TIFF '09: Day One

Film festivals are fun, but lord do they crush the body: no sleep, starvation, hectic running around, plus bouts of terrible, on-the-run eating. How some do this and manage to party on top of this while churning out copy seems unfathomable.

Day 1 was ok. Nothing stellar, but at least one fun highlight, Steven Soderbergh's ridiculous and zany "The Informant!" which isn't essential Soderbergh, but pretty deliciously absurdist. At least you know that this picture will be worth watching several times to get all the fast and furious little gags. A full review soon, but yes, the doughy Matt Damon carries the film and the Marvin Hamlisch score is rather audacious.

Much less successful in the comedy arena and disappointingly so, is Fatih Akin"s seemingly crowd-pleasing, but ungainly "Soul Kitchen," which eventually ventures into unadvisable farce territory. With populist sensibilities and an excellent groove-laden soul-funk soundtrack, the picture did just win the Grand Prix at Venice, so clearly people are warming to its feel-good mildly amusing aims, but it just fails to capitalize on its winning premise and breezy tone. And some of the humor is downright cornball. Bit of a shame, we're big fans of Akin's work.

Lastly we have Rebecca Miller's promising, but wildly uneven "The Private Lives Of Pippa Lee," which sports many estimable performances (Robin Wright Penn, Blake Lively), but a lot of questionable, artistic and melodramatic storytelling moments that don't quite add up. A full review very shortly; it's not a bad film and there's much to be admired, but it maddeningly falls short of its promise.

More tomorrow including Tom Fords' lauded "A Single Man," Todd Solondz's "Life During Wartime" and Neil Jordan's "Ondine."