This week’s movie review takes place exclusively at the Toronto International Film Festival!
Maybe a month or so ago, my friend asked if I was interested in going to TIFF. As if she’d even have to ask! But, with limited time off available for the rest of the year, we had to make it a weekend trip, but my goodness did we make the most of it! Rolling in late after work on Friday, she dropped me off for my “Midnight Madness” screening of Taiwanese horror-comedy film, Dead Talents Society. I think I officially rock with Taiwanese humor! This movie was gruesome, but offset with almost non-stop laughs in the form of both wit and physical gags. I was also happily shocked to see Marry My Dead Body‘s Gingle Wang as the lead here! The crowd for this film was incredibly hyper and fun, so to those that go in the future, you better add a Midnight Madness screening to your roster.
On Saturday, just with how the schedule worked out, I was only able to see three films, though they were nice and evenly spaced throughout the day. In the morning, my friend and I caught the premium screening of We Live in Time. I think most of the internet has heard about this unique love story between characters played by Andrew Garfield and Florence Pugh. And in case you are curious, be prepared to cry. I somehow managed to blink all my tears back into my ducts, but it was tough. Sadly, only the director, John Crowley was in attendance to give just a brief intro to the film. For as much as we paid for these tickets, we were pretty salty that there wasn’t more to the presentation.
Oh, well. I suppose to make up for it I got to see a bunch of other celebrities in attendance for films I wasn’t able to fit into my schedule. On the first break in between films, we caught sight of Brian Tyree Henry, there to promote The Fire Inside. Then a little later in the day I caught most of the cast from On Swift Horses, including Sasha Calle, Daisy Edgar Jones, and Jacob Elordi! Then I headed inside one of the film venues to see the arrival of the stars of Pedro Almodovar’s newest, all English film, The Room Next Door. Sadly, I missed Julianne Moore before I had to jet off to my next film, but I did get to see John Turturro and THE Tilda Swinton. She’s amazing.
The mid-afternoon fair was Anderson .Paak’s directorial debut, K-POPS. As someone who has become recently obsessed with K-pop, I knew I had to see this film. And I’m glad I did! Paak also leads the film alongside his real life son which was really endearing to see on screen. The story, while influenced by parts of Paak’s life, is in fact fictional. This was a cute and fun film overall, though in parts it did drag a little bit. Comedically speaking, it didn’t hold a candle to Dead Talents Society, but I still had a smile on my face for almost the whole duration of the film. The Q&A afterwards with Paak and the rest of the cast was pleasant and informative. This film was proof that hard work and good friends can help you achieve anything.
I ended the day with I, the Executioner, which was apparently a sequel film to Ryoo Seung-wan’s 2015 film, Veteran. This South Korean action crime thriller also had a fair bit of comedy, but the fighting sequences were brutal. I couldn’t help but think of The Childe while watching the intense action sequences go down, and this is just proof to me that South Koreans are masters at this particular skill. Unfortunately, the director headed back to Korea after the premiere the night before, as it is getting its release over there this coming weekend. I can forgive for that. It was a super fun film to watch, so I’m excited to watch the film that started the story for these characters.
On Sunday, we fit in two films before we had to hit the road for home. The first was Bird, an ultimately really strange film. I’m glad we were told at the beginning that there was going to be some magical realism, otherwise a scene near the end of the film would have confused me more than it already did. Bailey is a pre-teen living a pretty rough life in the slums of England. Just when you think one parent is bad, the other might actually be worse. She finds reluctant solace in a quirky stranger, but if you want something a bit more streamlined, but similar, check out Sundance original, Scrapper. Then we ended the day with Replay, and I do not want to give anything away with this one, but it secured the second place spot at the festival for me almost immediately. The Q&A afterwards was great fun, as well.
That’s it for this year, and I sure hope I get to go back again in the future!