Tag: TIFF

Directed by Luca Guadagnino, starring Timothée Chalamet, Armie Hammer and Michael Stuhlbarg

I am not the only person to fall deeply in love with this film. It is a romance for anyone who has fallen in love, who remembers their first real deep love. It’s a romance for the ages. It is also coming of age film and very much a family film.

Timothee Chalamet delivers a genuinely perfect portrayal of Elio, a bright, confident and slightly cocky 17 year old with still so much to figure out. He spends his summers in Italy with his highly educated, liberal professor parents in a gorgeous estate in Northern Italy.  He speaks a number of languages and spends time reading and writing music as well as hanging out with other young people also visiting the Italian countryside for the summer. His world is shaken when Oliver, the handsome charismatic graduate student arrives. He is caught off guard and a little bit uncomfortable with his attraction to Oliver, but his desire to be near him and his curiousity take him on a journey we imagine he wasn’t expecting.

The two other films directed by Luca Guadagnino that I have seen, I Am Love and A Bigger Splash were very memorable, a bit quirky,  gorgeous, also set in the same region of northern Italy and starred Tilda Swinton.  This one was different. First of all, no Tilda. And while I enjoyed Luca’s other films, they always seemed a bit too glamorous, campy and perhaps a bit pretentious at times. This film was much more genuine and relatable.

Timothee Chalamet shines as Elio, and many critics are touting him for an Oscar nomination.  There are other great performances here as well. Michael Stuhlbarg, always solid, is absolutely perfect in the role of Elio’s father and Oliver’s mentor. There is one scene at the end of the film where he shares some fatherly advice with Elio and all parents should take good notes here. The scene made by heart swell…again…because my heart swelled a few times throughout the film.  Some folks have been critical of Armie Hammer’s casting, saying that it should have been played by a gay actor or that the subject of a 17 year old engaged in a relationship with a 24 year old crosses the line and somehow this translates to criticizing Armie Hammer. If I listed every straight role played by a gay actor, this piece would be pages long. I commend Armie for stretching outside of his comfort zone. I would actually like to see more straight men play gay parts as perhaps it would help dissolve some homophobia that exists in the world. Another thing that strikes me is that I never hear noise about straight women playing lesbians. As for the age discrepancy, certainly there a point where the gap becomes a concern, but in my opinion it is not 17 and 24. Funny, I bet a 17 year old female and 24 year old male in a relationship isn’t as difficult for people to get their heads around. Perhaps these are new double standards.

I really felt this film was tastefully done and the casting was spot on. The focus is the evolution of their beautiful love affair. As I said initially, this could be billed as a family film, maybe for families with teenage children, definitely one all parents should see. The gorgeous musical score, the cinematography, the setting, the screenplay, the performances, we are sure to see this one warm the hearts of the academy and receive several nominations. I have not felt so moved by a love story since the English Patient and I cannot wait to see it again.

What a crazy eleven days it has been. 30 movies later! The TIFF Gods were kind to us. The weather was stellar. I think it tried to rain once over the entire week and failed.  The elevators at Scotiabank held up under the strain. I am very proud of my city being able to pull off such an enormous festival fairly flawlessly. People genuinely seemed to enjoy being in Toronto for the festival. Idris said it best this week when he said TIFF stands for “Toronto is fucking fantastic!”, especially in September.

Here is the ranking of my 30 Films in the order in which they impressed me.  While I didn’t see any terrible films, I do have an excellent top 6 this year. The next 16 were great. And the last 8 were alright.

1. Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri
2. Call Me By Your Name
3. The Shape of Water
4. First They Killed My Father
5. Darkest Hour
6. mother!
7. Who We Are Now
8. C’est La Vie
9. Custody
10. Angels Wear White
11. Lady Bird
12. Beast
13. Unicorn Store
14. Grace Jones: Bloodlight and Bami
15. Death of Stalin
16. The Rider
17. Tulipani, Love, Honour and a Bicycle
18. Woman Walks Ahead
19. In The Fade
20. Mary Shelley
21. Kissing Candice
22. Marrowbone
23. Three Christs
24. Mademoiselle Paradis
25. Film Stars Don’t Die in Liverpool
26. Good Favour
27. The Lodgers
28. A Season in France
29. Kings
30. On Chesil Beach

What didn’t I see that I have added to my list based on what others loved?

• Molly’s Game
• I, Tonya
• Battle of the Sexes
• Foxtrot
• Faces Places
• The Florida Project
• Sweet Country
• 55 Steps
• The Wife
• The Leisure Seeker
• The Disaster Artist
• Killing of a Sacred Deer
• Professor Marston & The Wonder Women
• Loveless
• The Current War
• First Reformed
• Les Affames
• Bodied
• Just Andre

I spoke to Thom Powers on the street after my last film and commended him and the other programmers for an amazing selection of films. It was quality over quantity this year and this was a good thing. There is an audience for every film, and never is this more apparent than at the Toronto International Film Festival.

Congratulations to the winners of this year’s awards!  

IWC Short Cuts Award for Best Canadian Short Film: Pre-Drink, directed by Marc-Antoine Lemire

IWC Short Cuts Award for ​Best International Short Film: Min Börda (The Burden), directed by Niki Lindroth von Bahr

City of Toronto Award for Best Canadian First Feature Film: Luk’ Luk’l, directed by Wayne Wapeemukwa

Canada Goose Award for Best Canadian Feature Film: Les Affamés, directed by Robin Aubert

The International Federation of Film Critics — Discovery prize: Ava, directed by Sadaf Foroughi

The International Federation of Film Critics — Special Presentations: The Motive (El Autor), directed by Manuel Martín Cuenca

NETPAC Award for World or International Asian Film Premiere: The Great Buddha+, directed by Huang Hsin-Yao

Toronto Platform Prize: Sweet Country, directed by Warwick Thornton

Grolsch People’s Choice Midnight Madness Award: Bodied, directed by Joseph Kahn

Grolsch People’s Choice Documentary Award: Faces Places, directed by Agnès Varda

Grolsch People’s Choice Award: Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, directed by Martin McDonagh (Runner’s up Call Me By Your Name and I, Tonya) 

Will be posting brief reviews over the next few days. Might take some time but I will get them all done.

Directed by Martin McDonagh, starring Francis McDormand, Woody Harrilson, Sam Rockwell and Lucas Hedges

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri was probably one of my most anticipated films and it exceeded my expectations. It blew the bloody doors off, which is what I tweeted shortly after the screening. I had the good fortune of seeing the premiere screening at the Ryerson Theatre where it received a very exhubarant and well deserved standing ovation.

The sharp script, with all the feels, is definitely McDonagh’s best. Sam Rockwell said during the Q&A that he often has to talk himself into taking a role, but in reading the script, with something happening on every page, it was what they refer to in the business as a “no brainer”. Francis McDormand joked ” You’re no Shakespeare, Martin” and he happily replied “Not yet” after which she started to stroke his arm.

I actually think he is a Shakespeare for our time. This is a modern day tragedy, bold and brash with a huge heart. There is lots of humour, compassion, plenty of violence and lots and lots of anger, and swearing, lots of swearing.  Do I believe Shakespeare would have dropped F bombs in his dialogue if he was writing today? Abso-f-ing-lutely!

In a nutshell, without spoilers, this is the tale of Mildred, a mother who has lost her daughter to a brutal rape and murder.  Many months later, the crime has no leads and the local police seemed to have filed the case away. Mildred has no patience for their apparent laziness and determined to shake things up, she shames the police department with three obnoxious billboards just outside the town. Lots follows, no spoilers here.

The characters are layered, and while many are brash, they have a sense of humanity and vulnerability that evolves throughout the story. Francis McDormand’s Mildred is really angry and above all heart broken. She conveys a rawness that any parent can identify with, although we would hope to never want to find ourselves in her shoes.  Her performance is flawless and it might be her very best. Sam Rockwell plays the Sheriff’s unhinged racist deputy in what is absolutely his best performance to date.  If this doesn’t earn the man an Oscar, I am not sure what will. Woody Harreslon is his solid self as the no nonsense, charismatic Sherrif.

I am very pleased that it won the People’s Choice Award in Toronto and is now destined to awards season for nominations in all major categories including screenplay, acting, cinematography, musical score and best picture.

I look forward to watching this again when it is released in theatres.

Directed by Dominic Cooke, starring Saoirse Ronan and Billy Howle

In 1962, particularly in England, sex was not something many people talked about openly. Hell today some people still don’t  want to talk about it.  But in 1962, around the onset of the sexual revolution, most people were not speaking openly about sex.

This film, based on Ian McEwan’s novel of the same name, takes us to the seaside resort where Florence and Edward have arrived for their honeymoon. We initially find them walking on the beach.  They are not so easy together, and at this point you know nothing about them so you would almost wonder if this was an arranged marriage.  But no, as we learn from flashbacks, they were genuinely in love. They are from different socio-economic backgrounds. Florence’s family is wealthy, poised and focused on keeping up appearances, while Edward’s father is a school teacher and his family struggles a bit given his mother suffered brain damage after a head injury.  Edward likes rock and roll music, while Florence, a violinist, prefers classical concertos.  They say opposites attract, but their differences will prove otherwise.

A large part of the film centres on their wedding night, a most awkward attempt at intimacy and the heartbreaking result of their inability to share how they truly feel.  The film flips back to moments in their relationship before their wedding so that we can see they truly care for each other.  The frustration we feel as we watch and imagine how many couples would have gone through something like this, is what this film does so very well.

The first 2/3rds of the film were incredible. Saoirse Ronan and Billy Howle deliver spectacularly with this very delicate subject, doing justice to the very uncomfortable disappointment and heartbreak that ensues.

Unfortunately the filmmaker Dominic Cooke, and screenwriter, Ian McEwan, decided to add material to the screenplay not originally in the novel. Fastforward to the future where older versions of Florence and Edward, who look like burn victims, enact a very tacky Hollywood ending that didn’t suit the first part of the film. If you watch the film, you can stop watching at the point where Edward tells his friends the story then fast forward to the final flashback on the beach.  You will know what I mean. Yes, there are parts where he looks like his been out in the sun too long, but this part of the film is ok for an ending.  Do not go any further. Thank me later.