People keep asking me if I saw anything game-changing in Toronto.

And I have to say, “No.”

I saw some very good movies. Some of the better stuff I had already seen before the festival.

There were ten films at TIFF that I saw in Cannes. My favorites are Amour, The Hunt, No, and Rust & Bone. Strong, strong pieces that will have a presence in the US.

Harvey Weinstein is out front on The Sapphires, a classic audience film and quite enjoyable. Matteo Garrone’s Reality was, I think, one of the underrated films at Cannes. People were anticipating something more like his first international phenom, Gomorrah and got something quite different. Add to that, Europe’s Big Brother shows have a different place int he culture than ours in the US. I am also a fan of Ulrich Seidl’s demanding Paradise: Love, a movie about middle-aged women in search of something they are missing. A terrific conversation starter if nothing else for some. I am not a fan of Beyond The Hills, Laurence Always, or the pleasant but not so exciting The We & The I.

I saw two other TIFF titles I quite liked in Edinburgh, Scotland; Berberian Sound Studio and Pusher (UK version).

Also, outstanding titles from Sundance were The Sessions (formerly The Surrogate), and West of Memphis.

There are a dozen films that I am really upset about not seeing: The Act of Killing, Argo, The Attack, Cloud Atlas, Dangerous Liasons, The Iceman, Liar’s Autobiography: The Untrue Story Of Monty Python’s Graham Chapman, London – The Modern Babylon, The Pervert’s Guide to Ideology, The Place Beyond The Pines, Roman Polanski: Odd Man Out. To The Wonder.

Here, in alphabetical order, are my Top 13 of the 29 films I saw during (or just before) the festival itself…

Anna Karenina – I am not, generally, a Joe Wright fan. I think he’s gotten some nice performances from actors in the past, but has lost me on efforts at big style. Here, it’s big style from start to finish and i bought into it. Not everyone will. But I think there are enough people who will be pleased that it could well find a Best Picture slot at year’s end.

End of Watch – David Ayer’s best work feels a lot like Michael Mann’s work in downtown LA… but with better digital cameras. Strong performances, if a little familiar. But an audience pleaser… for people who don’t mind some blood and dirt and plenty of colorful language.

The Gatekeepers – Important, shocking, and fascinating. Dror Moreh gets the last 30 years of Shin Bet (Israel’s Secret Service) leaders to go on record and talk about the history of Israel and the Palestinians. Inspired by The Fog of War and a worthy follow-up.

Ginger & Rosa – One of those movies that a lot of people seem to hate. They’re wrong. It’s Potter’s most accessible film, a coming-of-age drama set in 60s London. The hjype has been around Elle Fanning, who is great in the film, but her other title-sharing half, Alice Englert, holds her own with style and the supporting cast is truly great, with the most surprising turns coming from Christina Hendricks and a stripped-down Annette Bening. Personally, I would love to see the movie about Bening’s character and her relationship with Oliver Platt and Tim Spall.

Looper – Rian Johnson’s best so far. He makes the complex simple and the simple a pleasure to watch. Of course, Joseph Gordon Levitt and Bruce Willis are not genetic matches… but as a director once told me, “Give me my fucking premise!” This is a wild idea that seems to make sense almost all the time. Solid, enjoyable movie movie.

The Master – I’ve written about this a lot. And there will surely be more. A somewhat inaccessible masterwork.

Mea Maxima Culpa – Alex Gibney is one of the great documentarians of this era. This time, he takes on the Roman Catholic Church, all the way up to The Pope. If Amy Berg’s Deliver Us From Evil and Kirby Dick’s Twist of Faith showed us the experience of this worldwide tragedy on a personal level of the victim and one hands-on victimizer, Gibney goes big picture, really nailing the institution that not only allowed this behavior, but to some degree, protected the abusers with full awareness.

On The Road – I didn’t see the Cannes cut, but I see this version – the release version – as a very youth-friendly, smart, passionate piece of history that is as modern as any rebellious teen/20something. It was expressed to me afterwards that this cut moves much faster than the previous one… and that matched my experience. The experience of being young is what drives the film, not a book or true life. Of course, the work of the actors is heavily influence by real life. Strong turns by the leading cast and a parade of great cameos, especially from Viggo and Amy Adams. And after all these people are talking about Steve Buscemi being perceived differently because of Boardwalk Empire, what until you see him in this…

The Perks of Being A Wallflower – A really good, smart coming-of-age movie. It’s all so familiar, yet all so fresh. Ezra Miller remains The Next Big Thing (who may not want it). Emma Watson continues to come of age before our eyes. I don’t quite get the boy-band stuff around Logan Lerman, but he’s a very solid center in this one. A movie you should see.

Seven Psychopaths – Martin McDonagh has expanded from two psychopaths to seven. Fun! It’s a pastry loaded to the edges with nuts. But a lot of fun. I might have tightened the film up a little bit, if I had my druthers. Leave them wanting more, I say. But there are a lot of weird angles and edges and surprising ideas that you’ll never see coming that make this film a really good time at the theater.

Silver Linings Playbook – David O. Russell returns to Flirting With Disaster territory and brings the stunning Jennifer Lawrence, the career-expanding Bradley Cooper, and the actually-acting Robert DeNiro along for the ride. This is going to be the non-rom-com rom-com of the year. Big audience movie. I give Lawrence a ton of credit on sheer on-screen presence that you never wonder for more than a second about the 15-year age difference. Weird, smart screenplay. I don’t know that it’s really a BP winner… but people are going to go in droves and have a great time.

Stories We Tell – Sarah Polley, one of the most private actresses in North America (directors are often equally press-shy), exposes her family’s romantic history/shenanigans/lies and bends the form known as documentary as well. A fascinating story well told.

What Maisie Knew – Another underdog movie that I really liked. Julianne Moore as the singer-songwriter-narcisist, Steve Coogan as her narcissist/estranged husband and Alexander Skarsgard and Joanna Vanderham as the adults dragged into and out of their wake. (Who is Vanderham? You’ll find out. She’s a keeper.) Of course, Maisie (Onata Aprile) is at the center, a six-year-old with a preternatural calm and something going on behind the eyes. Siegel & McGehee are two of my favorite filmmakers. They just seem to be able to find something in their films more without overselling or trying too hard. They had me interested in these people – any one of which on their own might be seen as a stock character – from start to finish.

And just for completion’s sake, here are the other titles I saw, 18 in all, with a lean positive or negative.

UP
Antiviral
The Bay
Byzantium
Great Expectations
Hotel Transylvania
The Impossible
A Royal Affair
Something In the Air
Sons of the Clouds
Storm Surfers 3D

NOT SO UP
Disconnect
Dredd 3D
Frances Ha
Hyde Park on The Hudson
A Late Quartet
Much Ado About Nothing
The Paperboy
Passion

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