An IndieWire critics poll of close to 322 participants (including yours truly) has decided that Bong Joon-ho’s compulsive watchable “Parasite” was the best movie that screened at the Toronto International Film Festival this year.
Surprising? You bet. And not because Bong’s film doesn’t merit the honour, but more so because it had already been screened previously at the Cannes Film Festival where it won the prestigious Palme d’Or back in May. Has this really been that lackluster a fall fest season that a close to five-month-old movie still ended up winning the poll? Coming in at second place in the final tally was Noah Baumbach’s excellent “Marriage Story,” but, oh wait, Taika Waititi’s, supposedly, critically maligned “Jojo Rabbit” finished third? Who voted in this? Usually IndieWire polls 100 or so critics in this annual poll but this year’s edition featured 322 “journalists — overreaching? Of course, if you dilute the field and include anybody and everybody from Maine to Kentucky then you will end up with a populist consensus. No surprise then that the top 3 of the poll were also the three most voted films for the TIFF people’s choice award (albeit in different order).
Finishing Fourth and fifth respectively were Rian Johnson’s “Knives Out,” and Todd Phillips’ “Joker,” both more-than-deserving. The results for every category (director, screenplay, actor, documentary) can be found here. Congrats to Eric and the team for another interesting consensus poll, albeit one which I don’t necessarily believe dictates what most critics believe, mostly in regards to “Jojo” which currently sits at a mediocre 52 on Metacritic and 72% on Rotten Tomatoes.
It gives me no pleasure to report that this is one of the worst films of Schrader’s career. Wooden acting, Jack Huston and Sofia Boutella are badly miscast, the script is dull, the photography is flat; nothing works.