TIFF fever continues throughout Toronto on the Festival’s fourth day! Premieres took place tonight including Fashion icon Tom Ford‘s NOCTURNAL ANIMALS starring Amy Adams, Michael Shannon, Aaron Taylor-Johnson and an in-absentia Jake Gyllenhaal. Also premiering tonight was Oscar bait DENIAL starring Rachel Weisz over at Princess of Wales Theatre. THE PROMISE starring Oscar Isaac and Christian Bale also premiered at Roy Thomson Hall tonight. An A-List Cast including Matthew McConaughey, Scarlett Johansson, Reese Witherspoon and Jennifer Hudson appeared at the midday Premiere for Animated Feature SING over at Princess of Wales Theatre. The Premiere was followed by performances from both Hudson and Popstar Tori Kelly even.
See some of the names we spotted around today!
Bill Nighy, THE LIMEHOUSE GOLEM
Olivia Cooke, KATIE SAYS GOODBYE
Chris Lowell, KATIE SAYS GOODBYE
Xavier Dolan, IT’S ONLY THE END OF THE WORLD
Auteur #XavierDolan at #TIFF16 for #ItsOnlytheEndofWorld.
A photo posted by Mr. Will Wong 📸 (@mrwillwong) on
Lea Seydoux, IT’S ONLY THE END OF THE WORLD
Inseynity! #LeaSeydoux causing a commotion. She is at #TIFF16 for #ItsOnlytheEndofWorld.
A photo posted by Mr. Will Wong 📸 (@mrwillwong) on
Gaspard Ulliel, IT’S ONLY THE END OF THE WORLD
Mireille Enos, KATIE SAYS GOODBYE
Sigourney Weaver, A MONSTER CALLS
Lewis MacDougall, A MONSTER CALLS
#LewisMacDougall, star of #AMonsterCalls. #TIFF16
A photo posted by Mr. Will Wong 📸 (@mrwillwong) on
Felicity Jones, A MONSTER CALLS
Things got v. aggressive. #FelicityJones at #TIFF16 for #AMonsterCalls. #RogueOne #StarWars
A video posted by Mr. Will Wong 📸 (@mrwillwong) on
Michael Shannon, NOCTURNAL ANIMALS
Aaron Taylor-Johnson, NOCTURNAL ANIMALS
Taraji P. Henson, HIDDEN FIGURES
Yes!!! Cookie Time!! #TarajiPHenson #TIFF16 #HiddenFigures #Empire
A photo posted by Mr. Will Wong 📸 (@mrwillwong) on
Pharrell, HIDDEN FIGURES
Glen Powell, HIDDEN FIGURES
#ScreamQueens’ #GlenPowell at #TIFF16 with #HiddenFigures.
A photo posted by Mr. Will Wong 📸 (@mrwillwong) on
Rachel Weisz, DENIAL
A photo posted by Mr. Will Wong 📸 (@mrwillwong) on
Lucas Hedges, MANCHESTER BY THE SEA
Rami Malek, BUSTER’S MAL HEART
With #MrRobot star #RamiMalek at #TIFF16 with #BustersMalHeart
A photo posted by Mr. Will Wong 📸 (@mrwillwong) on
(Photo/video credit: Mr. Will Wong)
Review by Siobhán Rich for Mr. Will Wong
Some facts are so basic that they are not questioned: the sky is blue, Elvis is dead, and millions of Jewish men, women, and children were the victims of a genocide acted out by the Nazi party during World War II. In the mid-1990’s American Deborah Lipstadt was sued in the British courts for defamation for calling Holocaust denier David Irving a “liar and falsifier of history.” Lipstadt was forced to prove her innocence by putting history on trial.
Based on Lipstadt’s Memoir, Mick Jackson’s new Film Denial is a tense courtroom drama starring Rachel Weisz and Timothy Spall as the two legal combatants. Wishing to “give voice for the ones who did not make it,” Lipstadt is odds with her legal team regarding the best way to present their case: they would prefer to err on the side of provable, historical facts rather than emotional, eyewitness testimony.
The Movie takes place mostly in London but also travels to Auschwitz for some emotionally fraught scenes. As Lipstadt and her lawyer (Tom Wilkinson) walk through Auschwitz the snow dusts the ground like ash and even the barbed wire fences seem to weep for those who died. The imagery is perhaps manipulative but nonetheless effective and beautifully-shot.
The verdict in this case is as easily googled as facts about the Holocaust but that does not take away from the impact Writer David Hare’s script. Strong performances bolster what is sure to be a much talked about Film at TIFF ’16.
Denial screens at TIFF:
Sunday, September 11, 2016 at 7:00 PM Princess of Wales Theatre
Monday, September 12, 2016 at 10:30 AM Winter Garden Theatre
Review by Justin Waldman for Mr. Will Wong
Auteur Xavier Dolan returns to TIFF this year with a Film but with the weight of expectations on him, we have come to expect even more of the Master Filmmaker. Unfortunately Fans expecting something as great and heartfelt as Mommy might feel a bit underwhelmed.
The story focuses on Louis (Gaspard Ulliel) who has been away from home for an extended period, only to return home announcing to his family that he is terminally-ill. Upon his return, tensions flare with his return and members of his family including his mother (Nathalie Baye), his brother Antoine (Vincent Cassel), his sister-in-law Catherine (Marion Cotillard) and his sister Suzanne (Léa Seydoux).
His sister was most affected by his absence, since she was the youngest and most attached, while his brother, played perfectly by Cassel, being the eldest, must protect and brace everyone from the news and Louis‘ more than probable departure yet again. This leads to much strife among the family as a consequence.
IT’S ONLY THE END OF THE WORLD screens at TIFF Sunday, September 11, 2016 at 9:15 PM, 9:30 PM and 9:45 PM at TIFF Bell Lightbox in Cinemas 1, 2 and 3 respectively as well as Sunday, September 18, 2016 at 9:30 PM at TIFF Bell Lightbox in Cinema 2.
Review by David Baldwin for Mr. Will Wong
Daniel (Dave Johns) is on mandatory work leave after suffering a heart attack. His doctors will not approve his going back to work, but the government has deemed him fit to return. As he fights to collect his Employment and Support Allowance, he befriends single mother Katie (Hayley Squires), who is struggling to provide for her two young children.
Director Ken Loach won the prestigious Palme d’Or at this year’s Cannes Film Festival for this searing and deeply emotional portrait of two adults determined to survive – and for good reason. The Film plays a bit episodically, but it is downright heartbreaking throughout. Its utterly frigid third act feels like a punch in the face by the time the credits roll. While Loach’s filmmaking coupled with Paul Laverty’s screenplay play like a damning and slightly melodramatic essay against the British government, every performance more than makes up for it. Johns is terrific as the titular Daniel, but Squires steals the show with every devastating moment she has to go through. Their work here will likely be the most raw and genuine you see during TIFF ’16. It might be an aggravating experience, but I, Daniel Blake demands to be seen.
Just be sure to bring tissues.
I, DANIEL BLAKE screens at TIFF ’16 on Monday, September 12, 2016 at 8:30 PM at Scotiabank 1
and Friday, September 16, 2016 at 6:00 PM at TIFF Bell Lightbox 1.
Review by George Kozera for Mr. Will Wong
Wunderkind auteur, Spanish Oscar-winning director Pedro Almodovar returns to TIFF ’16 with JULIETA, a melodramatic female-centric Film that focuses on guilt and grief. Adapted from short stories written by Nobel prize winner, Alice Munro, the Movie opens in Madrid with Julieta (Emma Suarez) about to move to Portugal with her lover until a chance meeting with her estranged daughter’s best friend. Abandoning her plans, she stays behind in Madrid and starts to write a Memoir trying to figure out why her daughter no longer wants anything to do with her, which Almodovar presents via a series of flashbacks with Adriana Ugarte playing the younger Julieta.
Much like legendary Hollywood Director George Cukor, Almodovar excels in bringing-out outstanding performances by actresses and JULIETA is no exception. The two ladies playing the title character, as well as Rossy de Palma in a supporting role as a housekeeper that channels the character Mrs. Danvers in the Hitchcock classic Rebecca, are compelling and keeps the interest in this Movie throughout. What the Movie lacks is focus and subtlety. The story and musical score is so melodramatic and off-putting that it borders on a parody, cliché-ridden Ross Hunter production. I miss the Almodovar Movies of the past – they were audacious, salacious and bodacious.
JULIETA screens at TIFF:
Sunday, September 11, 2016 at 6:00 PM VISA SCREENING ROOM
Tuesday, September 13, 2016 at 12:15 PM TIFF BELL LIGHTBOX 2
Review by Justin Waldman for Mr. Will Wong
It wouldn’t be TIFF if it weren’t divisive, right? Andrea Arnold’s American Honey should play well to the Arthouse-craving Festival crowd, although we’re unsure how the mainstream might perceive it.
American Honey starts off by introducing us to our main character Star (Sasha Lane) and how fed-up she is with the daily grind. Whether that be her abusive and less than caring boyfriend or it be her sister’s children that she took upon herself to watch, there are things that she just wants to escape. Fast-forward a few days where Star, her niece and nephew are searching for food inside the local K-Mart and she meets Jake (Shia LaBeouf). Jake teases Star by trying to get her to join his band of misfits who sell magazines across the country. Star sees this as an opportunity to create a name for herself and she decidedly goes for it.
Both Lane and LaBeouf give incredible performances here. American Honey‘s main flaw is that the Movie itself never really gives enough insight to why Star continues down her path in order to keep us invested at two hours and forty-five minutes.
AMERICAN HONEY screens at TIFF Sunday, September 11, 2016 at 5:15 PM at Ryerson Theatre and again on Monday, September 12, 2016 at 9 PM at Scotiabank Theatre.
Review by Siobhán Rich for Mr. Will Wong
Growing up, National Film Board Animated Shorts like The Cat Came Back and Log Driver’s Waltz helped define what it meant to be Canadian. They represented a support of the arts and a style of animation that were unique and unlike anything produced elsewhere at the time. Ann Marie Fleming’s Movie Window Horses (The Poetic Persian Epiphany of Rosie Ming) is a nostalgic return to those halcyon days at the NFB.
Rosie (Sandra Oh) was raised by her grandparents after her mother died and her father disappeared. Her self-published book of poetry My eye Full, has brought her to the attention of a poetry festival in Shiraz, Iran where she has been invited to share her work. Despite fearing rejection by her peers, Rosie flies to the home of her absentee father and immerses herself in Persian culture. At the festival she meets Dietmar (Don McKellar) a German hipster, Mehrnaz (the sublime Shohreh Aghdashloo) an Iranian professor, and DiDi (Jun Zhu) an exiled Chinese poet. Through them Rosie finds her voice and learns what it means to be a Poet.
The Movie works best when the animation is punctuating the poetry rather than chasing stories about Rosie’s father. In one particular scene early in the Movie, Rosie listens to the muezzins call out the morning prayer and sees rainbows stream from the top of the minarets around her. As someone who lived briefly in the Middle East, the images struck me as particularly beautiful expressing perfectly my own feelings about those first moments at dawn.
In a year punctuated by excellent Animated Movies, Window Horses stands apart thanks to its unique cross-cultural story. The poetry of animation and words will stay with audiences long after the Festival.
Window Horses screens:
Sunday, September 11, 2016 at 2:00 PM Isabel Bader Theatre
Tuesday, September 13, 2016 at 4:45 PM Scotiabank Theatre
Review by Siobhán Rich for Mr. Will Wong
We are rarely the same people as children that we are as teenagers or adults. Outside forces like time, family, and even social status shape our world views and mold our characters. In writer/director Barry Jenkin’s brilliant new Film, Moonlight, we witness how seemingly small actions and insights change one boy’s life at childhood, adolescence, and finally adulthood.
When Juan (Mahershala Ali) first happens upon 9-year-old Little (Alex R. Hibbert), he has just escaped bullies who chased him into an abandoned apartment. The silent Little is reticent to share his name let alone the truth about his crackhead mother Paula (Naomie Harris). In this world where everyone is bigger than he is, Little’s only friend is Kevin (Jaden Piner).
At age 16 Kevin (Jharrel Jerome) is still Chiron’s (Ashton Sanders) only friend. Efforts to push aside his childhood nickname are met with derision as his sexuality is challenged daily by the same bullies he once ran from. With his mentor Juan dead, Chiron has no one to guide him when the pressures of life finally come to a head.
During the Final Act we meet a very different man. Having faced tough consequences from his actions as a teenager, Black (Trevante Rhodes) is now a drug dealer in Atlanta, Georgia. Out of the blue Kevin (André Holland) reaches out to him and the two attempt to bridge the distance that time and life experiences have wedged between them.
The true brilliance of Moonlight is its casting. Each actor brings something new to the character while still maintaining the same heart. Black is still as uncomfortable with words as Little was and as wary of betrayal as Chiron. Yet despite the similarities, Rhodes adds new nuances to the role making it his own.
Based on the play by Tarell Alvin McCraney, Moonlight is a painfully beautiful modern tragedy. A frontrunner to win the TIFF ’16 Platform competition, no one will leave the theatre unmoved by this Film.
Moonlight screens at TIFF:
Saturday, September 10, 2016 8:30 p.m. Winter Garden
Sunday, September 11, 2016 9:00 a.m. TBLB1
Saturday, September 17, 2016 3:15 p.m. TBLB1
Auteur and Festival favourite Olivier Assayas returns with his latest, Personal Shopper, an eclectic mixture of the supernatural, a Thriller and heartfelt Drama. Reuniting with numerous members of the cast from Clouds of Sils Maria, this is truly unlike anything we’ve ever seen.
Front and center in a phenomenal performance is Kristen Stewart as Maureen, whose fraternal twin dies suddenly in Paris. Her brother we learn like she, was a medium and she becomes obsessed with any confirmation from him that there is an afterlife. She finds herself in Paris seeking answers, but takes a job with a demanding celebrity (Nora von Waldstätten) as her personal assistant, which keeps diverting her from her mission.
Mysteriously, she begins receiving text messages which could lead her to danger. The question is, we never are certain if these are the doing of a ghost, someone with malicious intent or within her own mind.
Stewart captures perfectly a complex range of emotions in Maureen as she at once grieves, hungers for answers, grappling with frustration and also fearing for her own life.
Personal Shopper screens at TIFF:
Saturday, September 10, 2016 9:00 PM at Scotiabank Theatre 1
Sunday, September 18, 2016 6:30 PM at Scotiabank Theatre 1
TIFF ’16 officially is in high flight and we aren’t stopping! Around tonight will be the likes of Natalie Portman and Lily-Rose Depp (daughter of Johnny) walking the Red Carpet for PLANETARIUM at Roy Thomson Hall. Down the road also will be real-life couple Naomi Watts and Liam Schreiber walking the Carpet at Princess of Wales Theatre for their Film, THE BLEEDER, set in the Boxing world. French Cinema also was front and center tonight at the annual UniFrance TIFF Bash as heavyweights including the likes of icons Isabelle Huppert and Paul Verhoeven came out to to celebrate. Tonight also is the biggest bash in the City, the In Style Magazine Party put-on by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association and it never is a disappointment!
See some of the names we saw out and about today, but stay tuned throughout the day for more sightings!
Liev Schreiber, THE BLEEDER
Liev. #RayDonovan #LievSchreiber #TheBleeder #TIFF16
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Naomi Watts, THE BLEEDER
Rooney Mara, UNA + LION
Goddess #RooneyMara at #TIFF16 with #Una + #Lion.
A photo posted by Mr. Will Wong 📸 (@mrwillwong) on
Dev Patel, LION
#DevPatel at #TIFF16 with #LionMovie.
A photo posted by Mr. Will Wong 📸 (@mrwillwong) on
Elisabeth Moss, THE BLEEDER
#MadMen’s #ElisabethMoss at #TIFF16 for #TheBleeder.
A photo posted by Mr. Will Wong 📸 (@mrwillwong) on
Oliver Stone, SNOWDEN
Oliver. #TIFF16 #OliverStone #Snowden #NikonD3300
A photo posted by Mr. Will Wong 📸 (@mrwillwong) on
With #OliverStone. #Snowden #TIFF16
A photo posted by Mr. Will Wong 📸 (@mrwillwong) on
Zachary Quinto, SNOWDEN
#ZacharyQuinto at #TIFF16 for #Snowden.
A photo posted by Mr. Will Wong 📸 (@mrwillwong) on
Mahershala Ali, MOONLIGHT
#HouseofCards star #MahershalaAli at #TIFF16 with #MOONLIGHT.
A photo posted by Mr. Will Wong 📸 (@mrwillwong) on
Bingbing Fan, I AM NOT MADAME BOVARY
Selfie with China’s highest paid actress, #FanBingBing, at #TIFF16 with #IAmMadameBovary.
A photo posted by Mr. Will Wong 📸 (@mrwillwong) on
Joel Edgerton, LOVING
Ruth Negga, LOVING
Ricky Whittle out enjoying TIFF
Kathryn Hahn out enjoying TIFF
#BadMoms star #KathrynHahn at #TIFF16.
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Haley Bennett, The Magnificent Seven
Aaron Taylor Johnson, NOCTURNAL ANIMALS
#AaronTaylorJohnson at #TIFF16 for #NocturnalAnimals.
A photo posted by Mr. Will Wong 📸 (@mrwillwong) on
Michael Shannon, NOCTURNAL ANIMALS
#MichaelShannon at #TIFF16 with #NocturnalAnimals. Love the Hawaiian theme.
A photo posted by Mr. Will Wong 📸 (@mrwillwong) on
Uzo Aduba, AMERICAN PASTORAL
Colman Domingo, THE BIRTH OF A NATION
#ColmanDomingo at #TIFF16 with #TheBirthofaNation.
A photo posted by Mr. Will Wong 📸 (@mrwillwong) on
Nate Parker, THE BIRTH OF A NATION
Tom Felton, A UNITED KINGDOM
#TomFelton at #TIFF16 for #AUnitedKingdom.
A photo posted by Mr. Will Wong 📸 (@mrwillwong) on
Nicole Kidman, LION
Pharrell, HIDDEN FIGURES
Octavia Spencer, HIDDEN FIGURES
Taraji P. Henson, HIDDEN FIGURES
It’s COOKIE TIME, B*TCHES! Worst selfie ever but happy as hell I met #TarajiPHenson. #Empire #TIFF16
A photo posted by Mr. Will Wong 📸 (@mrwillwong) on
Sasha Lane, AMERICAN HONEY
Timothy Spall, DENIAL
With #JeffreyTambor at #TIFF16 with #Transparent.
A photo posted by Mr. Will Wong 📸 (@mrwillwong) on
Ewan McGregor, AMERICAN PASTORAL
Jeffrey Tambor, TRANSPARENT
With #JeffreyTambor at #TIFF16 with #Transparent.
A photo posted by Mr. Will Wong 📸 (@mrwillwong) on
Isabelle Huppert + Paul Verhoeven
Jean-Paul Salomé, Isabelle Huppert + Piers Handling
Jean-Paul Salomé, Isabelle Huppert + Piers Handling have a moment at Unifrance #TIFF16 Bash.
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Olivier Assayas + Isabelle Huppert
A photo posted by Mr. Will Wong 📸 (@mrwillwong) on
Karolina Gruszka, MARIE CURRIE, THE COURAGE OF KNOWLEDGE
#KarolinaGruszka, star of #MarieCurrie Biopic #CourageofKnowledge at Unifrance Bash. #TIFF16
A photo posted by Mr. Will Wong 📸 (@mrwillwong) on
Kristian Bruun (3-WAY)
#OrphanBlack star #KristianBruun at the Unifrance #TIFF16 Bash.
A photo posted by Mr. Will Wong 📸 (@mrwillwong) on
Amanda Brugel
“Room” star #AmandaBrugel at the Unifrance Bash. #TIFF16
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(Photo credit: Mr. Will Wong)
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