arts and culture : In The News

There was a little festival in town last week and our ears are still ringing from all the buzz about it.
 
Although the Toronto International Film Festival brought droves of reporters and critics to town, the focus was clearly on the screen this year. The Guardian reported that the offbeat romantic comedy Silver Linings Playbook, from director David O. Russell, took the people's choice award.
 
"Toronto has no jury but its top prize is nevertheless a useful indicator of future Oscars success: previous winners include The King's Speech, Precious and Slumdog Millionaire."
 
The Wrap's Steve Pond had mixed reviews of TIFF's offerings, but still praised the festival.
 
"Toronto is still the best place to see a whole lot of very good movies."
 
"Yes, TIFF programmers served up some disappointments. (I didn't care for Hyde Park on Hudson, except for Bill Murray's performance, and felt that the makers of The Central Park Five could have told the same story far more succinctly and effectively.)"
 
"But the festival's lineup of documentaries was strong and deep, including the horrifying and riveting The Act of Killing and the eye-opening likes of Mea Maxima Culpa, How to Make Money Selling Drugs and Artifact. And more often than not, I liked the narrative films I saw, even if it was a struggle to stay alert during the first hour of Cloud Atlas when that hour happened to be 9-to-10am."
 
"The consensus, which solidified during the front-loaded first weekend and endured even as more dubious titles debuted later in the festival, is that this year's festival offered far more winners than losers, more happy surprises than clanking disappointments…. And now it's time to see how many of those titles will survive outside of Toronto."
 
Read the full stories here and here
Original sources: The Guardian and The Wrap

Both Toronto-based director David Cronenberg and his son Brandon Cronenberg had films at the Cannes film festival this year. Brandon's Antiviral was shown in the Un Certain Regard section, while David's Cosmopolis was a competition entry.
 
Michael Haneke's Amour might have beat Cosmopolis for the Palme d'Or, but the elder Cronenberg's film, based on a Don DeLillo and shot on location in Toronto, attracted considerable buzz, particularly because it stars Twilight series heartthrob Robert Pattinson. The New York Times asked Cronenberg how the project came together.
 
"Q. I understand it was the Portuguese producer Paulo Branco who had the rights to Cosmopolis and contacted you. How did that come about?"
 
"A. I think it's an interesting intuition because it's a bit like casting. I've never been in the position of having to choose a director for something. But I imagine it's a lot like choosing an actor for a role. Paulo came to Toronto with his son Juan, who had apparently told him that I was the right director for Cosmopolis. I knew of Paulo, but had never met him. Actually when I was the president of the jury here, we gave a prize to Manoel de Oliveira for The Letter, a film Paulo had produced. I'd read a lot of Don DeLillo but not that book. I read it and two days later said I would do it."
 
…
 
"Q. Since you have some insight into the jury process, do you have any thoughts on this weekend's awards? Some have said you're overdue for a Palme since you've come close a few times, and you also received a lifetime achievement from the festival a few years ago."
 
"A. This is maybe very Canadian of me but I have to say it's meaningful just to be here in the spotlight of the competition. An independent production like ours wouldn't have been able to reach as many people. At Cannes the world comes to you. It's like Cannes is our limo."
 
Read the full story here
Original source: New York Times

The Wall Street Journal spotlights the Toronto Waterfront redevelopment in a tripartite feature that includes not only an in-depth article on the effort,  but also a slideshow of the many redevelopment projects underway and a video interview with Waterfront Toronto CEO John Campbell.

Declaring the redevelopment of Toronto's shoreline, "one of the world's biggest waterfront revitalization efforts" the Wall Street Journal looks both at projects still in progress (e.g. the West Donlands) and those projects that have been successfully integrated into the fabric of the city (e.g. the Simcoe Wavedeck).

see full feature here (subscription required)
original source Wall Street Journal 

The Torontoist takes us through the history of the Scarborough Civic Centre, and how a single oak tree inspired its creation.

Designed in 1973 by architect Raymond Moriyama, the modernist geometric structure remains a well-used and iconic public space.