Another Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) is in the record
books, having spent 7 days watching a total of 14 movies (and one
In
Conversation with Gael Garcia Bernal).
I
did miss one film (the sole documentary I was able to schedule –
Grace Jones: Bloodlight
and Bami) due to a flight delay.
Below, in the order I viewed them, are my quick thoughts,
Oscar season potential and rating of each film on a scale of 1 to 5 (5 being
the best). You’ll notice that I saw many
films about women and several directed by them, which showed TIFF’s commitment
to featuring women’s vision and voices at the festival.
I, Tonya – This Craig Gillespie directed biopic/satire about Tonya Harding
exceeded my expectations. Margot Robbie
was very convincing (and somewhat sympathetic) as the damaged Olympian who deals
with a complex relationship with her tough love mother (a scene stealing
Allison Janney), her abusive first love and husband, Jeff Gillooly (Sebastian
Stan) and her passion for figure skating.
It’s also hysterically funny in some scenes as well as very sad. Robbie did some of her own skating, but
clearly they digitally placed her head onto Tonya’s body or a skating double
for harder moves like jumps and spins.
In terms of Oscar buzz, Robbie and Janney may get nominations for their strong
performances. (4/5)
Molly’s Game – This film is immensely entertaining, and a
win for Aaron Sorkin as a director and Jessica Chastain in the title role. Chastain plays Molly Bloom who ran an
underground poker game in NY and LA and winds up in trouble with the FBI. She does very well with Sorkin’s fast paced
dialogue and makes the audience root for Molly.
Idris Elba is also very good as her lawyer as well as Kevin Costner in a
smaller role as her psychologist dad. My
only critique is that it could be edited a bit. Chastain may get nominated for lead actress
and Sorkin for the script. (4/5)
The Children Act – Another strong female lead in this British
import, starring Emma Thompson as a no nonsense family court judge whose life
is turned upside down when she gets involved in a case regarding a 17 year old
Jehovah’s witness (Fionn Whitehead) who refuses a live saving blood
transfusion. Thompson is riveting in the
role as well as Whitehead whose life she saves and the impact that has on both
of them. The weaker part of the film involves
a subplot about her husband (Stanley Tucci) wanting to have an affair but it
doesn’t distract from the overall level of the production. Thompson may nab a nomination, but the field
is crowded already. (3.5/5)
The Current War – This was a disappointment, despite a
strong cast including Benedict Cumberbatch as Thomas Edison, Michael Shannon as
George Westinghouse, Nicholas Hoult as Nikola Tesla and Katherine Waterston as
Mrs. Westinghouse.
Pardon the pun, but a
film about the race to bring electricity to the masses should be more electric.
I wasn’t that invested in Edison and cared
more about Westinghouse.
The film is
visually stunning but the characters weren’t as compelling nor was the
story.
The audience response was pretty
tepid and producer Harvey Weinstein didn’t look too happy at the
premiere. Oscar chances are pretty slim, IMO. (3/5)
Update 10/10/17: With
all of the news about Harvey Weinstein coming out now about his decades long sexual harassment, I have to wonder if he knew a month ago that all of this would be coming out, since he looked terrible at the premiere.
He has since taken his name off the film as a producer. Since more and more victims and Hollywood in general is coming out against his behavior, I have to wonder if his career is toast. It's very clear that this kind of behavior is unacceptable and things need to change.
Mary Shelley – Director Haifa Al-Mansour (who comes from
Saudi Arabia) lends her sensitive vision to the author’s love story with her
eventual husband, the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley (the impossibly pretty Douglas
Booth). She is most effective in documenting the inspiration for Frankenstein,
which was published anonymously at 18. Elle Fanning does a convincing job as
Mary and for the most part the movie succeeds as a period piece. However, I didn’t care for Tom Sturridge’s
performance as a cruel Lord Byron which made him look more like a 1970s rock
star (complete with eyeliner, fluid sexuality and an ego to match) than an
early 19th century poet.
Still, the story of finding her voice in her writing is inspiring for a lot of
young women, who I hope see the film. I don’t
see this getting much Oscar buzz but you never know. (3.5/5)
Submergence – I really didn’t know what to make of Wim
Wender’s love story between an oceanographer (Alicia Vikander) and a water
engineer/British spy (James McAcoy). Told mostly in flashbacks, it’s beautifully
shot in Normandy, France and they are both compelling to watch as two
intellectuals fall in love. Then they
get separated since he’s going on a mission in North Africa and she’s going on
a deep dive to prove that life thrives miles down in the ocean. He’s captured and tortured by terrorists (while
thinking of her) and she spends a lot of time checking her phone, wondering why
he’s ghosted her. Not sure of any Oscar contention here. (3/5)
Woman Walks Ahead – The second Jessica Chastain film I saw
here was the weaker of the two. Beautifully shot by director Susanna White and another
good performance by Chastain as a Catherine Weldon, a merry widow who travels
from NY to Standing Rock in the late 1880s to paint Sitting Bull’s
portrait. She and Sitting Bull (native
Canadian actor Michael Greyeyes) develop a strong bond while the townspeople
and the US Army (led by Sam Rockwell) try to discourage her from helping the
Lakota people, with whom they want to sign a treaty to give up most of their
land. While sensitively acted and shot,
the story is a bit too romanticized and takes too many liberties with the real
story. (3.5/5)
Downsizing – From what I’ve read, Alexander Payne’s fable
about a man who literally shrinks his life was a polarizing entry at the festival. I was on the side that really enjoyed it,
mostly because it was so funny and I enjoyed the performances by Matt Damon, Christoph
Waltz and breakout star Hong Chau. Where
the film may not gel is that it has a hard time deciding what it is – a character
study, unexpected love story, sci-fi climate change morality tale or a satire on
consumerism. It might do well on the screenplay
and directing categories for the Oscars.
I’m hoping Chau gets a supporting actress nod as a political
dissident turned cleaning lady who changes the main character’s life, she’s
that good. (4/5)
Darkest Hour – Joe Wright’s WWII era biopic of Winston
Churchill was what I would call a prestige entry with Gary Oldman’s expert
portrayal of Churchill as he becomes Britain’s Prime Minister and navigates fraught
political waters. The main dramatic arc
revolves around whether Britain negotiates peace with Germany and Italy over a
period of a few weeks, leading up to the evacuation of troops at Dunkirk (the
subject of Christopher Nolan’s recent film).
What could’ve been a dry history lesson is instead riveting mostly due
to the performances, writing and the fast pace.
I also enjoyed Downton Abbey’s Lily James as Churchill’s secretary who
becomes the audience’s surrogate.
Kristin Scott Thomas is wonderful as Mrs. Churchill and I would’ve
liked to see more of her. Ben Mendelsohn
brings some humanity to King George VI, but the film belongs to Oldman, who I
hope wins the best actor Oscar. (4.5/5)
The Shape of Water – Although this didn’t win the Grolsch
People’s Choice award (which went to Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri,
with Frances McDormand), this was a festival favorite among audiences and critics. Guillermo del Toro directs Sally Hawkins in a
sure to be Oscar nominated role, a mute woman who is a janitor at a government
lab in 1960s Baltimore (shot in Toronto).
She falls in love with a merman creature who is being held there and
helps him escape, along with the help of her gay best friend (Richard Jenkins)
and sassy co-worker played by Octavia Spencer.
Michael Shannon is the villainous boss and Michael Stuhlbarg plays a
Russian scientist who also wants to save the creature. The plot sounds a bit silly but the film
works mixing many genres, ranging from horror to 1930s musicals, while celebrating
otherness. There is some typecasting, especially
with Shannon and Spencer, but the film really belongs to Hawkins who
communicates every emotion she feels without words. (4/5)
If You Saw His Heart – This film was probably one of my
least favorites, which is a shame because Gael Garcia Bernal is a great actor
and favorite of mine, but this is not a great addition to his resume. I’m not sure if it was the direction (by
first time French director Joan Chemla) or the lackluster story of a gypsy who
loses his best friend in an accident and then lives in a run- down hotel while
committing petty crimes to pay rent and trying to avoid his best friend’s
brother, who blames him for the death. He
meets a beautiful woman who may be mentally unstable and falls for her. It was nicely shot and Chemla creates a mood,
but without a compelling story, this one goes nowhere and lacks, um,
heart. I did enjoy the interview with
him the following evening, though and thankfully they focused on some of his other
work. (2/5)
Professor Marston & the Wonder Women: This is a somewhat conventional biopic of
William Moulton Marston (Luke Evans), a psychology professor who created the
Wonder Woman comics in the 1940s. Director
Angela Robinson shows the inspiration for his famous work in the form of his
brilliant feminist wife (a stellar Rebecca Hall) and a beautiful teaching
assistant (Bella Heathcote). They become
a long term threesome with several children, while trying to hide their
unconventional relationship from the public.
There’s some mild kink and BDSM themes but the film never feels
exploitative since the focus is on the love the trio have for each other. Will it get any Oscar love? A
slim shot for Rebecca Hall to sneak in a nomination for supporting actress. (3.5/5)
Mudbound: Director
Dee Rees (if you’re counting, this is the fifth film I saw at the festival
directed by a woman) takes many narratives and has them gel beautifully in this
film about two families, one white, one black who co-exist on a Mississippi farm
in the 1940s. The main narrative is
about the friendship between two WWII soldiers (Garrett Hedlund and Jason
Mitchell) from the families who bond, despite the difference in their races. Unfortunately, their friendship has
devastating consequences. There are also
fantastic performances from the ensemble including Carey Mulligan, a
de-glamorized Mary J. Blige, and Jason Clarke. Although it takes place 70+ years ago, the inclusion of white supremacists makes it especially relevant. Despite some brutal scenes towards the end,
the film ends on an uplifting note. I
hope the film gets some Oscar nominations – perhaps for picture, direction, screenplay
and supporting actor nods. (4.5/5)
Eye on Juliet: My
final TIFF film was an indie from Canadian director Kim Ngyuen. Gordon (Joe Cole), lives in Detroit and just
was dumped by his girlfriend. He works
as a hexapod operator (a robot that is sort of like a drone but it doesn’t fly
and has six legs) that guards an oil pipeline in North Africa. During his surveillance sessions he keeps
seeing a young woman named Ayusha. (Juliet3000
becomes her code name) Intrigued by her story (she is trying to escape an
arranged marriage with an older man by leaving with her boyfriend), Gordon decides
to buck protocol to help her. The film
is a bit fanciful, especially the ending, but overall was charming and showed
how technology can bring people together who otherwise would’ve never crossed
paths. Not expecting Oscars for this one,
but hope it finds an audience. (3.5/5)
Most of the films I saw had some merit and many of them will most likely be showered with accolades come Oscar season. I am not done yet with festival season, as I am planning to see a few more during the New York Film Festival (NYFF) including Greta Gerwig's Lady Bird (which was well received at TIFF) next month. I will be sure to post my thoughts!
Andrea Goldstein is a digital marketing
professional with a passion for pop culture.
@nydigitalmarket on Twitter
