Buying in and selling out.
The Toronto International Film Festival ends tomorrow, but most journalists have already skipped ahead to extrapolating trends. There's much loose talk about potential Oscar front-runners -- "Up In The Air" apparently has a lock -- and much free-floating despair about the tough climate for making, purchasing and marketing indie films. But at least one person thinks the recession's been good for movies, by getting those arty directors to tone it down. Peter Howell of the Toronto Star wraps up the festival sounding exhilarated and gratified for all the wrong reasons. He salutes Steven Soderbergh, Atom Egoyan, Werner Herzog, Todd Solondz et al. for showing "they're willing to compromise if it keeps them behind the camera in tough economic times... Did they sell out? No, they bought in, if you accept the notion that it's okay to appeal to more than just film critics and fellow directors, especially if you can...
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