Hold on to your hats, folks: TCFF is officially underway! The sixth annual film festival kicked off yesterday with two stellar Midwest film premieres, a block party on Front Street, a Larry King Live appearance, and tornadoes in the Open Space. Go big or go home – that’s the TCFF mantra.

Photo courtesy of John Russell

The extravaganza got underway with the premieres of “Nowhere Boy” at the City Opera House and “The Kids Are All Right” at the State Theatre. The overlap in premieres led to some unfortunate delays on start times, especially at the State, but the crowds handled it well. I had the opportunity to see “Nowhere Boy,” a biopic on John Lennon’s teen years, before the festival, so I attended “The Kids Are All Right.” As anyone who attended either premiere will attest, both films were excellent choices to be the first titles people see at the festival this year. “Nowhere Boy,” with its understated script and first-rate cast, is thoroughly British in all the best senses of the word. Kristin Scott Thomas is excellent as always, but it’s Aaron Johnson (who recently kicked ass as, well, Kick Ass in the movie of the same name) who shines here as Lennon. It’s fun to see fictionalized scenes of Lennon learning to play the guitar, meeting Paul McCartney and starting on his musical career as singer and guitarist in the Quarrymen. If you are a fan of the Beatles or John Lennon, this film is for you.

Kristin Scott Thomas & Aaron Johnson

While filmgoers took a trip down Liverpool Lane over at the City Opera House, the State Theatre crowd was treated to one of the best independent films of the year: “The Kids Are All Right,” starring Annette Bening, Julianne Moore and Mark Ruffalo. Brimming with humor, heartache and exacting insight into the modern American family, this story of a married lesbian couple whose world is interrupted when their teenagers reach out to their sperm donor dad has earned a knock-out 96% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes. The rating is well-deserved. All of the leads are pitch-perfect, particularly Mark Ruffalo, who can be in every film from now until the end of time as far as I’m concerned.

Most importantly for “The Kids Are All Right,” the film doesn’t sensationalize the women’s lesbian relationship in any way, but rather takes it as matter-of-fact and focuses on the dynamics of marriage and parenthood in an intelligent and moving way. The film could have swapped in a heterosexual couple with little change in impact on story, and that’s telling of where we’re finally starting to move as a country – that we can feature gay or lesbian characters in films without having to sensationalize that aspect of their lives or revolve the entire plot around their sexuality. Not to get all NOW on you, but it has to be noted that it took a female writer-director (Lisa Cholodenko, who also wrote and directed the wonderful “Laurel Canyon”) to get a story like this into the American mainstream. Here’s hoping other filmmakers will follow in her footsteps.

The cast of “The Kids Are All Right”

After the screening, the crowd streamed down Front Street and headed to the Opening Night Party. The party, per usual TCFF tradition, was outstanding. Lots of amazing food, great drinks – the Grand Traverse Distillery vodka is a personal fave – and good conversations. At one point, I had a belly dancer on one side of me and Charlie Chaplin on the other side while gypsy jazz played on stage, and I lost touch for a brief but alarming moment with any sense of reality. Then John Robert Williams – TCFF co-founder and unofficial Mayor of Fun – walked by and clapped me cheerfully on the shoulder, and I was back down on Earth. Much like the dream thieves in “Inception,” it’s important to have a totem at TCFF for those moments – like when Madonna is standing under the State Theatre marquee, or Michael and Jeff Garlin are singing “House at Pooh Corner” at the Holiday Inn – to help you determine if you’re dreaming or not. JRW has become my totem over the years, and I couldn’t ask for a better festival partner-in-crime. Thanks for keeping it real, John!

Other highlights of the night included an Open Space screening of “Twister” – which I heard was a riot – and a live appearance from Michael Moore on Front Street on Larry King Live. I watched the DVRed interview this morning, and it was amazing to see Traverse City and the festival get that kind of national recognition on CNN. I do have some choice words for the guy who decided to use the broadcast as an opportunity to stage an aural gubernatorial campaign in the background, but since this a family-friendly blog, I won’t print them here. Fortunately, Michael handled the intrusion with his trademark good humor, and wrapped up a great interview with King with the State Theatre marquee shining in the background. If you missed the show, you can watch the interview online here.

Michael on Larry King Live

So there you have it! Day one of film fest got the week started with a bang, and amped up both filmgoers and filmmakers for another exciting five days at the movies. Be sure to keep checking back here on the website and blog for festival news and updates, film reviews, filmmaker interviews and photo and video coverage of all the great TCFF events. Get your game face on, because the week’s just getting started!