Toronto fest feasts on arty fare

Niche pix top 2003 event

TORONTO -- If fest purists were worried that the advancement of Oscar dates would result in Hollywood annexing the Toronto Film Festival, this year's edition may have set their minds at rest.

While studio fare stacked with star pedigree was by no means absent, it took a back seat to more specialized discoveries in the foreign-language, documentary or niche arenas that represent the traditional domain of film fests.

Entries from the majors -- including Warner's "Matchstick Men," helmed by Ridley Scott, and MGM's "Out of Time" from director Carl Franklin -- were met with decent enough reactions but created nothing approaching excitement.

Richard Linklater's "School of Rock" from Paramount drew a warmer response and a stamp of commercial promise.

But festgoers searching for this year's breakout buzz title like "American Beauty" or "8 Mile" are still looking as the event moves into its closing weekend.

Mixed receptions

Eagerly awaited pics like Jane Campion's erotic thriller "In the Cut," Robert Altman's ballet ensembler "The Company" and James Cox's porn-industry drama "Wonderland" -- all of which have distribution in place -- were met with severely divided if not lukewarm critical reactions.

Likewise Robert Benton's "The Human Stain," with Anthony Hopkins and Nicole Kidman, perhaps the nearest thing on paper to a standard Oscar-caliber movie.

Films that came closer to meeting their objectives in Toronto, garnering more generally favorable audience response and possible early awards momentum, included Lions Gate's "Girl With a Pearl Earring," by Peter Webber, as well as Sofia Coppola's "Lost in Translation" and Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu's "21 Grams," the latter two from Focus Features.

Offbeat pix pleasures

But more than the expected Oscar hopefuls, it was smaller pics from out of left field that turned heads here. The films that have sold in Toronto -- and generated excitement among specialty distribs and critics alike -- are a distinctly esoteric bunch.

The sole deals closed by Thursday on English-language films were IFC's pickup of Canadian experimental maverick Guy Maddin's silent movie-styled musical melodrama "The Saddest Music in the World," and United Artists' acquisition of Jim Jarmusch's string of black-and-white comic vignettes, "Coffee and Cigarettes."

Sony Pictures Classics is close to finalizing a deal on Mario Van Peebles' "How to Get the Man's Foot Outta Your Ass," in which the director revisits his father Melvin's pioneering film career.

Likely as they are to find a solid niche audience, not one of these films seems a candidate for significant commercial crossover.

Little spring in 'Things'

Arguably, the unsold English-language title that loomed largest on acquisition radars prior to the fest was Stephen Fry's Evelyn Waugh adaptation "Bright Young Things." But while U.S. offers have been lodged, the mildly positive response to the film failed to galvanize a bidding frenzy.

Sony Classics figured prominently in the foreign-language buying spree, acquiring Ferzan Ozpetek's Italian box office smash "Facing Window" and Korean Kim Ki-duk's meditation on the essence of life, "Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter... and Spring."

"Toronto remains the best festival in which to discover the unknown gem," said Sony Classics co-president Michael Barker. "Evidence of that is the Korean and Italian films we bought."

Among other foreign-lingo pickups, Miramax nabbed Takeshi Kitano's samurai swordplay pastiche "Zatoichi," Samuel Goldwyn Films took Margarethe von Trotta's Holocaust drama "Rosenstrasse," and Newmarket acquired Danish director Anders Thomas Jensen's comedy "The Green Butchers," in addition to pre-buying Patty Jenkins' "Monster," with Charlize Theron and Christina Ricci.

Despite a mixed critical view, U.S. specialty players also are circling French helmer Anne Fontaine's portrait of a marriage in trouble, "Nathalie."

It was films like these and even less overtly commercial entries that got festgoers talking.

Distribs eye docs

Highly original docs like Thom Anderson's "Los Angeles Plays Itself"; Jorgan Leth and Lars von Trier's "The Five Obstructions"; Dan Ollman, Sarah Price and Chris Smith's "The Yes Men"; Mark Achbar and Jennifer Abbott's "The Corporation"; and "The Story of the Weeping Camel," by Byambasuren Davaa and Luigi Falorni, drew close to unanimous plaudits, far more so than most narrative features that premiered.

These films also look poised to close distribution deals, capitalizing on the newly expanded theatrical viability of doc features in key markets like the U.S.

"Documentaries have always had something to say but now they're saying it in a much louder voice," said Mark Urman, head of distribution at ThinkFilm, which scored big with "Spellbound" and has U.S. rights to Toronto doc-hits "The Agronomist" by Jonathan Demme and "Bus 174" by Jose Padilha.

"It's become self-perpetuating," he added. "Filmmakers know they can get distribution and distributors know they're getting good stories.

"Documentaries aren't just about information anymore, they're about the whole experience. And they're almost always less expensive and easier to market."

Work-in-progress slot

While the feeling from recent editions that Toronto has been increasingly colonized by Hollywood has somewhat receded this year, the fest clearly still serves a purpose for studio product. This is most apparent in an emerging new slot that seems destined to endure.

Pioneered by Universal, the "unfinished" berth, which housed "8 Mile" last year and Midas-touch screenwriter Richard Curtis' directing debut "Love, Actually" this year, seems designed to test-drive ostensibly uncompleted, high-expectation commercial releases while giving the studio the option of further changes.

In the same way, U used Venice this year to try out the Coen brothers' "Intolerable Cruelty."

Response to the star-laden Curtis comedy indicates some possible resistance from highbrow critics, and a general consensus emerged that the film could benefit from minor trimming.

Still, the movie was warmly embraced by the mainstream press and the public here, so much so that Universal will likely have a holiday hit on its hands.

(Claude Brodesser and Todd McCarthy contributed to this report.)