Romance From Toronto

Men and women — remember them? Your grandfolks can recall when there used to be at least one of each in nearly every movie, talking sass and making nice, erecting walls of resistance because it was so much fun to demolish them before the final fadeout. Now romances and romantic comedies are out of fashion, mainly to be sprung in the fall, when adults come to movie theaters for a little vicarious warmth. Here are a half-dozen gracing the Toronto Film Festival; most will open officially in the next two months. They show why romance is often a tough sell, and sometimes why a kiss is more than a kiss.