Strong opinions, firmly held
The press is packing up their camera bags, celebrities are boarding their seats in first class, and the red carpets are being rolled up until the madness of next September calls for their return as the 2019 Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) comes to a close. The world-famous festival with more than 40 years of history always seems to boast a lineup that leaves potential movie-goers scrounging for the evasive screenings. I had the chance to view future cult classics, hopeful Oscar nominees, and even a memorable film that hides nothing when a guy gets his dick bitten off while he’s getting blown.
Catch some lowlights and highlights of TIFF below.
Blood Quantum
The term “blood quantum” is applied to the highly controversial practice, initiated by federal governments in both Canada and the United States, to determine one’s Indigenous status. Implicitly, it was a way of measuring a person’s worth, or lack thereof, and place in society. This colonial system works both as a tool of social control and as a method of erasing Indigenous people. In Jeff Barnaby’s second feature film, the term takes on new implications as an isolated Mi’gmaq community learns that they are the only humans who are immune to a zombie plague. Non-Indigenous residents of neighbouring cities flee to the Mi’gmaq reserve, which is now heavily guarded and gated, in search of protection from those who have been infected. The community is forced to gauge the risk of letting the outsiders in, which would save their lives, but poses the risk of extinction for not only the Mi’gmaq community, but potentially all of humanity.
Set in 1981, Barnaby successfully paints a portrait of Indigenous life and culture in a neocolonial world; pressing Indigenous and environmental narratives are interwoven seamlessly into the film. As characters go missing in the final scenes, zombies are decapitated by chainsaws, and people are eaten alive, Blood Quantum revives the societal politics of George A. Romero’s classic Night of the Living Dead. Focusing on providing the stomach-churning factor with realistic gore, zombie films often fail to really say anything. Barnaby works to subvert the norms of mainstream zombie movies by offering a cultural critique and exploring the unjust realities that centuries of colonialism (and the upkeep of such colonialism in contemporary society) have imposed on Indigenous communities. Blood Quantum is a powerful work of art that shows how marginalized and underrepresented voices can reinvent a tired and overdone genre––we just need to give them the opportunity and resources to do so.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 5/5 stars
Portrait of a Lady on Fire
Set in 18th century France, Marianne (Noémie Merlant) is an artist commissioned to paint a wedding portrait of bride-to-be Héloïse (Adèle Haenel). Marianne must complete her job in secret as Héloïse refuses to pose for a portrait because she scorns the idea of being wed to a man she does not know. She poses as a hired companion, escorting her on walks, while closely observing her to later depict her likeness on canvas.
While Céline Sciamma’s film won the Queer Palm and Best Screenplay awards at the Cannes Film Festival this year, I can’t help but think that it won because the jury and board of directors don’t really know what a good film rooted in the experiences of queer women looks like. While Sciamma herself is gay and out, as a queer person watching a movie that is supposed to be representing a community and identity that I belong to, I couldn’t help but feel like I was watching a movie that was made by and for straight people.
As a love affair inevitably blossoms between the artist and her subject, we see them in a utopian world when their relationship should be riddled with anxieties; being a queer woman didn’t come with safety and acceptance in society during the 1700s, nor does it today. Portrait gives you the bourgeois aesthetics and pleasures of a period piece while providing the progressive moral conveniences of a contemporary society. You would at least expect the fear and anxieties surrounding the social criticism of their relationship to be brought up; the world around them would surely love to put out their flame with the first sign of smoke. Yet Sciamma fails to do so. Instead, she keeps the world surrounding these women safe—they’re contained in their utopia of a world without critique of queer relationships. She does so to enforce the falsified idea that queer love is always easy, kind, and fair; making the film entirely dishonest.
Overall, Portrait feels very messy and ingenuine. Considering that it is a film about gaze, the idealisation of it, and the seduction that can come from it, it lacks the texture and implications that it should be afforded. There is no nuanced take here, as Sciamma creates a film that is just safe and has been done a thousand times; it doesn’t feel new.
Throughout the film Sciamma tip-toes around any type of real sex scenes, as if sex is inherently vulgar and does not deserve the same undertone of romance that she repeatedly uses for stolen glances. Instead, she uses a weird armpit fetish innuendo when she could have just made a tasteful erotic scene that would have taken up half the screen time.
⭐️ 1/5 stars
(Honestly the only reason I’m even giving it one star is because the scenery is absolutely beautiful. As a Maritimer I’ve been nostalgic for the ocean every day since moving to Toronto, and because I saw Adèle Haenel walking on John Street and she looked so hot in an oversized sweatshirt and baggy jeans.)
Rocks
Shola, better known as Rocks, lives in London public housing with her younger brother Emmanuel and their single and mentally ill mother. As her mom is busy working to sustain the family, Rocks spends all her free time at school or hanging out with her friends. One day, she comes home to find that her mother has simply left, leaving a note in which she repeatedly says “I’m sorry” with some money enclosed. Rocks is left on her own with Emmanuel to take care of, all while trying to stay out of the social service system in an attempt to provide her brother with a sense of consistency and stability in his life.
While Sarah Gavron could have easily made her film into a miserable and dramatic piece, it instead highlights a story of resilience that is uplifting and thoroughly touching. Gavron provides an insight into teenagehood with beautifully supportive friendships, poor decisions that have good intentions, physical fights, and emotional fights for the sake of family. She shows us the aspect of being a teenager that is often hidden in films and ignored by adults: that young people often are forced to deal with extremely complex and real situations in life. The events that unfold in Rocks are situations that will never occur to us, making it hard to even conceptualize the potential and the difficulties of having to deal with such lived experiences at only 16.
Exploring such a complicated world and situation in a graceful manner, Rocks is without a doubt the best movie that I saw at TIFF and one of the most important movies that was showcased at the festival.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 5/5 stars
Saint Maud
Maud (Morfydd Clark) is a young, reclusive, awkward, and sheepish British nurse who is following a devoted path of Christianity after an ambiguous traumatic event that occurred while she was working. She is now in charge of Amanda, a retired American dancer whose cancer has reached terminal stages, as her hospice care worker. Maud quickly creates an obsessive and one-sided connection with Amanda, seeking to save her soul from eternal damnation, regardless of the risks.
Ross Glass’ debut feature is a slow-burn psychological horror movie that gives you a look inside Maud’s head, inducing anxiety throughout the entirety of its 83-minute duration. While Maud seems like a nice girl who’s just a little bit awkward, it is her sheepish nature and her seemingly blank-slate personality that allow traits to be projected onto her to make her so unsettling. With a haunting atmosphere and truly incredible lead performance by Clark, Glass creates a film that is both terrifying and beautiful. Glass explores sexuality, trauma, loneliness, death, religion, and sex work all while on a steady incline to an unforgettable and terrifying closing scene.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 4/5 stars
Seberg
Kristen Stewart continues to prove her impressive acting skills as she stars in the biopic of Iowa actor Jean Seberg, who at 21 would gain a leading role in Jean-Luc Godard’s film Breathless, which would launch the French New Wave movement in cinema. The film opens in 1968, when Seberg is already a well-established actor who has been living and working in Paris but is looking to make a return to Hollywood for a role. She soon becomes more engaged with the Black Panthers than she is with her family and work. Seberg’s support, mainly financial, signals a red sign to the federal government who begin to monitor her by bugging her house with microphones, and follow her every move by tapping into her phone and recording her conversations. They take particular notice of her affair with Hakim Jamal (Anthony Mackie), a Black Panther activist who, alongside his wife, runs a school that works to educate and empower Black children. Seberg’s legacy, privacy, and emotional well-being is slowly destroyed as she unknowingly finds herself in the FBI’s COINTELPRO surveillance program.
While the film discusses the clash of glamour and progressive politics, it is unfortunately somewhat boring. The poor pace, inability to create an in-depth portrayal of the actress, and shallow moves to evoke some sort of sympathy towards one of the FBI agents who is stalking Seberg leaves you with a hallow feeling. The cast truly does an amazing job at portraying their characters to their fullest ability given that they are working with a script that feels flat. Benedict Andrews’ Seberg works too hard to be modern and relevant to actually tell a well-executed story.
⭐️⭐️ 2.5/5 stars
The Vigil
Keith Thomas’ premier feature film tells the story of Yakov (Dave Davis), a young man who has recently left his Orthodox Jewish community for a life completely disassociated from religion. Short on funds, he reluctantly takes the job of being an overnight shomer for a friend of a friend in the Orthodox community that he has recently left. The only other living person in the house is the widow who only speaks to Yakov in cryptic criticism of his ability to carry out this task. As he spends the night in the claustrophobic and eerie home, Yakov soon finds himself exposed to a malevolent entity.
As many horror movies (such as The Exorcist<i/> and The Poltergeist) that involve demons are based in Christian faith, Thomas brings a breath of fresh air to the genre as the film revolves around Orthodox Jewish beliefs. Crafting an atmosphere of dread and suspense, paired with an incredible score, The Vigil keeps the crowd biting its nails for the length of film.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 4/5 stars
