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But the two movies I’ve seen that people will be talking about for a while are Moonlight and Manchester by the Sea. The first is about an African-American man as he grows from boyhood into teenage years and then adulthood, all the while grappling with his sexuality, his mother’s drug addiction, and other challenges of growing up in his community. It is a slow burn movie with great payoffs - the last lines are haunting and gripping, at least if you’ve ever experienced those mixed feelings growing up gay. Naomie Harris, the lead’s mother, deserves a Supporting Actress nod, and a more progressive Academy could shower it with praise. As it is, I think this will dominate the Indie Spirits but its Oscar future remains uncertain to me - which is of course to say that the movie is fantastic.

Meanwhile, after a tribute to Casey Affleck and his generous career, we saw the new Kenneth Lonergan movie about a man (Affleck) who is thrust into caring for his teenage nephew when his brother passes away. It is hard to distill to a few sentences such a complex and touching movie that is about many things and nothing at the same time. Superfluously it is about coping with loss, but deep down it’s about a lot more. It’s about what makes use human, what makes us family, what types of bonds connect us, and what ghosts we carry with us. The movie has a haunting score, Oscar-caliber performances from Affleck but also by Michelle Williams in a supporting role as his estranged wife, and even by Kyle Chandler, the deceased brother who appears in flashbacks.

Like Moonlight, this film is a slow burn movie. Not much happens; there is a lot of dialogue. It is not a movie for audiences used to explosions, and it is not a movie for AMPAS members used to being told what to think on a plate. It is a complex movie that will stay with you. At the very least, the screenplay and Affleck are headed for Oscar nods, but if there is taste left in that group, Best Picture, Director, Cinematography, Score, and Supporting Actress nods are not out of the question.

Still to come

Tonight, Arrival makes its awaited debut here, and we still have to look forward to Pablo Larrain’s poem about the famous Chilean poet, Neruda. I haven’t even gotten around to the more foreign films like Frantz, Toni Erdmann, or Romania’s Graduation. Some of these may have to wait for TIFF.

Still, I stood in line this morning waiting to get into to the Casey Affleck documentary next to the wife of the documentarian who has End of Eden at the festival, a movie about the discovery of the last Amazonian tribes to come into contact with Western Civilization. I will try to catch it, as reviews seem positive. Speaking of documentaries, the same goes for The Ivory Game, about the poaching of elephant tusks. Heck, I even met the producer behind the Disney short that Disney is pushing in that category this year - Inner Workings.

There is obviously much still to come, and the organizers have even hinted at a complete surprise showing sometime Monday.

Stay tuned.

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