TORONTO -- The 'in' movies at Toronto's film festival included David Cronenberg's 'Dead Ringers,' starring Jeremy Irons as twin gynecologists; 'The Commissar,' a film banned by the Soviet Union from 1967 to 1987; an animated tale called 'The Brave Little Toaster;' and 'Miracle Mile,' which took nine years to make because studios thought U.S. audiences couldn't handle the ending.
The 'in' people included Richard Gere, who used restaurant reservations as red herrings to evade gossip columnists, and Alexsandr Askoldov, the Soviet director who said Westerners see Russians as 'only victims and not executioners ... you accept all of us as heros of perestroika, but it is not so.'
The 13th annual 'Festival of Festivals,' ending Saturday, this year drew about 300 feature and short films from around the world -- some old, some new, and some strange, such as those called 'Earth Girls Are Easy,' 'The Lair of the White Worm,' and 'Smoke'Em If You Got Em.'
'What's great about festivals is people are here because they love movies,' said actor Anthony Edwards. The 26-year-old star of the recently released 'Mr North' was in town to promote the screenings of his movies 'Hawks' and 'Miracle Mile.'
'It's only when you see all of these films together that you see there's such a variety to film and such possibilities, and people really do take chances,' Edwards said.
Edwards flew in from Italy for less than 24 hours to attend the screening of 'Hawks,' in which he and Timothy Dalton play terminally ill buddies. Edwards, who joked that 'the only time I'll ever get to play a professional football player is one dying of leukemia,' enjoyed the enthusiastic audiences, saying: 'these people have to be at every screening.'
Toronto is a moviegoers' mecca.
The third-largest production center of movies and television programs in North America, Toronto is also home to more than 1 million people who spend more per capita on entertainment than any other city on the continent. And the festival is supported by ordinary moviegoers and 'gold patrons' who spend $1,200 on screening passes although they still have to wait in line.
'It's a great town for a festival,' said actress Geena Davis, star of 'Earth Girls and Easy,' in which she appears with husband Jeff Goldblum.
Actress Theresa Russell, promoting 'Track 29,' her latest collaboration with husband director Nicholas Roeg, said the festival allowed her to meet people. But actress Jobeth Williams, who stars in 'Memories of Me' with Billy Crystal and Alan King, said she was saddened because she was too busy to see films and 'you know it's an opportunity that you won't get at home.'
The key to the festival is variety, said festival director Helga Stephenson.
Festival programmers select Galas, movies with broad appeal. Open Vault screens old, sometimes lost or forgotten films. Last year, the festival offered a series of Asian films, this year it was Kino Eye, a collection of Soviet films, many of which had been banned for years.
Programmers gathered films from Europe, North America and the Third World in an attempt to find something for everyone, and word traveled quickly about which films should be avoided, and which should not be missed.
Among the must-see movies: 'Dead Ringers' opened the festival and word went out that if you could handle a movie about gynecologists by the director of 'The Fly' and 'Scanners,' then it was worth watching for Irons' performance as erie twin doctors. Director Henry Winkler's 'Memories of Me,' a funny and touching reunion of father and son but boasts a witty script by Billy Crystal and Eric Roth. 'The Commissar' challenges Soviet myths with strong sympathy for Jews. 'Miracle Mile' asks audiences what they would do if they learned missiles would destroy their city in one hour.
Among the off-beat, but interesting: 'Cane Toads, an Unnatural History' tells the story of huge ugly toads brought to Australia to battle the grey-back beetle that was destroying sugar cane crops. But the beetle could fly, the toad couldn't. 'Dear America: Letters Home From Vietnam,' is a touching documentary with letters read by such actors as Robert DeNiro and Kathleen Turner. 'The Brave Little Toaster' is that rare find, an animated movie that doesn't tout commercial products.
