TIFF ’22: What To See at This Year’s Fest, Round 3

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

Happy Sunday! 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.

Daughter of Rage

Ashkal (Contemporary World Cinema)

Sun, Sept. 11, 2:40 pm, Scotiabank Theatre Toronto

There is a hypnotic pleasure in watching Tunisian director Youssef Chebbi's Ashkal. It begins as a straight-up police procedural and then morphs into a political thriller with perhaps something otherworldly skirting along the edges. The story revolves around the investigation of several deaths by immolation—a sacrificial or suicidal death by fire. There are no witnesses save for the occasional sighting of a strange figure who appears to hand fire to the victims. Detectives Fatma (Fatma Oussaifi) and Batal (Mohamed Houcine Grayaa) investigation is hampered by the pressure and influence of a bullish diplomat. And then, there is the animosity of colleagues towards Fatma, whose father is actively exposing police corruption. Batal too has secrets that, if discovered, could have grave consequences. Some of the story gets muddled in regional politics, but even if you don't connect to the film's references and subtext, there is still the mystery of naked burning bodies to keep you hooked. TE

Daughter of Rage (Discovery)

Sun, Sept. 11, 6:15 pm, Scotiabank 10; Thurs, Sept. 15, 8:35 am, Scotiabank 11.

Crushing poverty and the horrible choices it imposes are documented with great humanity and urgency by filmmaker and sociologist Laura Baumeister in her debut feature, also notable as the first-ever narrative feature directed by a Nicaraguan woman and making its world premiere at TIFF. María and her mother Lilibeth live just outside a massive dumpsite. While María scavenges for useable scraps, Lilibeth raising puppies for sale. They pair are each other’s anchor, but when an accident upends their fragile existence, Lilibeth must surrender María to a child-powered sweatshop while she attempts to square her debt. Inspired by children Baumeister met while working as a teacher, Daughter of Rage soars on María (Ara Alejandra Medal, wonderful), whose dreams are boundless — and sometimes mystical — despite the shackles of her existence. KH

Maya and the Wave (TIFF Docs)

Fri, Sept. 16, 2:30 pm, Scotiabank 14.

The imagination doesn’t have to work hard to figure out that a documentary about a surfer’s quest to break the world’s record for riding the biggest wave is likely to have some gnarly (surfer talk) footage. What the imagination might not consider is how motivating and inspiring such a story can be. Director Stephanie Johnes’ documentary Maya and the Wave tracks the career of Brazilian surfer Maya Gaberia, a young woman who nearly drowned in a dramatic event caught on tape. The fallout from her near-death accident spawned a whirlwind of criticism from her male counterparts, labeling her as inexperienced, careless, and simply not good enough to play with the big boys. The dismissal from her peers is devastating, but in the right mind, devastation turns into determination. Maya pushes beyond incredible pain, beyond the pleas from her mother, the orders from her doctors, and the setback of having a major sponsor pull their support. Johnes captures the beauty of the sport, the breathtaking magnitude of the waves, the foaming swell of water painting the sand, and the ultimate thrill of conquering the unconquerable. TE

Muru (Contemporary World Cinema)

Mon, Sept. 12, 9:45 pm, Scotiabank 9; Sat, Sept. 17, 6:15 pm, Scotiabank 10.

Inspired by true events, Muru is a New Zealand drama about the 2007 police raids of the Ngāi Tūhoe community of Rūātoki. Cliff Curtis (coming soon in James Cameron’s Avatar movies) plays police sergeant ‘Taffy’ Tāwharau, who must choose between duty to his badge and his people when the government invokes antiterrorism powers to launch an armed raid on Taffy's remote Urewera community. It’s truly maddening to watch police conduct this raid, which happened just a few years after 9/11 when the concern about terrorism was heightened. The NZ police’s special tactics group were quick to decide that members of the community were a threat to national security. Despite Taffy's pleas that their mission is mistaken, the highly armed tactical unit descends. The film weaves fiction into the narrative, adding to the drama and suspense. Anchored by some very strong performances, Muru will stick with you long after leaving the theater. BL

R.M.N.

R.M.N. (Contemporary World Cinema)

Sun, Sept. 11, 12:05 pm, Scotiabank 4; Sun, Sept. 18, 12:15 pm, Scotiabank 10.

The latest from Christian Mungiu, a leading figure in Romanian new wave of the past couple of decades, offers an x-ray of the state of contemporary Romania (the title refers to a M.R.I. scan), through the microcosm of a group of intersecting characters of different ethnicities in a Transylvanian village. Matthias (Marin Grigore) is a Roma worker who quits his job in Germany. He hitchhikes back to his village, seeking to reconnect with his young son Rudi, a selective mute, as well as with an old lover, Csilla (Judith State), an ethnically Hungarian woman who serves as a supervisor at a local bread factory. She’s desperate for workers but Matthias scorns the minimum wage and unmanly work. To secure an EU grant, she and her boss need to hire foreign workers, but when a trio of Sri Lankan men show up, the town rebels in openly racist hostility that exposes the fissures beneath the post-Soviet peace. The film leans toward the didactic but culminates in a tour de force scene: a single shot, 17-minute-long community meeting where the hostility level rises like a slowly bubbling volcano. LL

Until Branches Bend (Discovery)

Mon, Sept. 12, 8:30 pm, Scotiabank 10.

Sophie Jarvis’ feature debut is a heart-rending and well-executed portrait of a young cannery worker in the Okanagan who is compelled to become a whistle-blower after she discovers a potentially devastating insect in a peach on the inspection line. It’s not as if Robin (Grace Glowicki) needs the extra aggravation. She’s already trying to decide what to do about an unwanted pregnancy. But when her boss (Riverdale’s Lochlyn Munro) sweeps the issue under the carpet, she finds herself compelled to move forward, and becomes a pariah in a town whose very existence depends on factory run orchards. The clash of conscience and condemnation, and the loneliness of doing the right thing are at the core of this quietly terrific first-time effort. JS