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Toronto International Film Festival · 2023

Toronto International Film Festival 2023

Galas

Programme

14 films · 9 reviews

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Concrete Utopia

Review preview for Concrete Utopia

Um is interested in how such landscapes seduce us into particular ways of thinking.

Jennie Kermode · 4.5 out of 5
Survivors from a massive earthquake struggle for a new life in Seoul.

(Country: South Korea; Year: 2023; Director: Um Tae-hwa; Writer: Um Tae-hwa; Stars: Park Seo-joon, Lee Byung-hun, Park Bo-young, Kim Sun-young, Park Ji-hu, Na Chul)

Full review See: Um Tae-hwa and Lee Byung-hun in conversation on Concrete Utopia

Dumb Money

Review preview for Dumb Money

The writers care about even their smallest characters.

Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
Based on a true story of everyday people who flipped the script on Wall Street and got rich by turning GameStop into the world's hottest company.

(Country: US; Year: 2023; Director: Craig Gillespie; Writer: Lauren Schuker Blum, Rebecca Angelo, Ben Mezrich; Stars: America Ferrera, Dane DeHaan, Shailene Woodley, Seth Rogen, Anthony Ramos, Pete Davidson)

Full review

The End We Start From

Review preview for The End We Start From

If you take it for what it is rather than what it was marketed as, The End We Start From is an interesting watch.

Donald Munro · 3 out of 5
A woman who along with her newborn try to find their way home as environmental crisis that submerges London in flood waters and sees a young family torn apart in the chaos.

(Country: UK; Year: 2023; Director: Mahalia Belo; Writer: Alice Birch, Megan Hunter; Stars: Jodie Comer, Benedict Cumberbatch, Mark Strong. Nina Sosanya, Katherine Waterston)

Full review

Fair Play

An unexpected promotion at a cutthroat hedge fund pushes a young couple’s relationship to the brink, threatening to unravel far more than their recent engagement.

(Country: US; Year: 2023; Director: Chloe Domont; Writer: Chloe Domont; Stars: Dynevor, Alden Ehrenreich, Eddie Marsan)

Flora And Son

Flora, a single mother, is at war with her son, Max. Trying to find a hobby for him, she rescues a guitar from a dumpster and finds that one person's trash can be a family's salvation.

(Country: Ireland, US; Year: 2023; Director: John Carney; Writer: John Carney; Stars: Eve Hewson, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Orén Kinlan, Jack Reynor, Amy Huberman)

Hate To Love: Nickelback

An intimate portrait of the Canadian stadium rockers' roller-coaster career, from their rural roots in Alberta to becoming one of the most successful, yet divisive acts in music history.

(Country: Canada; Year: 2023; Director: Leigh Brooks; Stars: Chad Kroeger, Mike Kroeger, Ryan Peake, Daniel Adair)

Lee

Review preview for Lee

Winslet performance holds a powerful sway, embracing Lee’s abrasive and conflicted personality and viewing the horrors with an analytical eye and a sense of bravado as well as despair.

Richard Mowe · 3 out of 5
The story of photographer Elizabeth 'Lee' Miller, a fashion model who became an acclaimed war correspondent for Vogue magazine during the Second World War.

(Country: US, UK; Year: 2023; Director: Ellen Kuras; Writer: Liz Hannah, Marion Hume, John Collee; Stars: Alexander Skarsgård, Kate Winslet, Andrea Riseborough, Marion Cotillard, Andy Samberg, Josh O'Connor)

Full review See: Interview with Ellen Kuras about Lee

The Movie Emperor

A satire about a film star choosing a role with the deliberate aim of winning film festival awards and getting taken seriously.

(Country: China; Year: 2023; Director: Ning Hau; Writer: Wang Ang,Xiaodan Liu, Tianyou Zhao; Stars: Andy Lau)

The New Boy

Review preview for The New Boy

Handsomely mounted in terms of both the wide open landscapes and the confines of the church, Thornton allows the mystery surrounding the boy’s powers to remain that way, unknowable perhaps even to the youngster.

Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
The story of a nine-year-old Aboriginal orphan boy who arrives in the dead of night at a remote monastery, run by a renegade nun, where his presence disturbs the delicately balanced world.

(Country: Australia; Year: 2023; Director: Warwick Thornton; Writer: Warwick Thornton; Stars: Cate Blanchett, Mezi Atwood, Deborah Mailman)

Full review See: Warwick Thornton on working with children, animals and just one camera on the New Boy , Warwick Thornton on the evolution of The New Boy

Next Goal Wins

Review preview for Next Goal Wins

It's pleasant enough.

Andrew Robertson · 2.5 out of 5
A story about the American Samoa soccer team, who suffered the worst loss in World Cup history, losing to Australia 31-0 in 2001. With the 2014 World Cup approaching, the team recruits a down on his luck, maverick coach in the hope that he can turns its fortunes around.

(Country: UK, US; Year: 2023; Director: Taika Waititi; Writer: Taika Waititi, Iain Morris; Stars: Michael Fassbender, Oscar Kightley, Kaimana, David Fane, Rachel House)

Full review

Nyad

Review preview for Nyad

The film undercuts the pop psychology associated with sporting success, clearing the space in which to attempt a more honest account.

Jennie Kermode · 4.5 out of 5
The remarkable true story of marathon swimmer Diana Nyad, who, at the age of 60, set out to become the first person to complete the 'Everest of swims', a 53-hour, 110-mile swim from Cuba to Florida through dangerous open ocean without a shark cage.

(Country: US; Year: 2023; Director: Jimmy Chin, Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi; Writer: Julia Cox; Stars: Jodie Foster, Annette Bening, Rhys Ifans, Ethan Jones Romero, Johnny Solo)

Full review

Punjab '95

The story of prominent human rights activist Jaswant Singh Kalra.

(Country: India; Year: 2023; Director: Honey Trehan; Writer: Niren Bhatt, Utsav Maitra, Honey Trehan; Stars: Suvinder Vicky, Varun Badola, Arjun Rampal, Diljit Dosanjh, Geetika Vidva Ohlvan)

The Royal Hotel

Review preview for The Royal Hotel

The feeling that something bad could happen at any moment permeates the mood.

Amber Wilkinson · 3 out of 5
US backpackers Hanna and Liv take a job in a remote Australian pub for some extra cash and are confronted with a bunch of unruly locals and a situation that grows rapidly out of their control.

(Country: Australia, UK; Year: 2023; Director: Kitty Green; Writer: Kitty Green, Oscar Redding; Stars: Julia Garner, Jessica Henwick, Hugo Weaving, James Frecheville, Toby Wallace, Daniel Henshall, Herbert Nordrum, Ursula Yovich)

Full review

Solo

Review preview for Solo

Solo features wonderfully detailed sets which give depth and meaning to its characters’ lives, plus fantastic costume work both on and off the stage.

Jennie Kermode · 3.5 out of 5
The story of Simon, who must deal with the disappointment of two impossible loves: a passionate but destructive crush on Oliver and a distant and cold relationship with his mother Claire, who has just moved back in after a 15-year absence.

(Country: Canada; Year: 2023; Director: Sophie Dupuis; Writer: Sophie Dupuis; Stars: Théodore Pellerin, Félix Maritaud, Vlad Alexis)

Full review