TIFF Diary: Technical Difficulties.

“Technical difficulties” kept The Killer Elite from screening on time yesterday morning at the enormous Scotibank theater; which didn’t bother me per se (The Killer Elite doesn’t belong at TIFF, and anyway, it opens wide in a few weeks), except that the film following it on the same screen — a promising family film called The Flying Machine — was subsequently delayed as well. That worked out OK for me only insofar as it gave me an excuse to fit Drive into my TIFF schedule. I was very excited to see Drive, the US debut of Danish action director Nicolas Winding Refn (Pusher), but like Killer Elite, it’s going to open nationally later in September, so why waste valuable TIFF time on it?

But I watched Drive, and loved it. Then I got out and promptly went down the hall to queue up for Michael, a dark Austrian thriller … only to wait, and wait, and wait, until TD reared its ugly head again. Grr. The Sarah Palin doc I replaced it with was terrible.

This morning I had made peace with the idea that I would “cheat” on my 360|365 mission long enough to watch The Descendants, the first film in seven years from my favorite American director, Alexander Payne. But I waited, and I waited, and I waited, until the TD specter again emerged: it will start late. They’re not sure how long. So instead I gave up and am now in a comparatively intimate theatre waiting (in a seat this time) for 388 Arletta Avenue, a Canadian indie with allegedly interesting cinematography techniques.

You’ve got to be flexible here at TIFF.

Next up: a full-length review — my first in a couple of years! — of Lucky, a brilliant South African drama that is my first fave fest film. But now, the house lights are going down…