TORONTO, Sept 8 — The Toronto International Film Festival opened Thursday with admiring applause for, Japanese animation master Hayao Miyazaki’s likely last movie — a meditation on love, loss and the horrors of World War II.
After meeting a talking heron, he enters a surreal and perilous fantasy world in search of his mom, where he finds everything from giant bloodthirsty parakeets — in rainbow colours — to a warrior pirate to a swarm of frogs. Organisers of the event, a launchpad for numerous Academy Award-winning films, were finalising a stacked lineup of premieres, red carpet galas and prestige TV launches featuring work from dozens of countries when Tinseltown’s actors staged a walkout.
Arquette is one of several Hollywood A-listers whose work behind the camera will be featured at the 10-day movie extravaganza in Canada’s largest city; others include Anna Kendrick, Taika Waititi, Kristin Scott Thomas, Michael Keaton and Ethan Hawke.