OK gang, TIFF ’08 is all finished and I have to admit that it was one of the best I’ve been to in the last 8 years of my existence in Toronto… Here comes some personal reviews and food for thought:

More than a decade ago when I first saw her performance in “The English Patient”, I thought, wow, she is one hell of an actress… Last week I had the privilege to see her in person at the screening of “Il y a longtemps que je t’aime“, which easily jumped right into my top ten list of the best movies ever… Kristin Scott Thomas‘ strong performance proved once again her ability to capture the audience’s attention, which I reckon matches well with her character in real life too… She is British, but speaks French flawlessly (as one of the people in the audience rightly stated during the Q&A session)… Also present was the director of the film who, in my opinion, did an incredible job and showed his pride towards Kristin… he even considered her French accent “delicious”!

“The Wrestler” was also a great film with its main protagonist played by the Hollywood bad boy, Mickey Rourke… I mean, I always thought he was the villain in all his movies and was kind of annoyed with his characters most times… I do apologize, Mr. Rourke… You proved me wrong on this… Marisa Tomei also gave yet another respectable performance… The movie became disturbing at some point, but definitely worth it…

“My Mother, My Bride and I” was my last movie of the festival… A German movie with a very simple yet soft story… I’m not particularly a big fan of the German cinema, but this one closed my 2008 festival experience with a big smile 🙂

S