Your Weekender writer spent the week watching movies at the Toronto International Film Festival until his eyes fell out. Here are five titles that stood out from the rest of the pack.
All We Imagine as Light: Indian filmmaker Payal Kapadia’s tale about three nurses dealing with longing and loneliness in modern-day Mumbai is one of the most elegantly shot and emotionally resonant films of the year, announcing the arrival of a major directorial talent.
Hard Truths: British veteran Mike Leigh has made a career out of well-observed slice-of-life dramedies that shed light on the human condition. He hasn’t lost a step in his old age. This story about a fractious Afro-Caribbean family finds him as brutally funny and incisive as ever.
The Shrouds: David Cronenberg — the father of the “body horror” genre and arguably the greatest filmmaker our fair country has ever produced — has made his most personal film yet. A response to his wife’s death from cancer, it’s a dark rumination on grief and decay.
Rumours: The leaders of the G7 get lost in the woods after a summit. So goes the setup of the latest gonzo joke from Winnipeg weirdos Guy Maddin and the Johnson Brothers. It’s a canny satire about political ineffectiveness that also happens to feature haunted bog people.
Universal Language: Perhaps my favourite film of the fest, this gentle, melancholic fantasy imagines a Canada where the official languages are French and Farsi. To describe any more would only spoil it, but let’s just say, Tim Hortons looks a lot different in this universe.—QH