Day 1 at the Festival. I have four films under my belt — all of them good, one of them great.

DRIVE (USA) is the standout with Ryan Gosling out-cooling the king of cool, Steve McQueen. Absolutely thrilled to watch the entertainment lawyer sitting beside me squirm and hide her eyes and practically leap from her seat through much of the film’s outrageously graphic violence. 

THE ARTIST (France) has festival darling written all over it, but it’s a slight, harmless film that will likely fade from popular view as the festival continues. Until then, endure the fawning until something better comes along. 

A DANGEROUS METHOD (Canada): Folks showed up in droves to see Cronenberg’s latest addition to his oeuvre, and many were turned away — press and industry included.  

TAKE SHELTER (USA) director Jeff Nichols’s much-anticipated follow-up to his 2007 sleeper, Shotgun Stories (USA), experienced much the same.

WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN (USA) has critics falling over themselves trying to come up with clever ways to tell you how bad they think the movie is. And nothing gets a critic’s creative juices flowing like a flop.

TAKE THIS WALTZ (Canada) seems a promising follow-up to Sarah Polley’s 2006 Away From Her (Canada). She’s loving TIFF — as much as a newly expectant mother can love anything beyond the anticipation of having a first child — and she’s looking forward to Cinefest in Sudbury where she will also be making an appearance. Says Polley, “I’ve met people in the Sudbury audience, film students, who I’m still in contact with today.”

Ways to Die in the Movies - Day One:

Death by Quicksand (The Artist)
Death by splinters from the base of a broken door (The Raid)
Death by falling on a railing and snapping your back (The Raid)
Death by broken light bulb in the jugular (The Raid)
Death by having your head stomped on (Driver...and probably The Raid)

Best Actor Cast Against Type:

Albert Brooks as a smarmy ex-producer turned gangster in Driver.