My final dispatch with some strong films as the festival wound down. It was an excellent year, but so strange to watch people swarm celebrities the second they leave the building. After Nightbitch I just wanted to say hi to Scoot McNairy, but a bunch of people came up and asked for pictures! I’m not like them, Scoot! I’m normal! Plus, my top five at the very end!
The Legend of the Vagabond Queen of Lagos, dir. Agbajowo Collective
A remarkable political allegory about one of the craziest euphemisms I’ve ever heard. What the Nigerian government calls “forced eviction” is just “sending bulldozers and violent enforcers into the slums,” rendered here with nerve-wracking camera movement and a real sense of danger. The film, led by a collective of seven African filmmakers, never feels preachy in its urgency. This is the story of a young mother (Temi Ami-Williams, just excellent) desperate to escape poverty falling under the spell of the inherent corruption of money. Her encounters with a foul politician and his men nearly cost her her son, lost among the crowds during the forced eviction of the Agbojedo community. A very cool film to exist, filled with anger but also hope for the future of Africa and its people.
Without Blood, dir. Angelina Jolie
As the world’s biggest movie star who has essentially never been in a good movie (give or take a Maleficent: Mistress of Evil), I didn’t have particularly high hopes for Angelina Jolie’s latest directorial effort. While I am appreciative of the philanthropy work she does outside of Hollywood, and the continual headache she faces in legal battles, I don’t want to pretend Without Blood is some kind of revelation of cinema. Centered around a slow and repetitive conversation between Salma Hayek Pinault and Demián Bichir about the horrors of war, the film just drags and drags and makes 91 minutes feel endless. A dull, lifeless exercise.
Friendship, dir. Andrew DeYoung
It is a feature, not a bug, that Andrew DeYoung’s feature debut feels like a dozen or so I Think You Should Leave sketches stitched together. His work with comedians such as Kate Berlant and John Early proves he can handle outsized performances and cringe humor, thus Tim Robinson is the perfect match. While the narrative is a little slack and never goes as far as I expected, Friendship is a great vehicle for Robinson’s enormous weird head and his spectacularly unique way of moving his body and shouting. That’s really all one needs. Kate Mara is a great foil as Robinson’s wife, seemingly unconcerned with her husband’s obsession with new neighbor Paul Rudd, who is slowly drawn into the web of madness. To say more would be to spoil the twists and turns, but more importantly the jokes. We are desperate for actual comedies these days, and Friendship knows how to break the tension with a good punchline or just Tim Robinson crying on the floor. Here’s to male bonding!
Meet the Barbarians, dir. Julie Delpy
Imagine my surprise that a French race relations comedy isn’t a hideous abomination! All credit must go to Julie Delpy, whose drive to do something for refugees through her art has resulted in something that could have felt far preachier and misguided than it is. Meet the Barbarians is a best case scenario for a feel-good issues movie that actually interrogates the intentions of well meaning liberals. The small town of Paimpont is expecting to welcome a family of Ukrainian refugees, only to end up with a Syrian family at the last minute. The Fayad family faces xenophobia and French idiocy wherever they go, understandably testing the limits of their gratitude. Delpy does give into some schmaltz by the end, but I was happy to see her explore the limits of so-called liberalism in the face of actual problems. Members of my audience were fully sobbing by the end, which is certainly one reaction to have…
The Wild Robot, dir. Chris Sanders
As a lifelong animation enthusiast, nothing makes me happier than when Dreamworks releases a movie that isn’t a stupid piece of garbage, which is usually their MO. And that’s okay! I mean, no it’s not, but that’s not the point. The Wild Robot is up there with How to Train Your Dragon with Dreamworks’ best, with an unbelievable lead performance from Lupita Nyong’o. Her character’s journey from unfeeling automaton to tender caretaker hinges on her voice, and she pulls it off effortlessly. While the story is fairly basic, the watercolor-esque animation elevates it beyond cliche and builds to a remarkable emotional crescendo. If anything is going to usurp Inside Out 2’s play for Best Animated Feature, it will be this. And thankfully it’s out soon, so everyone can join me in freaking out!
Queer, dir. Luca Gudagnino
There’s nothing Luca Guadagnino loves more than a hard pivot, except maybe the strapping young gentlemen he discovers for each new film. The prolific Italian director behind Call Me By Your Name is back with another story of gay romance, obsession, denial, and ayahuasca. Hmm… well, drugs weren’t a big part of Call Me By Your Name, but the parallels are still there. Queer is a far stranger film than his Oscar winner, and far less crowd pleasing than this year’s reigning champ Challengers, but it is a fascinating adaptation of William S. Burroughs’ work. Guadagnino said that his has been his dream project for years, and it shows. The Mexico City Lee (Daniel Craig) traipses about is elegantly designed, filled with smokey bars and neon-lit hotel rooms. When a young man known as Allerton (Drew Starkey, giving a “one to watch out for” breakthrough performance) catches Lee’s eye, you may think you know where things are headed. Of course, there are striking sequences of explicit gay sex, thank goodness, but the narrative is more about being withholding and delving into the deepest recesses of the human psyche. Which is also great! Those hoping for just sex might find their minds wandering in the back half, but a late-game bonkers Lesley Manville performance might snap them to attention. Definitely one I will rewatch outside of the festival miasma.
Flow, dir. Gints Zibalodis
A cat, a dog, a bird, a lemur, and a capybara climb into a sailboat. What sounds like an easy joke is actually a lovely dialogue-free animated film about one little kitty in an eerie empty world learning to trust other animals… to an extent. Reminiscent of Shadow of the Colossus or Ico, Flow hints at a strange phenomenon just out of the reach of understanding. All these animals know is that the world is flooding, and they have to get to high ground or else. While the film has some repetitive beats – this cat LOVES falling off the boat – it’s short enough and nice to look at that the journey remains compelling with a great score. Any independent animation made outside the studio system is worth a look in my book.
My TIFF top five
5. The Order
4. The Wild Robot
3. Queer
2. Grand Tour
1. Hard Truths
