Another year, another great festival in the great white north! I returned from the Toronto International Film Festival last week and I’m ready to share my thoughts on the twenty-one films I watched. Two of those were screeners before the festival, but hey that counts! For now, here’s the first batch of films, including the latest from David Cronenberg and Kiyoshi Kurosawa!
Paying For It, dir. Sook-Yin Lee
A surprising living arrangement unfolds in this true story based on Chester Brown’s 2011 graphic novel (or memoir?). Paying for It caught my eye due to one simple, astounding fact: Sook-Yin Lee, the director, is part of the story herself! She broke up with Chester, the catalyst for his exploration of the world of prostitution! She was there! It’s her story too! Naturally, Lee captures perfectly this early 2000s underground comic world with aplomb. The laid back tone of the graphic novel is fully intact, but she has more room to explore the lives of the women outside of Chester’s perspective. Understandably, Brown wanted to protect the sex workers’ identities, as did Lee, so identities and events have been changed, but the truth is never lost. There’s no forced Hollywood ending either; this is just an exploration of a real relationship, warts and all. Plus, you can read my interview with director Sook-Yin Lee!
Sad Jokes, dir. Fabian Stumm
Joseph is a filmmaker in Berling going through a bit of a rough patch. His co-parent and friend Sonya is being treated at a depression clinic, leaving him alone with their son; meanwhile, he’s still reeling from a breakup with a younger man, and he’s trying to crack his latest screenplay. Sad Jokes is a lovely story that lives up to its title: melancholic, funny, true to life and down to earth. Stumm draws from his own experiences to build a meaningful little world around Joseph, giving us a gay character that feels realer than audiences might be used to. There’s no “coming out,” no overdramatized homophobia– there’s just life, bones and all. I can’t wait for this and Stumm’s other work to be seen worldwide. While we wait, treat yourself to my lovely conversation with director Fabian Stumm!
The Shrouds, dir. David Cronenberg
“Grief is rotting your teeth.” Thus begins another spectacular Cronenberg exploration of the body after a great trauma, here taking the form of a spouse’s death and the digital surveillance of her corpse. Mildly perplexed after first watch, I find my appreciation for The Shrouds only rising with time (I know it’s only been a week, but that’s a long time with festival brain!). Vincent Cassel makes for a compelling Cronenberg stand-in, physically imposing but with sadness etched on his crazy skeleton face. He wanders through a fog of grief, only coming up for air when his wife’s grave is defiled, leading him down a strange web of conspiracy with his twitchy brother-in-law Maury (Guy Pearce, really fun). While the film may lose some with its vague international espionage with little action, the real heads will lock into Cronenberg’s deep love for his own recently deceased spouse and how this kind of loss can make the whole world feel like it’s against you.
Daniela Forever, dir. Nacho Vigalondo
If you’re going to do an Eternal Sunshine riff, you might need to do better establishing the central relationship we’re meant to care about. Henry Golding and Beatrice Grannò are instantly swept away by Daniela Forever’s vague take on lucid dreaming and yearning, leaving the audience bored and waiting for the lead to have his inevitable revelation. While Vigalondo has fun giving us the dream world in widescreen and the real world looking like Tanner ‘88, the themes just don’t back up the visual craft. We’re told Nick (Golding) is mourning his girlfriend Daniela (Grannò) after her death in an accident, but who was she? She was gorgeous, yes, but what was she like? The real Daniela isn’t established enough for the contrast in dream Daniela to mean anything. For a film that dragged this much, you’d think there’d be more time to find the heart of the characters.
Grand Tour, dir. Miguel Gomes
Discovering a new-to-me director is always exciting. I’d been familiar in passing with Miguel Gomes’ work, but this is the first of his films I’d actually seen, and now I can’t wait to go back and watch the rest. Witnessing Grand Tour felt like learning a new language, and not just Portuguese. The bifurcated travelogue has spectacular black and white cinematography, deftly interwoven with bursts of color and anachronisms. Felt like watching a novel unfold on screen. Bonus points for Gomes being a riot in person. Don’t think I’ve met someone this deadpan in a long time.
Cloud, dir. Kiyoshi Kurosawa
My first real disappointment of the festival, sad to report. Perhaps I shouldn’t have been expecting a psychological thriller like Cure, but I love Cure! The story of an Internet reseller extraordinaire (Masaki Suda) starts strong, bringing us into his high stress world of refreshing pages and setting prices, but loses itself in a guns-a-blazing climax like Open Range, but draggier. While there are some frightening images and moments of absurdity, it felt too plodding and shockingly violent for me to dig. Thankfully, this is Kurosawa’s third film of the year, so it’s not like I can’t try another!
Don’t Let’s Go to the Dogs Tonight, dir. Embeth Davidtz
Grotesque whites abound in Embeth Davidtz’s strong directorial debut! She pulls no punches depicting the foul colonizers in Rhodesia (soon to become Zimbabwe), even portraying the unstable matriarch herself. Her outsized performance makes up for some grating child narration, especially when everything starts to unravel for this family who should not be here, but have nowhere else to go. Bobo’s childhood ends with the 1980 election, but the film spends more time exploring the old status quo and only gesturing at what’s to come. I was surprised to see the credits when I did, expecting more suffering on the Fuller farm. But what’s implied is enough, I suppose.
Watch this space for Kyle’s further updates from TIFF 2024!
