TIFF 2018: The Films

It's that time again! Last Tuesday was my selection window to choose films for TIFF. This year we got  package of 50 tickets, to be shared among Susan and me, my two cousins and another friend. The larger number of tickets and people made the process more complex than ever, and just as I completed my picks and was double-checking them, I clicked on Show Seating Chart for a film with reserved seating, and all my picks disappeared! I had to re-enter them all, which only took about 10 minutes, since I had entered each film in my calendar as I picked it, so I had the complete list handy. It was a relief to get through the process intact.

In the end, Susan and I have picked 16 films to see together, and I'm going to one other two others without her that she wasn't interested in or available to see. Here is my list:

• MOUTHPIECE
• That Time of Year
• Out of Blue 
• Retrospekt
• Fahrenheit 11/9
• The Sisters Brothers 
• Life Itself 
• American Woman
• A Million Little Pieces
• The Grizzlies
• Green Book 
• The Old Man and the Gun
• Tel Aviv on Fire
• Falls Around Her
• Free Solo
• Summer Survivors
• The Hate U Give
• The Elephant Queen
• Galveston

After I posted this there were a few changes! Because we bought 50 tickets, we got 4 bonus vouchers to add a few films. The vouchers were not valid until the morning of September 5th, and could be used only for the back half of the festival (Sept 12-16). So I was able to get 2 more tickets to The Elephant Queen for my cousins, and Susan and I added Falls Around Her. And I had an email from TIFF telling me that Galveston had been withdrawn from the festival. They substituted A Private War for us, but we weren't interested in that, so I swapped that for MOUTHPIECE, which I will see with my mom. It's the film version of a play that my daughter Karen is producing at 2b theatre in Halifax (see her discuss it at https://globalnews.ca/video/4427766/2b-theatre-company-presents-mouthpiece !).

As I see each film I'll add a link to my review of that film. Films in bold are not to be missed! It all starts for us Friday!

Partial ranking of the best films I saw this year:

1. Life Itself 
2. The Hate U Give
3. MOUTHPIECE
4. The Sisters Brothers 
5. Green Book 
6. The Grizzlies
7. The Elephant Queen
8. Free Solo

And a few stinkers I do not recommend:

• Out of Blue 
• Retrospekt
• Summer Survivors