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Recap: Toronto International Film Festival

By Karen McDevitt, CBSDetroit Blogger

Ahhh, I have returned today from the "reel" to the real world. But with memories of the Toronto International Film Festival still dancing delightfully (this is so true!) around me, I cannot complain. Not for a moment.

Yesterday included a screening of "Something in the Air," which is written and directed by Olivier Assaya who, by the way, this weekend, also happened to win the Venice Film Festival award for Best Screenplay.

Described to us members of the viewing audience as "highly autobiographical," "Something in the Air" revisits the political-social-sexual climate surrounding a group of young art students in 1971's suburban Paris. It's a metaphoric mixture of the coming-of-age stories of youth as well as of a youthful country.

Art drapes the background in this film, while unrest and discontent move us forward through revolutions, small and large.

Now that I think about it, "unrest and discontent" made for many riveting (although, admittedly, sometimes simultaneously repelling) movie moments at TIFF 2012.

For example, Sion Sono's "The Land of Hope" addresses the Japanese government's reluctance to fully inform its citizens about an earthquake and subsequent nuclear disaster. And, much more forcefully, Kim Ki-duk's Pieta portrays the extreme cruelty of a South Korean debt-collector, while Dibakar Banerjee's Shanghai exposes crimes committed in the name of progress for a growing city in India.

Likewise, back in the states, in Rain Johnson's "Looper," the mob travels through time to "take care of" unfortunate members of (a future) society.

But this universal "discontent," if you will, is actually the TENSION that great movies are made of; it is the single element that exists in all stories – no matter their country of origin – that keep us on the edge of our seats and, when done really well, keep our hearts pounding while our eyes remain glued to the screen.

What a gift.

I've had a chance to talk with many fellow Detroiters during TIFF 2012's opening weekend, and the good stuff is always described the same way: it grabs hold of you.

Whether it makes you laugh uncontrollably – like "Seven Psychopaths" (starring no less than Colin Farrell, Woody Harrelson, and Christopher Walken), or brings tears to your eyes right down to your cheeks – like "Frances Ha" by writer-direct Naoh Baumbach (writer-director of The Squid and the Wale, and co-writer with Wes Anderson of "Fantastic Mr. Fox" and "The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou") – or makes you want to jump right out of your skin (Midnight Madness anyone?), a great film engages you fully.

Sure, this year's movies have not all been stellar. After all, there are well over 350 screenings at the TIFF and, odds are, there are bound to be some less-than-pleasant-viewings.

But these don't compare to the joy of Joss Whedon's "Much Ado About Nothing" (yes! the director of "The Avengers" does Shakespeare), or "Blancanieves" (Spain's black and white and silent version of the Snow White story), or . . . one more drum roll, please . . . Paul Thomas Anderson's "The Master" (which also just won Venice awards for Anderson and for both principal actors, Philip Seymour Hoffman and Joaquin Phoenix).

What, me complain? Not a chance. It's time to start planning for TIFF 2013.

Karen McDevitt teaches film and new media classes for Wayne State University's Department of Communication.

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