Over a course of 11 days, I watched 37 films at the 49th annual Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF). Here are some reaction reviews for some of the films that I watched. Full review will come when it releases theatrically.
The Luckiest Man in America
The Luckiest Man in America is a simple, straight forward, film about the true story about the man who found a loophole in one of America’s most popular game shows, Press Your Luck. It is wildly entertaining and fun, with the film being entirely held together by the charismatic cast. Overall a fun time that will take you back to the 80s.
The Brutalist
After hearing the term “masterpiece” and “The Next Godfather” thrown at Brady Cobert latest film The Brutalist, I expected nothing short of a masterpiece. However, I found myself conflicted about the film. From a technical perspective, the film is a masterpiece. The cinematography, direction, editing, sound, score, and acting are all worthy of a masterpiece. However, I struggled to connect with the story. I don’t know what message I am supposed to get from the film as I was left confused. If it is trying to tell the audience that Brutalism is a beautiful architecture, it failed on that front as Brutalism is one of the worst architectural decisions that mankind has ever made.
Hard Truths
Hard Truths is frustrating to say the least. Every single scene in the film is excellent with great performances from the ensemble. The writing and the direction was on point for every scene, However, when these scenes are strung together into a film, it ultimately adds up to nothing. It felt like a scene was missing that was meant to fill on the context for why our protagonist is so angry at the world. Sadly, no emotional bridge left me emotionless as the emotional reconciliation commenced. Overall, great individual scenes won’t make for a good film.
The Last Showgirl
I totally get what The Last Showgirl was trying to be. It was attempting to be a portrait of a woman who has formed her entire personality around her being a Vegas Showgirl for 40 years, and her life being shattered when her show ends. It is attempting to tackle agism, abandonment, and coming to terms with coming older. However, these attempts are fruitless when the film doesn’t have the proper foundations to set these themes up. You can clearly see what the film is trying to do, it just executes it poorly. With that stated, the ensemble does their best to keep the film together with a career best performance from Pamala Anderson, and scene stealing performances from Jamie Lee Curtis and Dave Bautista. Overall, you can see the potential of the film, but you will mourn its poor execution.
Pedro Paramo
I have a feeling that if you have not read Pedro Paramo, then you will be as confused by the film as I was. Overall, I was left intrigued by the film as it explored death and mortality. So much so that I have bought the book on amazon. However, I was confused by the film with its multiple storylines and never ending stream of characters. I believe this confusion is caused by the source material. Besides this, the performances were great across the board and Rodrigo Prieto makes a promising debut as a director as he knows how to create an ambient atmosphere. Overall, it shows promise but it is a bit confusing.
Nigthbitch
On paper, Nightbitch shouldn’t work as a film, but by some miracle it does. The trailer does the film dirty as who knew watching a film about a struggling mother embracing her wild side turning into a dog would have been so resonating and impactful. I respect the fact that this film decides to take a different approach about the struggles of motherhood. Instead of a beautifully depressing look at motherhood, Nightbitch takes on a more primitive, yet innovative look at motherhood. It embraces the good, the bad, and the ugly side of being a mother. Amy Adams has finally put her career back on track by forgetting about Oscar roles and decided to embrace her wild side. My only complaint is that the tone was a bit inconsistent and I wished the film went a little more crazy. Overall, Nightbitch was much better than what I was expecting.
The Return
I have always been a fan of mythology and The Odyssey is easily one of my favorite mythological stories. Then with the information that Ralph Fiennes will be playing Odysseus, I was ecstatic. However, I am left with mixed feelings for The Return. I loved that the film stripped the story of its mythological elements and told the story in a grounded manner. For example, instead of Odysseus being trapped on Ogygia with Calypso, he was simply with another woman for five years. Odysseus being a tormented war veteran who is ashamed to return home is a compelling story, yet I found myself sadly bored with the majority of the film. Ralph Fiennes obviously kills it as Odysseus, especially then Ithaca turns into a bloodbath. However, I can’t help but feel like he is wasted here due to how boring the film is overall. Overall, I think it was an interesting concept, but poorly executed.
April
I do not know what to think of April. I believe the film had good intentions to explore the complicated subject of abortion, a subject that many refuse to have a civil discussion on. But I believe that it went about it in the worst way possible. The film consists of many long takes, with many of them lasting at least ten minutes. Some of these takes were pleasant and well done. While others were outright distasteful. For example, we witness a fifthteenish minute long take of a girl getting an abortion. Even though her reasons are valid, the scene is nothing but hearing her whimpering and sounds of an abortion. Yes, you read that correctly, you hear the abortion procedure. It is deeply uncomfortable and it felt like the wrong way to make a case for abortions.
We Live in Time
If you watch the trailer for We Live in Time, the film will play out exactly how the trailer suggests. A basic, soppy, British tear-jerker film. However, just because you know exactly what you are going to get, doesn’t make it bad. Despite its basic premise, We Live in Time executes this basic story incredibly well. Florence Pugh and Andrew Garfield hold the audience’s attention with their unmatched chemistry, and if it weren’t for their performance the film would have fallen flat. Overall, an effective British tear-jerker with great performances, but nothing more.
Queer
Queer was definitely not what I was expecting as Luca has decided to get weird again. I was expecting a relatively straight forward queer drama, but what I got was a surreal fever-dream queer melodrama. And I am unsure if I liked it because it was like a hallucinogenic, it will either work or not work for you. It feels like I need a rewatch to get my thoughts together, but I will say that it is undoubtedly a well made film. Daniel Craig delivers a career best performance that will most likely earn him his first Oscar nomination as a tormented expat who is struggling with alcohol, opioid, and sex addiction. Equally Drew Starkey delivers a career breakout performance as a young correspondent who is struggling with his sexuality. Overall, I am unsure how I feel about the film.
The Life of Chuck
Mike Flanagan has continued his trend of sending me into an existential crisis with his latest feature, The Life of Chuck, adapted from the Stephen King short story of the same name. Yet, despite the uncomfortable themes of death, life, and mortality, it was comforting. It was telling me that everything was going to be ok. Who knew that two horror kings could have put together a story that was heartwarming and blissful when confronting our gift of mortality.
Leave a Reply