There are still five days left at the Toronto International Film Festival, but practically every big title has premiered now. I can safely say that this has been one of the best TIFF editions in recent years.
All of this despite the lack of Lanthimos, Haigh, Coppola, Mann, Fincher and Cooper. You win some and you lose some. All of this to say that this is turning out to be a very good year at the movies.
Of the 40-odd films that I’ve seen, these are the dream of the crop. In no particular order:
“The Boy and the Heron”, “Memory”, “The Royal Hotel”, “American Fiction”, “Dream Scenario”, “The Beast”, “Aggro Dr1ft”, “Hit Man”, “Woman of the Hour”, “His Three Daughters”, “The Holdovers” and “The Pigeon Tunnel.”
I also caught up with Cannes title “The Delinquents”, which is a damn-near masterful character study masquerading as a bank heist movie. Last night, I watched John Carney’s “Flora and Son” and, although I’m not a fan of Carney’s other music-filled movies, this one worked so well. It’s his best movie.
As for the bad stuff, there were many subpar titles, I’ll name a few: “Knox Goes Away”, “Finestkind,” “Next Goal Wins”, “Reptile,” “Pain Hustlers,” “Lee,” “Wicked Little Letters,” and “Dick: The Musical.”
As with every year, I missed some films that I really wanted to see, this year the blatant miss on my part has been Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s “Evil Does Not Exist,” which just couldn’t seem to fit into my scheduling.
I’ll be back home soon, and with that I’ve decided to watch some under the radar films to complete my TIFF experience. I’ve heard good things about “The National Anthem” and “Unicorns,” both of which will be seen tonight.
Marvel's "Ghost Rider" just hired one of the best cinematographers working today. Linus Sandgren will serve as DP on Shawn Levy's MCU flick, and, most notably, the project will be shot on film.