On Friday, our first movie wasn’t until 4:30. We got up, worked some, and then went to our second breakfast of the trip at The Senator.
I had eggs and toast and bacon; Mark had an omelet with onions and Comte cheese.
I took a photo of their glads to make try to make up for all the ones that I have not bought myself this summer , because the cats would just knock them down. I still feel deprived. There were two guys at the booth next to ours, and I thought they were an older and a younger brother – but they started discussing the 1938 Coke sign on the wall, and the younger one said, “1938 – that’s when my Dad was born.” The older guy maybe could’ve been 77 – a youthful 77. We played around at Eaton Centre, looking at expensive leather goods and soft sweatshirts at Roots, and then went back to the airbnb to work some more.
In the midst fo checking work emails we found out that one of our Saturday movies had been pulled from the Fest, the one with Johnny Depp – London Fields. There’s a legal dispute between the director and the production company. We didn’t think there was time to get to the box office to swap for something else, before our first film, so we decided to go after.
Which was the second or third showing of Len and Company, Rhys Ifans as a jaded former punk rocker turned producer. Based on a play called Len, Asleep In The Vinyl. We liked it – it was pleasant and funny, although most of the reviews I read said it was too much the Diet Dr. Pepper that Len called his son, than the “blood, bourbon, and napalm” Len says is Rock & Roll. 3 Stars from the Guardian; C- from The Playlist. I thought it might’ve actually been filmed in upstate New York where it’s set – but I think they were someplace in Canada.
Actors Rhys Ifans, Jack Kilmer, Keir Gilchrist and director Tim Godsall from ‘Len and Company’ pose for a portrait during the 2015 Toronto International Film Festival at the TIFF Bell Lightbox on September 12, 2015 in Toronto, Canada
Credit: Jeff Vespa
We headed to the box office, and swapped our London Fields tickets for Parched – more on that in the post about Saturday & Sunday. Parched was maybe our 5th choice replacement – the real coup was that we were able to get a pair of advance tickets to the 8:00 PM showing of whatever won the Grolsch People’s Choice award on Sunday night. The tickets are free, but we would’ve had to queue up at 6:00 PM to get them, if we decided the winner was something we wanted to see, when it got announced on Sunday at midday.
We had a little time, and I wanted coffee and a piece of pie, but that was a little difficult at 7:30 on a Friday in the financial district. Mark Yelped for bakeries and found a place called Butter Avenue, but it turned out to be mostly fancy macaroons in glass cases, and didn’t look like it had seating, although I guess there is, downstairs and upstairs. One of the Yelp reviews said, “So, if you are in the mood for eating with your eyes, then I highly recommend Butter Avenue.” We kept wandering along Queen St., past burger joints, bahn mi, noodle shops, almost stopped for gelato, and of course ended up at Starbucks. Iced coffee, a cookie, and free wifi to help me figure out what the messages I was getting from Telus about using up my data meant. The girls next to us were having hot dogs from the street vendor, and frappucino’s for their dinner – go, girls.
Macaroons at Butter Avenue
Even though it started at 9:15, The Girl in the Photographs was categorized as a Midnight Madness movie at TIFF. A.K.A. bloody. It was a standard grade-B slasher pic, filmed in South Dakota, and it will be remembered as Wes Craven’s last film, since he was the executive producer. Which is either a travesty, or exactly fitting, depending on your point of view. Having seen Scary Movie in a multiplex on a hot summer night in Manhattan with my early teenage sons, I have to say I am in the exactly fitting camp. And, I know, Scary Movie is not Craven’s movie, it’s the Wayans Brothers. The trailer even says, “From the people who had nothing to do with Scream.” That’s the whole joke.
