TIFF ’23: What To See at This Year’s Fest, Sept. 14
By Jim Slotek, Liz Braun, Thom Ernst, Karen Gordon, Kim Hughes, John Kirk, Chris Knight, Liam Lacey, and Bonnie Laufer
Exhausted yet? Excited maybe? Both are reasonable — and compatible — emotions at this stage of the Toronto International Film Festival, on until Sunday (September 17). But trust us when we say gems still await. To wit…
A Difficult Year
A Difficult Year (Special Presentations)
Thurs. Sept. 14, 5:30 p.m. Scotia Bank Theatre 1
Éric Toledano and Olivier Nakache, whose The Intouchables was one of the highest grossing-French language films of all time, deliver another warm-hearted crowd pleaser with this story of a couple of smalltime, debt-ridden grifters (Pio Marmaï and Oliver Cohen) who cynically join a radical environmental protest group and use that cover to make money on the side. Then a passionate protester Noémie Merlant complicates things. Lots of clever dialogue and antics, and a narrative course firmly set for a happy ending. Light comedy in the best sense. JS
All The Light We Cannot See (Primetime)
Thurs, Sept. 14, 12 pm, TIFF Bell Lightbox 2; Sat, Sept. 16, 6:45pm, Scotiabank 14.
Expectations are high for this adaptation of the fantastic (and Pulitzer Prize–winning) novel. Director Shawn Levy has outdone himself with this four-part miniseries set around Marie-Laure, a blind French teenager, and Werner, a German soldier, whose paths collide in occupied France as both try to survive the devastation of World War II. The series manages to bring to life the essence of this beloved book that has captured the hearts of millions of readers across the globe. The shining star is newcomer Aria Mia Loberti (TIFF Rising Star ‘23) as Marie. She is simply magnificent in this series. BL
American Fiction (Special Presentations)
Thurs, Sept 14, 8:30 pm, Royal Alexandra.
Like a next generation Bamboozled, American Fiction will wring uncomfortable, even guilty laughter from its audience. Jeffrey Wright might get his first Oscar nomination for playing Thelonious “Monk” Ellison, a respected (but not very successful) author who writes a hackneyed “Black” novel in protest against what he sees as the commodification of a narrow sliver of the Black American experience. Then he watches, aghast, as My Pafology is published to great acclaim and optioned for a movie adaptation. Writer and first-time director Cord Jefferson, working from Percival Everett’s novel Erasure, has crafted a killer piece of satire, the cast stocked with such talents as Sterling K. Brown, Keith David, Tracee Ellis Ross, Erika Alexander and Issa Rae as Sintara Golden, whose bestseller We’s Lives in Da Ghetto is the catalyst for Monk’s unwitting “masterpiece.” CK
Daddio (Special Presentations)
Thurs, Sept. 14, 4 pm, TIFF Bell Lightbox 1.
Daddio is worth seeing for its superb performances. Dakota Johnson is a woman who gets into a cab at JFK. Sean Penn is her taxi driver. It’s nighttime after a long day. She’s tired and seems increasingly burdened. He’s a seen-it-all cab driver who correctly divines that his fare is getting texts from a boyfriend with secrets and goes from there with his hard truths about that kind of relationship. His attitude is straight talk, no malice, and nothing creepy. Still, I would have asked him to be quiet, and ended the movie there, but something in her is intrigued, and the two — stopped in traffic because of a car accident — share their stories. Writer-director Christy Hall leans too hard on talk about sex and a few other clichés and doesn’t quite get into enough depth. But the film has its rewards. It’s wonderful to see the gifted Penn back on screen. In the end, the film is a reminder that sometimes it’s easier to take off the mask and share your true self with a compassionate stranger than with intimate friends. KG
Finestkind (Gala Presentations)
Thurs, Sept. 14, 2 pm, VISA Screening Room at the Princess of Wales Theatre; Sat, Sept. 16, 9:15 pm, TIFF Bell Lightbox 1.
Writer-director Brian Helgeland — whose script credits include L.A. Confidential and Mystic River — has spun an old-fashioned and predictable tale of working-class brothers, hard luck, and daddy issues, centred around the commercial fishing business out of New Bedford, Mass. Instead of heading off to law school, 22-year-old Charlie (Toby Wallace) decides to work for the summer on the fishing boat of his half-brother, Tom (Ben Foster). But a streak of bad luck, culminating in the impoundment of a boat for illegally fishing in Canadian waters, leads the brothers into deep debt, which leads to organized crime facilitated by the criminal family of Charlie’s new girl (Jenna Ortega). Finestkind (the name of the boat) falls into the category of passable streaming fare, though it gets a lift from a few scenes with Tommy Lee Jones as Tom’s terminally ill, badass father, who sets out to save his son and to deliver some of the more enjoyable salty lines of dialogue in the film. LL
La Chimera
La Chimera (Special Presentations)
Thurs, Sept. 14, 12:15 pm, Scotiabank 4.
A brilliant, Italian-speaking Josh O’Connor occupies that liminal space between real and illusory in director Alice Rohrwacher’s initially slow-moving but ultimately riveting — and ingeniously shot — drama about tomb raiders in 1980s-era Italy lining their pockets by plundering, then selling Etruscan artifacts on the black market. Haunted both by his dead lover and ambivalence about what he’s doing, O’Connor’s Arthur seems strangely untethered, yet two women nail his feet to earth: his dead lover’s mother (Isabella Rossellini) and her oddball servant Italia (Carol Duarte), the film’s wonky conscience. Rohrwacher’s storytelling is anything but linear — plot details are revealed through folk songs, fourth wall breaks, fantasy sequences — but the audience always knows where it’s going and, mostly, why. The film’s twisty final third could almost stand alone, but it’s deeply enhanced by what’s come before. KH
Mademoiselle Kenopsia (Wavelengths)
Thurs, Sept. 14, 8 pm, Scotiabank 9.
A woman (Larissa Corriveau) is the “guardian of spaces,” an embodied spirit who walks about empty rooms that are apparently connected — a rental apartment, a church, a classroom — as she speaks directly to the camera of space and time. Over the course of 80 minutes, she briefly meets and exchanges words with three other characters, at least one of whom may be a ghost. What exactly is Quebec director Denis Côté’s latest film about? Philosophically, it’s about how human consciousness is pinned to the cross of space and time, though that summation sounds overly solemn and misses the moments of visual charm and anxious playfulness in this brainteaser of a film. It helps to know the word “kenopsia” comes from poet John Koenig’s web and YouTube channel, The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows, which defines neologisms for emotions that have not yet been named. “Kenopsia” is defined as the haunted quality of a space that was once bustling but is now empty, which makes this very much a COVID-inspired meditation on how our bodies have been separated from others. LL
Memory (Special Presentations)
Thurs, Sept. 14, 6:15 pm, Scotiabank 10; Fri, Sept 15, 9:30 pm, Scotiabank 4.
The unreliability of memory — whether a result of clinical issues, trauma, or simply a will to rewrite the past — collude and collide in Michel Franco’s latest English-language drama, which rachets up the star power considerably from past films but follows the director’s familiar playbook of probing those tiptoeing on society’s edge. Jessica Chastain is a recovering alcoholic and adoring single mom with unresolved family issues. She meets Peter Sarsgaard in the oddest way, which makes sense when his neurological condition is revealed. Despite a rocky start, the pair forge an intense bond that seems both essential to their precarious emotional states but also possibly unwise, a point driven home by their respective clans, who may have ulterior motives for keeping them apart. Oddly harrowing though occasionally funny, the film is boosted by striking performances from its leads. KH
Robot Dreams (Centrepiece)
Thurs, Sept. 14, 3 pm, Scotiabank 13.
Who can resist a dog and his robot? Adapted from Sara Varon’s graphic novel, Spanish director Pablo Berger’s charming, New York-set animation follows Dog (yes, that’s his name) looking for a friend and for companionship, which he finds in the form of a mail order robot. The 100-minute film moves along without one word of dialogue and an uplifting soundtrack featuring Earth Wind and Fire’s classic, “September.” Robot Dreams is an ode to platonic friendship and how far some of us will go not to be alone. I defy anyone not to fall in love with Dog and his irresistible newfound pal and learn a few things from them along the way. BL
RU (Special Presentations)
Thurs, Sept. 14, 11:30 am, TIFF Bell Lightbox 1; Fri, Sept. 15, 11:30 am, Scotiabank 2.
RU follows Tinh (Chloé Djandji) a young girl uprooted from her life of privilege in Vietnam and relocated to Montreal. Director Charles-Olivier Michaud effectively orchestrates the urgency of a family evacuating their homeland, but its in the scenes that follow where Michaud raises the bar. This is an immigration story, turned somewhat on its head by focussing on a family of means. The film, I think, leans light on hardships choosing instead to highlight a welcoming community. The migrating family’s fear and confusion is not lost but understood through the often-expressionless faces. The tremors felt come in flashbacks. And Djandji is a standout, bringing a tone to the film that is reminiscent of—but nothing like—Come From Away without the music, or director Barry Greenwald’s Who Gets In? (1989) without the political red-tape. TE
When Evil Lurks (Midnight Madness)
Thurs, Sept. 14, 9 pm, Scotiabank 4; Sun, Sept. 17, 8 pm, Scotiabank 7.
Argentinian filmmaker Demián Rugna directed one of the finest (and criminally underseen) horror films when he made Terrified in 2017. When Evil Lurks comes close to matching that previous success. The story focusses on two brothers — both characters are flawed yet (by my standards) exceedingly likable — who come upon a grotesquely misshaped, puss-filled demon about to give birth to evil. This is horrifying to the men, but not unusual. The film supposes a reality where evil is in a virus that’s in a constant state of taking over. It has something to do with an increasing climate of worldwide faithlessness. The film is rich in character, plot, and in shocks. Go in knowing that no one on screen is off-limits. TE