Toronto, 9/6.

"Dignity and despair are woven tightly together in A Jihad for Love, a six-year endeavour by Indian film-maker Parvez Sharma that explores Islam and homosexuality," writes Jeremy Kay in the Guardian. "Without a distributor in the US, the film is one of the hottest tickets at the festival, and nobody knows what will happen at the first public screening." And that'll be on Sunday.

"Run, Fat Boy, Run comes across as Nick Hornby-lite," writes Cinematical's James Rocchi; "it explores the same psychological terrain as About a Boy or Fever Pitch or High Fidelity, where callow and indifferent men find something to believe in despite themselves - but it doesn't quite have the resonance and depth." Related: Patrick Barkham talks with Simon Pegg for the Guardian.

Now then, as for some of the titles that have just screened in Venice, I'll simply be adding new reviews from Toronto to their entries for now. James has reviewed a batch of these already, but his voice is such a refreshing break from the trades, you might like to know about them. I would: In the Valley of Elah (entry), Michael Clayton (entry) and Sleuth (entry).

"Toronto is about money as well as mise-en-scene," Nathan Lee reminds us in his pre-festival warm-up for the Voice.

Todd Brown gathers links to all of Twitch's reviews so far on one handy page.

At the AV Club, Scott Tobias offers "a teaser (and some pre-fest blurbs).

"I see my first five days or so will be pretty much consumed by Films It Is Important To Have An Opinion About, a category not always compatible with Films I Really Want To See," notes Premiere's Glenn Kenny.

J Robert Parks lays out his schedule.

"Sony Pictures Classics co-presidents Michael Barker and Tom Bernard are bringing nine films to the fest, a record number for the company," reports Variety's Anne Thompson. Also, Dade Hayes: "Stateside distributors are ready for round three, following intense buying sprees at Sundance and Cannes earlier this year."

Posted by dwhudson at September 6, 2007 4:09 PM