It felt really good to all get together in dark theatres and see movies again during the Toronto International Film Festival, which came roaring back from the brink of COVID-19 restrictions in 2020-21.
Here’s the good, bad and ugly of my TIFF22 experience:
BEST FILM: Women Talking from Canadian director Sarah Polley, who expertly adapted Miriam Toews book about a group of Mennonite women coming together after discovering they’ve all been drugged, raped and gaslit by the men in their community. Led by an all-star cast including Claire Foy and Rooney Mara, Polley’s film should be dark and dreary, given the subject matter, and yet you leave the movie feeling uplifted and empowered. Remember this film come Oscar nomination time.
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BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENT: Steven Spielberg’s The Fabelmans, based on his childhood, is way too sweet and sentimental for my liking given we’re talking about his parents divorcing and him getting bullied at school. However, there’s a cameo by a famous director that almost makes up for the entire movie. More of that please!
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BEST MALE PERFORMANCE: Brendan Fraser in the heartwrenching The Whale about a 600-pound English professor trying to reconnect with his daughter (the fierce Sadie Sink from Stranger Things). Just give him the Oscar now.
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WORST MALE PERFORMANCE: Zen McGrath as the titular character in The Son.
BEST FEMALE PERFORMANCE: The entire cast, led by Claire Foy, Jessie Buckley and Rooney Mara, Sheila McCarthy and Judith Ivey in Women Talking. Give them all Oscars!
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BEST MALE BREAKOUT: Teenager Christopher Convery, who holds his own against acting powerhouse Brian Cox (Succession) and Kate Beckingsale in Prisoner’s Daughter.
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BEST FEMALE BREAKOUT: Zar Amir Ebrahimi, who won Best Actress at Cannes 2022, in Holy Spider as a female journalist trying to track down a serial killer of prostitutes in Iran. She was the film’s casting director but when the original actress quit a week before filming, the theatre-trained Ebrahimi got the part.
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BEST RED CARPET OUTFIT: My Policeman’s Emma Corrin in a black body suit with a long train..
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BEST MALE RED CARPET OUTFIT: My Policeman’s Harry Styles in a green Gucci suit and matching purse with a bamboo strap!
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BEST QUIP FROM POST SCREENING Q&AS: “She’s wearing condoms on her arms.” Prisoner’s Daughter’s Brian Cox jokes of co-star Kate Beckinsale’s black latex elbow length gloves. “I’m single,” she snapped back. “You never know who you ‘re going to meet.”
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BEST STAR SIGHTINGS: Moonage Daydream director Brett Morgen (I think?) in the long outside lineup for The Whale behind us; The Whale director Darren Aronofsky holding up traffic on Adelaide as he jumped out of the car in front of us to go into Soho House post The Whale’s screening; Hugh Jackman getting a standing ovation at Roy Thomson Hall post The Son screening; and locking eyes in the dark with film critic Bonnie Laufer, my plus one, and going: “Bonnie?”
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