All the best movies we saw at Toronto Film Festival, ranked (including ‘Glass Onion,’ ‘Fabelmans’)
Toronto International Film Festival.
After two pandemic-affected editions, the Toronto fest is again an in-person event – one that has played host to six of the past seven best-picture winners, most recently 2021’s “Nomadland.” This year’s lineup includes a new Steven Spielberg movie (semi-autobiographical “The Fabelmans”), a new “Knives Out” mystery with Daniel Craig, the British ensemble drama “My Policeman” (with Harry Styles as a closeted cop) and even a “Weird Al” Yankovic biopic.
As before, we’ll be keeping readers up to date on the coolest stuff we see at the fest (ranked, of course):
13. ‘The Swimmers’
Emotionally satisfying if not completely cohesive, director Sally El Hosaini’s true-life drama is a harrowing escape thriller before switching to a more conventional underdog sports movie. In war-torn Syria, swimming sisters Yusra and Sara Mardini (Nathalie and Manal Issa) want to escape to Germany for Nathalie’s Olympics dreams, and to keep the family safe. With their cousin (Ahmed Malek), the refugee sisters navigate increasingly dangerous situations through various countries, although with hope comes bigger questions about their identities and place in the world.
12. ‘Susie Searches’
In director Sophie Kargman’s darkly comic mystery, Kiersey Clemons’ Susie is a shy, brace-faced college student with a flailing true-crime podcast that could use a serious signal boost. When a social-influencer classmate (Alex Wolff) goes missing, she investigates and finds him, giving Susie the hero worship she desires. That, however, is the start of a series of increasingly dicey problems and obstacles that get thrown her way. Clemons shines in all aspects of the complex Susie, from adorable awkwardness to gut-wrenching paranoia, in the twisty whodunit.
11. ‘Triangle of Sadness’
Self-obsessed models, Russian oligarchs, polite English arms manufacturers – everybody’s sent up in Ruben Östlund’s deliciously grotesque class satire. Beautiful couple Carl (Harris Dickinson) and Yaya (the late Charlbi Dean) are invited on a trip for the super-rich aboard a yacht captained by a gonzo, Marxist-loving American (Woody Harrelson). The ship hits an unruly storm – leading to the most heinous, vomit-drenched dinner you could ever imagine – and then sinks in ridiculous fashion, though that’s actually when the movie really sets sail, turning the tables and showing who really rules.
10. ‘Women Talking’
After a series of rapes by men in a religious colony, the women meet to determine if they’ll stay and be forced to forgive or leave and risk not being welcomed into heaven. Based on the Miriam Toews novel, writer/director Sarah Polley’s intimate drama is set like a stage play, as the women determine their fate over discussions in a barn. The constant conversation lets the momentum wane at times, but it’s extremely effective with its message and the acting is spectacular, from Jessie Buckley and Claire Foy to Rooney Mara and Ben Whishaw (playing the only major male part in the film).
9. ‘On the Come Up’
Sanaa Lathan’s directorial debut, based on the Angie Thomas novel, is a young-adult “8 Mile” with an excellent breakout performance by Jamila Gray. In fictional Garden Heights, Bri (Gray) is a 16-year-old aspiring musician and the daughter of a late hip-hop legend. She finds her voice by finding success in rap battles, with a gift for spitting bars at lyrical foes. But helping her mom (Lathan) pay the bills, she falls under the influence of her dad’s old manager (Method Man). The formulaic plot tries to juggle too many storylines, but Lathan’s assured direction lets Gray shine in the film’s most rousing moments.
8. ‘The Menu’
With a heap of style and one delicious-looking cheeseburger, Mark Mylod’s horror-tinged culinary satire whips out the nice silverware to take a stab at foodie culture, celebrity chefs and class warfare. Ralph Fiennes runs an ultra-chic restaurant on a remote island and has quite the menu planned for his guests (including Anya Taylor-Joy, Nicholas Hoult and John Leguizamo), one that grows more sinister and deadly as courses arrive. Gore hounds might not be satiated and it doesn’t lean into the absurdity enough, but a fearsome Fiennes and the oh-so-cool Taylor-Joy cook up a nifty bit of tension.
7. ‘Weird: The Al Yankovic Story’
You couldn’t dream a more perfect Yankovic biopic: hilarious, ridiculous and, in its madcap way, downright wholesome. With Daniel Radcliffe playing the accordion-playing wonder as broadly as possible, the film plots his real-life rise (and absurdly fictional fall) from childhood to guy who became famous for parodying other people’s songs. Fave Weird Al jams are here (some with bizarre origins) plus fun cameos aplenty. The movie fosters a “be as weird as you want to be” message without being cloying, and to match Radcliffe’s over-the-top Al, Evan Rachel Wood is aces as a delightfully sociopathic Madonna.
‘Weird’:Daniel Radcliffe talks ‘insane’ Al Yankovic biopic, Queen’s ‘inconceivable’ death
6. ‘Biosphere’
Mel Eslyn’s directorial debut gives us Sterling K. Brown and Mark Duplass as the last two men on Earth. The buddy comedy finds these best pals living in a biosphere, having odd conversations about Mario and Luigi, keeping their fish alive and wondering about the green light coming closer every day. When evolution throws them a curve ball, what results is a clever character study about sexuality, masculinity and friendship that’s as wild as it is heartfelt.
5. ‘Louis Armstrong’s Black and Blues’
This essential documentary goes deep on the life and art of the jazz legend using Armstrong’s own words, via essays (spoken by rapper Nas) and home recordings, as well as music, TV and film appearances. Director Sacha Jenkins looks at his New Orleans childhood and involvement with gangsters yet also fascinatingly discusses his political side. During the civil-rights era, he was seen by Black critics (including actor Ossie Davis) as being too submissive toward whites. And “Blues” reveals the truths he tended to keep more personal than public, although he would put someone like President Dwight D. Eisenhower in their place, if he felt the need.
4. ‘Bros’
The first gay romantic comedy from a major Hollywood studio is a stellar one, tweaking genre tropes in appealing fashion, unleashing clever jokes about Broadway, Hallmark movies and country music, and proudly owning its very big heart. Nicholas Stoller’s best directorial work since “Forgetting Sarah Marshall” lets Billy Eichner and Luke Macfarlane dazzle as two opposite guys with commitment issues dealing with the messiness of falling in love. It’s bold and fresh in its perspective (not to mention a long time coming) and the joyously manic Eichner also harnesses an impressive dramatic side in an uplifting narrative about loving yourself, no matter who you love.
3. ‘Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery’
Bigger and showier although not quite better than Rian Johnson’s outstanding “Knives Out,” the star-studded sequel centers on a super-wealthy figure (Edward Norton) inviting his old gang of friends – Janelle Monáe, Leslie Odom Jr., Kate Hudson, Kathryn Hahn and Dave Bautista – to his Greek island for a murder-mystery getaway. Southern-fried sleuth Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig) also gets an invite and proves key when a dead body hits the floor. Monáe nearly steals the show and Craig continues to absolutely kill in this franchise that tweaks even more detective tropes a second time around.
2. ‘The Fabelmans’
The most personal film in Spielberg’s vast resume is also an instant best-picture contender. The iconic director fictionalizes his life growing up as a young filmmaker who has to navigate family problems with his parents (Michelle Williams and Paul Dano). The coming-of-age dramedy takes a little while to find its groove yet sparkles when it turns into a 1960s high school flick. Newcomer Gabriel LaBelle (who plays teen Sammy/Spielberg) out-acts his big-name co-stars and Spielberg turns in a film unlike anything else in his catalog – plus a final scene that’s simply perfect.
1. ‘The Woman King’
Director Gina Prince-Bythewood’s 19th-century period epic – about an all-female unit of African warriors in a nation battling a neighboring empire and also rethinking its involvement in a beneficial slave trade – works as an awesome action vehicle. What really makes the story soar, though, is a bunch of great characters to root for and gripping relationships between them. Leading the charge is Viola Davis, who rules as the steely and sinewy general needing to train new blood, and Thuso Mbedu has her breakthrough moment as a rookie who has to learn the ropes quickly.