By Original-Cin Staff

Even without Hollywood A-listers, the Toronto International Film Festival marches on for its 48th annual edition. But what’s bad news for nightly entertainment shows — namely, no starry red carpets or local celebrity sightings — is good news for film buffs keen to focus on screens without extraneous distractions of the tabloid kind.

As we have come to expect from TIFF, the goods on offer are abundant, with features, shorts, and documentaries from across the planet making their way to our theatres for a heady mix of world, international, and Canadian premieres. No topic, it seems, is left unexplored as programs like the newly instituted Centrepiece (replacing Contemporary World Cinema) bring spectacular films from newbies and veterans alike. And then there’s Special Presentations, Platform, Midnight Madness, TIFF Docs, Wavelengths… the list is looong.

As is our pleasure here at Original-Cin, we will be spotlighting as many films as we possibly can in capsule reviews running daily throughout the festival, happening September 7 to 17. Note that we are restricted from writing about films until after their first public screening; luckily most films have a few slots scheduled. Our coverage will also include interviews, possibly some opinion pieces, and of course, a closing post-mortem feature.

As we count down to launch, we offer up the titles each of us is most excited to see for any number of reasons, presented with the caveat that, within the context of a sprawling film festival like TIFF, it’s always worth taking a chance on something that sounds intriguing or comes from a place you’re curious about. Gems are there to be discovered. That said…

Jim Slotek

Dumb Money (Gala Presentations)

I remember being fascinated but totally baffled when GameStopGate hit the news. But ordinary young people taking down billionaires at their own game sounds like catnip for audiences. And Paul Dano, as the true believer who launched the Reddit-based stock market disruption, is as underrated an actor as there is in the movies today.

Dream Scenario (Platform)

Put the words “surrealist” and “Nicolas Cage” together and I’m there. He plays an ordinary schlub professor who starts showing up in people’s dreams. Writer-director Kristoffer Borgli and co-producer Ari Aster are said to have created “a comedic reversal of A Nightmare on Elm Street” and a satire of fame.

Sorry/Not Sorry (TIFF Docs)

A look back at the #MeToo takedown of comic Louis C.K., featuring pathology, abuse of power relationships, fall from grace, and who knows, maybe even redemption. Personal connection: Louis was an acquaintance from a pre-Twitter site called alt.comedy.standup where comics and civilians would debate, well, everything. Despite all the words we exchanged, apparently, I didn’t get to know him THAT well.

Liz Braun

The Promised Land (Special Presentations)

Can you say, “sweeping epic?” We’ve been watching filmmaker Nikolaj Arcel since he wrote the screenplay for The Girl with The Dragon Tattoo, and who doesn’t want to see Mads Mikkelsen, star of this new historical drama, emote his way through the hardships available in 18th century Denmark?

North Star (Special Presentations)

Kristin Scott Thomas makes her feature directorial debut with this family tale. She also stars as a twice-widowed mother, and nabbed Scarlett Johansson, Sienna Miller, and Emily Beecham to play her daughters. Not too shabby.

Stamped From the Beginning (TIFF Docs)

Is the movie theatre the last real classroom? This documentary from Roger Ross Williams looks at the history of anti-Black prejudice with help from the book (Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America) by historian Dr. Ibram X. Kendi.

Thom Ernst

The Pigeon Tunnel (TIFF Docs)

I’m not even a John le Carré fan but a documentary spanning six decades by a filmmaker the likes of Errol Morris? That should not be missed. By anyone!

Anatomy of a Fall (Special Presentations)

Anatomy of a Fall is high on my list for many reasons, including being a Palm d’Or winner, but mostly because it’s a film likely to be on Karen Gordon’s list. And a film that gets on Gordon’s attention is all the reason I need.

Hell of a Summer (Midnight Madness)

A comedy horror where summer camp counsellors clash with a masked killer. This is the directorial debut of Finn Wolfhard. I don’t know if Wolfhard can make a movie, but I’m up for finding out.

Karen Gordon

The Zone of Interest (Special Presentations)

Truthfully, I’d watch any movie made by writer-director Jonathan Glazer. But this one — based on a novel by Martin Amis and starring the fanastisch German actress Sandra Hüller (Toni Erdmann) — has me both nervous (because of its morally dark subject matter) and excited (for the same reason). It won the Grand Prix at Cannes.

Anatomy of a Fall (Special Presentations)

Another hit from last spring's Cannes Film Festival. Written and directed by Justine Triet, Anatomy of a Fall is a taut French courtroom drama that won both critical raves and the Palme d’Or. Also starring German actress Sandra Hüller (I’m sensing a theme).

Perfect Days (Centrepiece)

Wim Wenders sets his latest film in Tokyo, and the quiet, simple, routine life of a man — beautifully played by Kôji Yakusho — who cleans public toilets for a living. Of course, in the hands of the philosophical Wenders, simple is the gateway to something much more profound (though not starring Sandra Hüller).

Kim Hughes

Toll (Centrepiece)

Brazilian director Carolina Markowicz’s spectacularly dark debut CHARCOAL was a TIFF ’22 highlight so I’m eager to see what her latest delivers. Like the beforementioned film, Toll stars Maeve Jinkings as a person of questionable ethics — this time a toll booth operator — who abets a gang of thieves fleecing motorists to finance conversion therapy for her son. Things presumably don’t end well.

Wicked Little Letters (Special Presentations)

The Lost Daughter co-stars Olivia Colman and Jessie Buckley reunite for this sly period piece about a small English community scandalized by nasty, bespoke anonymous letters sent to townsfolk. Who’s to blame, and why? Sounds like a rich whodunit brimming with sharp social commentary.

Memory (Special Presentations)

Mexican director Michel Franco’s raw sensibilities aren’t for everyone — several esteemed colleagues were deeply unsettled by 2020’s New Order, and 2021’s Sundown was a gripping head-scratcher. But his work never fails to engage. His latest drama, featuring Jessica Chastain and Peter Sarsgaard as uneasy lovers, promises to be provocative in dynamic new ways.

John Kirk

Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person (Centrepiece)

If there’s anything that’s worth looking forward to, it’s a good laugh, especially if it’s about the ethical quandaries of living a supernatural existence. In other words, vampires.

Dicks: The Musical (Midnight Madness)

Yup, I’m up for an outlandish comedy of queer-themed humour. I think this film promises a non-stop 86 minutes of madcap laughter that, with vacuums in the background, will probably include jokes about both sucking and blowing.

Dumb Money (Gala Presentations)

If loving Seth Rogen is wrong, I don’t want to be right. How videogames brought down Wall Street for a day? I’m in.

Chris Knight

The Delinquents (Centrepiece)

The premise sounds interesting: a bank employee steals more than half a million dollars, then enlists a co-worker to help hide it. The running time — three hours! — means I may regret going to see it, but also just piques my curiosity all the more. And if The Delinquents does turn out to be one of those great non-English-language masterpieces that gets remade by Hollywood, well, I want to see where it all began.

The Contestant (TIFF Docs)

Locked in a room and forced to live off whatever you could win from write-in sweepstakes sounds like some kind of turn-of-the-century, Old-Boy-meets-Truman-Show fictional concoction. The time period fits, but the story is real. I vaguely remember hearing about this guy back in the day. I’m stoked to learn more now.

Woman of the Hour (Special Presentations)

Always fascinating to see what great actors can do behind the camera, and this year’s TIFF is full of work by actors-turned-directors, including Michael Keaton’s Knox Goes Away, Viggo Mortensen’s The Dead Don’t Hurt, Patricia Arquette’s Gonzo Girl, Kristin Scott Thomas’ North Star, Ethan Hawke’s Wildcat and this one, Anna Kendrick’s directing debut, in which she also stars as a Dating Game contestant up against a murderer in this based-in-fact story.

Liam Lacey

About Dry Grasses (Centrepiece, Luminaries)

Turkish director Nuri Bilge Ceylan (Winter Sleeps, Once Upon a Time in Anatolia) makes films that are long, philosophical, and novelistic in the best sense. His latest deals with an art teacher working in a remote West Anatolia community whose fixation on a student is exposed. Reviewer Guy Lodge of Variety said the film gives a sense of “a single film acting as an auteur’s greatest-hits collection.” Count me in.

La Chimera (Special Presentations)

Italian director Alice Rohrwacker (The Wonders, Happy as Lazarro) makes films that hover between magic and realism. In her latest fantasy-comedy, Josh O’Connor stars as an English archeologist turned tombarolo (grave robber) involved with a network of stolen Etruscan artifacts in the 1980s. Isabella Rossellini co-stars as an aristocrat mother of a woman he once loved.

Close Your Eyes (Centrepiece, Luminaries)

Eighty-two-year-old Spanish great Victor Erice (The Spirit of the Beehive, El Sur, Dream of Light) returns to the screen with his first feature in 31 years with this story of a director’s quest to discover the whereabouts of an actor who disappeared years before, leaving a film unfinished. Then the actor re-surfaces years later with memory lapses. I’m guessing this could be connected to Spain’s so-called “pact of forgetting” after the Franco years, but reviews suggest it’s a tribute to the art of film in the age of digital moviemaking.

Bonnie Laufer

Flora and Son (Gala Presentations)

You had me at director John Carey who has given us such memorable, musical, and impactful films like Once and Begin Again. I cannot wait to hear what will inevitably be the latest soundtrack downloaded on my phone. We will also finally get to hear the film’s star, Eve Hewson — who we already know is a fantastic actor — belt out a few tracks. But, come on, her dad is Bono, frontman for U2. Enough said.

Quiz Lady (Special Presentations)

Teaming Sandra Oh and Awkwafina in a movie together? What took so long? This new dynamic duo play sisters who have to pay off their mom’s gambling debts. The premise alone calls for plenty of laughs and I, for one, will be front and centre for their shenanigans.

Sing Sing (Special Presentations)

I’ll watch just about anything featuring veteran actor Colman Domingo, at TIFF with Rustin and Sing Sing. His brilliance has been seen on both the stage and screen, so it’s only fitting that in Sing Sing he heads up a film about putting on a play. Plus, it’s making its world debut at Toronto’s legendary Royal Alexandra Theatre.

Stuff We Can’t Wait to See at TIFF ‘23

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