othing inspires absenteeism like a massive film festival. Every September, pseudo-sick, work bailing, horse hating, truants (aka cinephiles) pervade Toronto, sighting celebrities, drinking highballs like F. Scott, and, sometimes, seeing films. With a prison laundry list of screenings, from flesh eating epics to playfully didactic documentaries, talking-head think pieces to expletive-laden rom coms, going to the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) can prove an exigent endeavour. As always, Martiniboys.com is here to sort through the fluff and superfluousness to find the films that are truly worth your ripped-ticket dollar:

RESERVATION ROAD
Friday, September 14 – 9:35 AM
Director: Terry George
Nowadays it seems like Joaquin Phoenix can play just about any role and he’ll be nominated for an Oscar. This film has been getting some heavy buzz already, and the trailer is barely even warm. The movie focuses on two fathers, one played by Phoenix and the other by Mark Ruffalo, who are brought together by a car accident and the death of a child. Their female counterparts are just as critically acclaimed: Jennifer Connelly and Mina Sorvino. Oh yeah, and director Terry George also directed a film called Hotel Rwanda; you may have heard of it. And the winner is… Joaquin Phoenix!
-R.T.



CHOP SHOP
Friday, September 14 - 10:00 AM
Director: Ramin Bahrani
Professional kid actors should start a new union; unknowns always usurp the best child parts. Good. In Ramin Bahrani's Chop Shop, a Cannes favourite, 12 year old Alejandro Polanco plays Ale, a street-bound orphan with a day job in a garage, a glamorous gig pirating movies, and a hot dog truck/Levittown dream. Set in an auto wasteland (aka Queens), the film follows Ale's idealistic, strife-fraught proletarian existence. There will be chopping. -S.T.



THE WALKER
Friday, September 14 – 3:00 PM
Director: Paul Schrader
You're thinking, "finally, a Paul Walker biopic." Sadly, you'll have to wait a few more years for that. The Walker, like all Paul Schrader (American Gigolo, Taxi Driver) scripted films, follows yet another nocturnal worker; this time it's Washington high society escort, Carter Page III (a mustachioed Woody Harrelson). The well-tailored Page becomes embroiled in a murder case that, like my new metro pass, may end his walking days. Lily Tomlin, Kristin Scott Thomas, and Lauren Bacall play date-starved socialites while Willem Dafoe, in his creepiest role to date, is a US senator. Wear comfortable shoes. -S.T.