For 10 days at the beginning of September, the laws of time and space cease to exist. Days turn to night in an instant; getting three hours of sleep per night becomes a normal practice; and diets consist of Tim Horton’s donuts, movie theater popcorn, and hot dogs from that heavenly cart located at the corner of King Street West and John Street.
If you’re not going home asking yourself why you put your mind and body through the wringer, then you haven’t fully experienced the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF).
Of the 200-plus films showcased throughout this year’s 50th edition of this festival, I saw 38 of them, a one-movie improvement over last year’s tally. Before branding me with the crazy label, just know that I’ve met and observed people who have eclipsed 50 films without breaking a sweat.
My streak started on a soaking wet Thursday with one of the best films of the festival: “Sentimental Value” by Joachim Trier. The recipient of the Grand Prix at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, this Norwegian drama is one of the year’s most emotionally intelligent films. Every tear, gasp and laugh is produced at the exact right moment. Yet it’s never manipulative, always proudly wearing its heart on its sleeve. I expect a lot of Oscar attention to be placed upon Trier and his quartet of cast members, with Stellan Skarsgård likely to be the frontrunner for Best Supporting Actor.
The second day began with a major disappointment as Olivier Assayas’ “The Wizard of the Kremlin” was a major bore. And that’s coming from someone who enthusiastically took a college elective course on modern Russian history.
Luckily, Park Chan-wook’s wildly entertaining “No Other Choice” picked me right up only a few hours later. And then even later that night, I caught the world premiere of “The Choral,” a comfortingly forgettable British dramedy starring Ralph Fiennes as a choir teacher who must inject new life into a town’s choir during the height of World War I. Sony Pictures Classics will release it in theaters on Christmas Day.
After taking the festival by storm last year with “The Brutalist,” Brady Corbet and Mona Fastvold returned with “The Testament of Ann Lee.” Fastvold takes her turn in the director’s chair in stride, presenting a quasi-musical about the titular character and the founding of the Shaker movement in colonial America. Amanda Seyfried is excellent in the title role, and I hope she’ll be a factor in this year’s Oscar race once a distributor picks up the film.
It’s unfair to label “Wake Up Dead Man” as my least favorite of the three “Knives Out” films, as I still had a lot of fun with it. Josh O’Connor is ostensibly the lead, taking an ever larger role as the audience’s guide than Ana de Armas and Janelle Monáe did in their respective entries. The cast is not as well served here, while Daniel Craig falls deeper into his Foghorn Leghorn routine, upping his comedic prowess as the proudly rational detective must come face-to-face with the realization that all the clues point to this murder being a miracle.
I saw a lot of good/great films throughout the first few days, but I was still waiting for “the one” to appear. That happened early Monday morning in the form of Chloé Zhao’s “Hamnet,” which deservedly took home the festival’s coveted People’s Choice Award. There wasn’t a dry eye in the theater as the origin of William Shakespeare’s “Hamlet” is told through the tragic prism of his young son, Hamnet. Jessie Buckley is nothing short of transcendent, practically engraving her Oscar with every moment of laughter and cries. It’s the best film of the year, so make sure to check it out in theaters this Thanksgiving.
Netflix led the charge during the festival’s middle section. Guillermo del Toro’s “Frankenstein” and Clint Bentley’s “Train Dreams” are also two of the year’s best films, telling touching stories set against breathtakingly beautiful backdrops. Edward Berger couldn’t maintain the momentum as he delivered his worst film to date in “Ballad of a Small Player.” It’s still watchable thanks to his expert craftsmanship, but the DNA is all wrong.
Ranging from “OK” to “good enough” during that span were “Rental Family,” “The Lost Bus,” “Nuremberg,” “Hedda,” “The Secret Agent” and “Good Fortune.” Starring Dwayne Johnson, “The Smashing Machine” came into the festival with a ton of heat after Venice showered the film with positive reviews and the Silver Lion prize to director Benny Safdie. I’m a little puzzled as to what everyone saw in the film, as all I experienced was a standard sports biopic clothed in just enough rough production qualities so that distributor A24 could maintain their indie cred.
The final few days are always a crapshoot in terms of quality. Chris Evans and Anya Taylor-Joy starred in the toothless capitalist satire “Sacrifice,” while Angelina Jolie led an international cast through Paris Fashion Week in “Couture.” Vince Vaughn may be a very likable actor, but he can’t carry a tune to save his life, which is why he’s horribly miscast as a Las Vegas lounge singer with untapped potential in “Easy’s Waltz.”
The worst film of the festival was “Scarlet,” Mamoru Hosoda’s anime version of “Hamlet” (there he is again!) that trades away all of the wit and heart for obnoxious characters and never-ending yelling.
Many of these films will be released in theaters or on streaming by major studios from now until the end of the year, while others will be trapped in limbo for years to come. It’s all a part of the big gamble we all partake in, experiencing the ecstasy and agony through stories projected on a giant silver screen.
You’d assume I’d swear off movies for a few weeks after this whole ordeal. But the train never slows down, and I’m having too much fun to jump off.
Eden Prairie resident Hunter Friesen is a film critic who owns and operates The Cinema Dispatch, a website where he writes reviews, essays, and more. He currently serves as president of the Minnesota Film Critics Association and travels the globe covering film festivals both big and small. To view his entire body of work, you can visit his website and Instagram.
