Of devastating documentaries about tragedies in Gaza and Argentina to a gothic monster with heart and soul – the highlights of Tiff’s 50th anniversary edition
Happy 50th birthday, tiff! The Toronto International Film Festival He celebrated his edition of Golden Jubilee doing what he has been doing since its inception as the “Festival of Festivals”: it has exhibited a ton of movies, selected from around the world. As always, there were highlights and low points, disappointments and unexpected surprises-you have no more than 200 feature films over 11 days without one or two fiascos, and more than some hidden jewels that end up becoming prominent points of criticism and public favorites. Here are the 10 movies we saw in TIFF 50 (For God’s sake, please do not call him Tiff-Ty) who will be with us long after the event ended on September 14. From documentaries about tragedies in Gaza and Argentina to a revelation horror movie, a heart and soul gothic monster movie, and a time drama about the bard that will probably be the next best movie winner, it was a very good year.
(Note: Honorable mentions for Blue Heron, Erucja, Franz, Hen, Poet, Rose of Nevada, Tuner, and Live or Dead: A Knives Out Mystery.)
Bad Apples
Jonathan Swift proposed modestly that the overpopulation could be resolved by consuming children. This satire, starring Saoirse Ronan, suggests that students who were left behind by a bankrupt school system could be better served by private classes – specifically while they are forcibly chained in a basement. (Chanting people in basements seemed to be a recurring reason in this year’s TIFF programming, by the way, no less than five films presented this point of the plot, and this only among those I saw.) Swedish filmmaker Jonatan Etzler does not dodge the darkest aspects of such a premise, and his star intensely explores the unpleasant aspects of his character, a very reluctant elementary school teacher who becomes a very reluctant teacher of a severe problem child (played by Eddie Waller). However, this shadow -custom -made comedy is not limited to criticizing the failures of modern education and points to the finger for larger systemic issues – the demands of the Gig economy, the inequality of meritocracy conditions – which also contribute to the problem. And more? It is genuinely funny as hell and wields its sense of irony like an epée.
The Christophers
Look, we would have been perfectly happy if Steven Soderbergh had simply given us a solid robbery movie starring Michael Coel and Ian McKellen, without breaking his victory sequence in 2025 (he has already blessed us with Presence and Black Bag This year!) His melancholy and more meditative drama than usual about a young artist hired to find, steal and “finish” some unfinished works of a controversial painter goes beyond, however, and delivers a thoughtful work on creative blockade, the burden of legacies, and how the anxiety of influence can be a blessing instead of a burden. And the hot dynamics among its stars, with McKellen in old grumpy and bunny mode offering a cold and distant counterpart, fits perfectly into the specific tone of Soderbergh and Ed Solomon’s script.
Exit 8
Frankenstein
Guillermo del Toro finally addresses the movie that was born to make, and his version of Mary Shelley’s misunderstood monster and the man who created him is exactly what you expected: sophisticated but pulpsuit but perverse, faithful to the original material while paying tribute to all kinds of other gothic and gender influences. Above all, however, it is a passionate personal story about being an outcast and trying to break cycles of bad parenting – no, really – it doesn’t save on bringing sound and fury. Oscar Isaac’s Victor Frankenstein is part of the 18th century and a star of rock fanfa Swinging SIXTIESas if Lord Byron had been genetically fused with Brian Jones. Production design and exceptional costumes are full of appropriate exuberance for the time and totally idiosyncratic touches, such as sarcophagies that display the naked faces of the dead and various flowing dresses that resemble the whole body veils. And for those who only know Jacob Elordi de Euphoriaits sympathetic interpretation of the creature as an innocent and an angel of revenge is revealing.
Hamnet
Meet the Shakespeares. Chloé Zhao’s rigorous, moving and totally transcendent approach from Maggie O’Farrell’s novel – About the premature death of Hamnet, son of William and Anne “Agnes” Shakespeare, and the way this tragedy inspired the bard’s play, Hamlet – It was the most devastating fiction movie we saw in Tiff this year, and most likely it will be the 2025 movie that will leave you in tears on the floor. However, it is a chronicle about the confrontation with death that yet overflows with life, renewal, Renaissance. Hamnet’s departure of this mortal world once prepared the land for a masterpiece. Now you did it twice. Paul Mescal composes a robust Shakespeare, and young actor Jacobi Jupe delivers a surprisingly sublime interpretation as the title character. However, It is Jessie Buckley’s performance that truly drives this mourning tale, And the way she finally finds a sense of comfort and catharsis through art seems revealing.
In the other Choice
Park Chan-Wook (Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance, Decision to Leave) transforms Donald E. Westlake’s novel of 1997 over an unemployed entrepreneur who kills rival potentials for jobs in a black humor comedy, which is at the same time horrifying and crying laugh (see: a striking scene involving a loud stereo, a home invasion and a weapon). The superstro of Round 6Lee byung-hun is a mid-level manager of a paper company in Seoul who suddenly sees her middle-class life deteriorate after being fired. Desperate times require desperate measures, which means that murder is on the table as an option. Forget, Jake, is late capitalism. Moments of pastellan comedy align with satirical criticism with the mercenary aspects of selling a candidate for a job and the unequal conditions that we are forced to navigate for material comfort and self -esteem. It’s dark, exciting and an explosion.
Nuestra Tierra
Lucretia Martel (Zama, The Headless Woman) Creates a real crime documentary from a case involving a prominent figure of the Argentine chushagasta community, murdered by a trio of men. They were trying to take the earth for themselves, citing longtime disputes on whether the settlers or the nation’s indigenous population had the rights of land rich in resources. The subsequent judicial process lasted years and clearly favored the accused over the persecuted. The typical approach would be to expose everything and proceed chronologically, but Martel prefers a mural -shaped approach that jumps chronologically and spends a long time diving in the rich history of the chushagasta themselves. It still begins with the incitant incident and ends in a partial injustice, but it is all that is between these poles that makes this a movie so engaging and thought -provoking.
Obession
Curry Barker entered TIFF as a promising horror filmmaker with a strong one on YouTube. He left the festival with a $ 12 million agreement with Focus Features and an official coronation of “next big success.” The movie that most caught the eye on the program Midnight Madness This year, its debut feature is a variation of the classic tale “The Pata do Monkey”: a boy (Michael Johnston) is madly in love with a girl (Inde Navarrette). Worried about being stuck in Friend Zonehe buys an item from a curiosity store that will apparently realize his dream of true love. It works not with wisdom, but even too much. Barker is not in a hurry in preparation, which only makes the eventual change for high speed an even greater shock. You can understand perfectly why there was a bid war for this movie. And a special compliment to Navarrette, who plays the young woman supernaturally obsessed with a surrender that, on her own, borders on obsession.
The Testament of Ann Lee
How follows a movie like The brutalist? If you are Mona Fastvolt, who co-wrote and co-produced that Oscar-winning movie with her husband Brady Corbet (he is also a co-writer of his), you drive a partially musical biography about the woman who founded the 18th century shakers with strict attention to the time details. Amanda Seyfried throws herself in the role of Ann Lee as a possessed woman, finding both Providence and Ecstatic Liberation in Worship through Celibacy, Song and Dance. Its religious movement will convert many and, because of their strictly pacifist tendencies, will conflict with their fellow citizens when the colonies enter the American revolutionary war. It is an epic view of the power of resistance and the idea of spirituality as a sport of total contact, as well as a metaphor to stay firm in their convictions; Replace religious movements with cinema, and you feel that Fastvv has done something at the same time highly political and intensely personal.
The Voice of Hind Rajab
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Source: Rollingstone
Rose James is a Gossipify movie and series reviewer known for her in-depth analysis and unique perspective on the latest releases. With a background in film studies, she provides engaging and informative reviews, and keeps readers up to date with industry trends and emerging talents.
