Indie Roundup TIFF: The Wachowski’s ambitious epic ‘Cloud Atlas’ plus ‘The Iceman,’ ‘Byzantium’ and ‘Barbara’

The Toronto International Film Festival always gives me a stomachache. Though I’ve watched so many movies a day that my brain feels like it’s dribbling out my ear, it’s never enough. There are so many that I missed, like Miguel Gomes’s “Tabu,” Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s “Penance,” James Ponsoldt’s “Smashed,” Michael Haneke’s “Amour.” Anyway, here’s my latest, and last, dispatch from TIFF 2012:

Lana Wachowski Opens Up About Feeling “Betwixt”

Andy and Lana Wachowski are some of the most reclusive filmmakers working in Hollywood. In the past, they’ve refused to do press events for any of their movies, from their hugely influential “Matrix” trilogy to “V for Vendetta,” which they produced, to “Speed Racer.” But for their upcoming staggeringly ambitious movie, “Cloud Atlas,” which premieres this week at the Toronto Film Festival, they’ve decided to talk with the New Yorker’s Aleksandar Hemon in a lengthy profile.

While the article devotes pages to their new movie’s long and difficult production — it’s fascinating, if you have a few minutes to spare, read it — the piece also offers a few rare insights into the famously private filmmaking siblings. Until 2002, Lana was known as Larry. In the profile, Lana opens up about her long and painful transition.