On the afternoon of Sunday September 14th , I attended a screening of the Canadian feature film "Only" at the AMC 24 theatre as part of TIFF '08. Producer-Director Ingrid Veninger and producer Simon Reynolds (as well as the two principal cast members) were in attendance.
The film is set in Parry Sound, Ontario and is highly personal inasmuch as Ingrid Veninger's father managed the Quality Inn (where the film is set) when she was a child and her own real-life son (Jacob Switzer) plays the male lead role. The entire movie takes place over the course of a single day and chronicles the chance meeting of two 13 year old only children-- Daniel (Switzer), the slacker son of a motel's owner and Vera (Elena Hudgins Lyle) , a narcoleptic poet and guest at the hotel (her family is en route to a new home in Brampton). As they wander aimlessly about along the snowy roadways and trails around the inn, the two strangers come to forge a special friendship and a strong bond rooted in their common need, before they are (all too soon) forced apart.
The performances by Switzer and Lyle were notably strong and the soundtrack, featuring a large number of local alternative bands, perfectly underscored the film's organic form and wistful theme of mutual self-discovery.
There was a Q&A session afterwards. Veninger's mother and father were present. Her Mom made a particularly poignant speech, thanking her daughter for the wonderful gift she considered the film and presenting a flower stem to her daughter, grandson and to Lyle. A large number of the film's crew (and their friends / family) were also in attendance.
Overall, this film easily represented the most local, personal, simple and intimate experience I had at TIFF this year.
Recommended
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