Some of the winding down for the Toronto International Film Festival began mid-week, as the major films tend to be here for the first seven days. That said, I saw some very good pictures in the days that bring the fest to a close. I quite liked The Young Victoria, in which Emily Blunt gives a very fine performance as the young monarch in the days that shaped her as one of Britain’s greatest monarchs. Directed by Canada’s Jean-Marc Vallee, the picture has great momentum, but it is Blunt that carries the load throughout.

Samantha Morton, perhaps best known to North American audiences as Agatha, the sad eyed pre-cog in Steven Spielberg’s super science fiction thriller Minority Report or perhaps for her work as the mute girl in Woody Allen’s Sweet and Lowdown for which she was nominated for an Oscar, makes her directing debut with The Unloved an intensely personal film in which the actress draws on her past with an unflinching eye. To say Morton is courageous is an understatement, as the actress-director uses her past in group homes and foster homes, as a ward of Nottinghamshire Social Services, from infancy to eighteen, in this powerful film about a young girl obviously based on Morton. That she turned out as she did is a testament to her great strength of character.

[Update: This post was written by guest reporter John Foote, who is covering TIFF]

TIFF is almost perfect… almost.

Don’t get me wrong, I believe Toronto is the best run, finest film festival in the world, the most important of the Fall, and a Canadian cultural event that has become a global cultural event. For ten days the eyes of the cinema world are focused intensely on Toronto – stars walk the streets, fans are respectful, and the world press is here to review films. It’s an exciting time to be in the city and you can feel the energy on the streets while walking to the screening rooms in the early morning.

I just don’t get Ricky Gervais.

I don’t find him funny, nor do I think him to be particularly talented. I do not understand his recent success at all, nor do I understand how he has been given a film to direct when thousands of young film students are dying to make a first film. To me he’s a one note comic struggling to stay alive opposite the actors he is working with. In his new film The Invention of Lying he is smarmy and superior to everyone around him, and I guess that is supposed to be funny. OK, fine, but not to me, and comedy remember is very personal.

A splendid co-production between Denmark and the United Kingdom, Valhalla Rising is an extraordinary work set during the time of Vikings. Hollywood has never managed to deal well with Viking lore, and after this film, perhaps they should not because I am not confident they would ever achieve what is achieved in this masterful work, one of the great visual experiences at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival.

The picture opens on a desolate coast where the heads of warring tribes meet for battle. For many years, One Eye (Mads Mikkelsen) has been the greatest warrior, but is treated like an animal, let out only to fight and then essentially fed and watered in his cage, where he can do no harm. His only real connection to humanity is the young boy who brings him his food and water everyday, and even then it is a prickly relationship. When a band of Christians take One Eye and the boy with them on a journey, how can they know it is fraught with disaster? How will it impact their lives, and how will their lives be forever altered?

Skinny Milly Miller.

I remember that name from the roller derby shows on Saturday afternoons in the seventies. My poor old grandfather loved sports of any kind and when there was nothing else, it was roller derby he would watch, and invite me to do so with him. I loved him so much I never had the heart to tell him how stupid a sport I though it was, so I sat down and watched it with him. His favorite skater was a tall, black woman named Skinny Milly Miller.

In The Boys are Back, tough guy actor Clive Owen gives a very different performance – which might be the best of his career. Best known for his Bogart-esque work in Sin City or his rage filled alpha male in Closer, Owen leaves that behind for his work here as a recently widowed father struggling with his own grief – trying to deal with his own devastating loss and the impact it is having on his young son.

As Joe, Owen goes places as an actor he has never gone before, sinking deep under the skin of this character to create a full bodied, real person that we might encounter in our lives. Heck, it could be a reflection of us one day. Every husband fears the day their wife dies, even if we do not admit it out loud, but when it happens to Joe he can barely deal with his own pain because he knows he must deal with his son. When his older son from another marriage returns home, the house is turned upside down by a father who says yes to whatever their demands might be, hoping it is the right thing to do. Of course he will learn it is not, and settles into his role of being father and mother, though it is a struggle for all of them to deal with that process.

Moving from film to film can be draining, and I have to confess fatigue is settling in as the festival hits the midway point. Seeing four and five films a day is tough work (honest) and when you are moving between the screenings to go do interviews with the actors and directors, you have to stay sharp.

Strong coffee, and lots of it works for me.

The madness continues at the 2009 Toronto International Film Festival.

The talk of the festival right now is the performance of Oscar-winner Robert Duvall in his new film, Get Low, in which he portrays a hermit with a dark secret who comes out of hiding to confront the rumors about him in a small southern town in the 30s. Directed by Aaron Schneider, the film is very much like a Horton Foote story, with those flawed yet all-too-human characters standing front and center.

Duvall, who adored Foote, loved the role and gives one of the best performances of his career. In fact if you recall, it was in 1997 that the veteran actor was poised for similar acclaim with The Apostle, which knocked critics and the film world on their collective butts. Duvall went on to earn an Oscar nomination for that performance, and may do the same here provided Get Low is purchased and lands a distribution deal.

Coming up to the third day of the film festival and thus far I have seen The Informant!, which I liked very much despite some problems with decision making by the director, Broken Embraces, which features just a stunning performance from the astonishing Penelope Cruz, Antichrist, a repellant yet unforgettable film, Hugh Hefner, a superb documentary that should earn an Oscar nomination, Bright Star, a disappointing film from Jane Campion, Jennifer’s Body, a rather average horror film from the pen of Juno (2007) writer Diablo Cody and the superb Up in the Air, from the great Jason Reitman.

Screen Rant would like to welcome guest reporter John H. Foote, who is covering the 34th Toronto International Film Festival for us. We have his first report for you today, with more sure to come. Check out first word on some of the Fall/Winter’s biggest films:

I would be a fool if I did not at least mention I had seen Antichrist here at the 34th Toronto International Film Festival, and though beautifully shot, the film is among the most repellent works I have ever seen. That said, I have been unable to think about much else since seeing it. ‘Nuff said.

Up in the Air might be the best film of the year, a superbly acted, directed and written film that brings out the very best in George Clooney, who stars as Ryan, a man traveling America firing company employees when their own bosses lack the courage to do so. Beyond the social and economic relevance of the film, the picture is a love story about a man trying to find something about himself to love, and being terrified he can’t.