I haven’t begun to even ask which Toronto films without name-level actors and directors I ought to see. All I’ve done is list the ones I intend to see because of my familiarity with the actors and directors behind them. They comprise a pretty amazing list so far. Here they are in no particular order:

Jason Reitman‘s Up in the Air; Jean-Pierre Jeunet‘s Micmacs; Werner Herzog‘s Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans; Tom Hooper‘s The Damned United, Dagur Kari‘s The Good Heart, Joe Dante‘s The Hole, Fatih Akin‘s Soul Kitchen, Brian Koppelman and David Levien‘s Solitary Man, Atom Egoyan‘s Chloe, Jon Amiel‘s Creation (even though it’s the festival -opener, which is always regarded as a black spot), Aaron Schneider‘s Get Low, and Terry Gilliam‘s The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus (12).

Plus Jean-Marc Vale‘s The Young Victoria (another black spot due to its selection as the closing-night film), Hirokazu Kore-eda‘s Air Doll, Manoel de Oliveira‘s Eccentricities of a Blond Hair Girl, NOT Jane Campion‘s Bright Star (having seen it in Cannes); NOT Pedro Almodovar‘s Broken Embraces (having seen it in Cannes); Ruba Nadda‘s Cairo Time; NOT Lone Scherfig‘s An Education (having seen it twice); possibly Brigitte Berman‘s Hugh Hefner: Playboy, Activist and Rebel; Tim Blake Nelson‘s Leaves of Grass; Todd Solondz‘s Life During Wartime; NOT Alejandro Amenabar‘s Agora (having seen it in Cannes); possibly Jan Kounen‘s Coco Chanel & Igor Stravinsky. (13 minus 4 = 9)

Plus Carlos Saura‘s I, Don Giovanni; Don Roos‘ Love and Other Impossible Pursuits (wow…bad title); Grant Heslov‘s The Men Who Stare at Goats; Rodrigo Garcia‘s Mother and Child; Giuseppe Tornatore‘s Baaria; John Hillcoat‘s The Road; Derrick Borte‘s The Joneses; Arnaud Larrieu and Jean-Marie Larrieu‘s Les Derniers Jours du Monde; Werner Herzog‘s My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done; Tom Ford‘s A Single Man; Claire McCarthy‘s The Waiting City and Miguel Arteta‘s Youth in Revolt. (12).

That’s 33 films so far and as I’ve said I haven’t even begun to decide on those I haven’t heard anything about or don’t feel at ease with due to lack of name talent. If it was only these 33 I’d maybe see 25 of these, at best. It always works out this way. Which is why I’m always asking NY or LA publicists if they intend to show any of their TIFF films before the festival begins. In fact, this is what I’m doing right now in a public way — i.e., asking for early look-sees.

Oh, one more — Rachel Ward‘s Beautiful Kate. That’s 34.