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Toronto International Film Festival · 2023

Toronto International Film Festival 2023

Wavelengths

Programme

11 films · 6 reviews

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Do Not Expect Too Much Of The End of the World (Nu aștepta prea mult de la sfârșitul lumii, Do Not Expect Too Much From The End Of The World)

Review preview for Do Not Expect Too Much Of The End of the World

Jude masterfully keeps the audience attached to the screen for almost three hours without relying on heightened tensions or conventional plot twists.

Liza Alpaidze · 5 out of 5
Overworked and underpaid, Angela drives around the city of Bucharest to film the casting for a 'safety at work video' commissioned by a multinational company. When one of the interviewees reveals the company’s liability in his accident, a scandal erupts.

(Country: Romania, Luxembourg, France, Croatia; Year: 2023; Director: Radu Jude; Writer: Radu Jude; Stars: Ilinca Manolache, Ovidiu Pîrșan, Nina Hoss, Dorina Lazăr, László Miske, Katia Pascariu)

Full review

Here

Stefan, a Romanian construction worker living in Brussels, is about to move back home. He cooks up a big pot of soup as a goodbye gift for friends and family. Just then, he meets a Belgian-Chinese doctoral student who specialises in mosses.

(Country: Belgium; Year: 2023; Director: Bas Devos; Stars: Stefan Gota, Liyo Gong)

The Human Surge 3 (El auge del humano 3)

Different groups of friends wander in a dark, rainy and windy world. They spend time together, trying to get away from their depressing jobs, meandering constantly towards the mystery of new possibilities.

(Country: Argentina, Portugal, Netherlands, Taiwan, Brazil, Hong Kong, Sri Lanka, Peru; Year: 2023; Director: Eduardo Williams; Writer: Eduardo Williams)

Inside The Yellow Cocoon Shell

Review preview for Inside The Yellow Cocoon Shell

There’s a freshness to this world, as if one had just stepped out of one’s own door and arrived in an unexpected place.

Jennie Kermode · 4.5 out of 5
A man has to return his sister-in-law's body to her hometown after an accident while, along with his nephew, he searches for his long-lost brother.

(Country: Vietnam; Year: 2023; Director: Thien An Pham; Writer: Thien An Pham; Stars: Nguyen Thi Truc Quynh, Le Phong Vu, Nguyen Thinh, Vu Ngoc Manh)

Full review

Mademoiselle Kenopsia

Set on carrying out her task with dedication, a woman is obsessed with watching over anonymous interiors and occupying them. Both a custodian of the premises and a ghostly presence, she becomes an echo of how we relate to time, solitude and the melancholy of forsaken spaces.

(Country: Canada; Year: 2023; Director: Denis Côté; Writer: Denis Côté; Stars: Larissa Corriveau, Evelyne de la Chenelière, Olivier Aubin, Hinde Rabbaj)

Mambar Pierrette

Drama about a seamstress who is trying to make ends meet.

(Country: Belgium; Year: 2023; Director: Rosine Mbakam)

Music

A cinematic riddle, mirror, dream or puzzle in which the Oedipus myth is transposed to a period from the 1980s to the present, from the beaches of Greece to the lakes of Berlin.

(Country: Germany, France, Serbia; Year: 2023; Director: Angela Schanelec; Writer: Angela Schanelec; Stars: Aliocha Schneider, Agathe Bonitzer, Marisha Triantafyllidou, Argyris Xafis)

Nowhere Near

Review preview for Nowhere Near

It's never a difficult watch, both because of, and despite its refusal to sit with anything too long.

Sunil Chauhan · 3 out of 5
Documentary reflecting the filmmaker’s attempts to understand his and his family’s experiences as undocumented Filipino immigrants in the US.

(Country: Philippines; Year: 2023; Director: Miko Revereza; Stars: Pedro Revereza, Bernadette Gutierrez, Matthew So, Matthew Revereza, Aurora Fernandez Revereza, Jet Revereza)

Full review

Orlando, My Political Biography (Orlando, ma biographie politique)

Review preview for Orlando, My Political Biography

Capturing the experience of living in a world where one’s gender doesn’t fit better than almost any other film to date, Preciado’s work is all about claiming space and present day narrative.

Jennie Kermode · 4.5 out of 5
Docufiction interpretation of Virginia Woolf's novel.

(Country: France; Year: 2023; Director: Paul B Preciado; Writer: Paul B Preciado; Stars: Paul B Preciado)

Full review

Pictures Of Ghosts (Retratos Fantasmas)

Review preview for Pictures Of Ghosts

These are the nooks and crannies where the ghosts still hang out, whistling in the dark, eager to haunt anew a crowd.

Anne-Katrin Titze · 5 out of 5
A portrait of the city of Recife, re-envisioned in its 20th Century glory through the remains of the cinema palaces which were central to its busy social milieu.

(Year: 2023; Director: Kleber Mendonça Filho)

Full review See: Kleber Mendonça Filho in conversation on Pictures Of Ghosts, the films of Agnès Varda, Manoel de Oliveira and Martin Scorsese

Youth (Spring)

Review preview for Youth (Spring)

On the visual front, the camera moves harmoniously with the workers' unpredictable gestures.

Dalesia Cozorici · 4 out of 5
Documentary about the lives of teenage workers in China.

(Country: France, Luxembourg, Netherlands; Year: 2023; Director: Wang Bing)

Full review