Vanguard Film Picks from Critics

Happy Toronto International Film Festival, fellow Vanguarders! (Yes, it's a word now; embrace it, love it; monogram a pillow with it.) We hope you've all enjoyed the first few days of the festival. Are you sleeping at all? If the answer is no, don't worry about it. Sleeping is what you do after the festival is over.

Now, we all know that the Vanguard programme is one of the best programmes in the festival, because duh. We've talked with some of our favourite critics and they've given us some of their Vanguard picks for this years festival. 

Jason Gorber of FilmFest.ca wrote an amazing preview review of the Vanguard films just before the festival. BERBERIAN SOUND STUDIO was one of the films he was most looking forward to due to "the fact that a bunch of crazy people have made films about madcap sound designers … speaks directly to my cinemanerdy heart." 

Gorber was also excited about the documentary ROOM 237, as was Adam Nayman, an associate editor for Cinema Scope. Of the documentary he says, "[Room 237] is a remarkable commentary on the subjective nature of art and the technologically motivated evolution of film scholarship, and confirms that The Shining is a movie by an obsessive, about an obsessive, and for obsessives."

Ben Wheatley's SIGHTSEERS also made Gorber's list as one of his most anticipated films of the programme. Nayman also cited the film as one of his picks, saying "[Sightseers] consolidates the reputation of Ben Wheatley, who is now 3 for 3; if Kill List was a home run, this is more like a solid base hit up the middle but it's not always about hitting it out of the park. It's nasty, brutish and short--a slapstick variation on the thrill killer genre where the badlands are merely mediocre and there are no perfect getaways.

Kurt Halfyard of Row Three reviewed I DECLARE WAR at ActionFest earlier this year and puts it at the top of his picks for the Vanguard programme: "I Declare War delights in juxtaposing war-film cliches with a real ear for 12 year old banter. Its war sequences are a combination of thrilling battles and humorous knowing nods; certainly for those who grew up in the 1970s, but probably anyone who grew up with a creek behind their house."

Links to these film's info pages (as well as links to the ticketing website) are below along with the screening times.

BERBIAN SOUND STUDIO Screening Times:
Mon., Sept. 10th, 6:00 PM BLOOR HOT DOCS CINEMA
Tue., Sept. 11th, 2:45 PM CINEPLEX YONGE & DUNDAS 3


I DECLARE WAR Screening Times:
Sun., Sept. 9th, 4:15 PM SCOTIABANK 4
Tue., Sept. 11th, 2:00 PM CINEPLEX YONGE & DUNDAS 10
Fri., Sept. 14th, 9:45 PM SCOTIABANK 4

ROOM 237 Screening Times:
Thurs., Sept. 13th, 6:00 PM BLOOR HOT DOCS CINEMA
Sat., Sept. 15th, 5:45 PM CINEPLEX YONGE & DUNDAS 2
Sun., Sept. 16th, 12:00 PM TIFF BELL LIGHTBOX 3

SIGHTSEERS Screening Times:
Tue., Sept. 11th, 9:00 PM RYERSON
Thurs., Sept. 13th, 12:00 PM RYERSON
Sun., Sept. 16th, 7:00 PM BLOOR HOT DOCS CINEMA