First Impressions: Toronto International Film Festival 2023

Courtesy of TIFF.

Thursday, September 7, the 48th edition of the Toronto International Film Festival finally kicked off, packing the streets of the city's Entertainment District with movie lovers from all corners of the globe. Although lacking its standard caliber of star power due to the ongoing SAG-AFTRA strike, screenings have been filled to the gills, drastically contrasting the festival's not-so-distant 2020 and 2021 festivals severely hindered by the pandemic. From new discoveries to established auteur filmmakers, here are our first impressions of everything we have screened at this year's TIFF:

*CONSTANTLY UPDATING*

Courtesy of TIFF.

'Aggro Dr1ft'

Listen, we knew Harmony Korine's newest experiment, the Jordi Mollà and Travis Scott starring Aggro Dr1ft would be an experience; unfortunately, it was not a fun or rewarding one. The movie's 80-minute runtime somehow feels like 800 minutes, especially during its TIFF Midnight Madness premiere, where the laughs quickly died off in the theater long before the halfway point. Shot with infrared cameras, Aggro Dr1ft does add a new visual perspective to the canon of the Florida movies, just like Spring Breakers did over a decade ago. But moving past the initial impact of the film's look, there is nothing to grasp in the film's bare-bones narrative, and it feels like an hour plus of watching non-player characters from a prehistoric version of The Sims. 1000% not for every audience, there is no denying Korine's boundary-challenging perspectives.

Courtesy of TIFF.

'Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World'

Do not expect anyone to remember the name of this movie, but do expect them to remember how hilarious and cynical it is concerning the modern world. Romanian filmmaker Radu Jude's latest –– recently acquired for distribution by MUBI and a big winner at the Locarno Film Festival –– is a riotous and ridiculous criticism of contemporary capitalism and media, as essentially told through a rambling day-long car ride through Bucharest. Centering around Angela (the gut-busting Ilinca Manolache), a casting agent for a workplace safety PSA, we follow the bullshit she goes through trying to make a living, the ins and outs of her exhausting days as she weaves in and out of horrendous traffic. Intriguingly mirrored with intercutting from a Romanian film centered around the narrative of a female taxi driver during the sunset Ceausescu regime, Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World plays with cinematic references and "Communist Heritage" with an extraordinarily bleak yet uproarious spirit. Seemingly fitting in so well with the world's zeitgeist today, the film may not hit as hard in a few years...

Courtesy of TIFF.

'Evil Does Not Exist'

Ryûsuke Hamaguchi's Silver Lion Grand Jury Prize-winning Evil Does Not Exist is uniquely transformative and quietly disturbing in remarkable ways. The movie is a contemporary tale of a small village a few hours from Tokyo where the inhabitants object to a corporation's efforts to purchase land in the area to create a "glamping" tourist trap that would unbalance the harmony of their community. Like Hamaguchi's other work, he closely surveys his characters in the film but also concentrates on their rural surroundings, creating junctures of natural poeticism that feel fresh for the director. People are already debating passionately over the film's final act, which takes a suspenseful and allegorical turn that will arguably be remembered as an iconic ending. Evil Does Not Exist feels so unexpected and exciting as a followup to Hamaguchi's award circuit tour with 2021's Drive My Car.

Courtesy of TIFF.

'Fair Play'

On so many radars after its whopping $20 million distribution deal out of Sundance early this year, Chloe Domont's feature debut, Fair Play, is every bit as unsettling, sexy, and entertaining as the critics have made it out to be. Phoebe Harriet Dynevor and Alden Ehrenreich star as a recently engaged couple, Emily and Luke, who still keep their courtship a secret where they both work, a crazy high-pressure Manhattan hedge fund firm. When Emily receives a major promotion out of nowhere, career envy and workplace drama threaten to ruin their relationship totally. A psycho-sensual nailbiter that flawlessly harkens back to the insane times of high capitalism of the 1990s, Fair Play peeks into a male-dominated world with a rejuvenating female gaze, uncovering the difficulties women undergo to find success in such a field. Coming to Netflix on October 13, Fair Play should be a steamy hit for mass audiences.

Courtesy of TIFF.

'La Chimera'

We return to the Italian countryside with the talented writer/director Alice Rohrwacher, this time with a ragtag group of tomb-raiders looking for Etruscan relics from antiquity in La Chimera. Starring Josh O'Connor as Arthur (who is even more attractive speaking Italian), La Chimera is a lush and poetic glimpse into the Italian working class, told through a period 1980s lens. Arthur has a spiritual connection and appreciation for his artifacts, toeing the line between archeologist and criminal, as his followers are more interested in hocking off the goods for profit. Gorgeously shot and hilariously written, La Chimera makes Italians look like the funniest, fieriest people on earth in its celebrations of everyday folks. Already making splashes at Cannes and Telluride, La Chimera is destined to be a darling of this year's festival circuit.

Courtesy of TIFF.

'Memory'

Michel Franco's latest is a crushingly tender and shattering depiction of lost souls finding themselves in one another. Starring Jessica Chastain and Peter Sarsgaard (who recently won the Volpi Cup for Best Actor at the Venice Film Festival), Chastain plays a single mother and adult caretaker named Sylvia. 13 years sober, Sylvia runs into a man she went to high school with, Sarsagaard's character, Saul. Missing out on their own lives for totally different reasons, Sylvia and Saul develop a deep and unexpected connection. At times as bleak and grey as the Brooklyn winter atmosphere where the film takes place, Memory is a profoundly emotional movie from one of the most intriguing directors working today. 

Courtesy of TIFF.

'Origin'

Origin is a movie that will make your mother cry. It is liable to make you cry, too. Ava DuVernay writes and directs Origin, adapted from the book Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents and starring Aunjanue Ellis as the author, Isabel Wilkerson. Interweaving Wilkerson's personal history with that of her research, Origin travels through time to India, Germany, and the America of yesteryear to find a connection between the stratification of peoples and communities through caste systems, which Wilkerson believed was the root of many systemic forms of discrimination and oppression across the globe. Challenging in its depictions of Wilkerson's intellectual concepts, Ellis brings humanity to the role that makes Origin so triumphant. This movie should be seen by people far and wide, one that can challenge perspectives and spark conversation.

Courtesy of TIFF.

'Orlando, My Political Biography'

The multihyphenate thinker and creator Paul B. Preciado tries out documentary filmmaking with Orlando, My Political Biography, reflecting on his own trans experience through the 1928 Virginia Woolf classic novel. Using trans figures from all rungs of French society, Precaido explores Orlando through a modern lens, allowing people to share their stories and relate to the novel with their own uniqueness. Examinations of the book and its iconically shape-shifting narrative happen through the documentary's structure, which patiently makes its way through the work and introduces trans folks playing different versions of Orlando. Challenging, thought-provoking, and full of hope for the future of trans communities, Orlando, My Political Biography is a daring celebration of identity that will likely continue to gain rapturous audiences at queer and trans film festivals worldwide.

Courtesy of TIFF.

'Pictures of Ghosts'

From Aquarius to Bacarau, Brazilian critic-turned-filmmaker Kleber Mendonça Filho has proven to be one of the most fascinating contemporary directors, making his latest documentary, Pictures of Ghosts, one of our most anticipated TIFF screenings. Split into two main segments, Pictures of Ghosts is a celebration of the director's roots and his passion for cinema. Made up of archival footage, Filho's collection of home videos, and contemporary recordings, Pictures of Ghosts explores the forgotten movie palaces of the vibrant seaside city of Recife, Brazil –– Filho's hometown –– along with the home where he grew up and fell in love with movies (and even shot his first feature). Simultaneously reflective, melancholic, and delicate, Pictures of Ghosts is the director's most personal work to date and one of the most moving works at TIFF this year.

Courtesy of TIFF.

'Stamped From the Beginning'

Already on a roll this year with his feature film Cassandro, Roger Ross Williams' latest documentary, Stamped From the Beginning, made its world premiere at TIFF and impressed audiences. Adapted from a novel by Ibram X. Kendi, the documentary is composed of contemporary interviews, historical accounts, and animated sequences, exploring the origins of the myths and stereotypes that help to enforce and systemize racism in America. Through the voices of black women scholars, the documentary confronts everything from the invention of blackness to white saviors in popular media. Incredibly impactful and urgent in its message, Stamped From the Beginning will be streaming on Netflix later in 2023 and could find itself in serious Oscar contention for Best Documentary.

Courtesy of TIFF.

'The Boy and the Heron'

"Create a world of bounty, peace and beauty" is one of many memorable lines from The Boy and the Heron that reflects precisely what director Hayao Miyazaki's body of work brought into our world. Grappling with life, death, and the liminal space in between, The Boy and the Heron is a spectacular and emotional final goodbye from the aging filmmaker, whose movies have taught us to appreciate the world around us and never forget to dream. Centered around a grieving young man named Mahito who is swept off to the Japanese countryside as World War II reaches its peak, The Boy and the Heron features the stunning and naturalistic animation we have come to expect while adding some of Miyazaki's most surreal moments of complex brilliance.

Courtesy of TIFF.

'The Holdovers'

On the last day of TIFF, The Holdovers from Alexander Payne was announced as the 1st runner-up for this year's sought-after Audience Award, a clear indicator of the film's crowd-pleasing sensibility. Set from 1970 into 1971, the look, sound, and feel of the movie perfectly match its period setting. Taking place outside of Boston at a prestigious and expensive all-boys high school, The Holdovers stars Paul Giamatti, newcomer Dominic Sessa, and Da'Vine Joy Randolph as a professor, student, and school chef whose circumstances lead them to be amongst the few staying at school over winter break. The Holdovers works as a holiday comedy while also tapping into the social and political spirit of America during the 1970s with respectable intentions. Narratively, the film's emotional quests get too saccharine, limiting The Holdovers from becoming something unexpected or sincerely interesting. The Holdovers will hit theaters stateside on October 27.

Courtesy of TIFF.

'The Monk and the Gun'

Writer-director Pawo Choyning Dorji's latest movie, The Monk and the Gun is precisely the kind of international cinema that we at Foremost Film loves to champion. Taking place in Bhutan –– in 2006, the year the country's king abdicated to introduce Democracy –– the film is a funny and cautionary portrait of a place being introduced to Western influences, such as the internet and television, for the first time. Against the background of gorgeous Himalayan mountain vistas and clear blue skies, the film centers around a mock election meant to be a training exercise for Bhutan's first democratic elections. Juggling multiple storylines that eventually interweave together in the end, The Monk and the Gun explores Democracy and Westernization in an area of Bhutan that still values its traditional ways of life. Still searching for a distributor in the U.S., this movie could be a contender in the Oscar conversation for Best International Picture, just like the director's last film, Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom.

Courtesy of TIFF.

'The Peasants'

From DK and Hugh Welchman, the married duo behind 2017's Loving Vincent, comes their latest work, The Peasants. Inspired by the early 20th-century novel of the same name, The Peasants centers around a young woman called Jagna, whose vibrant spirit makes her marginalized and ostracized by her traditional peasant village in 19th-century Poland. Just like the Oscar-nominated Loving Vincent, this film is animated from over 40,000 oil paintings done by hand, by hundreds of artists. At once spotlighting a figure trapped by the constraints of womanhood in a conservative society and celebrating the region’s folk culture, The Peasants is incredibly beautiful, moving through the seasons with gorgeous colors and vibrance. Somehow, the movie's exceptional animation is more striking than life itself, the hand-painted scenes filled to the brim with artistic magnificence. The Peasants on the big screen is a true visual experience.

Courtesy of TIFF.

'Unicorns'

Unicorns is an uninspired and overplayed film about queer men coming to terms with their identity in modern-day Britain, co-directed by Sally El Hosaini and James Krishna Floyd. Ben Hardy stars as Luke, a single dad, and Manchester machismo type who finds himself falling in love with a drag queen named Aysha (Jason Patel). Although boasting decent performances from the two leads, Unicorns treads no new or thought-provoking ideas about the queer perspective and feels a bit like it unintentionally toes a problematic line of the Anglo-fetishism of Indian culture. Unicorns plays out like it was made in the late 1990s, adding nothing of substance to the canon of the onscreen queer experience.