TIFF 2019

One of the first posts I ever made here was the “TIFF 2017” list. People seem to like sharing their opinions on all the stuff they see every year at the festival, so here’s mine.

You might notice I didn’t do one for 2018. I only saw 2 movies that year, and I didn’t think it was worth writing about. This year I feel is a pretty big one. Some years are a little duller than others, IMO. But the line-up this year was insane, and I can’t wait to see the rest of the shit on my list I couldn’t get tickets for.

Anyway, here’s my year:

1. PARASITE

Part of the joy of a movie like this is just sitting down and watching it with no expectations. Via a translator, Bong Joon-ho asked us at the screening to please not spoil the film for others. So maybe don’t read this one if you’d like to go in fresh. 

Without spoiling anything, I thought this movie was so well crafted. The premise could very easily be awful in the hands of another director (and at times it does get a little farfetched) but the way the film was constructed I believed this family was actually pulling off the impossible. If a director can make the unbelievable somehow believable, that’s a great sign.

PARASITE also features one of my favourite themes as of late: the dichotomy between rich people and poor people. Hearing Bong Joon-ho speak after the film, I really appreciated how he portrayed the difference even more; he discussed the idea of water as a way to represent class distinction. It’s great how that idea appears in the film; the rich get fridges full of Voss waters while the poor people have to deal with flooding, etc.

I have written about PTA’s idea of the “gearshift film” before, and if you know me well you know I’m a huge fan of films that do this. This is what that is if you’re unfamiliar. When leaving the theatre I was talking to a friend about whether or not PARASITE classifies as a gearshift film or not. It’s one of the greatest movies I’ve seen in the last few years to do such a delicate version of it. By that I mean, we were adequately prepared for the “shift” that occurs, but we’re still somehow surprised.

2. UNCUT GEMS

I’ve been following the Safdie bros for awhile now, and I’m a big fan of Ronald Bronstein’s FROWNLAND. I could go on and on before I get to talking about UNCUT GEMS, but the point of all that would be to say: expectations were high for this.

This movie did not let me down at all. If you saw GOOD TIME and liked it, you will absolutely like UNCUT GEMS. At the screening I was at, Josh Safdie mentioned the fact that this movie wouldn’t exist without their previous movies being made in the past. I can totally see that: UNCUT GEMS builds on the framework they’ve sort of built with GOOD TIME.

I really like that, because we’re entering a new decade, there’s now a whole era of hindsight that is now being explored in film. UNCUT GEMS is a bit of a period piece, even though it wasn’t that long ago, and it’s really cool to see how they got the phones from that era (I got flashbacks from when I was in high school and I was seeing the first iPhones ever). The other thing this movie does incredibly well is incorporating a real event from history with a made-up story, and they do it flawlessly.

To say anymore about this great movie would be an injustice, and totally unfair to the viewer. But I’ll just say this: I got some serious Michael Mann and John Casavetes vibes from this movie. It’s like they took the best aspects of their films, and incorporated it into this one. You’re gonna see the word “frenetic” thrown around a lot when people talk about this movie and it’s accurate in the best way possible. These guys are really coming into their style as filmmakers, and I can’t wait to see what they make next.

Side note: the whole damn cast (an amazing assortment and totally unlikely group of people to be together under other circumstances) was there. Lakeith Stanfield! The fucking Sandman! I can never believe TIFF every year: I leave my room and my boring ass life, hop on the subway, and I see someone that has been part of my life forever like it’s no big deal. I’ll never get over how wild that is.

3. A WHITE, WHITE DAY

2 years ago I saw WINTER BROTHERS, and I liked it quite a bit. A WHITE, WHITE DAY is the latest offering from the same filmmaker. I thought this movie was not as great as WINTER BROTHERS, however, I’m still happy I saw this one.

This is the type of movie that has a lot of those pillow shots Ozu loved, which is great. It’s actually really cool to see. But I felt they were overused near the end of the film; when the film was gaining momentum they were used in the same manner they were before, which felt off to me. It felt slightly unfocused, and not as controlled as WINTER BROTHERS. This was still 100% worth watching though, and I’m excited to see what this director makes next.

4. LUCY IN THE SKY

This movie was unfortunately not very good. No disrespect to anyone involved, because I like pretty much everyone here. I just think it was a misfire. To say anything more would be mean, and I’d really rather not write that kind of review.

I’d just like to say this, though: the filmmaker was there to introduce the film, but he didn’t stick around after for a Q&A. That kind of says a lot: a filmmaker that loves their movie and is excited to talk about it, will totally stick around. Even in the later days of the festival. You’ve gotta stand by your shit, and at least act excited. I mean, shit, this is TIFF. One of the greatest film festivals ever, I would shit myself if a film I made was accepted by TIFF. That’s a DREAM for me. I mean, I’ve submitted stuff I’ve made before and have gotten rejected. I can’t imagine not being excited your film is at the festival; it spoke volumes he didn’t stay afterward. 

2 years ago, I was surprised that Paul Schrader actually did a Q&A for FIRST REFORMED despite the fact the screening I went to was one of the last ones of the festival. And it makes sense: that’s a great movie, and you could tell he enjoyed talking about it even though he’s a depressing dude and has a very dark outlook on life.

5. HUSTLERS

This is part of a new wave of films I’ve been calling “Scorsese-lite.”

NIGHTCRAWLER

I, TONYA 

BLEED FOR THIS

I’d add HUSTLERS to that list. It’s one of those movies that goes by fast, but you wouldn’t mind staying longer. If you hate rich people you’ll love this movie. Of course, like every great movie about “hustlers” there are consequences….but that doesn’t mean it’s not fun beforehand.

One thing I really liked about this movie goes back to what I was saying earlier with UNCUT GEMS: the recent past (2008 to now) is explored in HUSTLERS, and it makes for a compelling story and places it in an interesting context. 

The world has changed so quickly in such a short amount of time, and we tend to forget that. For example, a popular strip club in my city closed down recently, and they’re putting up a condo where it used to be. I heard the news and thought, “Who gives a shit. That club was probably trash anyway.” But this movie kind of reminded me: this is a part of North American culture that was at one point in time a huge deal. Before the internet, etc. came along people actually used to go to strip clubs!

In the beginning of the movie, I kept thinking, “Wait a second…strip clubs were this popular? How does this movie make any sense? Do strip clubs even exist anymore?” And then I remembered 2008, and thought, “OF COURSE. The fucking world was different before the stock market crashed.”

HUSTLERS is a pretty savvy movie; it tricks you into thinking it’s a lot dumber than it really is on the surface, but it actually achieves more than that.