TIFF ’22: What To See at This Year’s Fest, Round 2

By Jim Slotek, Thom Ernst, Karen Gordon, Kim Hughes, John Kirk, Liam Lacey and Bonnie Laufer

The 47th annual edition of the Toronto International Film Festival continues apace until September 18 with hundreds of exciting titles spread across multiple programs. Original-Cin writers are previewing as many films as possible to help you build a can’t-miss schedule of screenings.

Check out our TIFF preview piece and watch for incoming ephemera such as interviews. Note that because of TIFF embargoes, our capsule reviews are tied to a film’s second public screening, not its first.

Rosie

Rosie (Discovery)

Wed, Sept. 14, 5:30 pm, Scotiabank 13.

Metis writer-director Gail Maurice’s feature debut may be the most upbeat portrayal of people on the fringes of society I’ve ever seen. Ready-for-Hollywood child actress Keris Hope Hill is Rosie, a little girl whose mother has died, and who is directed by child services to the care of her Francophone aunt Frédèrique (Mélanie Bray), a.k.a. “Fred.” Their logic is puzzling, since Fred can’t keep a job, can’t sell her art, and is constantly on the verge of homelessness. Happily, she has two adorable drag-scene besties Flo (Constant Bernard) and Mo (Alex Trahan). They each have their traumatic past, but when they’re together, positivity flows from the screen with the intensity of a fire hose. There are oblique references to the part the Sixties Scoop of Indigenous children may have played in Rosie’s family. But for the most part, this is tragedy uplifted and leavened. JS

Sisu

Sisu (Midnight Madness)

Sat, Sept. 10, 8 pm, Scotiabank 12.

The war is nearing its end, and it's clear Germany is about to surrender. A reclusive prospector (Jorma Tommils) fights a seemingly unwinnable battle against a rouge, sadistic Nazi tank commander (Aksel Hennie). The commander, fearing the consequences of his war crimes, sees a way of buying freedom by stealing the prospector's gold. Gold is a viable motive but seems unnecessary given that they're Nazis and were going to kill him anyway. And so, it's one man standing against a convoy of trucks, tanks, and foot soldiers, and the odds are against the Nazis. And so, director Jalmari Helander (Big Game) packs 90 minutes with hundreds of limb-severing, brain-splatting, blood-gushing ways to die—each kill more creative than the last— into one comically gory wartime action movie. The Fins call this “sisu,” a fantastical notion of unconquerable endurance and bravery that can only happen in the movies. Hennie embraces the snarling Nazi psychopath bit with the enthusiasm of a show tune. At the same time, Tommila, as the reclusive, unkillable, stone-faced prospector, remains stoic even when fighting off the pain of stitching your flesh together. Rambo has nothing on this guy. TE

The Grab (TIFF Docs)

Tues, Sept. 13, 10 am, digital via TIFF Bell Lightbox; Thurs, Sept. 15, 4:30 pm, Scotiabank 12.

Does groundwater in Arizona belong to Arizonans or to those who purchase the land above it? Is it immoral if hay harvested on that land is shipped overseas to feed cattle that will in turn feed Saudis? Should China be buying arable land in Africa to hedge bets against future famine? And will any of this matter when global food instability and water shortages exacerbated by climate change spark intense military conflict? Those are just some of the disturbing questions posed by filmmaker Gabriela Cowperthwaite’s (see also Blackfish) head-spinning documentary. The Grab follows journalist Nathan Halverson and his team at the Center for Investigative Reporting as they exhaustively trace the proverbial money to track which nations are strategically buying up land worldwide to dominate agriculture for their own economic and political benefit. There’s much more to it than that, of course — governments, intelligence bureaus, Wall Street, and private military contractors all play significant roles — but the future of the world’s food supply is at The Grab’s heart. If this riveting film doesn’t spark serious conversations about food, water, and ethics of hoarding and/or dominating both, we really are doomed. KH