TIFF OPENS WITH JAKE GYLLENHAAL’S DEMOLITION
Toronto International Film Festival kicks into high gear
DEMOLITION MAN: Actor Jake Gyllenhaal arrives on the red carpet for the opening night gala. Peter Howell reviews the film on
The Toronto International Film Festival got underway Thursday with the Jake Gyllenhaal dramedy Demolition.
Here are five things to know about this year’s opener:
1. It’s billed as an offbeat but heartfelt roller-coaster. Gyllenhaal plays Davis, an investment banker who struggles with grief after his wife dies in a car crash. Preoccupied by a lost candy bar in a defective vending machine, Davis writes a revealing complaint letter that catches the attention of a customer service rep played by Naomi Watts. As they forge a connection, Davis embarks on a mission to re- build his life by dismantling other broken objects around him.
2. It has strong Canadian connections. The director is Montreal’s Jean-Marc Vallée, who brings along his longtime cinematographer Yves Belanger, who also worked on Vallee’s emotional mother-daughter film Wild and the Oscar-nominated AIDS drama Dallas Buyers Club. Canuck director Jason Reitman is listed as one of the film’s executive producers.
3. Gyllenhaal has teamed up with a Quebec filmmaker before.
The versatile actor starred in back-
to-back films from Denis Villeneuve in recent years — the art-house psychological puzzle Enemy and the abduction thriller Prisoners. Gyllenhaal says he formed a deep bond with Villeneuve while shooting the Toronto-set Enemy, in which he plays two identical characters who engage in a psychological battle when they discover each other. He re-teamed with Villeneuve for the Quebecer’s big-budget, U.S. debut Prisoners, which they shot immediately afterward.
4. Vallee is a music geek, and he packs his films with favourite tunes.
His breakout C.R.A.Z.Y., about a
young gay man coming out to his family in late-’70s Quebec, was fuelled by classic tunes. So, too, was his romantic, time-jumping Café de Flore and ’80s-set Dallas Buyers Club. Chances are good there will be some well-placed tracks in Demolition.
5. You’ll have to wait for this film. Gyllenhaal’s next scheduled release is actually Everest, an adventure drama about an ill-fated 1996 expedition that saw eight climbers die trying to reach the peak. That movie opened the Venice Film Festival last week. Demolition is not expected to open until April 2016.