I’ve been going to TIFF since 2014. With every year, I fall in and out of love with the festival again and again. It’s typically the films, the friends, and some of the audience experiences that bring me back. It’s Ticketmaster, the movie, planning, and some of the audience experiences that also frustrate me. For the most part, I often find the film of the year for me. Movies that stick way past the credits, way past the final day of the festival, and usually years later, I still remember that initial screening and how much it knocked me down, and reminded me of why I love movies and do this again and again. 

This year was the same, and it also wasn’t. Right before the festival, I had a bad fall that took me to the hospital. Truthfully, I don’t have any memory of the fall, but after further tests, we’re unsure if it was a seizure, which caused the fall or falling, which brought on a seizure. As if that wasn’t enough, there was a loss in the family. All this to say, I really picked up on an ongoing theme of grief and understanding of importance in life in some of the titles at the festival, and that’s only from the small selection of films I got to see. It’s also a bit of an understanding of my state of mind while seeing these films. 

I’m thankful to the friends I got to see, and I wish I could have seen more. But there shall always be another year. Let’s start discussing the first half of the films I saw at the festival.

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Exit 8
Dir. Genki Kawamura

I opened the festival with this fun, creepy adaptation of the game of the same name. I wasn’t familiar with the game before seeing the movie, but I am familiar with the type of game. In Exit 8, you are meant to look for anomalies. You find yourself in a place that’s meant to be familiar, but there’s something just slightly off. There’s a quiet eeriness that is found in these liminal space-type games, all while looking for anomalies.

The film is meant to be playful and adds a bit more context that may not be needed in games like this. It never by any means tries to explain why any of this is happening, but we do see a few different characters having to try and find their way out of the never-ending tunnel. It’s intended to frustrate you and scare you as you second-guess it all. Genki Kawamura fills the movie with fun tension that keeps you on your toes as you never know what’s around the next corner or what anomaly we’re going to encounter next.

Honey Bunch
Dir. Madeleine Sims-Fewer & Dusty Mancinelli

I’m really happy I got to see Sims-Fewer and Mancinelli’s latest project on the big screen. I previously mentioned how I didn’t get the chance to see Violation on the big screen, so I wanted to make sure that I got to see their newest film. It’s a film with great performances by our leads, Grace Growicki & Ben Petrie. Jason Isaacs also gives a highly moving performance. We see what some people would do to try to protect or salvage those we love and care for.

I feel that Honey Bunch works better as a film that unfolds slowly. As we peel back the layers, trying to get ahead of the story, we’re reminded of the strong relationships that are found in the middle of it. Honey Bunch does what the best genre films do: it takes that premise and emotion and creates a world that we slowly experience and unravel to make sense of it. I’m happy to see Sims-Fewer and Mancinelli continue to make strong, emotionally charged films. 

Blood Lines
Dir. Gail Maurice

I found Blood Lines to be really endearing. We follow Dana Solomon’s character Beatrice, as she is raised by the community and reminds us that we may not have the whole perspective from our parents. Beatrice is a journalist for the local newspaper, and she spends her time working at the gas station. She finds a story and an interest in a newcomer to the town. Meeting Chani (Derica Lafrance) helps her become more welcoming and appreciative of all the help, as her mom (Maurice) returns after being away for many years.

To avoid spoilers, the film takes unexpected turns, which will influence how some viewers feel about the movie upon leaving. I don’t think it outright negated or soured my overall feelings about the film. I’d be lying if I didn’t say I wasn’t a bit curious about some of the decisions in the story. It is an honest portrayal of something that did occur and was beyond their control.

Bad Apples
Dir. Jonathan Etzler

Bad Apples is one of the funniest films I saw at the festival. We follow Maria Spencer, played by Saoirse Ronan, as she tries to keep things together, but she is constantly having to deal with a disruptive student. I think the less you know about the film, the better. It’s not a film that relies on twists and surprises, but its adaptability is what makes it so humorous. The film attempts to explore the significance of certain choices in the betterment of a community, and how one can even begin to weigh those out. The film shows you can’t, but you can try to do better to help people. Sometimes things just get unnecessarily complicated. Saoirse Ronan consistently is one of the best working actors, and it’s always exciting to be on the lookout for any of her projects. It’s why I checked it out and loved my time with it.

No Other Choice
Dir. Park Chan-Wook

It’s very clear that if you’re at a film festival or able to see a Park Chan-Wook film on the big screen, you immediately opt to do so. While in line for the press screening, I overheard how the screening the day prior had some critics who were turned around. Thankfully, my schedule worked out, allowing me to see the line starting as I left the building after seeing Bad Apples. So, I ran to join it so I could make sure to not miss it.

In No Other Choice, Lee Byung-hun (I Saw The Devil) is Man-Soo, a man who has been let go from his job of over 20 years. After trying but being unable to secure a new comparable job, he decides to eliminate the other possible applicants. What a wild, good time at the movies. The film works in a constant state of awe. Some of the best visuals and transitions had me cackling in joy at what we were able to see. 

Roofman
Dir. Derek Cianfrance

I love Derek Cianfrance. While I previously mentioned, I need to get around to seeing some of his other projects, but Roofman does feel different in comparison to the two titles I have seen (Blue Valentine and The Place Beyond the Pines).

Channing Tatum is unsurprisingly charming as Jeff Manchester, the titular Roofman, and we get to know a bit of the nuance in a criminal. A man who escapes from prison and hides in a Toys’R’Us. Kirsten Dunst is incredible as Leigh Wainscott, a woman he starts dating while living in her workplace. It’s a cute film that really works.

Poetic License
Dir. Maude Apatow

I loved Poetic License. Maude Apatow had a perfect cast to work with, but our three leads are extremely charming together. Liz (Leslie Mann) moves to a new town with her husband, James (Method Man), and daughter, Dora (Nico Parker), after James gets a new position as a teacher at a university. She befriends two students at her husband’s school, and we’re welcomed into an awkward but sweet friendship between the three of them. Andrew Barth Feldman and Cooper Hoffman have incredible chemistry and bounce off each other, even more so whenever Liz is in the frame with them.

A great, authentic college comedy. The film is geared more towards evoking a sense of feeling lost in your twenties, or at any stage of life. It’s not necessarily a “raunchy” type of college film, but far more natural about trying to find your place in life, regardless of age.

Hamnet
Dir. Chloé Zhao

Hamnet broke me. It’s one of two films that, even weeks now removed from seeing them, I’m still getting worked up and crying over. There are sequences of the film that I can’t stop thinking about. I’m not sure if it is a consistent theme at the festival, or something I couldn’t stop seeing due to my family’s loss, but it bulldozed me. Jessie Buckley gives a guttural scream or two that rivals Florence Pugh’s in Midsommar. It left the theatre quiet, give or take a few people sniffling, or trying not to break. I was both examples.

I don’t want to say too much about the film, as I’d like to discuss it further when it officially goes wide, but it is a work of art that attempts to showcase grief in a remarkably naturalistic way. How one might bury themself in grief with the loss of their child, while the other might go to work. Another film at the festival will tell you there is no wrong way to grieve, and to all, it looks different. But there’s still a guilt of trying to continue when they cannot. 

To consider how one loss can not only become a work of art, like Hamlet, but more importantly, can be used to help others grieve as if they had lost someone, as if they were one of their own. It does help take away from the overall pain of the loss.

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I’ll be back soon to talk about the rest of the films I saw at the festival. 

HBO has kindly sent me a release of the second season of The Last of Us. So expect a write up of that and a few other recent pick ups.