Lots of spies reporting from the Toronto Film Festival and some news along with reviews. Here we have a little of both, apparently this weekend famed documentarian Michael Moore's "THE BIG ONE" was picked up by those guys with the big brains at Miramax, and it will be seeing the light of day prior to the end of the year. Who thinks the Academy will stiff him again? Well if you know anymore about this project, let me know, I'm curious about it, I loved Roger & Me.
Meanwhile, one of our coolest Toronto types saw Frank Oz's IN AND OUT. I have had some people that hated it, but "THE LINE PEOPLE" I see films with loved it. Here is the view of one of those cool Canadians:
Sometimes comedies have the ability to teach a serious lesson while still bringing in lots of laughs. Frank Oz's new film "In and Out" does this quite well.
Kevin Klein stars as Howard Brackett a high school English teacher who is loved by his students. He has nice girlfriend and he seems to have a nice, quiet life. When a former student is nominated for the Best Actor Oscar (in a film involving gays in the military), he reveals that one reason why he knew so much was because his favorite teacher(Klein) was gay. The rest of town all of a sudden treats him differently, reporters stalk him and his job is on shakey ground.
What makes this film is that there are lots of laughs and good preformances. Klein is very funny as an afeminate teacher. Joan Cusack play his girlfriend of three years. She plays her stunned girlfriend quite well and though she seems to be given little room to work with in terms of character of development. Tom Selleck plays the tabloid reporter who is gay and helps Klein cope. The script has a few good turns but 1/2 through you can guess how exactly it ends. Oz though throws lots of character quirks so that seem very real. There are also some cameos from stars, which will surprise you.
I was able to get balcony seats for this one as all the floors were taken by the sponsors. All the cast was there. Oz looked tired though he joked alot with the gala crowd (that included our premiere who was booed). Klein was nervous but still had a funny things to relate and Seleck and Cusack were friendly but brief. Klein oddly enough isn't as tall as I thought (around 5'8 or so). The cast and crew didn't hang around afterward but from position "ran" for the door.
