The Chu-oh train line is running late due to an accident -- which for me basically translates into a businessman committed suicide again -- a common if not everyday incident. I can follow why he chose today of all days, with torrential rains and a typhoon threatening to hit Tokyo.

But as for me, I press on.

Making my way out of Roppongi Station with thirty minutes to spare, I effortlessly weave through a mob of people as eclectic as the film festival itself. People hailing from India, Iran, Italy, Britain, and America all chatting of their love of movies and who comprise a large portion of the TIFF patrons this year.

As I scan my screening schedule, I happily notice that Negative Happy Chain Saw Edge will be held in Theatre 1 and not the cramped, stuffy Art Theatre where they held all the previous press release films. My hopes are high, intoxicated by the expansive screen and the plush seats. I settle in as a stunning, Japanese girl emerges onscreen, Eri (Megumi Seki) patiently waiting for someone under a full moon. Before I can pull my eyes away, a large hooded giant falls from the sky and they start battling, he with a chainsaw where his left hand should be, she throwing daggers. In true anime fashion they leap frenetically all over the screen with superhuman strength before the hooded villain, wounded, dissipates into the night.

Still riding high from Negative Happy, I make a quick dash to the concession stand and gobble down a hot dog (my only sustenance for a long while) before leaping into Italian director Daniele Luchetti’s My Brother is an Only Child for a completely opposite experience. Set in a small town in Italy during the 1960s and 70s, two brothers share a passion for politics, one fascist and the other communist. As the well-loved, dashingly handsome, older brother Manrico (Riccardo Scamarico) downplays his role while his troublemaking younger brother Accio (Elio Germano) with a penchant for fighting is amusing to watch as he oscillates between a thug and a softie.

I leisurely stroll through the TIFF Movie Café admiring the 20th Anniversary photo exhibit lining the wall. Seeing such greats as James Cameron, Wong Kar Wai, Pedro Almodovar, Stephen Spielberg, I can’t help but feel an immense joy wash over me to be standing here where they once stood.

Before leaving the café I am corralled into a press conference for the movie The Waltz. I am amused by the time it takes to have a simple question answered as the Japanese translators’ work efficiently deciphering Italian into Japanese, then once again into English, for my benefit I guess, since I am the only foreign correspondent sitting there.

Seasoned director Salvatore Maira recounts how he shot the entire film in one take employing two cameraman using still cameras with a third waiting in the wings should either of the two become fatigued. He further adds, “It was like refueling in mid air.” When leading actress Marina Rocco (Lucia) is asked how she handled the pressure of knowing that any slip up on her part would result in starting from zero, she happily answers that it was like “getting on a train, going into a hypnotic state” where she became the character.

The last movie on my agenda for the day was Yu Nakai’s Bloody Snake under the Sun. Set in Okinawa during the Second World War, the inhabitants of a small Okinawan town are caught up in a power struggle between America and the intruding Japanese Yakuza, all contending for who will rule Okinawa.

Walking out of the theatre in a tranquil haze I was taken aback to witness the lead actor from the movie Ryo (Shogen) just standing there in the hallway talking to the director. It was astonishing to actually get a firsthand glimpse of the actor I had been staring at onscreen for two hours. I knew right then and there that a late train, pounding rain, typhoon, earthquake, any natural disaster would never ever get between me and a film festival.