By David Baldwin
Detroit, 1977. Blue collar ex-con John Miller (Alan Ritchson, sporting a ridiculous blonde wig for far too long) is in love with Sophia (Shailene Woodley). Unfortunately for him, she is the ex-girlfriend of local gangster Reynolds (Ben Foster), who has John framed and thrown back into jail for drug possession.
That is the set-up for MOTOR CITY and you can guess (minus a few twists and a bogus ending) where it goes from here. Not content to just be a stereotypical period action thriller, Director Potsy Ponciroli alongside Writer Chad St. John strip away the majority of the dialogue – leaving the film to glide by on body language, aesthetic, music and a gratuitous amount of slow motion. It makes for a frustratingly uneven viewing experiment that does not always work but somehow manages to always be interesting.
Beyond wishing Woodley had more to do beyond being the fridged damsel in distress (who somehow gets the most dialogue out of the approximately 78 words spoken over the course of the entire film) and that anyone could match or surpass Foster’s brilliantly expressive performance, MOTOR CITY deserves high praise for its nasty third act elevator brawl between Ritchson and dirty cop Savick (Pablo Schreiber). The claustrophobic fight choreography is stunning and the way these two actors throw their bodies around easily make this brutally violent fight scene one of the most memorable of the festival.
MOTOR CITY screens at TIFF ‘25:
Thurs. Sept 4 at 8:45 PM at TIFF Lightbox
Fri. Sept 5 at 2:15 PM at Scotiabank Theatre Toronto
It’s only Day One but feels like Day 30? Overall, a very productive day today, covering a lot of ground and lot of stars. Some of the names we spotted:
•Ben foster at TIFF for Motor City.
•Jeffrey Latimer, Olivia Chow and Cameron Bailey unveil TIFF’s Canada Walk of Fame star
•Jeremy O. Harris, Charli XCX, Lena Góra at TIFF for Erupcja
•Ryan Reynolds, Colin Hanks, Chris Candy at TIFF for John Candy: I LIKE ME
•Barbie Ferreira, Devon Bostick, Chandler Levack, Robert Naylor, Juliette Gariépy, Stanley Simons,
Isaiah Lehtinen, at TIFF for Mile End Kicks
•Stellan Skarsgård, Renate Reinsve, Joachim Trier, Elle Fanning, and Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas at TIFF for Sentimental Value
•Rei Ami and Audrey Nuna at TIFF for KPop Demon Hunters critics event
We were up and at it early appearing on CP24 Breakfast! Our appearance, and also TIFF’s Canada’s Walk of Fame induction star unveiling highlights!
(Photo/video credit: Mr. Will Wong)
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