Mystery Twitter Account Sends Up Stuffy Seriousness of TIFF Media
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Mystery Twitter Account Sends Up Stuffy Seriousness of TIFF Media

Twitter user @tofilmcritic spoofs chain-smoking, self-persecuting professional movie-watchers.

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In the New York Times last week, film critic A.O. Scott drew a distinction between “normal people” and “the citizens of Movieland,” whom he defined as “a fractious, mobile and multifarious population that includes publicists and producers, celebrity profilers and the celebrities they profile, bloggers, soothsayers and critics of every temperament and medium.”

With TIFF kicking off today, those citizens of Movieland (such as myself, I guess, though I’d prefer to enjoy dual citizenship shared with the boring ol’ province of “normal people”) are in high gear, doing the thirsty work of watching movies, interviewing celebrities, standing adjacent to red patches of carpet, chain-smoking cigarettes in a panic and, especially, complaining about how much work they have to do.

Amid this navel-gazing frenzy, a new Twitter user, @tofilmcritic, has arrived to satirize all the stuffy self-seriousness of Movieland types. (Note: I first became aware of this account when someone assumed I was behind it. I’m not. Though I wish I was. Suspicion has also been cast on Torontoist‘s Angelo Muredda, who also claims not to be the mastermind. Whoever is behind the account suggested to me that they may reveal themselves in a few days. Suspense!)

Anyway, it may be a little insider-y, but @tofilmcritic does a good and very funny job of sending up the heart-on-sleeve anxiety of people whose jobs are basically watching a lot of movies, with tweets like:


And:


And also:

There are also some jokes about the ways Canadian press covering a Toronto film festival end up getting shafted when it comes to big-name interviews. Like this one:

There are plenty of jabs aimed at the fickle, more-refined-than-thou taste-flexing that frequently occurs at TIFF—stuff like, “Oh, you haven’t seen the new seven hour Turkmen film directed by the wunderkind auteur with the unpronounceable name?” and the perennially non-trending “#GoWavelengths” hashtag, which is always a good way to let people know that you are one of the hardy souls braving the festival’s “most formally adventurous”™ program(me).


Or this effectively simple praising of on-trend South Korean director Hong Sang-soo:


Anyway, anyone in Movieland looking to laugh at themselves over the course of TIFF follow @tofilmcritic. And for any “normal people” who may be stepping foot in Movieland territory, the account is a fun, funny primer of just how frazzled, stressed out and hilariously self-persecuting all the hard-working Movieland types are.

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