December 30, 2006.

8am kickoff with a call from Sicily. After a 15 year absence from North America my father has forgotten the 6 hour sleep grace with the same 'abandon' (no pun intended) whenever the parental urge to connect after 30 years of absence takes over. Nonetheless it was all to congratulate me on the anniversary of the day of my birth. I think he was there or something...

Saddam Hussein was hanged at 9am. He appeared poised and stoic before stepping up to the gallows. Much as I know he is a bad guy´s bad guy, a despicable demagogue who inflicted decades of torture and havoc on his own people, there is still that grain of . that does not sit well with me. Killing people to prove that killing people is wrong as modern history watches dozens of despots eke out but for a tribunal here and exiling there. Milosevic, Pinochet, Idi Amin come to mind. Pavlina put it best, 'Kill him. Everybody forgets. Keep him alive and the lessons to be learned from his treachery live on.'

Almost simultaneously a car bomb exploded in Madrid's T4 terminal at Barajas Airport. Before taking responsibility for the explosion, Basque terrorist group ETA warned Aena to evacuate the terminal in preparation for the Big Bang. President Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero is stuck wiping egg off his face with the ink barely dry on the permanent ceasefire he negotiated with ETA in March 2006.

Needless to say Antonio and I had much to talk about at my birthday dinner at Lee. Way cool ambience, as we slurped scotch and munched our way through succulent black cod, braised beef, minty lamb, crispy frites and Asian slaw. Susur even passed our table to wish me many returns.

Felices Fiestas!

The little tree that needed some love is my favourite Christmas image.
To all our adored friends and family on both sides of the Atlantic pond:
Health.
Happiness.
Peace.
Cheers for 2007.

Hola a todos!
Por nuestro queridos de ambos lados del pantano Atlantico:
Alegria.
Salud.
Paz.
Feliz 2007.

Ciao a tutti. Per i cari amici e famiglia sulle due coste dello stagno Atlantico:
Alegria.
Salute.
Pace.
Auguri per 2007.

Ivana and Antonio

Pedro and Penelope, Ole!

Volver is the outstanding apex of Manchego director Pedro Almodóvar's body of work and a love song for his home of Calzada de Calatrava, from the dusty villages of La Mancha seen through the eyes of the women that make its windmills churn. Almodovar nails the female archetype from the proud and praire-like heartland of Central Spain, my second home for the last 6 + years. Starring Lola Dueñas, Carmen Maura, and Almodóvar muse Penelope Cruz as three women who trace the secrets of the livng and the dead and the shame of their family's wretched past from the small village that triggers it all to their refuge in the working class neighbourhoods of Vallecas. Almodovar hits every nuance, every idiosyncracy, every palabrota bang on in part by casting locals in roles portraying themselves.

Filmed in Vallecas, Almagro, and Villanueva de los Infantes Almodóvar never names his pueblo but there is no need. It is La Mancha's Everytown. Cruz packed on 15lbs and a prosthetic rear end for her career tour de force as Raimunda. This is Pé at her top top top form earning Cruz Best Actress honours at Cannes. My hope is she boycotts the Hollywood cotton candy forevermore (read All the Pretty Horses, Captain Corelli's Mandolin, Sahara) even if it does pay the bills. If Volver sweeps the Oscars, as industry buzz is speculating, it could be the first time since Sophia Loren in Two Women that the prize for Best Actress goes to a foreign language film. Genial.

p.s. Brunched at one of my old university haunts, the Cafe Seven West. It's been more than a fortnight since I graced its church pew seating as a novice scribbler mulling Sartre and Le Devoir over café alongé. It's still open 24/7 and the espresso is exactly the way I remember it.

Armani designed THIS?

Desolata Giorgio but Katie could have purchased this ca-keeta on Spadina Ave (what with the lacy collar and frill to boot!). ICK!

Reading up on all the poop on the Cruise/Holmes wedding in Bracciano, Italy. (I'll apologize in advance for the crappy link. You'd think the Braccianesi could have dolled up their site given all the hype surrounding the wedding of the year.)

Sooooooo, I have been eating up all the pink press from the most reliable source on the planet. www.telecinco.es. Seems as if the citizens of Bracciano are mighty pissed at being upstaged by the Hollywood glitterati as their sleepy village of 20 000 was taken over by the likes of psycho-lollipop and Holmes-new-best-Mommy-pal Victoria Beckham, a trillion papparazzi, Brooke Shields, Jim Carrey, Will and Jada Smith, Connor and Isabella Kidman-Cruise (likely sick of globetrotting to their parents' respective weddings) and a cavalcade of Hollywood stars happy to smile nice for the camera for free face time with the press. Now I kind of understand their point. My parents are Italian. I was married in a Medieval Spanish city and have been to enough European weddings to defend the convention and ritualistic rite of passage for villagers to watch the bride exit her home, stroll throught the village square, enter the church if not solely to comment on her gown, her hair, whether she is pregnant, or if she is making the biggest mistake of her life. Observers forked over a hefty 1000 euros for ogling rights that included visions of countless black SUVs snaking up the hill to the castle. Detractors have argued that Bracciano will likely recoup the temporary inconvenience with scores of American principesse that will undoubtedly drool at the thought of copycatting the Holmes/Cruise fairytale.

Ironically the Scientology rite is not legally recognized anywhere in the world which makes me wonder if this was an intentional Cruise calculation given the predictable statute of limitations on Holmes in her most current role as his wife?

Babel, Bad food, Belak

Saw Babel on Friday night. At first the thought of a 2 hr + movie after a long work week was not so appealing. We were up for the flashier Casino Royale but twas not to be had on opening weekend. Antonio caved.
If you want to be heard, listen. Babel weaves the lives of the desperate in Tokyo, the Moroccan desert, and the Mexicali border as one incident richochets throught the lives of many. An American couple plan a Moroccan escape to save their flailing marriage. Their Mexican nanny cannot find a substitute to babysit the blonde scions in order to attend her son's wedding so they accompany her across the Tecate border led by her hot-headed nephew. A deaf mute is living with the affects of teen angst and trauma after her mother's suicide. A Bedouin goat shepherd scrapes by with his wife and three children in the Moroccan desert.

There is talk that director Alejandro González Iñárritu and screenwriter Guillermo Arriaga (collaborators on Amores Perros and 21 Grams, Babel is the third in their 'Death Trilogy') will never work together again after a serious knocking of heads over the auteurship of their previous films. The director is claiming sole credit as the creator of the films, dismissing his screenwriter's contribution to the pictures. In the fallout Iñárritu banned Arriaga from attending the 2006 Cannes Film Festival. Ouch!

HAD HORRENDOUS FOOD AND SERVICE AT SPRINGROLL on Front St. Our server hid from us as we paid our bill and vowed never again. Goes down on my list with the Red Tomato and East Side Mario's. Avoid this cripe and dog food at all costs!

On Saturday we watched rinkside as the Leafs were pummelled by the Devils due in whole to the magic of Martin Brodeur. Antonio was amazed at the fan reaction as Leaf tough guy Wayne Belak took plenty out of Devil Cam Janssen. Even my soft spot for Mike Peca could not rile what was a night of essentially boring hockey.

Autoshare

Spewing on the glories of autoshare.ca for my uber-engaging Media Studies course at OISE. Autoshare is Canada's first car-sharing network. When I expressed (read complained) about the cost of gas, insurance, and the other never-ending evils associated with owning an automobile in Toronto, my husband turned to me and blankly stated 'So, get rid of the car'. I stopped for a moment. How would we get to Ikea? Make deliveries for our wine business? Weekend jaunts and visiting friends out of town? I hummed and hawed over dumping the costly, carbon-belching beast we had inherited from my uncle but after my first click at autoshare.ca, every doubt I had vanished.

Autoshare is every-single-urban-city-dweller's answer to cutting the costs of car ownership and smugly reducing polluting emissions all from behind the wheel of a nifty Mini Cooper or Mercedes Smartfortwo. It takes some planning (about this much . ) and we have never had a problem getting a car when we want it. (If I can help it, I will never own a car again.) For those of you who know me, if you are interested in signing up, mention my name and receive a 50% rebate on the one time sign-up fee.

I. Am. Hooked.

By George!

Dined at George on Queen on Friday night. Albeit for the Iberian lacking wine menu and mini "tapas-style'' portions, chef Lorenzo Loseto's Ital-Canadian fusion creations are deee-lish-us!
Meritxell, Dulce, Celia and I munched our way through a delightful amuse-bouche of beet infused tuna tartar on a crunchy scallion pancake. The champagne from Tazmania was a tad yellow in colour (evidence of passe) and wines are sold by 3oz and 6oz glasses (absurd) as well as bottle size. I make it a rule never to eat gnocchi outside of my mother's house (it's true, ask anybody, they are the bang-on best) however, I caved at Loseto's ricotta blend with smoked porcini mushrooms. Meritxell and I could have eaten the whole pot. Seabass and je ne sais quoi was equally as pleasing as were the bison steaks, beef tenderloin, and prawns with cherry tomatoes. I was pleasantly surprised part way through the evening when the sommelier approached us to introduce herself to me. It appears that my wine-importing husband has far-reaching tentacles.
www.georgeonqueen.com

Wee David Banda

I love Madonna. I love her sass, her morbo, her trailblazing. As the mother of all Material girls, she objectified herself to no end, at her own expense and gain, into the self-promotion powerhouse the likes of which 20th century pop culture has never seen.

However, even I draw the line at the current trend of African baby-as-fashion accessory. Much has been bandied about in the press about how Madge and Guy went about all the normal procedures for international adoption, (funny how the Malawian government waived its residency requirement for the Ritchies, just like entre nous). The cynic in me wonders if this is a simply a bid for more of the rat race competition for face time with the press. No worries though, Queen Esther will prevail as she has a live on-air blessing from Mother Oprah lined up for Wednesday night. Madonna in her own words:

'After learning that there were over one million orphans in Malawi, it was my wish to open up our home and help one child escape an extreme life of hardship, poverty and in many cases death, as well as expand our family. We have gone about the adoption procedure according to the law like anyone else who adopts a child. Reports to the contrary are totally inaccurate. The procedure includes an l8-month evaluation period, after which time we hope to make this adoption permanent. This was not a decision or commitment that my family or I take lightly. My heartfelt thanks for all the good wishes I have received and I hope the press will allow my family some room for us to experience the joy we feel to have David home.'

Hmmmm. Makes you wonder how many agencies would be chomping at the bit to release a 14-month old into the arms of an 'anyone else who adopts a child ' who was:
a) almost arrested for grabbing her crotch on stage in the 'facist state of Toronto'
b) has had run-ins of blasphemy with every major religion on the planet
and
c) had 10 years previously published a sexually-charged-coffee-table-smut-bible.

My guess is they would show her Versace-clad booty to the door.

I am currently engrossed in A Race Against Time, by Stephen Lewis. In his 2005 Massey lectures Lewis rails against the western world (including the World Bank, the IMF, Bob Geldof and his singsongs) and the shame with which we have turned our backs on Africa, its AIDS-infected millions , and the scores of orphans, mothers, sisters, and grannies ravished by the wretchedness of the pandemic. Will the philanthropy of the Jolie-Pitts and Ciccone-Ritchies get the world (read the United States) to shed more light onto the plight of Africa's dying and undoubtedly spawn copycat trends from Paris Hilton to Lindsay Lohan?

FARM AWAY!!!

Among the numerous treasures we discovered this weekend in Grey County is our very own organic beef farmer! Creelo! Better for you and better for your farmer to buy beef farm direct. I saw it myself and it is THE REAL THING right down to Anthony's good ole fashioned farmer values. He rises his rock solid frame with the sun every morn' for chores before heading out to his day job at the local mill only to return in the afternoon for more (as clean a barn stall as I've ever seen them). Them bovine eat nothing but sweet smelling hay (sniffed it myself), cracked corn, and some molasses for the odd nursing mother. We came back loaded with ribs, sirloins, prime rib, and T Bones which we grilled on our BBQ on Monday night with a bottle of Italian Prosecco. Many thanks to Anthony and Alfreda, their charming daughters, and energetic puppies!

Milles mercis for Thanksgiving

Milles de gracias to our wonderful friends Alain, Jocelyn, and Sapphire in Grey County for hosting our second annual Thanksgiving extravaganza. The weekend was peaceful, sunny, glorious. Ventured through the crunchy woods while the grain fed organic 16 pound foul from Butcher By Nature (along with maple roasted squash, sweet potato rosti, chocolate banana fritters and vanilla panna cotta) simmered. Tasty despite the golden price tag and 8-hour roasting marathon. I made a mental note to switch to cracked corn fed turkey from Loblaws for next year. Washed it all down with a fabulous 2000 Lagar Viejo from Bodegas el Molar, available only at the SAQ (www.saq.com) on this side of the pond. www.bodegaselmolar.com.

Sunday was delightful as we picked Northern Spys for our friend Graham at his folks apple farm.http://www.smithsapples.com/ Outstanding place! They only sell to the public via their farm and all labour is local. I'll upload of a photo of our apple-picking stint, just like the Cider House Rules.

Ventured out to Port Elgin's Pumpkin fest (got loads for free gourds, a pumpkin, and a ji-normous zucchini.) where we drooled over an original 1968 Pontiac Firebird convertible---identical to my Zio's before Judas Iscariot sold it off. It made me nostalgic for rides with the ragtop and buying my cousin's first Mr. Turltle pool at Towers. http://www.pumpkinfest.org/fest.org/
We strolled along the beach overlooking gorgeous Lake Huron where Antonio rediscovered my heart ------------------------------------------------------------------>>>>>>>


On Monday morning I retired my brown velour weekender and took a turn as a Mennonite farmer's wife (clad in sequins and designer jeans). Picked loads of beets, onions, potatoes, carrots, garlic, sage, and oregano all waiting to turn into soul warming soups and comfort preserves.

Nuit Blanche

The streets of the T.dot were transformed into a living, breathing, contemporary 'art thing' as Nuit Blanche kicked off its North American debut. Not even the rain could stop hundreds of performance artists that transformed the streets of Toronto. Twas a city that did not sleep! Pioneered in Paris in 2002, in 2006 Toronto joins Brussels, Rome, Riga, Montreal and Madrid as Nuit Blanche allows artists to reveal the cultural energy that sets their city apart from any other place in the world. http://nuitblanche.livewithculture.ca/

I painted my first watercolour at the Gardiner Museum followed by a glass of the good stuff on Bruce Kwabara's beee-you-tee-full terrace overlooking the boob drum, University Ave, and the Libeskind/Lee-Chin rystal. Standing room only at the ROM with beats by Afro-Cuban jazz artists. We will definately return for Christmas carol services at the cozy Church of the Redeemer. Kelly Mark lit the entire church in candles for her exposition 'Hold that Thought'. Antonio and I did a little jig in front of the Bata Shoe Museum's free frame shadow screen before finishing the night off at the Drake with the sweet soul boogie funk of Ivana Santilli. www.ivanasantilli.net

Vino Rosado 2006

Kudos to Cibeles and Madrid Fashion Week.

How many ways can we say Ole! Barcelona fashion organizers at Pasarela Cibeles marked a milestone this past week by announcing that it will no longer allow uber-skinny models to grace their catwalks after 22 year old waif Luisel Ramos dropped dead this past summer from heart failure due to starvation. Any model whose BMI (Body Mass Index) weighs in below 'healthy' (18 on the BMI) will be barred from perpetuating first world hunger at all Cibeles collections. Madrid Fashion Week quickly reciprocated and there is pressure from British Culture Minister Tessa Jowell to encourage London, Paris, Milan, and New York to follow 'suit'. A word of advice to all runway models: Eat!
http://www.cibeles.ifema.es/ferias/cibeles/default_i.html

More TIFF flicks

Chilling to Miles Davis and updating and uploading...

Paris Je T'aime
The last film of the festival was parfait. Its own mini-festival all rolled up into one, Paris Je T'aime is comprised of 21 shorts all named for different hoods around the City of Lights. Wes Craven, Joel and Ethan Coen, Walter Salles, Isabel Coixet, Alexander Payne, Gus Van Sant and many more each convey a thin slice, of mostly bourgeois Parisian life. Highlights include Catalina Sandino Moreno as a nanny singing over the crib of her petit maitre and Alexander Payne as Oscar Wilde at his tombstone in Pere LaChaise. Solid performances by Gena Rowlands, Fanny Ardant, Juliette Binoche, Steve Buscemi, Nick Nolte, Willem Dafoe, Natalie Portman etc. Loses one star on account of Canadian Vincenzo Natali's crappy vampire scene with Elijah Wood. ****
http://www.e.bell.ca/filmfest/2006/films_schedules/films_description.asp?id=224

Kabul Express
The Elgin met Bollywood royalty as hundreds of South Asians lined Yonge St. to catch a glimpse of Hindi heartthrobs John Abraham and Arshad Warsi. Directed by Kabir Khan and filmed on location in Afghanistan, this road-flick about two Indian journalists who (along with their Pashtu driver) chase the Taliban shortly after September 11, 2001. Shy of Mullah Omar or Osama Bin Laden, they get more than they bargained in interview material. Given the severity of the subject matter, this film is not at all what I thought it would be. Khan touches the tremendous sadness and humour with expert ebb and flow. Loosely based on Khan's experiences with his friend Rajan Kapoor in Kabul, the cast and crew endured real-life clashes and kidnappings from the Taliban that earned the director 60 armed Afghani guards and cost the life of one of his crew members. Shot in Hindi, English, and Urdu Kabul Express is guaranteed to touch.****
http://www.e.bell.ca/filmfest/2006/films_schedules/films_description.asp?id=167

Golden Door
Emanuele Crialese's story of the toil and filth of Sicilian immigrants at the turn of the last century brought me back to my roots. Sorry folks, The Godfathers and Cinema Paradisos of this world DO NOT convey the filth and misery that brought scores of my people to the New World the way Crialese does it here. With the exception of a few symbolic phrases in English, the picture is filmed entirely in Sicilian. Bravo Emanuele! I'd love to know where he dug up his talent. Charlotte Gainsbourg does a commendable job as the desirable Signorina Beatrice and Vincenzo Amato's Salvatore will break your heart. ****
http://www.e.bell.ca/filmfest/2006/films_schedules/films_description.asp?id=132


Snow Cake
British filmmaker Marc Evans salutes Wawa, Ontario in this story about lonely ex-con Alex,(Alan Rickman) who picks up hitchhiker Vivienne (Emily Hampshire) en route to Wawa. When their car is smashed to smithereens by a careless truck driver, Alex visits Vivienne's autistic snow-eating mother Linda (Sigourney Weaver) to deliver the trinkets Viv had purchased for her at the last pitstop. Alex stays to help plan Vivienne's funeral on account of Linda's garbage paranoia and as well as his fondness for Maggie (Carrie Ann Moss) Linda's sexy neighbour. Nice try Sigourney but having worked with a number of subjects on the Austism spectrum, Weaver is unconvincing. And although I agree that there needs to be another film to dispel the skewed Rain Man and I am Sam precedents, save this one for video. ***
http://www.e.bell.ca/filmfest/2006/films_schedules/films_description.asp?id=280





p.s. We would have liked to have seen Rickman but he too busy with a play in the motherland to bother with a premier in some colonial backwater of the kingdom. This shot I got of her is very very dark on account of the camera I had to borrow from work given that Antonio 'forgot' our Pentax somewhere between the windmills of La Mancha and Pearson International Airport.


Radiant City
We were expecting a documentary on life in the Calgary suburbs. What we got was a botch job of 'real life people who live in the suburbs' hired by directors Gary Burns and Jim Brown to play out a bogus narrative loaded with cliches (ie. Littleton types who play with rifles) and annoying community theatre antics. Puh-leeze! We skipped out on the Q&A because it was pointless. I know a few folks who could stand to learn a few lessons from Radiant City including the 13th invisible commandment when signing the deed on a 'value driven' property in the burbs. 'Thou shalt purchase one vehicle per adult.' **
http://www.e.bell.ca/filmfest/2006/films_schedules/films_description.asp?id=245

The Fountain

Hugh Jackman is very sexy. Rachel Weisz is stunning in her new mama's glow but try as he might her paramour Darren Aronofsky (Requiem for a Dream, Pi) could not make this fountain spout. Ugh. If I saw one more star explode I thought I would lose my mind! Part historical fiction set in the Spanish Inquisition (Weisz plays Queen Isabella to Jackman's conquistador) part modern day (Weisz=cancer patient, Jackman=surgeon) part science fiction (a bald and yogic Jackman lives on a star in a bubble with a baobab). Aronofsky's cinematic nod to Ste. Exupery and the Inquisition gives Ellen Burstyn star billing (she's in it for 5 minutes) and fails over and over. **
http://www.e.bell.ca/filmfest/2006/films_schedules/films_description.asp?id=126

Catch a Fire

Catch a Fire
Austrailian director Philip Noyce's(Clear and Present Danger, Dead Calm) cast Derek Luke in this solid adaptation of the life of Patrick Chamusso, an a-political coal worker in 1980's South Africa. Tim Robbins plays despicable anti-terrorist agent Nic Vos who accuses Chamusso of bombing the refinery. If Chamusso was not a 'terrorist' at the beginning of the film, the torture of his wife (Bonnie Henna) and friends makes him one. He joins the resistance movement and is jailed on Robben Island with Nelson Mandela only to be released when apartheid fell and all political prisoners were freed. The real life Chamusso received a standing ovation from the balcony. Solid performances by Derek Luke and Bonnie Henna. Filmed in Jo-burg. ****
http://www.e.bell.ca/filmfest/2006/films_schedules/films_description.asp?id=71

Les Etoiles!

Emma Thompson, Will Farrell, and director Marc Forster at the World Premiere of Stranger than Fiction.

Stranger than Fiction

Stranger than Fiction
Will Farrell does a spectacular job as comic/tragic IRS agent Harold Crick who is the protagonist in Karen Eiffel's (Emma Thompson) new novel. Harold hears the voice of Eiffel's narrator chronicle the mundane details of his non-descript life until the day Eiffel announces his untimely death. Lucky for Harold, Eiffel is experiencing writer's block and with the help of publishing assistant, Penny (Queen Latifah). Once he has deduced that he is not schizophrenic Harold seeks the advice of literature professor Jules Hilbert (Dustin Hoffman) who guides him through the conventions of comedy and tragedy thereby igniting Harold's passion for his tax-evading client baker Ana Pascal (Maggie Gyllenhaal). Swiss director Marc Forster (Monster's Ball, Finding Neverland) and Dustin Hoffman (he shook my hand and complimented me on my hair) are as adorable as their movie. *****
http://www.e.bell.ca/filmfest/2006/films_schedules/films_description.asp?id=285

TIFF 2006 Comes to an End!

Waaaaaaa. And so, as the cliche goes, all good things must come to an end, another festival has come and gone.

Brand Upon the Brain

Guy Maddin's shot at avante garde, leaves me out in the freeeeezing cold. Sorry Piers, I fail to see where this man continues to monopolize prime screening times in the 'beautiful and historic Elgin Theatre'. But for the FOLEY team, whose sound effects saved this sinking Titanic, (ie. crushing celery sticks to simulate skull fractures during a lobotomy or devouring oranges for the fleshy sounds of Mother Vampire's bloodthirst) Brand Upon the Brain has a left an indellible strain upon this brain. *

http://www.e.bell.ca/filmfest/2006/films_schedules/films_description.asp?id=57

The Wind that Shakes the Barley

Still high on its Palme d'Or win at Cannes, Ken Loach's heartbreaking tale of the early beginnings of the IRA in 1920's Ireland. Move over Jonathn Rys-Myers, newcomer Cillian Murphy is my new Irish crush and Oscar buzzes in his stellar performance as Damian Donovan, a doctor who leaves behind a promising career in a London hospital to join his brother Patrick and other boyhood friends in their Republican cause. Overwhelming, enfuriatingly, tragic, I sobbed through to the end. The highlight of this year's festival. *****
http://www.e.bell.ca/filmfest/2006/films_schedules/films_description.asp?id=344

TIFF Marathon Has Begun!

Welcome to the first day of my blog. Inspired by my dear friend haikugirl, I thought I would mark Monday September 11th 2006, with a synopsis of my 9th year at the Toronto International Film Festival and thinking of my fellow film lovers on this tragic day. Today was an outstanding day in the life of one overworked school teacher. I started the day at 7.35am in my dentist's chair and then sprinted to Ryerson to meet my filmfest pal Pavlina where we chatted with some charming American folk.

All the King´s Men
Solid performance by Sean Penn, Sir Anthony Hopkins, Jude Law, and Mark (be still my beating heart) Ruffalo. The rest of the supporting cast (James Gandolfini, Kate Winslet) were weak and forgot their accents (Deep South Louisiana) about midway through the picture. ***
http://www.e.bell.ca/filmfest/2006/films_schedules/films_description.asp?id=17

For Your Consideration
A howl and a hoot by Christopher Guest and an ensemble of talent composed of Catherine O'Hara, Eugene Levy, Parker Posey, Fred Willard that spoofs Hollywood and tarnishes the tinsel in their town. O'Hara's botox face steals the show! The entire cast was there after the film for a rare Qand A. *****
http://www.e.bell.ca/filmfest/2006/films_schedules/films_description.asp?id=125

10 Items or Less
After a quickie Thai lunch at Salad King with our festival posee (Joe, Chris, Anne, Sean) in from D.C. we sprinted to 10 Items or Less starring a surprisingly tall Morgan Freeman and Sevilla stunner Paz Vega. Managed to shake Morgan´s hand on his entrance and was close enough to Paz to 1) tell her she looked 'muy guapa' following her press questioning by Canal+ 2) ask her if she is Andaluza while the credits rolled and 3) get her to sign my programme while Antonio bestowed his Felicidades. ****
http://www.e.bell.ca/filmfest/2006/films_schedules/films_description.asp?id=2


The Namesake
At 6pm, my fourth film of the day, Mary Margaret and I were touched by the lovely Mira Nair (Mississippi Masala, Monsoon Wedding, Salaam Bomba, Vanity Fair). Filmed in Calcutta and New York it was a tad too long for me (ie. jogging segments through the streets of Calcutta were gratuitous and did nothing for plot development) and Kal Penn delivered most of his lines deadpan. Nonetheless stunning images of India and a must see for all children of immigrants. ****
http://www.e.bell.ca/filmfest/2006/films_schedules/films_description.asp?id=204