By Monday, Mark had bought enough coffee at Black Bear that they gave him a punch card.
We finished the yogurt, with bananas and toast for breakfast.
Our first movie of the day was Noah Baumbach’s Marriage Story, with Adam Driver and Scarlett Johansson and Laura Dern as basically the same character she plays in Big Little Lies – the high power, new age-y business woman. It was both fun to watch and horrible in the way of problems of entitlement – people with more money than sense. This AV Club review talks about both Marriage Story and Uncut Gems, that we saw Tuesday morning.
I got a coffee and a cookie and we sat in a courtyard between King St. and some big office buildings between movies.
Next was Bad Education, which was also the bad effects of money, but a little more gritty. Based on the true story of the Roslyn School District, where the superintendent and business manager embezzled millions, and the largely real estate agent school board was complicit, since the thieves were so good at making their property values go up. Hugh Jackman, Allison Janney, and Ray Romano.
We weren’t super hungry but decided to go visit the Queen Mother Cafe, where we’d eaten once before. I had a curried vegetable wrap – zucchini, garbanzo beans, spicey curry sauce – and Mark had a burger. I felt like we should’ve gotten the meal the ladies at the next table had – big salad, fried calamari, and a bottle of white wine, split 3 ways.
Both of our earlier films were in the elegant Princess of Wales – The Rest of Us, our last film of the day, was at the Scotia Bank multiplex. Another view of divorce but a lot less money involved. It was a woman made, woman’s perspective film. A good way to end the day – although actually we’ve been watching an episode of Carnival Row per night; finished it Tuesday by watching two, though I’m getting ahead of myself here. Heather Graham (roller girl) was about the biggest name actor in it, playing a children’s book author, which caused Mark and I to have a discussion about whether she’s an author in real life or not. Mark thinks so – I think the author is a different person.
Tuesday morning we began with Uncut Gems, a Safdie brothers film – I guess their most famous so far is Good Time. Adam Sandler as a fast, actually non-stop, talking Jewish jeweler gambling addict, who both bets on sports and sells Black athletes and rappers their bling. Kevin Garnett is in it as himself. The Safadie bros. said it would be a good cup of coffee and it was. Stressful. Obnoxious. Realistic.
To recover we went and got breakfast at Senator. As good as always.
Next up was another movie about the Jews, Song of Names, about a disappeared Polish violin prodigy and his British friend who finds him 35 years later. It was directed by François Girard, who also did Red Violin, and it seemed like people were expecting another musical-historical-suspense film. But this wasn’t quite that although there was an 18th century violin in it. And no solos by Joshua Bell. It was filmed Game of Thrones dark, and the 1980s still looked a lot like the 1930s. Clive Owen and Tim Roth both gave good performances, and also the younger actors playing their younger versions.
We didn’t have much time between Song of Names and our last film, No. 7 Cherry Lane, which was in Bell Lightbox. I had a cortado and Mark got an iced coffee at Hot Black, and I bought us gummy bears and a bottle of water with the TIFF logo to get us through. Cherry Lane was lovely – confusing, but pretty to watch. The music was a little too loud.
Very pretty cortado at Hot Black.
We came home and I finished the gummy bears and Mark finished the ice cream, and like I said, we both finished Carnival row.