By Kevin Lally
As always,theToronto International Film Festival marks the official start of the fall awards buzz. The King's Speech, the drama about King George VI's struggle with a severe speech impediment, lives up to its advanceword and looks like a sure bet to be named one of the 2010 Oscar nominees for Best Picture, with Colin Firth a leading candidate for the Best Actor race. Clint Eastwood's Hereafter, Darren Aronofsky's Black Swan, and Mike Leigh's Another Year are some of the other Toronto entries being touted for end-of-the-year awards glory.
Toronto also offers the opportunity to get a first look at movies that will be delighting audiences in the months to come. On the verge of a domestic pickup is Mike Mills'Beginners, a comedy-drama starring Ewan McGregor as a commercial artist whose septuagenerian father, played by the great Christopher Plummer, comes out as a gay man after losing his wife of 44 years. What sounds on the surface like a potentially zany comedy is actually a poignant and artful movie about the nature of love and the courage that goes into sustaining a relationship.
Michael Winterbottom's The Trip doesn't have a U.S. distributor, but after its rousing reception in Toronto, that shouldn't be the case for long. Actor-comedians Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon, who co-starred in Winterbottom's Tristam Shandy, play themselves, embarking on a gastronomic road trip in the north of England. The entire film was improvised during the titular trip, and Coogan and Brydon prove themselves without a doubt two of the funniest men alive today. Each is a gifted impressionist, and the Toronto audience roared at their dueling Michael Caines, Sean Connerys and Woody Allens, as well as their riffs on James Bond, musical talent, agingand mortality. At the post-screening Q&A, Winterbottom admitted to editing "100 hours of rubbish" to arrive at the finished gem of a movie. Along with nonstop laughs, The Trip is also an enticing travelogue and a foodie festival. Here's one comedy with great potential to move beyond the art house.
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