With this year’s edition of the Toronto International Film Festival wrapping up, it’s time I share with you, dear reader, the five best films I saw in the five days I was there. Attending a film festival, no matter it’s size, is exhilarating. I’ve outright replaced my years of attending Comic Cons and other fan-based events with these kinds of film fests, as they align better with my own interests as I firmly approach the drudgeries of middle age.
To set a baseline here, I caught sixteen movies over the course of those five days. Some of my colleagues managed more, though I can’t imagine how they found a chance to eat/rest/write or do anything else as the schedule for TIFF is jam-packed. You have to make some brutal sacrifices in terms of what films you’ll see simply because of how the schedule works. This is all by design too, and there have been a few times in my attendance over the years where I passed up something with a big-star actor or director and found a bright diamond from a filmmaker I’d never heard of before.
This year’s calendar was notable in that the first day when a number of the big Cannes Film Festival standouts screened for press, and I’m sad to report that a few of them (Palme d’Or winner Fjord and Martin McDonagh’s latest, Wild Horse Nine) were disappointments. And I had to miss two crucial films (Jesse Eisenberg’s The Debut and the Netflix Spanish-language import La Bola Negra) because they screened after my partner and I left. You can only take so much time off after all. So take the following list below with those caveats in mind…here we go…
- Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother
I’ve written about Bassam Tariq‘s new meditative actioner at length here at The Beat already, so there’s no need to relitigate it here. But, the reunion of Tariq and Mahershala Ali after the dissolution of their planned Blade project for Marvel Studios was without question the early talk of the fest after it screened. While not a flawless film, it provided the right jolt of energy for both the press and its premiere crowd on the second day after some of the more anticipated festival darlings failed to wow the Toronto audiences. It comes out very soon too, so among this list, this should be first on your radar.
4. Ladies and Gentleman, Brian Mulroney
I’ll never be able to sell anyone here state-side on this very strange documentary. As I sat down in the Scotiabank IMAX, I settled in – possibly one of the only non-Canadians – and prepared my eyeballs for the latest from experimental filmmaker Matthew Rankin. I don’t know a single thing about Canadian politics, or Canada really whatsoever, but in a past life I was a federal and state lobbyist, and I have an inclination towards the intersection of politics and history. And boy, let me tell you, this thing was a thrill. Obstensibly, it’s about the slow rise, quick fall, and slow rise again of Progressive Conservative politician Brian Mulroney as he laboriously charges his way toward becoming Canada’s Prime Minister. But, and this is because of the outrageous presentation itself, it’s the rare doc I can think of that you might want to take an edible beforehand. Rankin takes the broad view of Mulroney’s career, which to be fair if presented in a straightforward fashion could be very dull, and splits it up into five distinct episodes playing almost like a late 70’s-early 80’s television miniseries. Full of bright colors, era appropriate graphics, and pitch perfect editing that turns this collection of “white guys in suits” into a full blown chamber drama. Also, there are interstitials where the floating head of then Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau looks on like something out Twin Peaks‘ Red Room. It’s impossible to describe with any real precision and not sound like someone who has lost the plot, but of everything I caught this past week, nothing left me with a greater buzz. Also, I learned something that will likely power me for get togethers for years if anybody ever wants to hear about the minutia of the Canadian political power struggle of the late 20th century.
- Bucking Fastard
Another nice surprise from the fest was the latest from Werner Herzog, who I must admit, I have a huge blindspot towards. As a kid I at least saw parts of Nosferatu, and I did catch Rescue Dawn and Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans when they released. But that’s the equivalent of saying you know Scorsese’s filmography based on only seeing The Irishman and Killers of the Flower Moon. That said, watching his latest was a comedic thrill. Starring the Mara sisters (Kate and Rooney) as a fictionalized version of real-life twins Fred and Greta Chaplin, who could did everything in unison from everyday activities to sleeping with the same man. The Chaplin twins were minor celebrities in England for a time, and it’s a subject that’s stuck with Herzog over the years, so much so that he takes their well-publicized trial (for stalking and harrassing the man they had an affair with) and uses it as the jumping on point for the entire film. From there, we follow (the renamed) Jean and Jane Holbrooke as they try to navigate life in Dublin and then eventually into realms of the surreal as they attempt to dig their way (literally) into a better world. Herzog takes his leading subjects on whats basically a picaresque tale and it’s heavily influenced by fairytale logic, though informed by the somewhat two-dimensional perspective of the sisters. It is also deeply funny, particularly in the second of its three acts, where the physical comedy is especially prevalent. I was surprised to learn this was greeted to such mixed reviews in its bows elsewhere outside of Toronto, but my partner and I loved it. Once we clear the Halloween season, we plan on finally watching some of the bigger Herzog entries (folks, throw me your recommendations as you can, lines are open!).
- All of a Sudden
Another one I’ve written about already, this time at my own site. This was one of those “the goose is already cooked” situations as I’m a Ryusuke Hamaguchi megafan having adored Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy, Evil Does Not Exist, and I think the god-tier Drive My Car is still one of the best films of the decade to date. All of a Sudden, like many of his films is very long, and very expansive, so much so that what it encompasses can be difficult to describe in one go, but I’ll give it a shot: end-of-life care, work/life balance, how capitalism eats away at communities and turns us against one another, platonic love between women, the parallels between stage movement and physical rehabilitation, and the power of the human touch, and that’s just off the cuff. It’s an almost three and a half hour long film, making it a tough sell for anyone in the general populace that might ask me “did you see anything good at the festival?” But I can’t imagine a Hamaguchi film being any different, with all its frayed edges and digressions. He makes these mundane little worlds that you live in and then absolutely envelop you.
- Club Kid
Speaking of normie-friendly films, Club Kid is the Anora of this year and possibly even more accessible than that. Going in, I was bracing for something a little too saccharine based on the trailer, but I should have known better. Instead, Jordan Firstman‘s debut feature is a tremendously lived-in representation of the NYC party scene and stirring portraiture of a guy who had adulthood thrust on him when a ten year old shows up on his doorstep claiming to be his son from a seemingly impossible tryst (he got a little too messed up at a party once and didn’t even know who he was getting intimate with). Yes, on its face it’s “About A Boy but queer” yet its focus less on its lead’s (also played by Firstman in an equally breakthrough performance) struggle with the idea of becoming an unassuming father and instead is about how to survive the rigors of adulthood when you don’t necessarily feel equipped to do so. And it’s so funny. And the child aspect of it all never veers into the cheeseball territory you think it will. An incisive, sharp film that will undoubtedly be my immediate go-to for folks like my parents, friends who aren’t as down for the indie stuff, my barber, etc…
And that’s a wrap for my TIFF coverage here at The Beat this year. A huge thanks again to Heidi for having us cover one of the best film festivals in North America, and always a pleasure to be back writing for you guys here among the Beat readership. Until next time!
