TIFF ’24: What to See at This Year’s Fest, Sept. 8

By Jim Slotek, Liz Braun, Thom Ernst, Karen Gordon, Kim Hughes, John Kirk, Chris Knight, and Liam Lacey

Day four of the 49th annual Toronto International Film Festival and we are still virtually inhaling screening after film screening, then reporting back to you, gentle reader. Today, we survey a buzzy title from Cannes, a high-stakes drama with a monumental twist worthy of The Sixth Sense (and as with that film… sshhh!), the complexities for and about refugees seen from the perspective of a small French village, and, uh, a giant brain in the woods. Plus a Pamela Anderson drama. You can’t say that every day.

Anora

Anora (Special Presentations)

Sun, Sept. 8, 8 pm, Royal Alexandra Theatre; Mon, Sept. 9, 8:30 pm, Scotiabank Theatre.

Anora is a subversive Cinderella story about a young New York sex worker who marries the son of a Russian oligarch. It’s all eyes on Mikey Madison here in the central role of Ani — real name Anora — a smart, sweet-natured young woman who makes a living giving lap-dances. Ani is called upon at the club where she works to attend to a young Russian guy named Ivan (Mark Eidelshtein); the whirlwind/hedonistic romance that ignites goes south after his parents send their thugs to break it up. Palme d’Or winner at Cannes this year is a Damon Runyon story for the 21st century. Writer-director Sean Baker (The Florida Project) manages to entertain you throughout with this exhilarating tale even as he breaks your heart. LB

Conclave (Special Presentations)

Mon, Sept. 9, 3 pm, Princess of Wales Theatre; Tues, Sept. 10, 8:30 pm, Scotiabank Theatre 1.

Anyone who doubts the intensity of behind-the-scenes politics at the Holy See should simply consider the succession of the last two Popes, a hardcore conservative and a passionate humanist. Ralph Fiennes gives a terrific performance as the Cardinal-in-charge after a papal death, making sure that electoral conclave runs as close to smoothly as possible. However, one-by-one, past scandals remove candidates from consideration, and the political wings begin scheming. Beautifully shot, and convincing in its details. Edward Berger, who was last at TIFF with All Quiet on the Western Front, gives us a fast-moving, tense film, with a reveal that should be kept under the tightest wraps possible. JS

Friendship (Midnight Madness)

Sun, Sept. 8, 11:59, Royal Alexandra Theatre, Tues, Sept. 10 7:30 pm, Scotiabank 2.

Hilarity and discomfort mingle throughout director Andrew DeYoung’s comedy, starring amiable everyman Paul Rudd and comedian Tim Robinson as new neighbours Carmichael and Waterman, the latter frequently awkward and inappropriate, the former someone everyone seems to love. Initially, Waterman finds himself the lucky recipient of Carmichael’s friendship; Waterman, he says, makes him laugh. But after a disastrous (and hilarious) evening with some of Carmichael’s close friends, Carmichael revokes his friendship. Riddled with social anxiety and guilt, Waterman does what he can to reinstate his former position as a “cool neighbour.” Friendship is dark but not in clear-cut ways through violence, but through the emotional pitfalls of being socially awkward. Waterman is Larry David without the chutzpah. And Rudd as Austin Carmichael is… Paul Rudd.  TE

Meet the Barbarians (Gala Presentations)

Mon, Sept. 9, 2 pm, Roy Thomson Hall; Tues, Sept 10, 9:15 pm, Scotiabank Theatre 13; Thurs, Sept. 12, 6:45 pm, Scotiabank Theatre 9.

A small French town’s cheery altruistic façade crumbles when the Ukrainian refugees they thought they were about to host are scooped by another European nation and a displaced Syrian family arrives instead. Though the educated and genteel newcomers speak French and English, it isn’t long before they run afoul of various townspeople, who cloak their racism in claims of wanting to preserve their Breton heritage. Sabotage and conflict ensue. Director and star Julie Delpy does a terrific job of balancing humour with heartbreak in a perceptive commentary on a story playing out in real time across the globe, and a sterling cast ensures her story scans persuasively, if perhaps a touch too tidily at the end. KH

Rumours (Special Presentations)

Mon, Sept. 9, 8:30 pm, Royal Alexandra Theatre; Tues, Sept. 10, 4:30 pm, Scotiabank Theatre 2.

The members of the G7 get together in a fancy German spa under the auspices of the Chancellor (Cate Blanchett), and their interchange is rather less diplomatic than you might expect, with soul-bearing, love affairs and, oh yeah, an apocalypse and the discovery of a giant brain in the woods. People have called this Guy Maddin’s most mainstream movie, and that may be stylistically true. Rumours is not presented as a caricature of a black-and-white German expressionist film, for example. But it is nutty in the extreme, with absurdity-driven laughs and performances that suggest everyone was all-in. JS

Shook (Discovery)

Mon, Sept. 9, 5:15 pm, Scotiabank Theatre 3.

In the wake of the 2021 film, Scarborough and 2022’s Brother, both of which debuted at TIFF, we now have Shook, the feature drama debut of documentarian Amar Wala’s (The Secret Trial Five) film set in Toronto’s multicultural east end. The protagonist is a handsome, talented but “mopey-ass” Ashish (Saamer Usmani), an Indian-born, Toronto-raised young writer who won’t have his sophomore novel turned into “immigrant pornography” by mealymouthed publishers. Ashish lives in a state of arrested development, getting drunk in clubs with his high school friends, sleeping late, and berating his over-worked mother for serving take-out food. In a handful of scenes, bridged by a few too many musical montages, the passive Ashish gets pushed into empathetic adulthood by a new relationship with emotionally astute barista Claire (Amy Forsythe), and reconciliation with his estranged dad (Bernard White) after the latter’s Parkinson’s diagnosis. Performances are decent all around but, like its protagonist, Shook feels aimless, a portrait of an immature artist with no sense of what his art is like. LL

The Last Showgirl (Special Presentations)

Sun, Sept. 8, 2:45 pm, Scotiabank Theatre 13; Fri, Sept. 13, 6:45 pm, Scotiabank Theatre 9.

I couldn’t shake the lingering thought of how great The Last Showgirl might have been had Bob Fosse been around to direct it. The reason for seeing the movie is to witness Pamela Anderson’s moment of triumph at the ground level. Indeed, Anderson willingly drops any pretense of glamour to reveal the wrinkles. It’s a brave performance that Jamie Lee Curtis matches as a veteran cocktail waitress also facing extinction. Shelly (Anderson) is an aging Vegas showgirl who recalls the days when Vegas was a show town, and the dancers were treated like movie stars. Now, the show is closing. To stay relevant and employed, Shelly hits the audition trail, but the rules have changed, and she no longer knows where she fits in. The Last Showgirl shimmers in possibilities that bring the audience in before its earnest dialogue and overwrought attempts at clarity push them away. Dave Bautista is the uncommonly supportive floor director troubled by the unwelcome news he is forced to deliver. TE

The Return (Gala Presentations)

Sun, Sept. 8, 5:30 pm, Scotiabank Theatre 3.

Ralph Fiennes gives a staggeringly good performance, as perhaps only Ralph Fiennes could, as mythological king Odysseus in a new/old take on a timeless fable from director Uberto Pasolini. Years after leaving Ithaca to fight in the Trojan War — and long-since presumed dead by almost everyone — Odysseus suddenly washes up on the island’s shores, battle-scarred, traumatized, and in no shape to revisit the past. Wife Penelope (Juliette Binoche) is barely keeping at bay a group of thugs eager to marry her and inherit what’s left of Odysseus’ empire while son Telemachus struggles to find his place amid the vipers slithering through royal court. As befits a Greek tragedy, violence and treachery are abundant though contemporary language (plus nods to survivor guilt and PTSD) greatly assist a story otherwise visually beholden to its roots. So much makes The Return gripping: cinematographer Marius Panduru, who frames every shot like an oil on canvas, its deft handling of the lasting horrors of war and, mainly, its trust in its audience to follow along without excessive exposition. KH

Village Keeper (Discovery)

Wed, Sept. 11, 7 pm, Scotiabank Theatre 9; Thurs, Sept. 12, 3:15 pm, TIFF Lightbox 4; Sat, Sept. 14, 9:15 am, Scotiabank Theatre 13.

A somewhat programmatic drama about a single immigrant mother’s struggle with post-traumatic stress disorder, Village Keeper is elevated by the moving performance of Olunike Adeliyi (Tammy’s Always Dying, Akilla’s Escape) as Jean, the mother of two teens, Tamika and Tristin, who lives in a crime-ridden apartment complex with Jean’s mother. Jean, who is hyper-protective of her children, works multiple jobs to raise money to move out to a safer neighbourhood. Hints of the violence she is trying to escape are filtered in through flashbacks, but Karen Chapman’s feature film debut really opens up, visually and emotionally, during scenes set during Toronto’s annual Caribana festival. LL