A Beginner’s Guide to Endings Gala

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Left to right: Jonathan Sobol, Tricia Helfer, Jason Jones, Paulo Costanzo, Harvey Keitel

The other night at the Diet Coke Tiff Fest event, I ran into my pal Sean Ward and at some point in the night – I think it was in the limo – he was telling me excitedly about how much he wanted to see A Beginner’s Guide to Endings – the new movie starring Harvey Keitel and directed by Jonathan Sobol, the latter of the two who we met at the Drake Hotel last week at the Stella Artois TIFF kickoff party.

Almost as if by divine providence, the folks at Edelman and Stella got in touch with me shortly after and said that not only would I be getting a pair of priority tickets to the premiere gala screening event, but that I was on special guest list for the after party.

Of course, Sean was more than stoked when I called him up and said he would be my +1 for the evening. So off we went, camcorders in hand and we got some great stuff for you!

Here is a video of some of the events that ensued. Also be sure the check in on Sean’s point of view of that evening right Here.

The Movie:

Jonathan Sobol

Jonathan Sobol is a first time director and he’s as modest as they come. Despite the fact that his directorial debut, A Beginner’s Guide to Endings, is masterfully written, smart, funny, entertaining, and features a stellar cast including Scott Caan, J.K. Simmons, Paulo Costanzo, Tricia Helfer, Jason Jones, the young and talented Siam Yu and the legendary Harvey Keitel, Sobol shows little ego and is already looking forward to his next big project.

Coming full circle, we met Mr. Sobol last week at the Stella Artois TIFF kickoff party at the Drake Hotel. At the time, we didn’t know that this irreverent, witty young gentleman also happened to be a genius – but he won’t admit it. He would not admit it at the Drake and he would not when we chatted again at the after-party, but his movie speaks for itself.

Tricia Helfer and I

A gritty comedy flecked with bouts of Tarantino-esque violence, the film is also a moving story of fatherly and brotherly love with very memorable characters and brilliant moments. Beginner’s Guide is quite simply an utter delight to watch and is one of those films that will adorn the permanent collections of many fans in the future in Canada (the setting of the film) and the world over. The film’s cinematography, acting and directing put it in the same elite class of such films as Reservoir Dogs and may very well help usher in an era of profound world class success and growth for unapologetically Canadian filmmaking.

Siam Yu and I. Look out for this talented kid!