Craig at the Toronto International Film Festival

TIFF 2006 Day 7

MON MEILLEUR AMI is by Patrice Leconte, one of my favourite French Directors, responsible in the past for gems such as RIDICULE and THE WIDOW OF SAINT-PIERRE. Some of you will think ‘and MONSIEUR HIRE too, fool!’ I haven’t seen it though - I only know it by reputation - so I left it out… Anyway, here he teams up again with the superb Daniel Auteuil, the hero from WIDOW, and increasingly famous for roles such as the spied-upon French media star in last year’s stunning CACHÉ.

AMI is fairly light fare for both Leconte and Auteuil. The film concerns Francois Coste, a Parisian antiques dealer who learns at his birthday party that the people he considers his friends don’t consider him anything more than a colleague. They tell him in fact that he has no friends. A bet is entered into: if Francois can produce his best friend within 10 days, he’ll get to keep a very expensive vase. If not, it’s gone. Francois spends the rest of the film learning why he doesn’t have friends, and slowly discovers what it takes to have one. He is aided in this quest by Bruno, his taxi driver.

AMI is 90% comedy. The set-up of the comedic situation seemed forced to me though: the whole zero friends thing seemed so far-fetched. All is forgiven however, because Auteuil delivers a terrific performance, which is matched by the hugely charming Dany Boon playing Bruno. AMI is highly enjoyable, but without the edge of another Auteuil comedy vehicle, LE PLACARD, and the relative paucity of French films that play regularly here, I am not so sure this film will open in English Canada.

VELVET GOLDMINE has finally arrived at the festival 8 years late. It was actually presented as part of the DIalogues with Directors programme, despite not being brought by its director, or another director who admires it. In this rare case it is actually the producer of GOLDMINE, Christine Vachon who came to show the 1998 Todd Haynes directed tribute to the Glam Rock era of the late 70s, and discuss producing it and other of Haynes’ and others’ films over her prodigious career. It is always fun to see a film that one missed on the big screen when one is given the rare chance, and some of Vachon’s insights in a subsequent interview made it doubly worthwhile.

STARTER FOR TEN, a breezy comedy, takes its name from University Challenge, a British Reach for the Top type quiz show. It concerns Brian, a nerdy type small-town type who has spent his life compiling a vasty storehouse of knowledge which he is just dying to unload on his University’s UC team. Essentially it’s boy goes to college, boy meets girl, boy meets cuter girl, boy gets cuter girl, boy loses… oh hell, you know what’s coming, and so did all of us, but it is a cute film, and has some good laughs. Brian is another of Mr. Tumnus’ roles at the festival this year - in fact, Tumnus, played by up-and-comer James McAvoy, is in three films at this fest - he’s one busy guy.

Anyway, STARTER is fun, and similar to GOLDMINE has another great 80s soundtrack. Take your favourite squeeze.

Ethan Hawke is best known as an actor, for films such as DEAD POETS SOCIETY, BEFORE SUNRISE, BEFORE SUNSET, and GATTACA. He is also a director, his first film was SNOW FALLING ON CEDARS, and an accomplished author. THE HOTTEST STATE is his own film adaptation of his book of the same name, and his second feature film. STATE tells the story of William, a 21 year-old actor trying to make a go of things in New York. William’s heart is still in Texas though, or so he was told it should be by his father, whom he hasn’t seen since being uprooted from Texas by his mother when he was young. It’s not surprise that William has a lot to prove, and issues to work out.

William, forcefully played by Mark Webber, falls for a girl he meets in a bar one night: Sara, played by Catalina Sandino Moreno, Oscar nominated for her first role in MARIA FULL OF GRACE, who aspires to be a singer. Unsurprisingly Sara has issues of her own. The two have a brightly burning, but all too brief affair that William yearns to bring back to life when Sara pulls back. Portrayed with great realism, and much sincerity, Hawke creates a tender film about the capriciousness of relationships of people who are trying to find themselves. Well done.

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