[TIFF 2024] Bonjour from TIFF
Kicking off the festival with world premieres
If there is one thing Toronto International Film Festival is known for, it’s the lines. Regardless of who you are or what film you’re seeing, or even if you aren’t seeing a film at all, at some point during the festival, you will wait in a line.
It’s only appropriate, then, that my TIFF 2024 began just like that — in a line.
I finished my evening Barry’s class at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday night to rush home and get ready for my first screening of the festival. I live in the area, so I headed towards the Royal Alexandra Theatre just before 8:30 p.m., thinking that by the time I get there five minutes later, ticket holders would already be entering the theatre, and I would get in without waiting around. I was wrong. I got to the theatre at roughly 8:35 p.m. for my 9 p.m. screening and was promptly directed towards the back of the ticket holders line, a full block north of the entrance. The line seemed endless and with the clock ticking closer and closer to the scheduled starting time, I was starting to get frustrated that my very first screening of the festival would start late. I hate being late, and I equally hate when things run late.
My frustration was very short-lived, though. A little under twenty minutes before the scheduled start time, the line started moving, and the entire audience of just over 1,000 people was inside and seated by 9 p.m.
While I didn’t have time to get popcorn and a soda because of the late entrance, the efficiency displayed by the staff and volunteers was admirable, and the stage for TIFF 2024 was set.
Bonjour Tristesse
My first watch of the festival was Bonjour Tristesse, a modern adaptation of the book of the same name — which I haven’t read so I’m not able to speak to how faithful the adaptation really is. However, as a standalone piece of media, this layered coming of age film was equal parts surprising and exactly what I expected.
Visually, it is both pretentious and beautiful, with lots of close-ups that I could perhaps accuse of being unnecessary but that ultimately kept me visually engaged throughout, even if the pacing was a bit slow at times. This is actually something that I expected, a slow coming of age drama with little plot. The plot, however, is there and the story was surprisingly sharp and at times really funny, thanks to incredible performances by the three leading actresses — Lily McInerny, Chloë Sevigny, and Nailia Harzoune.
While I don’t really know how much of the script came from the source material and how much from the director/writer Durga Chew-Bose, the film does an excellent job in keeping the viewer engaged, not only visually as already mentioned but also through unexpected turns and great self references.
Bonjour Tristesse was a great way to kick off the festival, and while I don’t think it has a date for a theatrical release just yet, it’s a film I definitely recommend seeing when and if possible.
Daniela Forever
The following day, I was back in the same theatre for the world premiere of Daniela Forever.
The film is, to put it simply, weird. It’s a sci-fi romance that, despite a seemingly clear high-level direction, gets lost in its confusing world building and a lack of chemistry between the two leads. I am a big fan of Henry Golding in several of his previous roles and have enjoyed Beatrice Grannò’s work on the most recent season of The White Lotus but even with individually decent performances, they weren’t able to sell the romance that the entire story is dependent on. Ultimately, this meant that the film lost me pretty early on, and as things never managed to come together later in the story, it meant that it never managed to draw me in at all.
While I am a bit disappointed to have not liked the film itself, the world premiere and the Q&A after the screening were a lot of fun. I actually really hope this film finds its right audience, because despite it decidedly not being for me, I definitely think there will be audiences that will appreciate its weirdness.
Paying For It
My third watch of the festival was the Canadian sex comedy, Paying For It, based on the autobiographical comic by Chester Brown about his experiences with sex workers, directed by his real-life ex-girlfriend whose idea to open up their relationship made Brown start — pun intended — paying for it.
The execution was solid and I think the film does a good job of tackling the topic of sex work in a respectful way while maintaining a healthy dose of humour throughout. I enjoyed the film overall but as it happens to be a smaller Canadian production dealing with a topic that I wouldn’t necessarily think would appeal to wide audiences, I fear it will get lost somewhere among the endless amounts of content on CBC Gem or Crave, and never get a proper theatrical release.
We Live in Time
A doomed romance starring Andrew Garfield and Florence Pugh, We Live in Time is a non-linear exploration of the two characters’ loving relationship as they prepare to face what is possibly the worst imaginable situation one can find themselves in.
The film is heartbreaking, but more surprisingly, it is funny, too. The emotional rollercoaster of a story had the audience laughing out loud multiple times but I watched the last ten minutes of it to the soundtrack of sniffles echoing around the theatre. Garfield and Pugh both deliver strong individual performances and their chemistry is undeniable, which is what ultimately makes this film work as well as it does.
We Live in Time is a crowd pleaser without a doubt. So far my favourite of the festival, and one I certainly recommend seeing when it starts to roll out in theatres across the globe this October. Don’t forget to pack tissues, though!
Unstoppable
Based on the story of Anthony Robles’s success as an NCAA Division 1 wrestler, Unstoppable is a classic underdog sports drama with a predictable outcome but a hero you want to root for regardless.
Jharrel Jerome who plays Robles was excellent in his role and definitely elevates the film as a whole. Jennifer Lopez offers a compelling performance as Robles’s mother — and as I am writing this, I realise I am not very familiar with her filmography — but her performance is powerful and subtle in a way that I wouldn’t have expected from her. The role requires such an approach, though, and I found her to have done a solid job with it.
While there isn’t anything particularly groundbreaking about Unstoppable, it’s a fine feel-good movie with solid performances and good directing. My cinema experience was elevated further when the director, the cast (Jerome and Lopez), and Anthony and Judy Robles themselves joined us for a post-screening Q&A despite this being a second screening at the festival and not the premiere.
What’s Next at TIFF 2024?
As I press publish on this post, I am getting ready to head out to a Sunday morning screening of Eden (2024). Starring Vanessa Kirby, Jude Law, Ana de Armas, and Sydney Sweeney to name a few, this film promises a great time and hopefully strong performances all around. Or so I hope. I attended the red carpet of the film’s world premiere yesterday and had a lot of fun despite the cloudy, windy, and unexpectedly cold weather. I’ll leave you with a few of the photos that I took at the event, and I look forward to sharing more reviews in the coming days — TIFF is only just getting started!
so jealous you got to go to TIFF! any chance of watching queer?
i loved reading <3 i'm so excited to be wrecked by 'we live in time'!