film recommendations from TIFF'09

I just spent the past week at the Toronto International Film Festival. This is a really quick list of films I saw & my impressions.
You can look up the basic blurb on these & other films at http://tiff.net

Excellent:

Creation (aka Nature) -- bio of Charles Darwin during the period he was writing Origin of Species; picked up by Canadian distributor but USA distributors a bit cagey owing to fears of reaction from "religious right" (hey, it's all good publicity) -- this is great & I plan to see it again

The Road -- good adaptation of the post-apocalyptic Cormac McCarthy novel; Viggo Mortensen carries this one & does a great job; bleak of course but not totally unbearable; may be a bit difficult emotionally for parents of young children; even better on the second viewing

Chloe -- Atom Egoyan's latest & one of his best; widespread audience reaction at end was "holy shit!"; excellent cast, story, directing

Pretty Good:

Harry Brown -- Michael Caine is excellent as an elderly vigilante in the London projects; a bit too gory for my usual taste

Up In The Air -- not your usual Hollywood treatment; George Clooney & supporting cast are very good

Whip It -- coming of age meets roller derby; purely entertaining, nothing profound here; it's fun

The Invention of Lying -- great premise, well done, perhaps a little dragged out but good overall, especially if you enjoy Ricky Gervais

A Single Man -- it's obvious why Colin Firth won the acting accolade at Venice for this one; adapted from an Isherwood story

OK:

Bright Star -- bio of John Keats (he's dead by age 25 so you know this can't end well); Jane Campion can do better than this

Don't waste your money:

Leaves of Grass -- pure shite, don't bother; waste of a good cast; degenerates into something similar to Straw Dogs (remember that piece of crap?)

Like I said, a pretty good festival -- 9 of 10 films were OK or better. There was only one I'd have walked out of if I wasn't boxed in the middle of a row.

TIFF is a fun festival, one of the few truly accessible to the filmgoing public. While their ticketing system is truly arcane & frustrating with it, once you clear that hurdle the event itself is great. This was my 5th year attending with a friend, & I recommend it to anyone who loves films. The chance to hear director & cast in Q&A sessions is unique. There are plenty of associated free events & of course Toronto has a plethora of galleries, museums, restaurants &c to add to the general enjoyment.

Added to which we had great weather!