TIFF Weekend

This weekend the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) got underway, taking over the city with premieres, parties and a lot of red carpet. We couldn't let the festivities pass us by, so we got our hands on a few tickets for us and Vicki, and set out to see a couple of great films.

Roy Thompson Hall, where the World Premiere of The Promise took place.

TIFF is a yearly event in Toronto, and has become one of the biggest publicly attended film festivals in the world. A few movies are premiered at the festival, bringing a host of high profile actors and directors to town to show off their latest work. Unfortunately, it didn't seem as though Liam Hemsworth was visiting this time, but maybe we'll catch him next year.

We were lucky enough to be able to pick up tickets to two of the movies on show over the weekend: The Belko Experiment and The Promise. Since there are no reviews of these films yet we couldn't rely on the likes of IMDB and RottenTomatoes to tell us if they were any good before we bought our tickets, but luckily they both turn out to be excellent.

Eager horror fans awaiting the start of The Belko Experiment.

The first film we went to see was The Belko Experiment, which was being shown as part of Midnight Madness,  the horror focussed programme that runs as part of the festival. After a couple of drinks at Red's Tavern we joined the massive line-up outside of Ryerson Theatre, a full hour before the doors opened. Once inside, we quickly grabbed some seats near the front and settled in.

The film was a lot of fun, if horrifically gory, disturbing and stressful. The story follows a group of American employees working at an office in Columbia, who are one day trapped in their building by a mysterious character, and forced to kill each other to gain their freedom. Despite the bizarre premise and relentlessly dark tone, there were many moments of comedic relief thrughout, and the characters were really engaging and believable, each with their own interesting arc throughout the story. The whole thing is helped along by a really talented ensemble cast, and a soundtrack featuring Spanish language covers of classic pop songs like 'I Will Survive' and 'California Dreaming'. Totally recommend watching (with other people...during the day).

Writer James Gunn (of Guardians of the Galaxy fame) explaining some of his narrative choices in the movie.

On Sunday evening we attended the World Premiere of The Promise at the Roy Thompson Hall. We arrived two hours before the start of the film, dressed to impress, to make sure we got good seats once inside. Unfortunately, the red carpet was on the other side of the building so we didn't the stars (Oscar Isaac, Charlotte Le Bon and Batman) arrive, but they were all brought out on stage by director Terry George to introduce the film before the show got underway.

Oscar Isaac, Charlotte Le Bon and Christian Bale, the stars of The Promise.

The film tells the story of a love triangle set against the backdrop of the last days of the Ottoman Empire, and the Armenian Genocide, during the First World War. Needless to say this was a totally different experience to The Belko Experiment. It was a truly epic and emotional film, with great performances from the leading trio. We weren't the only ones who enjoyed it, as the crowed gave the cast and crew a standing ovation that went on for almost 5 minutes.

The cast and crew enjoying the standing ovation.

While all three of us were emotionally drained coming out of Roy Thompson Hall, it was a great experience and we'd definitely recommend seeing The Promise when it gets a general release.

This time last year Luke was repeatedly falling in a pond as we attempted Stand Up Paddleboarding. Two years ago we were Camping in La Manche provincial park with our buddies!