Boston-based film critic Jordan Ruimy. Follow him on Twitter here. All of Jordan’s TIFF reviews can be found here.
“Roma”
Alfonso Cuaron and Netflix’ “Roma” was supposed to be at Cannes but, well, you know the rest of the story. Shot in black and white and chronicling a year in the life of a middle-class family in Mexico City in the early 1970s, with civil unrest looming as the background, Cuaron’s film turned out to be a lovely tribute to the maid that raised him. A masterful display of image and sound, there was no better film this fall festival season because the director dared us to leap with him on a personal journey and, slowly by slowly, revealing the layers of humanism that shaped his adolescence. Eventually, he managed the miraculous feat of blurring the lines between fiction and non-fiction, giving us a pure experience that will surely be remembered for years to come.
“Green Book”
The winner of the coveted Grolsch People’s Choice Award, quite deservingly might I add, Peter Farrelly’s “Green Book” is a great movie because it has everything an audience wants in a movie. Not only is it one of the funniest movies I’ve seen in ages, but it also tells a story of immense relevance for our times. The true story of an Italian-American driver (Viggo Mortensen) that drove a famous African-American pianist (Mahershala Ali) on his tour around the most racist bible-belt states, back in the early ’60s, “Green Book” is the ultimate crowd-pleaser, a movie that hits on all cylinders from the casting to the direction to the undeniable thematic relevance.
“The Hate U Give“
This was the major discovery of the fest. Based on the popular novel of the same name, George Tillman Jr’s “The Hate U Give” might just be the best YA novel adaptation of the decade. aAn exemplary adaptation of Angie Thomas’ popular YA novel, which centers around the Black Lives Matter movement. The film follows Starr, a promising student and cherished daughter whose life is upended, then galvanized, when a friend is senselessly shot dead by police.
“Widows“
In debt because of their dead husbands’ criminal activities as high-end robbers, and hunted by the mobsters (led by a terrifying Daniel Kaluuya), three women, played by Viola Davis, Michelle Rodriguez, and Elizabeth Debicki, try to pull off a daring heist to pay back the hustlers that are after them. With “Widows” Steve McQueen entered the realm of mainstream filmmaking by bending the cliches of the heist genre backward and inventing a new kind of hybrid picture, one anything we’ve ever seen before.
“Gloria Bell“
Sebastian Lelio‘s “Gloria Bell” is a remake of the director’s 2013 film “Gloria,” except this time he moves the story from his native Chile to the U.S. It might be sacrilege to say this, but not only is this shot-for-shot remake a very good film, but it might actually be better than the original. Why? Well, because Lelio has matured as a filmmaker over these last 5 years, he’s made this remake more emotionally relatable and affecting, but, more importantly, has improved the sketches of these characters because of the wonderful actors he’s cast in his film. Julianne Moore gave one of her greatest performances in the role of a middle-aged woman that makes the mistake of dating a troublesome schlub of a man (John Turturro).
I don’t really have a “worst” list, but Carlos Reygadas‘ “Our Time” would be there, ditto David McKenzie‘s “The Outlaw King.” All of Jordan’s reviews can be found here.
Playlist Editor-In-Chief RODRIGO PEREZ. Follow him on Twitter here. All his TIFF reviews can be found here.
I wasn’t actually in Toronto this year, but I was lucky enough to see a few films in advance. Luckily for me, they were all great so I must shout out Tim Sutton‘s “Donnybrook” with the stellar cast of Jamie Bell, Frank Grillo, Margaret Qualley and James Badge Dale. It’s a furiously angry movie, politically charged in a subtle way and a blistering meditation on American desperation. IFC Films bought the rights to the picture and I assume they’ll release it sometime in 2019. Also excellent was Nicole Holofcener‘s “The Land Of Steady Habits” with a terrific Ben Mendelsohn performance; Peter Strickland‘s bananas, batshit crazy freakadelic horror, “In Fabric,” about a ghost-dress that haunts and torments everyone it comes in contact with. Ok, not all were great, I saw “Kursk” from the great Danish filmmaker Thomas Vinterberg, but it was sadly mediocre.
That’s it. We ran over 50 reviews from the Toronto International Film Festival; an eclectic mix of dramas, horror, foreign-language films, star-studded affairs and sci-fi monster movies too. Be sure to give them all a read here. Thanks to all the contributors and Toronto. Til next year!
Check out all our coverage from the 2018 Toronto International Film Festival here.
