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"    Approaching the halfway point, the Toronto film festival\u2014an international film launcher and marketplace on a par with Cannes\u2014has already delivered what everybody wants from a fest: a taste of A-list glamour, a reasonably high percentage of good movies, and, best of all because least predictable, a relative dark horse with the power to thrill both crowds and critics. Precious was that film at this year&amp;#039;s Sundance. At Toronto last night it was Jacques Audiard&amp;#039;s A Prophet, a (trust me\u2014it&amp;#039;s riveting) 149-minute prison drama starring a charismatic young unknown named Tahar Rahim that had the gala crowd at the elegant old Elgin theater on its feet whooping, clapping, whistling and making every other kind of joyful noise for so long that a stunned and grinning Rahim finally just put his hand over his face. The witty Audiard is an acclaimed director in France and now he&amp;#039;ll be one on this side of th ocean too: Sony, which quickly snapped up Prophet, is giving it a one-week limited run in December to qualify it for the Academy Awards and will open it early next year.    As for glamour, a wisecracking George Clooney provided the first hit at the press conference for Jason Reitman&amp;#039;s very good Up in the Air, which also stars Vera Farmiga, Jason Bateman, and Anna Kendrick in what amounts to a mash-up of two timely new genres, mordant romantic comedy and heart-stabbing satire of the country&amp;#039;s economic crisis at its cruelest. Clooney plays a guy who fires people for a living, flying around the country from one cripple company to another. He got most of the questions [at the post-screening q&amp;amp;amp;a], one of which stopped everyone in their tracks. &amp;quot;How has the recession affected your life?&amp;quot; asked an Aussie journo. Looking at her in disbelief, he said drily, &amp;quot;I had to fire six of my drivers. I have nine.&amp;quot; As for the second hit of glamour? That would be Farmiga, giving everybody goosebumps as she swanned across the lobby of the Sutton Hotel several hours later swathed in a white, one-shoulder, Grecian-inflected column gown on her way to the movie&amp;#039;s own gala. Dietrich, Davis, not even Katherine Hepburn couldn&amp;#039;t have done it better.    \u2014Karen Durbin Photos: Getty Images "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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