The Weekend Warrior’s TIFF 2022 Wrap-Up
The Fabelmans, Empire of Light, Glass Onion, The Menu, My Policeman, and Much More!
Over this past weekend, I was up in the Great White North for TIFF i.e. the Toronto International Film Festival, my first in-person appearance at the festival in five years. I was only there for a little over three days, but I did get to see 13 movies. It could have been 14, but there was one movie that I just couldn’t, and I wanted to eat dinner. It wasn’t a good dinner, but it was expensive, so there’s that. I was going to throw this into this week’s Weekend Warrior, but I had too much to say, so you’re getting a full feature! Nice, huh?
My two favorite movies I saw at TIFF were Steven Spielberg’s The Fabelmans and Gina Prince-Bythewood’s The Woman King, and since the latter opens this week, you can read my full review in this week’s Weekend Warrior. As you may already know, Spielberg’s latest is also his most personal film, based on his own childhood growing up in Arizona with Michelle Williams and Paul Dano playing the mother and father of young “Sammy Fabelman,” a teen with ambitions of being a filmmaker, and Seth Rogen playing his “uncle.” It continues the tradition of filmmakers turning to nostalgia and their earliest memories as subject matter for films, but this one is a little different then the likes of Roma and Belfast, since we literally get to see the formative years that led to Spielberg making movies and ultimately becoming one of America’s finest filmmakers.
Spielberg’s script, co-written with Tony Kushner, is fantastic, and he gets amazing performances out of Michelle Williams (a definite frontrunner in the supporting actress category) and Dano (just as good as he was in The Batman), but the real standout is Gabriel LaBelle as the teen Sammy. He has to carry a lot of the movie, not bad for an actor who hasn’t done that much. Also, look for John Williams to be nominated for his umpteenth Oscar for his score, which is very different from his other collaborations with Spielberg. The Fabelmans will open in select theaters and then expand nationwide on Thanksgiving, which is perfect since it’s a family film.
Presumably, Sam Mendes’ Empire of Light is also semi-autobiographical, even though there are no characters that directly represent him, at least that I could tell. This one mostly takes place at a seaside British movie theater in the early ‘80s with Olivia Colman playing Hilary, the theater’s manager, who befriends a new younger black employee, Stephen (Michael Ward), while dealing with her own mental health issues. Colin Firth is also in the movie as their boss – I never figured out if he owned the place or not – and there’s a generally decent cast, including Toby Jones as the theater’s projectionist.
The movie deals with a lot of things including racism and mental health, and to some, it might not be cohesive enough (like The Fabelmans, it’s semi-episodic in its storytelling). But to me, I thought it was a terrific portrait of the times and the issues people were dealing with. Colman is fantastic (as usual), as is Ward – who I wasn’t familiar with despite him winning the BAFTA Rising Star – and I think both are in the running for Oscar nominations. In fact, Ward may be an early frontrunner for supporting actor. This is the first movie in which Mendes works with Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross for the score, and that is just wonderful, just simple piano music that does so much for the emotional core of the film. I’ve always been a Mendes fan, and I loved this as a follow-up to 1917, which was my #1 movie of 2019 (and I personally thought was robbed for Best Picture and Director). This won’t open until December 9, and we can expect it to be an Oscar player.
A couple movies that might not necessarily be awards contenders but are quite a lot of fun are The Menu and Rian Johnson’s Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery, probably one of the hottest tickets at TIFF, three years after Knives Out blew up there. Glass Onion is quite different from Knives Out since gone is the family dynamic at the heart of that murder-mystery, replaced by a group of wealthy friends brought to a remote Greek island by their mega-billionaire pal Miles Bron, played by Ed Norton, to play a murder-mystery game. One of the guests is Daniel Craig’s Benoit Blanc, who has some experience in that realm. Netflix and Johnson are very nervous about spoilers, but I will say that there are some real scene stealing performances, including Kate Hudson and Edward Norton, but I was most impressed with Janelle Monae. The movie was just motoring along for maybe the first hour or so, but it wasn’t until there was a bit of a twist or reveal where things just started coming together, and I began enjoying it more. (One thing I noted is that Johnson doesn’t have as veteran a cast as he had with Knives Out with Hudson and Norton being the closest in terms of experience.) I definitely won’t subscribe to the mindset that Glass Onion is better than Knives Out, not without seeing it a second time, but it is quite enjoyable, and I will be seeing it again, maybe in a mellower setting than a TIFF World Premiere. It won’t be on Netflix until December 23, so glad I got to see it.
Watching Searchlight’s comedy-thriller The Menu back-to-back or even a day after Glass Onion is quite an experience, because that’s also about a group of people brought to a remote island, in this case strangers who are indulging in an extravagant food experience at the remote Hawthorn Island restaurant of the enigmatic chef Slowic, played by Ralph Fiennes. It stars Nicholas Hoult and Anya Taylor-Joy as a couple attending the soirée, as well as a similarly fantastic ensemble as Glass Onion, including Janet McTeer as a restaurant critic; John Leguizamo, Reed Birney, Judith Light, Arturo Castro (also in Weird, below), and Hong Chau as the restaurant’s hilariously deadpan hostess, who doesn’t necessarily believe that the customer is always right. This is funny from the start and just gets more insane as it goes along and gets more into horror/genre territory. Director Mark Mylod (What’s Your Number) did a great job with the movie, especially working with production designer Ethan Tobman to create the Hawthorne restaurant. The Menu won’t be released until Nov. 18, so look out for it in a couple months.
Billy Eichner’s comedy Bros, co-written and directed by Nick Stoller (Neighbors), got a high-profile world premiere at TIFF, and that was a great way to see the movie with a rapturously enthusiastic audience. It’s a gay rom-com that has Billy playing podcast journalist Bobby Leiber, who is amidst working on establishing the first-ever LGBTQ+ history museum, though he sees the chance of having a real relationship when he meets Luke Macfarlane’s rugged Aaron, a buff athletic type who is very different from Bobby. Since that opens later this month, I’ll probably write a longer review closer to then, but it was enjoyable and very funny while also suffering from some of the same issues as some of producer Judd Apatow’s rom-coms, where it’s somewhat formulaic, though still very original and unique to Eichner’s snarky sense of humor. It opens on September 30, so I’m sure I’ll have more to say about it that week.
Some may wrongfully discount Stephen Williams’ Chevalier as a poor man’s Amadeus in its telling of the story about the lesser-known Joseph Bologne. Joseph is the illegitimate child of an African slave and French plantation owner who goes on to become close friends with Marie Antoinette, who in turn, names him Chevalie de Saint-Georges. It does begin with a violin feud between Joseph and Mozart that would make Charlie Daniels proud, which will solidify those comparisons. It’s the type of costume drama that grows on you due to the performance by Kelvin Harrison Jr. as Joseph, and Samara Weaving as Marie-Josephine, a married royal with whom Joseph has an affair. Stefani Robinson wrote a great script and Williams, who has directed more TV than film, does an equally fantastic job realizing this story. Searchlight hasn’t dated Chevalier yet, and I’ll be curious where it lands, and whether they feel strongly enough about Harrison’s performance to give it a serious awards run.
Another even stranger biopic (if you can even call it that) is Weird: The Al Yankovic Story with Daniel Radcliffe playing a fictional version of Weird Al that’s so ludicrous that it’s hilarious. It takes a few minutes before you realize what is going on, but Weird is essentially parodying the biopic genre (and others) similar to how Yankovic would parody various pop songs. Radcliffe is amazing – would love to see the Golden Globe for Lead Male in a Comedy to be between him, Fiennes and Billy Eichner – but I was even more blown away by Evan Rachel Wood as Madonna – she was totally unrecognizable as well. The movie is pretty hilarious on its own – think Walk Hard as a reference – but it’s made even funnier by all the cameos of very funny comic actors playing famous people, including the real Weird Al, who I didn’t even recognize. This will hit Roku on November 4.
Amazon’s My Policeman was also of great interest since it starred pop star Harry Styles as the title character, a closeted and conflicted gay policemen in late ‘50s Bristol England who must decide between his lover Patrick (David Dawson) and wife Marion (Emma Corrin). Told in an interesting way, bouncing between present day (where Patrick is portrayed by Rupert Everett and Marion by Gina McKee), My Policeman really pulled me in as it went along. Although Styles doesn’t have a ton of heavy dramatic lifting compared to others, it’s a terrific dramatic film that will hit Prime Video on November 4 after a theatrical run starring October 21.
Mark Duplass and Sterling K. Brown starred in the comedy, Biosphere, co-written by Duplass with first-time feature director Mel Eslyn, the two of them playing childhood friends who are stuck in the title biosphere as possibly the last two people on earth. (I’m not sure but I think Duplass was the President of the United States while Brown was his scientific adviser.) This is a fun movie that has a crazy twist that’s best not knowing about before going in, but I loved the fact that this seemed like a thematic sequel to Lynn Shelton’s Humpday. In fact, I think this might be the kind of movie she might make, and having worked with her extensively, I’m glad to see that the Duplass Brothers are making movies like this to keep her legacy alive. This was one of the few movies I saw that didn’t have distribution or a release date yet, but it played so well, I can imagine it going to a medium-sized indie.
A movie that came to TIFF after a huge amount of hype out of Telluride was Sarah Polley’s adaptation of Miriam Toews’ Women Talking, featuring an impressive cast of women actors, as well as Ben Whishaw. I haven’t read the original book, but I was a bit puzzle by the appeal of the movie, which has a group of women… talking. (So you have to give it credit for having a non-misleading title.) Essentially, a number of women in a Mennonite community were attacked, and they’re deciding how to proceed, whether to leave the community or stay and fight. The cast includes Frances McDormand (seriously, blink and you’ll miss her), Jessie Buckley, Claire Foy, and Rooney Mara, and Polley has written a terrific adapted screenplay, but as you watch the movie, it’s hard not to think, “How and why should I care about this decision?” And basically the movie is all about them preparing to vote with Whishaw playing the young and naive August who the women trust, particularly Mara’s Ona, who has a bit of a “will they or won’t they?” relationship with August. My other problem with Women Talking was that while it looked great and had fantastic performances, it was just generally boring, and I honestly don’t think I’d eve want to sit through it again. United Artists will release this on December 2, and I expect it to be an Oscar player despite not being that great.
Last up (almost) is Stephen Frears’ The Lost King, starring Sally Hawkins and Steve Coogan (who co-wrote the screenplay, as he did with Frears’ Philomena about 9 years ago). Hawkins plays Philippa Langley, a woman suffering from chronic fatigue syndrome aka Myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME) who becomes fascinated with King Richard III after seeing a performance of the Shakespeare play and feeling that some of it didn’t ring true. Soon, she’s meeting with the Richard III Society and sharing in their conspiracy theories that much of his history is incorrect. Soon, she becomes so obsessed that she starts looking for his grave, and well, if you don’t already know the story, you should maybe wait to learn about it watching the movie. Hawkins is great in this, mostly matched with Harry Lloyd, who plays Richard III, her constant cohort who doesn’t talk much but generally offers Philippa clues that could lead her to find his grave, so that he can get a proper burial. Like I said, I’m not sure who this movie is for, but it’s perfectly fine and relatively forgettable. IFC hasn’t announced when this will be released.
I also got to see The Return of Tanya Tucker – Featuring Brandi Carlisle, a doc which is pretty much what it sounds, following Carlisle’s work with Tucker to bring her back into the mainstream with her first new album in almost 17 years. I can’t really say that I’m into either Tucker or Carlisle, but filmmaker Kathlyn Horan did a great job bouncing between the modern-day recording sessions and Tucker’s vast and impressive history in the music biz with lots of great archival footage. I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this film. Sony Classics will release this in theaters on October 21.
That’s pretty much it for my TIFF experience. There were definitely things I was hoping to catch, which I ended up missing for one reason or another (like The Whale) but we still three and a half months to the year for me to catch those movies with the New York Film Festival coming up in just a few short weeks.