TIFF 2023 – ALLIANCE OF WOMEN FILM JOURNALISTS

THE HOLDOVERS (TIFF 2023) – Review by Emma Badame

September 20, 2023September 21, 2023 Emma Badame Alexander Payne, Da’Vine Joy Randolph, David Hemingson, Dominic Sessa, paul giamatti, The Holdovers, TIFF 2023

Filmmaker Alexander Payne’s latest offering is not particularly original in any of its elements and doesn’t attempt to break any new ground, but as it transpires, that’s not at all a bad thing. Well-acted, lovingly directed, and sharply written by David Hemingson, The Holdovers is a warm, nostalgic hug of a film that harks back to a specific and beloved era of filmmaking. Payne sets the film in the early ‘70s to allow for a showcase of his vintage favorites. From the soundtrack to the color palette, he immerses his film in everything of the era and it truly works in the film’s favor.

Festivals Reviews

BYE BYE TIBERIAS (TIFF 2023) – Review by Valerie Kalfrin

September 20, 2023September 21, 2023 Valerie Kalfrin autobiographical, Bye Bye Tiberias, documentary, Gladys Joujou, Hiam Abbas, Lina Soualem, Nadine Naous, TIFF 2023

An exploration of memory, separation, and connections fractured but not broken, Lina Soualem’s Bye Bye Tiberias puts Hiam Abbas (adored actress and the filmmaker’s mother) under the microscope, comparing some of her life’s choices with those of her mother and grandmother and the changing landscape around their homeland. Shown at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), the film is a deeply personal, layered journey that demonstrates how we can try to uncover the past but never truly know it.

Festivals Reviews

NORTH STAR (TIFF 2023) – Review by Liz Braun

September 20, 2023September 20, 2023 Liz Braun emily beecham, John Micklethwait, kristin scott thomas, North Star, scarlett johansson, sienna miller, TIFF 2023

Dame Kristin Scott Thomas makes her feature directorial debut with North Star, a family tale about love and loss with a great cast. A lesser cast and better writing would have improved matters, but never mind. The plot revolves around the reunion of three sisters who are gathering at the family home for their mother’s third marriage. Mom (Scott Thomas) has been twice married and twice widowed, a detail from Scott Thomas’ own life. As a child, the filmmaker lost her father and her stepfather — both armed forces pilots — within six years.

Festivals Reviews

THE MOVIE TELLER (TIFF 2023) – Review by Emma Badame

September 19, 2023September 19, 2023 Emma Badame Alondra Valenzuela, Antonio de la Torre, Atacama Desert, berenice bejo, Daniel Brühl, Hernán Rivera Letelier, La Contadora de Películas, lone scherfig, Sara Becker, The Movie Teller, TIFF 2023

Cinematic love letters to the art and magic of movies are common enough and more often than not, are told from the perspective of a young boy, eager to experience all the technicolor adventures on the big screen have to offer. With The Movie Teller (La Contadora de Películas), Danish filmmaker Lone Scherfig has not only gifted to audiences a moving, captivating ode to both movies and the power they have to create and bind communities, but one told–for a change–from the perspective of an imaginative young girl with a talent for storytelling herself.

Festivals Interviews

Ena Sendijarević talks SWEET DREAMS (TIFF 2023) – Tara Karajica interviews

September 19, 2023September 21, 2023 Tara Karajica Dutch colonislism, dutch films, Ena Sendijarevic, indonesia, Renée Soutendijk, Sweet Dreams, TIFF 2023

Bosnian-Dutch filmmaker Ena Sendijarević’s her sophomore film is set on a remote Indonesian island during the waning days of the colonial era. Sweet Dreams is the story of two women who are left to their own devices after the death of Jan, patriarch owner of a sugar plantation. Sendijarević grew up in the Netherlands, a country with a long and atrocious imperialist past. “I never learned anything about it when I was [in] school. She wanted to know more about it and got the idea to do something with it on film.

Festivals Reviews

RU (TIFF 2023) – Review by Liz Braun

September 19, 2023September 19, 2023 Liz Braun canadian films., Charles-Olivier Michaud, Chloe Djandji, Jacques Davidts, Jean-Francois Lord, Kim Thuy, Ru, TIFF 2023, vietnam refugee

Kim Thuy came to Canada as one of the million “boat people” fleeing Vietnam in the late 1970s after Communist victory in the war. Thuy wrote of her experiences in Ru, a 2009 bestselling memoir that was eventually translated into 30 languages and won her a slew of awards all over the world. One person who championed the book was TIFF CEO Cameron Bailey, who represented the book at the 2015 edition of Canada Reads, an annual battle-of-the books event broadcast nationally by the country’s public broadcaster, the CBC. It seems fitting that the superb film version of Ru had its world premiere at TIFF 2023.

Festivals Interviews

Kim Thuy on RU (TIFF 2023) – Liz Braun interviews

September 19, 2023September 19, 2023 Liz Braun canadian films., Charles-Olivier Michaud, Chloe Djandji, Jacques Davidts, Jean-Francois Lord, Kim Thuy, Ru, TIFF 2023, vietnam refugee

Award-winning Canadian author Kim Thuy recently had the experience of seeing her best-selling novel, Ru, transformed into a film of the same name. She watched along with TIFF audiences who were present at the world premiere. Ru is Thuy’s own story about coming to Canada in childhood as one of the “boat people” who fled Vietnam in the ‘70s after the fall of Saigon. The vignettes and closely observed moments in her memoir are captured and woven together into a beautiful film from director/writer Charles-Olivier Michaud, co-writer Jacques Davidts and cinematographer Jean-Francois Lord.

Festivals Reviews

QUIZ LADY (TIFF 2023) – Review by Tara Karajica

September 19, 2023September 21, 2023 Tara Karajica awkwafina, Disney/Hulu, Jen D’Angelo, Jessica Yu, Quiz Lady, sandra oh, TIFF 2023

Jessica Yu’s latest film, Quiz Lady, is an amusing, fast-paced and flamboyant comedy that doesn’t let your thoughts wander away, but has you instead focused just like when you are about to answer a question on a quiz, much akin to the title character, the “quiz lady” of the film, Anne Yum. Quiz Lady makes for an effervescent, colorful and delightful watch and Jessica Yu does marvels on the silver screen.

Festivals Interviews

Jessica Yu talks QUIZ LADY (TIFF 2023) – Tara Karajica interviews

September 19, 2023September 19, 2023 Tara Karajica awkwafina, Disney/Hulu, Jen D’Angelo, Jessica Yu, Quiz Lady, sandra oh, TIFF 2023

Helmer Jessica Yu directs Sandra Oh and Awkwafina in her latest outing for Disney/Hulu, Quiz Lady. The film deals with sibling dynamics and how, at the end of the day, no matter how different they are, they end up loving each other. “I think what they go through actually ends up reminding them of how much they have shared together in life and how much they actually appreciate each other. We don’t really see that many comedies about sisters and so, that was attractive to me,” Yu comments.

Festivals Reviews

THE ROYAL HOTEL (TIFF 2023) – Review by Emma Badame

September 18, 2023September 18, 2023 Emma Badame australian films, Hotel Coolgardie, Jessica Henwick, julia garner, kitty green, Michael Latham, Oscar Redding, The Royal Hotel, TIFF 2023

Australian director Kitty Green’s second narrative feature The Royal Hotel is a wholly unnerving and totally engrossing thriller. Atmospheric and all too realistic, it’s the kind of story that sticks with you long after the credits have rolled. The film is paced to perfection and each and every well-planned element is woven expertly together to build layers upon layers of truly discomforting suspense. With Green’s keen eye the film becomes a riveting exploration of isolation and what it truly feels like to be a young woman in the world. It helps too that Julia Garner and Jessica Henwick nail their characters.

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