8th 2009 12:20PM
Filed under: Features, Toronto Film Festival, Cheat Sheet


The most buzz-worthy horror film at the Toronto film festival (and in Hollywood as a whole) is 'Juno' scribe Diablo Cody's newest project, the teen horror comedy 'Jennifer's Body.' In spite of its meat-headed execs and testosterone-laden talent, Tinseltown has finally produced a project that has a wholly feminine bite. Here's a guide to the gals who will be delivering that pom-pom wielding gut punch.

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Midriffs Scare Stiff at TIFF

By Soraya Roberts (Subscribe to Soraya Roberts's posts), Posted Sep 8th 2009 12:08PM
Filed under: Features


Every year, black-clad vampire-loving nighthawks of the underworld come out in droves for the Toronto film festival's Midnight Madness program. The aptly-titled sub-section of TIFF has boasted entries by the likes of Quentin Tarantino (his break-through feature 'Reservoir Dogs'), Eli Roth (director of 'Cabin Fever' and 'Inglourious Basterds' star) and fest favourite, George A. Romero ('Night of the Living Dead'). This year's line-up proves to be the strongest and most female-driven in years, so get ready for some estrogen-pumped frights.
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The Buzziest Films at TIFF 2009

By Soraya Roberts (Subscribe to Soraya Roberts's posts), Posted Sep 8th 2009 12:05PM
Filed under: Features
From September 10 to 19, thousands of media and industry peeps will be descending on the Toronto International Film Festival to get a taste of Hollywood's upcoming horn of plenty. But how does one know what exactly to see? With hundreds of screenings and handfuls of programs spread at your feet, planning what to see can be a daunting task. So, we have handpicked the sure things at this year's fest - those films that have already caused waves at previous festivals and premieres internationally. With this guide in hand, you won't be disappointed.
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