Sorry, I know I said soon in the last write-up, and truthfully, I can’t guarantee what that looks like because I get brief bursts where I’m able to write or know what I want to say. I did want to introduce The Queue properly. 

This will act similarly to a newsletter of sorts, but maybe briefer thoughts for us to be able to discuss some of our thoughts again, but maybe not needing the energy for a “fuller” review. This might also be due to the scheduling, as we may not always get to see films early as we used to. 

The other truth is, I ended up back in the hospital. I’ve gotten some more tests done, but I’m still in a similar state where we don’t know why it happened, but I’m on medication to try and hope it doesn’t happen again. If any reason is a reason to return to something I miss dearly, daily, I want to come back. 

Let’s talk about the rest of TIFF. 

Tuner
Dir. Daniel Roher

One of my happier “surprises” of the festival, if you could classify it as such.  I think I briefly heard inklings of the film after the Telluride premiere. I call it a surprise more because of my personal unfamiliarity with Roher’s work previously. 

The film follows Leo Woodall’s character, a piano tuner. As a child, he had an accident and lost part of his hearing.  After meeting the wrong people and finding a useful talent due to his hypersensitive hearing, he finds himself dealing with stressful situations. 

Shot in Toronto, it’s a sweet movie that may remind you of a few others, but it fucking sings. I think it’s one of the best edited films of the festival. It’s a film that glides along until it’s over, and you would like it to last longer. The film has been picked up and currently has a release date for next year.

Dust Bunny
Dir. Bryan Fuller

I ate this up. I’m sorry. I know I saw some other critic friends who weren’t as appreciative of the film, but I thought this was precisely the type of film I needed. Something innocent, but a hint of real terror. 

Fuller’s style is one of the reasons why one would run and watch one of his projects, and I felt the same while watching Dust Bunny. I appreciated its kind heart and a silly sort of horror. It makes you feel protected and potentially cared for, and it was a feeling I was looking for going into the film. Sweet performances from the cast, mostly Sophie Sloan as Aurora. Working again with Mads Mikkelsen gives the film a certain weight as a hitman Aurora hires for the monster under her bed. 

Dead Man’s Wire
Dir. Gus Van Sant

Admittedly, I wasn’t familiar with this story leading into the film. Watching the credits and seeing the clips/images of the real incident helped me appreciate the authenticity of the film. 

A film that somehow walks the tightrope of tone extremely well. While tense in the subject matter of what Tony Kiritsis is threatening to do at any time. Bill Skarsgard does a great job at also making it comical and calming. Not typically what you may think of him at first.

Train Dreams
Dir. Clint Bentley

This is the one. Hamnet knocked me out and continued to keep me down until the film ended, but Train Dreams did the same while having me levitating. It felt like a magical experience to witness something so special. 

I spoke about how I knew this film would be important to me after my appreciation of Jockey and Sing Sing. But even with those expectations, it made my heart swoon. This is why we go to the movies. To feel the passing of time, the importance of legacy, and to cherish the time with the people we love. 

Legacy and time are something that might mean a whole lot and push Clint Bentley and Greg Kwedar in their writing. It feels like they are fascinated with the idea of the things we leave behind, who we leave behind, and what it kind of means. 

It has been weeks at this time since I’ve seen Train Dreams, but moments are still replaying for me. I’m still crying over aspects of the film. This is the one. I can’t wait to rewatch it, but similar to Hamnet, I’m not sure if I’m ready for a rewatch.

Hedda
Dir. Nia DaCosta

We’re all aware of the moment in the film. From this still above, where Tessa Thompson levitates towards Nina Hoss. I’ll be honest, it’s the same feeling I felt walking out of Train Dreams, and it lingered on my end as I watched Hedda. And then I walked out of this the same way. A thrilling drama that keeps you on your toes throughout the whole film. I love DaCosta’s work, and am always eager and excited to see anything she puts out.

Frankenstein
Dir. Guillermo Del Toro

The biggest complaint I personally have heard about the film was that it was about ten minutes too long. Which is wild because I don’t think I have an active limit on how long I would want to live in one of his worlds. I recently watched the black & white version of Nightmare Alley and was taken aback at how moving I found the film, and living in it made me appreciate his style and outlook in films.

All this to say, those who spoke ill of the film when it originally premiered in Venice may have seen it with a different perspective first, but Toronto definitely loved the film, as did I. I wish I had gotten around to seeing it on film at TIFF, but I’m sure the opportunity will return in the city soon. A film that you can tell Del Toro has been working his way towards his entire career.

Dead Lover
Dir. Grace Growicki

Dead Lovers feels like the perfect cultivation of everything I saw at the fest. Another film that explores grief and the things we hold onto from our relationships. Grace Growicki and Ben Petrie were both great together in Honey Bunch.

Sentimental Value
Dir. Joachim Trier

I didn’t get to see this during the festival, but I have now seen it since it’s out in a wider release. I think I found myself in a bit of a depression slump after seeing the film. To say I bawled my way through my watch is an understatement. That’s not saying much, as it was a watch when I first found an opportunity to have a moment to myself. The crying started with the film, but eventually just became something cathartic to release. I haven’t seen enough of Trier’s previous works, but what I have seen is such an incredible experience.

For one, his film Thelma was the first film I had a screener where I got to see my email printed way too large over the film. As much as now it may be a pet peeve, I often think of seeing my email and foolishly thinking, “I finally made it.”  And then, of course, The Worst Person in the World. I know we’re not the only site that praised the film and found how important a film it was to capture the scary 20’s and its excitement, and how fucking lonely it can be. It feels both in the moment and also from the perspective of hindsight. 

Sentimental Value is the same. It has the foresight to be aware of the pain and the hurt, but with the perspective on how to heal from it. My heart is still aching from the film, and I’m sure it’ll continue to do so as the year goes on.

Other recent watches I really want to talk about briefly:

One Battle After Another is a film I haven’t stopped thinking about since I saw it with Arianne. Admittedly, I don’t think I loved it when the credits rolled, but I have sat with it and definitely did on a rewatch. Another film that became far stronger as I understood where everything would eventually fall into place. A beautiful film about the new generation and how our parents may have attempted to make things better at one time.

Also, Bugonia. I feel it definitely took me a few films before I felt like I made it onto the same wavelength as Yorgos Lanthimos’ films, but I’m glad I did. While Bugonia didn’t make the same impact for me as Poor Things, but just the right side of bizarre and comical. I haven’t seen Dogtooth, but I recently picked it up, and I’ll try to watch it for the next release of The Queue. I’m also going to start working on my best of the year list, so that will be ready to come out in January. Right on our schedule, as usual.