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Toronto International Film Festival · 2023

Toronto International Film Festival 2023

Special Presentations

Programme

46 films · 19 reviews

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American Fiction

Review preview for American Fiction

A film which is as playful with its own structure as with its subject.

Jennie Kermode · 4.5 out of 5
English professor and author Thelonious 'Monk' Ellison writes a satirical novel under a pseudonym, with the intention of exposing the hypocrisies of the publishing industry.

(Country: US; Year: 2023; Director: Cord Jefferson; Writer: Percival Everett, Cord Jefferson; Stars: Jeffrey Wright, Elle Sciore, Miriam Shor, Issa Rae, Adam Brody)

Full review

Anatomy Of A Fall (Anatomie D'une Chute)

Review preview for Anatomy Of A Fall

Hüller has always been an unfussy actress, who allows a character's flaws to shine out in interesting ways.

Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
A woman is accused of her husband's murder.

(Country: France; Year: 2023; Director: Justine Triet; Writer: Arthur Harari, Justine Triet; Stars: Sandra Hüller, Samuel Theis, Swann Arlaud, Jehnny Beth, Milo Machado Graner, Antoine Reinartz)

Full review

The Beast (La Bête)

Review preview for The Beast

The Beast explores what Henry James diagnosed so devastatingly. The chill of egotism and the feverish dance around the void are so desperately relevant today that it leaves one breathless.

Anne-Katrin Titze · 5 out of 5
In the near future a woman decides to purify her DNA in a machine that takes her into her past lives. Then she meets Louis and feels a powerful connection, as if she had always known him.

(Country: France, Canada; Year: 2023; Director: Bertrand Bonello; Writer: Bertrand Bonello, Guillaume Bréaud, Benjamin Charbit, based on the novel by Henry James; Stars: Léa Seydoux, George MacKay)

Full review See: Bertrand Bonello on sci-fi, loneliness, music and working with Léa Seydoux , Bertrand Bonello in conversation on Coma and The Beast

The Burial

Inspired by true events, a lawyer helps a funeral home owner save his family business from a corporate behemoth, exposing a complex web of race, power, and injustice.

(Country: US; Year: 2023; Director: Maggie Betts; Writer: Maggie Betts, Jonathan Harr, Doug Wright; Stars: Tommy Lee Jones, Jamie Foxx, Alan Ruck, Jurnee Smollett, Bill Camp, Mamadou Athie)

La Chimera

Review preview for La Chimera

Rohrwacher’s visually eclectic style is well suited to exploring the contrasts between present and past, natural and artificial, poverty and wealth.

Jennie Kermode · 2.5 out of 5
The story of a group of archaeologists and the black market in historical artefacts.

(Country: Italy, France, Switzerland; Year: 2023; Director: Alice Rohrwacher; Writer: Carmela Covino, Marco Pettenello, Alice Rohrwacher; Stars: Isabella Rossellini, Josh O'Connor, Alba Rohrwacher, Lecu Chikovani, Carol Duate)

Full review See: Alice Rohrwacher on fairy tales and La Chimera

Close To You

Review preview for Close To You

Rather than watching Sam from a distance, with curiosity, we are very much aligned with him, experiencing the world as he does, noticing the things that don’t make sense about other people.

Jennie Kermode · 5 out of 5
A young man happens to encounter with an old friend on his way back home to a dreaded family reunion that forces him to confront long-buried memories.

(Country: US; Year: 2023; Director: Dominic Savage; Writer: Elliot Page, Dominic Savage; Stars: Elliot Page, Hillary Baack, Wendy Crewson, Peter Outerbridge, Alex Paxton-Beesley, David Reale)

Full review

The Convert

A lay preacher who arrives at a British settlement in 1830s. His violent past is soon drawn into question and his faith put to the test, as he finds himself caught in the middle of a bloody war between Maori tribes.

(Country: UK, Australia, New Zealand; Year: 2023; Director: Lee Tamahori; Writer: Writers Michael Bennett, Shane Danielsen, Lee Tamahori; Stars: Guy Pearce, Tioreore Ngatai-Melbourne, Antonio Te Maioha, Jacqueline McKenzie)

The Critic

Review preview for The Critic

In its early stages, the film stands up pretty well. It’s when it reaches the blackmail stage of the story that it falters.

Jennie Kermode · 3 out of 5
A theatre critic enlists a glamorous young actress in a desperate scheme.

(Country: UK, US; Year: 2023; Director: Anand Tucker; Writer: Patrick Marber, based on the book by Anthony Quinn; Stars: Romola Garai, Mark Strong, Gemma Arterton, Ben Barnes, Lesley Manville, Ian McKellen, Alfred Enoch)

Full review See: Interview with Anand Tucker about The Critic

Days Of Happiness (Les Jours Heureux)

A talented conductor is confounded by the influence of her father and her agent, preventing her from striking a healthy balance between her career and her romantic relationship with a young cellist and her son.

(Country: Canada; Year: 2023; Director: Chloé Robichaud; Writer: Chloé Robichaud; Stars: Sophie Desmarais, Vincent Leclerc, Yves Jacques, Christian Paul, Sylvain Marcel, Geneviève Alarie, Nour Belkhiria)

The Dead Don't Hurt

Review preview for The Dead Don't Hurt

A small and human story in the sweep of a West both mythic and mundane.

Andrew Robertson · 4 out of 5
A fiercely independent French Canadian woman embarks on an affair with a Danish immigrant.

(Country: Mexico, Canada, Denmark; Year: 2023; Director: Viggo Mortensen; Writer: Viggo Mortensen; Stars: Vicky Krieps, Viggo Mortensen, Solly McLeod, Garrett Dillahunt, W Earl Brown)

Full review See: The Dead Don’t Hurt star Viggo Mortensen on his convictions and shunning the limelight

A Difficult Year (Une Année Difficile)

Two compulsive consumers, over-indebted, live between petty schemes for one and a personal life adrift for the other, and encounter young rebellious activists, climate alarmists, lovers of social justice and eco-responsibility.

(Country: France; Year: 2023; Director: Olivier Nakache, Éric Toledano; Writer: Olivier Nakache, Éric Toledano; Stars: Mathieu Amalric, Luàna Bajrami, Jonathan Cohen, James Gaspar De Almeida)

El Rapto

A man returning to Argentina after the downfall of the dictatorship is forced to become a negotiator after his brother is kidnapped and held hostage.

(Country: Argentina, US; Year: 2023; Director: Daniela Goggi; Writer: Andrea Garrote, Daniela Goggi)

Ezra

The story of a man who destroys his successful career and marriage to become a somewhat less successful stand-up comic.

(Country: US; Year: 2023; Director: Tony Goldwyn; Writer: Tony Spiridakis; Stars: Rose Byrne, Vera Farmiga, Robert De Niro, Rainn Wilson, Bobby Cannavale, Whoopi Goldberg)

Fingernails

Review preview for Fingernails

There’s something inherently endearing about the way that Nikou always managed to conjure timelessness in his worlds. They’re more analogue than futuristic but ultimately hang in a sort of limbo of ‘here but not quite now’.

Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
A woman who is increasingly unsure about her relationship secretly embarks on a new assignment working at a mysterious institute designed to incite and test the presence of romantic love in increasingly desperate couples.

(Country: US; Year: 2023; Director: Christos Nikou; Writer: Christos Nikou, Stavros Raptis, Sam Steiner; Stars: Jeremy Allen White, Annie Murphy, Jessie Buckley, Riz Ahmed, Luke Wilson, Katy Breier)

Full review See: Truth and nail: Christos Nikou on Fingernails

Four Daughters (Les Filles D'Olfa)

Review preview for Four Daughters

The exposure of the film’s underlying structures...invites audiences to think about the processes of storytelling and interpretation, which is important, because it’s a story which took the missing women away.

Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
A creative documentary following ten years in the life of a fortysomething Tunisian mother, a cleaning lady from a poor environment, who sees her two teenage daughters become radicalised, run away and join the terrorist organisation Daesh in Libya.

(Country: Tunisia, France; Year: 2021; Director: Kaouther Ben Hania; Stars: Olfa Hamrouni, Eya Chikhaoui, Tayssir Chikhaoui, Nour Karoui, Ichrak Matar, Majd Mastoura, Hind Sabri)

Full review See: Kaouther Ben Hania in conversation on Tunisia’s Oscar shortlisted Four Daughters (Les Filles d'Olfa), three natural-born storytellers, loving clichés and colours , Kaouther Ben Hania in conversation on Tunisia’s Oscar submission Four Daughters (Les Filles d'Olfa)

His Three Daughters

Sister reconnect with one another as their father's health declines.

(Country: US; Year: 2023; Director: Azazel Jacobs; Writer: Azazel Jacobs; Stars: Elizabeth Olsen, Natasha Lyonne, Carrie Coon, Jovan Adepo, Jay O Sanders)

Hit Man

Based on the true story of an undercover cop who posed as a hitman.

(Country: US; Year: 2023; Director: Richard Linklater; Writer: Skip Hollandsworth, Richard Linklater, Glen Powell; Stars: Adria Arjona, Glen Powell, Retta, Austin Amelio, Molly Bernard, Jo-Ann Robinson, Ritchie Montgomery, Morgana Shaw, Richard Robichaux, Roxy Rivera, Mike Markoff, Jordan Salloum, Kate Adair, Bryant Carroll, Nathalie J. Alarcon)

The Holdovers

Review preview for The Holdovers

An old school slice of comfort and joy for the cold season.

Amber Wilkinson · 4.5 out of 5
An unpopular teacher, a talented but badly behaved student and a cook who recently lost her son in Vietnam spend Christmas together in an otherwise empty boarding school.

(Country: US; Year: 2023; Director: Alexander Payne; Writer: David Hemingson; Stars: Paul Giamatti, Da'Vine Joy Randolph, Dominic Sessa, Tate Donovan, Carrie Preston)

Full review See: Alexander Payne’s graphic designer Nate Carlson in conversation on Election and more on The Holdovers , Nate Carlson, graphic designer, in conversation on Alexander Payne’s multiple Oscar-nominated The Holdovers , Wendy Chuck in conversation on Alexander Payne’s multiple Golden Globe-winning The Holdovers , Alexander Payne in conversation on The Holdovers composer Mark Orton, Marcel Pagnol’s Merlusse, W.C. Fields, Artie Shaw, and what’s coming up , Alexander Payne in conversation on The Holdovers team, Paul Giamatti, Carrie Preston and Westward The Women , Wendy Chuck in conversation on Alexander Payne’s multiple Golden Globe-nominated The Holdovers

Les Indésirables

A local activist and a budding young mayor clash over the best path forward for their impoverished suburb.

(Country: France; Year: 2023; Director: Ladj Ly; Writer: Giordano Gederlini, Ladj Ly; Stars: Alexis Manenti, Jeanne Balibar, Steve Tientcheu, Valentin Pradier, Anta Diaw, Aristote Luyindula)

In Restless Dreams: The Music Of Paul Simon

A documentary which follows Paul Simon as he makes his new album Seven Psalms, while looking back on his six-decade career with countless musical peaks from Sounds Of Silence to Graceland.

(Country: US; Year: 2023; Director: Alex Gibney; Writer: Alex Gibney; Stars: Paul Simon)

Kidnapped (Rapito)

Review preview for Kidnapped

This cinematic exploration, a manifestation of Christian bigotry, speculates with cinematic icons and religious imagery, laying bare the power-hungry clergy.

Levan Tskhovrebadze · 4.5 out of 5
In 1858, a six-year-old Jewish boy is forcibly seized from his family by the Catholic church.

(Country: Italy, France, Germany; Year: 2023; Director: Marco Bellocchio; Writer: Marco Bellocchio, Susanna Nicchiarelli, Edoardo Albinati; Stars: Enea Sala, Leonardo Maltese, Paolo Pierobon, Fausto Russo Alesi, Barbara Ronchi, Filippo Timi)

Full review

Knox Goes Away

When a contract killer is diagnosed with a fast-moving form of dementia, he is presented with the opportunity to redeem himself by saving the life of his estranged adult son.

(Country: US; Year: 2023; Director: Michael Keaton; Writer: Gregory Poirier; Stars: James Marsden, Al Pacino, Michael Keaton, Marcia Gay Harden, Ray McKinnon)

Last Summer (L'été Dernier)

A brilliant lawyer embarks on a passionate relationship with her stepson, putting her career and family life in danger.

(Country: France; Year: 2023; Director: Catherine Breillat; Writer: Catherine Breillat, Maren Louise Käehne, May el-Toukhy; Stars: Léa Drucker, Olivier Rabourdin, Clotilde Courau, Samuel Kircher)

Memory

A love-struck couple (attempt to build a relationship while dealing with trauma and dementia.

(Country: US, Mexico; Year: 2023; Director: Michel Franco; Writer: Michel Franco; Stars: Jessica Chastain, Peter Sarsgaard, Elsie Fisher, Merritt Wever, Josh Charles, Jessica Harper, Blake Baumgartner, Rand Faris, Davis Duffield, Brooke Timber, Elizabeth Loyacano, Billy Griffith, Ross Brodar, Johnny Vorsteg, Thomas Vorsteg)

Monster (Kaibutsu)

Review preview for Monster

A beautifully constructed piece of work in which every detail serves the whole, putting the tools of the epic at the disposal of a story which is intimate and delicately realised.

Jennie Kermode · 4.5 out of 5
A mother is shocked when she learns what a teacher has said to her son, but the truth is more complicated.

(Country: Japan; Year: 2023; Director: Hirokazu Kore-eda; Writer: Yûji Sakamoto; Stars: Sakura Ando, Eita Nagayama, Soya Kurokawa, Hinata Hiragi)

Full review

Mother, Couch!

The story of three estranged children who are brought together when their mother refuses to move from a couch in a furniture store.

(Country: US; Year: 2023; Director: Niclas Larsson; Stars: Ellen Burstyn, Ewan McGregor, Lake Bell, Taylor Russell, Lara Flynn Boyle, F. Murray Abraham, Rhys Ifans, Shelby Lee Parks, Erin Fritch, Michelle Marie Jacquot, Brent Moorer Gaskins, Madison Geiger, Jane Klecker, Kenna Blackburn, Gary Maniloff)

A Normal Family

Two wealthy families meet for dinner to discuss and decide how to handle a violent crime committed by their sons.

(Country: South Korea; Year: 2023; Director: Hur Jin-ho; Writer: Herman Koch; Stars: Sol Kyung-gu, Jang Dong-Gun, Kim Hee-ae, Claudia Kim)

North Star

Three sisters return to their home for the third wedding of their twice-widowed mother. The mother and daughters are forced to revisit the past and confront the future, with help from a colourful group of unexpected wedding guests.

(Country: UK; Year: 2023; Director: Kristin Scott Thomas; Writer: John Micklethwait, Kristin Scott Thomas; Stars: Scarlett Johansson, Sienna Miller, Kristin Scott Thomas, Emily Beecham, Freida Pinto, Mark Stanley)

One Life

The story of British humanitarian Nicholas Winton, who helped to save hundreds of children from the Nazis on the eve of World War II.

(Country: UK; Year: 2023; Director: James Hawes; Writer: Lucinda Coxon, Nick Drake; Stars: Romola Garai, Anthony Hopkins, Helena Bonham Carter, Jonathan Price, Lena Olin, Adrian Rawlins)

Pain Hustlers

A woman who dreams of a better life for her and her daughter gets a job at a bankrupt pharmacy and catapults the company and herself into the high life, not knowing that she will soon be caught in the middle of a criminal conspiracy.

(Country: US, UK; Year: 2023; Director: David Yates; Writer: Wells Tower, Evan Hughes; Stars: Emily Blunt, Chris Evans, Catherine O'Hara, Chloe Coleman, Andy Garcia)

The Peasants

Review preview for The Peasants

Just as Reymont’s book immersed itself in the metaphorical colour of Polish peasant life, so the Welchmans’ film delivers a flood of literal colour.

Jennie Kermode · 4.5 out of 5
A hand-painted animated film about an early 20th Century Polish peasant woman who creates havoc by marrying an older rich man.

(Country: Poland, Serbia, Lithuania; Year: 2023; Director: DK Welchman, Hugh Welchman; Writer: Wladyslaw Stanislaw Reymont, DK Welchman, Hugh Welchman; Stars: Kamila Urzedowska, Robert Gulaczyk, Miroslaw Baka, Sonia Mietielica)

Full review

Poolman

Review preview for Poolman

The only mystery is why anyone would stay to the end of Poolman.

Donald Munro · 1 out of 5
A hapless dreamer and would-be philosopher spends his days looking after the pool of the Tahitian Tiki apartment block in sunny LA. When he uncovers a water heist, he does what he can to protect the city.

(Country: US; Year: 2023; Director: Chris Pine; Writer: Ian Gotler, Chris Pine; Stars: Chris Pine, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Danny DeVito, Annette Bening, DeWanda Wise)

Full review

Reptile

A hardened New England detective is unflinching in his pursuit of a case where nothing is as it seems, one that begins to dismantle the illusions in his own life.

(Country: US; Year: 2023; Director: Grant Singer; Writer: Grant Singer, Benjamin Brewer, Benicio Del Toro; Stars: Frances Fisher, Alicia Silverstone, Thad Luckinbill, Benicio Del Toro, Michael Pitt)

Rustin

Review preview for Rustin

It’s difficult to imagine the famously shrewd yet antagonistic Rustin being better cast.

Jennie Kermode · 3 out of 5
The story of gay civil rights activist Bayard Rustin, who organised the 1963 March on Washington.

(Country: US; Year: 2023; Director: George C Wolfe; Writer: Julian Breece, Dustin Lance Black; Stars: Colman Domingo, Chris Rock, Glynn Turman, CCH Pounder, Da'Vine Joy Randolph)

Full review

Seven Veils

Review preview for Seven Veils

Salome’s story has been shaped again and again by men; she is, perhaps, the first recorded subject of the male gaze. Egoyan is conscious that he is not in a position to resolve this, yet strives to bring female perspectives to the fore

Jennie Kermode · 5 out of 5
An earnest theatre director has the task of remounting her former mentor's most famous work, the opera Salome. Some disturbing memories from her past will allow her repressed trauma to colour the present.

(Country: Canada; Year: 2023; Director: Atom Egoyan; Writer: Atom Egoyan; Stars: Amanda Seyfried, Douglas Smith, Rebecca Liddiard, Mark O'Brien, Maia Jae Bastidas)

Full review See: Interview with Atom Egoyan about Seven Veils, Amanda Seyfried, Salome and Oscar Wilde , Interview with Atom Egoyan about Seven Veils and Salome

Shoshana

Two UK police officers hunt for a charismatic poet and Zionist fighter who has been plotting to evict UK authorities.

(Country: UK, Italy; Year: 2023; Director: Michael Winterbottom; Writer: Laurence Coriat, Paul Viragh, Michael Winterbottom; Stars: Irina Starshenbaum, Harry Melling, Aury Alby, Ofer Seker)

Sing Sing

Review preview for Sing Sing

Using a mix of both professional and amateur actors the film reveals the intimate details and attitudes of these incarcerated individuals

Richard Mowe · 4 out of 5
A theatre group escapes the reality of incarceration through the creativity of staging a play, with a cast that includes actors who have been incarcerated.

(Country: US; Year: 2023; Director: Greg Kwedar; Writer: Clint Bentley, Brent Buell, Greg Kwedar; Stars: Colman Domingo, Paul Raci, John Divine G Whitfield, Sean San Jose, Clarence Maclin)

Full review

Smugglers (Milsu)

Two best friends whose jobs are under threat become embroiled in the smuggling business.

(Country: South Korea; Year: 2023; Director: Ryoo Seung-wan; Writer: Ryoo Seung-wan, Kim Jung-youn, Choi Cha-won; Stars: Kim Hye-sou, Yum Jung-ah, Zo In-sung, Park Jeong-min)

Swan Song

A look at the devotion, artistry and sacrifices that Karen Kain and the National Ballet of Canada dancers make in their pursuit of creating something unique, meaningful and beautiful.

(Country: Canada; Year: 2023; Director: Chelsea McMullan; Writer: Chelsea McMullan, Sean O'Neill)

Together 99 (Tillsammens 99)

The only two remaining members of a once thriving commune decide to hold a reunion.

(Country: Sweden; Year: 2023; Director: Lukas Moodysson; Writer: Lukas Moodysson; Stars: David Dencik, Jonas Karlsson, Henrik Lundström, Gustaf Hammeasten, Sten Ljunggren, Olle Sarri)

Unicorns

A meeting between a queer South Asian nightclub performer living a double life and a young single father who works as a mechanic leads to an exploration of identity.

(Country: US, Sweden, UK; Year: 2023; Director: Sally El Hosaini, James Krishna Floyd; Writer: James Krishna Floyd; Stars: Ben Hardy, Michael Karim, Hannah Onslow, Nisha Nayar, Sagar Radia, Jason Patel, Ali Afzal)

Uproar

A 17-year-old student is forced to get off the fence to stand up for himself, his whanau and his future.

(Country: New Zealand; Year: 2023; Director: Hamish Bennett, Paul Middleditch; Writer: Hamish Bennett, Sonia Whiteman, Paul Middleditch; Stars: Minnie Driver, Rhys Darby, Julian Dennison, Craig Hall, Mark Mitchinson, James Rolleston, Erana James)

Wicked Little Letters

Review preview for Wicked Little Letters

A curious case of real-life poison pen letters is given an oddly cosy retelling in this well-polished if tonally uneven drama.

Amber Wilkinson · 2.5 out of 5
When people in Littlehampton start receiving scandalous and obscene letters, suspicion immediately falls on fiery Rose, who might lose the custody of her daughter. A group of women set out to solve the mystery.

(Country: France, UK; Year: 2023; Director: Thea Sharrock; Writer: Jonny Sweet; Stars: Olivia Colman, Jessie Buckley, Hugh Skinner, Timothy Spall, Anjana Vasan, Alisha Weir, Eileen Atkins)

Full review

Wildcat

A dramatised excerpt from the life of writer Flannery O'Connor, when she was struggling to publish her first novel.

(Country: US; Year: 2023; Director: Ethan Hawke; Writer: Shelby Gaines, Ethan Hawke; Stars: Maya Hawke, Laura Linney, Philip Ettinger, Rafael Casal, Cooper Hoffman)

Woman Of The Hour

The story of a man who in the midst of a killing spree when he brazenly took part in, and won a date on, the popular TV game show The Dating Game.

(Country: US; Year: 2023; Director: Anna Kendrick; Writer: Ian MacAllister McDonald; Stars: Anna Kendrick, Tony Hale, Daniel Zovatto, Kelley Jakle)

The Zone Of Interest

Review preview for The Zone Of Interest

There are no shortcuts in this film, no conventions and nothing careless.

Anne-Katrin Titze · 5 out of 5
The daily lives of the Höss family outside the walls of Auschwitz.

(Country: UK, Poland, US; Year: 2023; Director: Jonathan Glazer; Writer: Jonathan Glazer, based on the book by Martin Amis; Stars: Sandra Hüller, Christian Friedel, Ralph Herforth, Max Beck, Stephanie Petrowitz, Marie Rose Tietjen)

Full review