officer Bell Stephen R. Hart ... Greely Carly Street ... Immigration Officer Ajit Zacharias ... Indian Man Julian Richings ... Leather Jacket James Lafazanos ... Night Manager Gene Mack ... Perry Release Toronto Stories premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF). It then went on to screen at the Possible Worlds Film Festival and the Kingston Canadian Film Festival. It was released in select theatres on December 12, 2008. Reception Toronto Stories was panned by most critics. Variety, reviewing the film after its September 2008 premiere at TIFF, called it a "complete zero" that represented the nadir of the "omnibus city film concept"; they acknowledged the "major Canadian talent behind and in front of the camera" but said the film "manages to leave no memorable moments over the span of four wan short pieces about Torontonians in search of a city". After its limited Canadian release three months later, Bruce DeMara of the Toronto Star was much more positive, giving it three stars out of 4; DeMara, acknowledging he was an "unabashed city booster", said "cinephiles looking for the next generation of directors to follow in the footsteps of James Cameron, David Cronenberg and Norman Jewison may find it in this cadre of filmmakers." DeMara called Gil Bellows's performance a tour-de-force and said the "vignettes make Toronto look very good indeed, by turns accessible and mysterious, livably bourgeois in some places, raw and gritty in others, hip and modern, but with a sense of history." E.C. Woodley's music score was given special praise by DeMara, who wrote that the score "deserves special mention for its orchestral manoeuvres, by turns lively, languid and moody, evoking a sense of place in a city whose diversity makes it so difficult to define." Now called it a "plodding, uninspired collection of four short films — each written and directed by a well-regarded local filmmaker — that never rise above mildly engaging, are often just plain lousy and fail to use the city in any creative or interesting way." Eye Weekly gave it three stars out of 5, saying it was "disappointing that the results are so inconsistent, with none of the contributions matching their creators’ best efforts in the past. Nor, despite all its proud displays of local colour, does it present Hogtown as memorably as such other recent Toronto-centric indie pics as Monkey Warfare, Sabah or In Between Days." References External links