Although the Toronto International Film Festival is generally regarded as the first major event of Oscar season, my experience there has never really been tinted by which entries on the program deserve a gold statuette.
True, TIFF usually hosts many future contenders in the awards race — the last two Best Picture Oscar winners, "No Country for Old Men" and "Slumdog Millionaire," both played there — but the sprawling lineup of 335 films from 64 countries represents something far more profound.
It’s a hefty portrait of the state of international cinema, both good and bad, familiar and unconventional, groundbreaking and routine.