The Toronto International Film Festival opens Thursday — its first fully in-person iteration since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
And while that means TIFF is as close to business-as-usual as it’s been in years, there are a number of films and trends that stand out.
Here, CBC News has rounded up 10 of the most vibrant, novel and exciting productions we’ve been waiting for.
women talk
Welcome back Sarah Polley.
TIFF must be sad to lose the world premiere of Polley’s latest film to the Telluride Film Festival. But the excitement of insiders who caught it there has already got the Oscar race underway. Polley took an extended break from filmmaking to write, reflect and live her life. Now she’s back, seemingly undaunted, bringing to the screen Canadian Miriam Toews’ novel, which follows women in a remote religious colony as they struggle to reconcile their faith with an epidemic of sexual abuse.
I have a feeling the conversation is going around women talk has only just begun.
– Eli Glasner
The Woman King
Starring Viola Davis in a role that’s equal parts action, thriller and drama, The Woman King is a “real-life inspired” story that we don’t see often anymore either: new.
Davis plays Nanisca, a military general of the Agojie – the famous all-female warrior band tasked with protecting the West African kingdom of Dahomey.
The Agojie weren’t just an inspiration for Black Panther‘s Dora Milaje, Wakanda’s all-female soldier, the film continues Black Panther‘s example of depicting Black people and history as something to be accomplished and admired—rather than focusing on struggle, victimhood, and submission. Also featured is Lashana Lynch, alumna of James Bond and Marvel Cinematic Universe. war of stars‘ John Boyega and South African mainstay – and TIFF rising star – Thuso Mbedu in a breakout role.
– Jackson Weber
The whale
Call it Brenaissance or Karma, but the Second Coming of Brendan Fraser is upon us.
Once a textbook case of how Hollywood eats its young, the actor is known for his roles Encino man and George from the jungle is commended for his work The whalea new film from American author Darren Aronofsky about a 600-pound man grappling with life-changing issues thrown up by an estranged family and his own body.
In an interview, Aronofsky said that Fraser was in a budget Brazilian film that inspired the casting. Perhaps Aronofsky saw the same cutie who suddenly has fans for his return.
– Eli Glasner
Knight
Joseph Bologne – by the French King Louis XV. renamed and now often known as the Chevalier de Saint-Georges – was described by none other than John Adams as “the most accomplished man in Europe”. Despite this, almost nobody knows his name today.
Knight wants to change that. The drama stars Kelvin Harrison Jr. as Bologne, a black classical composer and violin virtuoso born to an enslaved African woman from Guadeloupe and a white French aristocrat. Considering the extraordinary polymath’s success in everything from fencing to music, Knight brings to light the life of an underappreciated black talent – an actor whose emotional output in waves left many critics with their mouths on the ground.
– Jackson Weber
The Banshees by Inisherin
A few years ago, writer/director Martin McDonagh directed the pitch black comedy In Bruges, featuring the hilariously dysfunctional working relationship of Ray and Ken, played by Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson. Now McDonagh returns with a story set in 1920s Ireland where a friendship falls apart and misfortune follows.
There’s a richness of humanity McDonagh reveals between the dark chuckles. I can barely wait for it.
– Eli Glasner
1899
of Germany Dark caught the world’s attention in 2017 as a deeply bingeable – and incredibly distorted – Netflix series. Now, just two years after graduating, its creators are back with another surreal thriller, albeit this time at sea.
1899 looks at the passengers of a migrant steamer who, in the same year, receive a distress call from another ship that has been adrift for months – but is apparently and inexplicably without passengers.
When the first two episodes have their world premiere at TIFF, I’ll be excited to see if creators Baran bo Odar and Jantje Friese can do it again – and, perhaps even more intriguingly, how much inspiration they took from the eerily similar maritime mystery of Ghost ship built in Canada the Maria Celeste.
– Jackson Weber
i like movies
i like movies is about a young man named Lawrence who has defined his entire personality around cinema. Lawrence isn’t easy to like, but you probably know him or someone like him.
Chandler Levack’s feature debut is many things: an ode to the era of blockbuster videos, seedy malls and troubled friendships. Levack doesn’t shy away from the messiness of her characters. She revels in them.
– Eli Glasner
When the morning comes
Come and see, paper moon, sixth Sense, C’mon C’mon: If there’s one thing that’s sad about movies starring a child, it’s that they’re either fantastic or unwatchable – and rely almost entirely on the skills of someone who’s often no more than an elementary school student.
Such is the case for the drama When the morning comes, which follows a 10-year-old’s desperate attempts to stay in his native Jamaica rather than move to Canada with his mother. It is also a feature film debut for director Kelly Fyffe-Marshall, whose short film black bodies received TIFF’s first Changemaker Award in 2020 and was one of just six Canadian projects – out of 118 films – at Sundance the following year.
Fyffe-Marshall also received a $50,000 award from the Toronto Film Critics Association and David Cronenberg (the said he decided to give the award to “a new filmmaker with a strong new creation” earlier this year to complete post-production. If she and young lead actor Djamari Roberts make it When the morning comes join the select company of quality coming-of-age movies.
– Jackson Weber
joy land
So far, 2022 has emerged as a stellar year for LGBTQ representation in film, from mega studio offerings such as brothers to Canadian gems like Something you said last night.
That said joy land seems to be a special movie. Not only was it the first Pakistani film to screen at Cannes – it won the coveted Jury Prize – the story follows a man in an arranged marriage who is attracted to a trans actor. Director Saim Sadiq has spoken about the challenges of finding actors willing to take on the role. But if the the film triggered emotional reactions in Cannes are right, he chose well.
– Eli Glasner
Riceboy is sleeping
As When the morning comes, Riceboy is sleeping deals with displacement, childhood and homeland. Set in the suburbs of the 1990s, director Anthony Shim draws in part on his own life, moving to Canada as a child from Seoul, South Korea. Riceboy is sleeping follows a mother who must do the same with her young son Dong-hyun after her husband dies.
Described as “heartbreaking” and “emotionally devastating,” this is probably the kind of film for those who enjoy tearing their hearts out — or for those interested in the slowly growing genre of desaturated ’90s nostalgia.
And for those looking for new, raw talent, it stars classically trained Korean ballet dancer – and TIFF rising star – Choi Seung-yoon in her very first film role, as well as Canadian child actors Ethan Hwang and Dohyun Noel Hwang, who aren’t related , like Dong-hyun at different ages.
– Jackson Weber
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