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It stars Oscar-winner Cage as a
con man with an obsessive-compulsive disorder.
The movie is a change of pace for Scott, best known for blockbusters "Gladiator", "Hannibal", and "Blade Runner". Cage, appearing before the screening, will soon be joined by other stars. Nicole Kidman, Denzel Washington and Meg Ryan are due to attend the Sept. 4-Sept. 13 festival.
Meanwhile a psuedo-intellectual small creaky Quebec film that became the toast of Cannes took centre stage on Friday at the Toronto International Film Festival. Denys Arcand's "The Barbarian Invasions", winner of the best screenplay award at this year's Cannes film festival features a former professor whose estranged wife, son and mistresses and old friends gather around his deathbed.
Equal parts comedy and tragedy, the French-language film tackles the larger theme of whether Western society is under attack, touching on issues ranging from the brutal psychopathic murder of 3000 human beings on September 11, and Canada's creaking health-care system to the loss of religious faith. (Oh God save us from French pseuds, Ed,)
Arcand said epidemics such as SARS, the inflow of drugs, illegal immigration and terrorism are just some of the forces having the same effect as barbarians once had on ancient empires.
"Sept. 11 is part of this, and to me this is just a beginning. So we're facing endless wars", the director told reporters on Friday.
"It's going to go on and on and on because an empire has to fight always the barbarians outside its borders. That's the future to me".
"The Barbarian Invasions", which opened the festival on Thursday evening, has garnered critical acclaim in Toronto after first rising to prominence in Cannes, where the audience gave it a 22-minute standing ovation.
But Arcand played down its success and refused to speculate about how it will be received internationally. U.S. rights have already been snapped up by Disney's Miramax unit.
"I'm making films for intelligent people, and that's what I strive for and it's surprising whenever a film is done well enough how many intelligent people there are out there. For the others, 'Dumb and Dumber' is there", he said.
Festival organizers said that with the wide selection of films and stars, ticket sales have been strong and are on track to set records.
Now celebrating its 28th year, Toronto is ranked with Cannes, Venice, Berlin and Sundance as one of the world's most influential film festivals. This year's event will screen more than 300 movies from 55 countries.
The festival is providing a much-needed injection of tourism and business for a city hit hard by the SARS outbreak, a real-life drama that played from mid-March until early May. Toronto remains the only place outside Asia where people died from the disease. Canada's biggest city had 44 victims.
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