by Shannonn Kelly
06:34AM, EST, Thursday September 17, 2009

Only two more days to go for TIFF goers. There’s still more to see, especially if you missed any premieres earlier in the week. TIFF projected a 500 Million attendance record this year, so better get those remaining tickets now. They really need the cash-

Speaking of ridiculous money, the PR campaign for Zombieland starring Jesse Eisenberg, Woody Harrelson, Emma Stone and Abigail Breslin is nauseating. Billboards, posters, postcards, widgets, wraps EVERYWHERE. Like a bad rash…

Now that I’ve got that off my chest. As always, I say your best bets are the beautiful, quirky, highly dramatic and often under appreciated foreign films.

So, for Thursday, September 17, 2009, here are Shannonn Kelly’s picks for TIFF Day 8:

• From France/Spain/Taiwan

A back to front, past to present story about the end of the world is Les Derniers jours du monde (Happy End), co-written and co-directed by brothers Arnaud Larrieu and Jean-Marie Larrieu.  What I love most about this film are the ‘Plot Keywords” you can find. They are as follows:

• Toilet
• Love
• End Of The World
• Dead Body
• Hand Prosthetic
• Gas Mask
• Fictional War
• Suicide
• Snow
• Death

And most importantly this late in the 10 days of TIFF

• Female Full Frontal Nudity
• Male Full Frontal Nudity

Adapted from the eponymous novel by Dominique Noguez, Les derniers jours du monde is an ‘apocalyptic film’ that follows Robinson (Mathieu Amalric) through his journey from the French resort of Biarritz to Spain, when the world as we know it is coming to an end. The year before the apocalypse, he met a woman (Omahyra Mota), but when she suddenly disappears, he tries to find her. The film also stars Catherine Frot, and Sergi Lopez.

Les derniers jours du monde (Happy End) premieres tonight at 6:00PM at Ryerson and screens again Friday and Saturday

• From Australia

The Waiting City stars Radha Mitchell, Joel Edgerton as an Australian couple who travel to Calcutta, India to collect their adopted baby, but the plans have not been finalized and this throws them into separate and unexpected directions that tests the strength of their marriage.

Written and directed by Claire McCarthy, who also wrote and directed a short documentary called Sisters in 2008 about a teenage girl who spends 2 months of her summer holidays volunteering in the slums of Calcutta with a missionary.

She’s clearly inspired by that experience and she unravels the mysteries of Calcutta like one peels back the skin of an orange. I urge you to go for the cinematography of (the very hot) Denson Baker who also DP’d on the award winning Black Balloon, starring Toni Collette and Rhys Wakefield.

The Waiting City premieres 6:00PM tonight at the Elgin and screens again Friday and Saturday.

• From Vietnam

Choi voi (Adrift), written by Phan Dang Di and directed by Chuyên Bui Thac is the story of A young newlywed couple in modern Hanoi who begin to experiment with their sexual desires.

The film explores sexual awakening, lesbian desire and marital infidelity, topics are still largely taboo in conservative Vietnam, but due to the country’s transition from communism to a form of capitalism, the rapidly changing economic reality means a shift in social mores.

Erotic and fascinating without the Hollywood, huff and puff sex scenes, this is a pure sensory delight. The cast, includes Do Thi Hai Yen (The Quiet American), and Linh-Dan Pham (Indochine, The Beat That My Heart Skipped).

If you missed the premiere on Tuesday you can catch it today at 5:45PM at the Varsity or Saturday morning at 10:15 AM. And you know sex is always better in the morning… Enjoy

I’d love to here about your TIFF selections. Comment here or email me anytime