TIFF ’23: What To See at This Year’s Fest, Sept. 9

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

TIFF continues! With a slate of advance and press-and-industry screenings under our collective belt, Original-Cin writers continue spotlighting the best features, documentaries, and shorts to see at the 48th annual festival — and what to avoid. As always, don’t be afraid to take a chance on something that sounds interesting. You just never know what brilliance you might find.

Achilles (Discovery)

Sat, Sept 9, 9:05 pm, Scotiabank 8.

Achilles is the nickname of Farid (Mirsaeed Molavian). Once a filmmaker, he’s walked away from his former life and now works as an orthotist in a Tehran hospital. Farid is efficient, but he’s joyless. There’s bitterness and anger in him that is simmering below the surface. When pressed, he admits that he wishes he could do something to make positive change. And so, when he is called to the psychiatric ward to deliver a brace to a woman, he impulsively decides to help her. She is a political prisoner, locked away in the ward and largely forgotten, and of course his actions have consequences for them both. This is the feature film debut of writer-director Farhad Delaram, who was once imprisoned for weeks in Iran. His experience informs the film which ultimately delivers an emotional gut punch. KG

Days of Happiness

Days of Happiness (Special Presentations)

Sat, Sept 9, 6 pm, TIFF Bell Lightbox 1; Sun, Sept. 10, 8 pm, Scotiabank 12; Tue, Sept. 12, 9:40 pm, Scotiabank 7.

Emma (Sophie Desmarais) is poised to become a rising star in Quebec’s classical music world. She has distinguished herself as a disciplined conductor with an intellectual approach that pleases many. But as she looks for her next position, her perfectionism is being challenged from several directions. The symphony’s conductor and artistic director (Vincent LeClerc) challenges her directly, saying she lacks true passion. Her domineering father Patrick (Sylvain Marcel), who is her agent, is also pushing her in ways that don't feel right to her. At the same time, she begins an affair with cellist Naëlle (Nour Belkhiria) that has its own challenges. Quebec writer-director Chloé Robichaud’s drama focuses on the choices Emma has to make if she wants to fulfill herself and look forward to days of happiness. It also looks at the many things an artist must face in order to fulfill their potential. KG

KILL (Midnight Madness)

Sat, Sept. 9, 9:10 pm Scotiabank 3.

KILL is pure Midnight Madness. The lead into the movie is, I think, brilliantly deceptive. There is no real indication of just how off-the-charts the film is willing to go and does. What begins as an overwrought love story — all dreamy eyes, innocent gazes, and virtuous gestures — plays on the tradition of what North American audiences most likely will identify as Bollywood. (The action takes place in New Delhi, so not officially Bollywood, if the definition is determined by region). Then things erupt. Sure, it took some effort to keep the story straight, although there’s not much to know other than a train full of heartless bandits’ board the wrong passenger train; wrong because a couple of elite military men are also onboard and ready to break a few necks and limbs. KILL’s broad strokes and high theatrics makes for a highly entertaining bit of craziness. TE

Lost Ladies (Centrepiece)

Sat, Sept. 9, 5:45 pm, Scotiabank 3.

For her sophomore feature, Kiran Rao puts a new twist on frothy comedy about two Indian brides in rural India in 2001 — both veiled and riding the same train — who get accidentally swapped. One of them, an unschooled village girl, is anxious to get back to her groom. The mysterious other bride seems less anxious to get back to her man and the local police chief suspects she may be part of a ring of thieves who use women posing as brides.  The comedy is conventionally broad — venal cops, scolding in-laws, and a plain-spoken granny — and the soundtrack typically packed with love and dance songs But the film subverts romantic comedy expectations with its strongly feminist message. LL

Reptile (Special Presentations)

Sat, Sept. 9, 10:30 am, TIFF Bell Lightbox 2.

Almost exhaustively twisty and packed with more red herrings than a Finnish lunchbox, this sleek police procedural from co-writer-director Grant Singer finds Benicio Del Toro as a buttoned-down cop recently relocated to a small New England town suddenly gripped by a grisly murder with a veritable queue of potential suspects. The murder is clearly linked to something larger — real estate agents don’t typically attract this level of violence — and Del Toro’s Tom Nichols must wade through his town’s eclectic characters and arcane hierarchies to find the truth. A terrific supporting cast including Alicia Silverstone, Eric Bogosian, Frances Fisher, and Justin Timberlake elevate this Netflix-bound thriller that should be appointment watching for fans of its star, who also co-wrote, and who occupies nearly every frame. KH

Seagrass

Seagrass (Discovery)

Sat, Sept. 9, 11:35 am, Scotiabank 11.

Prepare to discover what happens at a couples’ therapy retreat in the new drama, Seagrass, Meredith Hama-Brown’s debut feature. Ally Maki stars as Judith, a broken woman at a family retreat with her husband Steve and their children. Judith is severely depressed following the death of her mother but tries her best to reconnect with Steve and her children. Steve is not really buying the therapy and some of the exercises he is asked to do but complies because he wants to make his wife happy and keep things civil in front of the kids. Maki does a fantastic job at playing the wife who just isn’t present. She loves her two daughters but isn’t sure about the marriage. Your heart breaks for the children and what they must endure from their parent’s behaviour and decisions.  BL

Toll (Centrepiece)

Sat, Sept. 9, 9:45 pm, Scotiabank 14; Sat. Sept 16, 12:35 pm, Scotiabank 14.

As with her very unsettling 2022 debut CHARCOAL, filmmaker Carolina Markowicz again spotlights people occupying a decidedly non-touristic area of her native Brazil whose stories are rarely told. In this case, that’s a financially struggling single mother Suellen (Maeve Jinkings, excellent) who, against her better judgment, agrees to augment her pay as a toll booth operator by tipping off roadside thieves to drivers wearing expensive jewelry. That Suellen is using the extra cash to send her gay son to “conversion therapy” school makes the entire enterprise even ghastlier though strangely understandable given the circumstances. Markowicz’s raw portrayals, here set against an unforgiving industrial wasteland, are ripe for analogy, from spiritual to environmental, all of it compelling and frequently salted with unexpected humour. KH

Woman of the Hour (Special Presentations)

Sat, Sept. 9, 9 pm, Scotiabank 1.

Anna Kendrick stars in and also debut-directs this stranger-than-fiction story of a 1978 meeting between aspiring actor Cheryl Bradshaw and serial killer Rodney Alcala, played by Danial Zovatto. She got a spot on TV’s The Dating Game; he was Bachelor #3, and had already committed several murders dating back to at least 1971. As director, Kendrick walks a fine line, portraying the horrific nature of the man’s crimes, but also delivering some literal comic relief as the whip-smart Bradshaw rewrites her insipid Dating Game questions to include references to special relativity, Immanuel Kant, and the real Bachelor-stumper: “What are girls for?” To quote her character: “It was evil and soul-crushing, but I had a little fun.” CK