On the eve of the Toronto International Film Festival '09

by Chris MaGee

Tomorrow our hometown will begin hosting the 33rd Annual Toronto International Film Festival. The streets downtown will be clogged with journalists from around the globe, film fans from across the city (and some from around the globe), and celebrity gawkers looking to spot their favorite stars. Most importantly though movie theatres downtown will be annexed by the fest to showcase the best that world cinema has to offer, and of course that includes Japan. So make sure to check back during the next ten days to get your daily fix of TIFF with reviews of Hirokazu Koreeda's "Air Doll", Yoichi Sai's "Kamui", Hitoshi Matsumoto's "Symbol", Satoko Yokohama's "Bare Essence of Life", and Koji Yakusho's "Toad's Oil"; plus we'll have the skinny on Q&A's, receptions and whatever parties we are cool enough to talk our way into (probably not a huge amount, we're not that cool).

One film coming up at TIFF this year with a Japanese connection that we haven't spoken about yet is Chinese filmmaker Tian Zhuang Zhuang's historical/ fantasy epic "The Warrior and the Wolf". The film, based on a story by Japanese author Yasushi Inoue, tells of a heroic warrior (Jo Odagiri) who discovers love with a mysterious maiden (Maggie Q) in ancient China. This is the second year in a row that TIFF has included a non-Japanese film starring Odagiri, last year's being Nelson Yu Lik-wai's Brazilian gangster film "Plastic City".

Check out the trailer for "The Warrior and the Wolf" below care of YouTube and 24 Frames per Second, and we'll see you in the next few days for TIFF!