Toronto-based Revolver Films celebrated its 40th anniversary with a party during the Toronto International Film Festival on Thurs. Sept. 14, 2023  at Liberty Grand Entertainment Complex, celebrating the people who have helped them achieve four decades of scripted and unscripted storytelling. 

Sponsored by Don Julio, the event brought together notable Canadian filmmakers, producers, talent, media and influencers to celebrate 40 years of storytelling. In attendance were Revolver Founder Don Allan (pictured above, right) and partners Luc Frappier and Richard Cureton, chef Susur Lee, Olympic athlete Donovan Bailey, Kevin O’Leary, Director X, and Michael Jewison.

Revolver Films is behind Award-winning TIFF film Bang Bang Baby, Swimmer, and David Bowie’s Dead Man Walking. Revolver directors have worked with industry icons like Rihanna, Timbaland, Elton John and Drake.

Revolver has four major titles coming out over the next few years, including one movie about the life of jazz icon Miles Davis. Revolver is currently co-producing a six-hour documentary on The Tragically Hip for Amazon. With this international success, Revolver is pleased to be celebrating its 40th anniversary during TIFF. 

Revolver, founded by director Don Allan, is credited with being one of the oldest music video production companies in the world. It went on to produce groundbreaking videos for the likes of Canadian icons such as Rush, The Tragically Hip and Leonard Cohen and later, made its mark internationally with videos for artists such as David Bowie, The White Stripes, and Christina Aguilera.

Since 1983, Revolver Films has built a reputation for world-class advertising, music videos, TV and films. Revolver’s award winning staying power and brand integrity stem from its dedication to producing cutting-edge content with top international creative talent. 

The Little Black Book advertising annual’s 2023 Immortally Awards ranked Revolver Films as the Number 1 Production Company in Canada, the 5th Best in North America and 13th in the World. Revolver Directors have been nominated for more than 60 MMVA’s, winning 30, including 9 for Best Director and several HALL OF FAME AWARDS.

Revolver Directors have worked with industry icons including David Bowie, Elton John, Lenny Kravitz, Drake, Rihanna, Katy Perry, Cardi B, Kayne West, Oasis, Alicia Keys, Pharrell Williams, Kendrik Lamar, Christina Aguilera, Coldplay, Snoop Dogg, Wyclef, Jannelle Monae, Sheryl Crow, Seal, LL Cool J, Def Leppard, Metallica, The White Stripes, Iggy Pop,  The Cure and Leonard Cohen, including the Golden Rose-winning I Am A Hotel.

By David Baldwin

A factory fire five years ago is still haunting the plant’s union. They know there is more to it, and with a new incinerator plant being erected and wealthy pockets being lined, the union’s members are starting to get desperate for work. Labour leader Ceca (Tamara Krcunović) is not willing to give up, and with the reappearance of an old union member, starts turning to the occult to turn things around.

Writer/Producer/Director Mladen Đorđević imbues WORKING CLASS GOES TO HELL with a contagious sense of impending dread that never dissipates. You are constantly on edge and not sure of what might happen next; meanwhile Đorđević is ratcheting up the tension in the background to unbearably queasy levels. Additionally, he gives the Film a stark colour scheme, with everything being muted for the majority of time and then illuminates key moments in an extremely bright red (a not so subtle reference to who this group starts praying to no doubt). The settings the union finds themselves in – primarily in and out of Ceca’s apartment – feel so real that you can practically smell the grime and the filth wafting off this Balkan town.

While there are some strange moments permeating throughout the Film and a wild third act flip I was not expecting, I feel like the rest of the Film lacked the energy and zest to make this bleak Political Satire really amount to much. By the time it ended, I was left feeling empty and cold (and rather annoyed by the conclusion of one specific dangling plot thread). Krcunović does her best to steer the ship, bringing an intense wave of emotions with every step she makes. Lidija Kordić is the Film’s MVP however, playing the young and impressionable Danica. Her mother was killed in the fire and she has not spoken since, which is just the tip of the tragedy that befalls her. Kordić commands the screen with her eyes saying all the words her mouth does not. It is the type of quiet, nuanced work that you will not be able to take your eyes off of.

WORKING CLASS GOES TO HELL screens at TIFF ’23:

Thursday, September 14 at 11:59 PM at Royal Alexandra Theatre

Friday, September 15 at 8:00 PM at Scotiabank Theatre Toronto

Sunday, September 17 at 6:45 PM at Scotiabank Theatre Toronto

By Mr. Will Wong

Writer/Director Christy Hall makes a phenomenal feature debut with a brilliant pair of leads in DADDIO. Though the meter is stopped with a flat rate fare, we never quite know where we are headed as we follow a young woman (Dakota Johnson), boarding a cab at JFK Airport, only to be stuck in traffic. She’s driven by Clark (Sean Penn), a foul-mouth taxi driver who tells it like it is. The two make some playful banter back and forth as we learn about their loves and the roadblocks they have faced.

Hall does a fantastic job taking these two unlikely strangers and giving us a story about meaningful human connection. Clark is able to get to the very core of his passenger, whom while able to hold her own against him as a woman young enough to be his daughter, is pensive and we get glimpses of her world through her text message interactions with a love interest. Through Clark, the young woman is forced to confront some uncomfortable truths about her own life, and she is able to unpeel some layers from Clark‘s tough exterior as surely there’s a story there behind his street smarts and wisdom. Our two leads get more than they could ever have bargained before and their lives are changed forever this one night, borrowing a bit from Sofia Coppola‘s Lost in Translation, which explores some similar themes and emotions.

DADDIO is the type of film that leaves you thinking about it days after and we are simply in love with the performances from Johnson and Penn, whom are both absolutely irresistible. Johnson always manages to leave a bit of mystery in her characters, which leaves us wanting to know more.

DADDIO screens at TIFF ’23:

Sunday, September 10
TIFF Bell Lightbox
Closed captioning
3:00 PM

Thursday, September 14
TIFF Bell Lightbox
Closed captioning
4:00 PM

Andy Lau is a recognizable name in any Chinese household and it is absolutely amazing that he’s here at TIFF ’23. What an honour! The multi-hyphenate began his career as an Actor on Hong Kong’s premiere network TVB and from that he became an international Movie Star, and one of the top kings of Chinese Pop.

Lau is here this year for THE MOVIE EMPEROR, premiering Friday night at Roy Thomson Hall. The Satire has Lau playing a middle-aged movie star trying to reclaim both the crown snd critical clout by starring in a miserablist film. He also appears Saturday at an In-Conversation at TIFF Bell Lightbox as well giving fans two chances to see him.

It was pure fandemonium as the Megastar made a rare appearance in Toronto. His fans waited at the Arrivals with signs in tow, shouting “See you tomorrow” after he greeted them in an effort to get into his SUV quickly.

Earlier, we were lucky enough to get into a screening of Christy Hall‘s impressive directorial debut, DADDIO starring Sean Penn and Dakota Johnson. Hall calls the Film her Love Letter to New York.

(Photo/video credit: Mr. Will Wong)

By Amanda Gilmore

Director Alexander Payne is in top form with the delightful Dramedy The Holdovers.

The Film takes place in 1970 over Christmas break at an elite boarding school in small-town Massachusetts. It follows strict Professor Paul Hunham (Paul Giamatti) who’s gifted the undesirable assignment of supervising the students unable to return home for the Christmas holidays. Resolved to have the students suffer along with him, he makes them start the next semester’s assignments. However, when only one student remains, the intelligent but belligerent Angus (Dominic Sessa), the two begin to see themselves in each other.

The Holdovers is an intimate, touching portrait of broken, lonely people connecting. Realizing they’re not alone. This is told through three central characters, Hunham, Angus and school cafeteria manager Mary (Da’Vine Joy Randolph). Each of them outcasts and harbouring their own unique melancholy within. Screenwriter David Hemingson and Payne keep the cause of some of their pain a mystery until the end, except for Mary.

She’s just lost her only son in the war. Randolph gives a heartbreaking performance as a mother experiencing her first Christmas without her son.  Randolph’s impeccable comedic talent earnestly shines through creating authentic levity woven within the pain. It’s a successful dramatic turn that will have people knocking on her door.

Meanwhile, Hunham and Angus’s reason for despair remains hidden behind their quick wit and short tempers. Giamatti gave one of the finest performances of his career. He plays Hunham as eccentric yet stern, cruel yet empathetic. Similar to Hunham, Angus has a chip on his shoulder. In his first-ever feature role, Sessa stuns. It’s a performance of a seasoned Actor. He portrays the anguish Angus carries and his desire to be understood.

Overall, The Holdovers is a moving exploration of loneliness over the holiday season with captivating performances and a winning Soundtrack.

The Holdovers screens at TIFF ’23:

Monday, September 11 at 3 PM at Visa Screening Room at the Princess of Wales Theatre

Tuesday, September 12 at 12 PM at Visa Screening Room at the Princess of Wales Theatre

Saturday, September 16 at 6 PM at TIFF Bell Lightbox

Sunday, September 17 at 9 AM at TIFF Bell Lightbox

…

By Amanda Gilmore

Ava DuVernay’s poetic and essential Origin is one of the year’s best. The esteemed Director merges Isabel Wilkerson’s life along with her research to create an inspired adaptation of the Author’s New York Times Bestseller Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents. 

DuVernay’s focus on Wilkerson’s private life, specifically her losses and grief the years before she began her research, makes Origin part biopic part historical chronicle. In chronicling her life, the audience has a linear storyline to follow while travelling back and forth in time to witness the atrocities that happened.

We open on the last night of Trayvon Martin’s life. It was that horrific night’s 911 calls that initiated Wilkerson’s research. From there we witness the loss of her husband and mother within a year. As she heals, she throws herself into her research. Travelling to Germany and India in search of connections between caste systems there and America.

With each stop Wilkerson makes she learns the connection between each country both presently and historically. DuVernay’s powerful, unsettling images capture the horrors the caste system creates. She delivers distressing moments of the Holocaust, the inhumanity inflicted on the Dalits in India and lynchings in America. These impactful images will haunt audiences long after viewing and visualising the research Wilkerson wrote about in her novel.

Overall, Origin is a captivatingly beautiful and heartbreakingly necessary film that holds one of the year’s most enrapturing performances from Aunjanue Ellis.

Origin screens at TIFF ’23:

Monday, September 11 at 2 PM at Roy Thompson Hall

Wednesday, September 13 at 2:30 PM at Visa Screening Room at the Princess of Wales Theatre

The international success of the Paramount+ Argentine original film THE RESCUE: THE WEIGHT OF THE WORLD (EL RAPTO) continues. On Monday, September 11, the film had its North American Premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF). The film was presented in the “Special Presentations” category. Lead actor Rodrigo de la Serna (Money Heist), the director and renowned filmmaker Daniela Goggi (Abzurdah, El Hilo Rojo) and the producer Benjamín Domenech from Rei Cine were in attendance. The final TIFF screening of EL RAPTO will take place on Sunday, September 17, 2023.

Paramount+ also debuted the teaser trailer for the acclaimed film that will soon premiere in international markets where the streaming service is available.

The film, produced by Paramount Television International Studios, Rei Cine and Infinity Hill, is directed by Daniela Goggi and stars Rodrigo de la Serna, Julieta Zylberberg, Lautaro Perez Hillal, Lola Loyacono, Andrea Garrote, German Palacios and Jorge Marrale. 

Buenos Aires in the 1980s. Julio Levy returns from political exile to take up a position in the large family business when his older brother, like other Argentines, is kidnapped. In charge of organizing the rescue and with the full weight of his family on his shoulders, Julio discovers the forces that still operate behind the newly recovered Argentine democracy. Julio then begins a disadvantaged fight against the prevailing system.

THE RESCUE: THE WEIGHT OF THE WORLD is a fictional political thriller inspired by various stories that happened that decade in Argentina after the dictatorship, and in the book “El salto de papá” by Martín Sivak.

By David Baldwin

John Knox (Michael Keaton) is a hitman. He is cold, calculated, brilliant and also happens to have just been diagnosed with a very fast-moving form of dementia. With only weeks of lucidity left and frequent blackout spells, Knox must get his house in order and make amends before it is too late. And with the cops on his tail after a hit gone bad and his estranged son Miles (James Marsden) knocking at his door after a particularly bloody incident, things are not going to be easy for Knox.

KNOX GOES AWAY is a movie tailor-made for Boomer Dads. There are elements of neo-noir, remorse, redemption, dark humour and a handful of really violent death scenes. It checks all the boxes. Sadly though, Keaton’s direction (his second effort after 2008’s The Merry Gentleman) is nothing extraordinary. He has a bad habit of slamming to black between scenes rather than have proper transitions, the camera effects when Knox is going through a dementia episode are odd and there is no real auteurship or unique identifiers on display. Additionally, the overly elaborate plan that is the crux of the Film is extremely messy and does not help make the story any less muddy.

Keaton’s acting on the other hand is fantastic. The way his eyes and body language convey Knox’s sense of distress and confusion is terrific, as are the dialogue slips when he forgets anything and the cool precision he uses for when he does not. Keaton has always been reliable and this is easily one of his best performances – and certainly will wash away any ill feelings you may have had after watching him in The Flash earlier this summer. Marsden makes a valiant effort as Miles and Al Pacino does fine whenever he pops up in the small but pivotal role of Knox’s friend Xavier. Further down the line, Joanna Kulig is quietly impactful as the sex worker Knox spends time with every Thursday, and Oscar-winner Marcia Gay Harden devastates in her brief role as Knox’s ex.

Referring to one particular dead character, Keaton and Marsden both say “I would dig him up and kill him again” if they had the chance. Both times I felt that deep in my bones and wish the rest of the Film would have given me the same visceral reaction.

KNOX GOES AWAY screens at TIFF ’23:

Sunday, September 10 at 9:45 PM at Princess of Wales Theatre

Monday, September 11 at 5:30 PM at Roy Thomson Hall

The finish line is in sight for TIFF ’23 but we’re still out and about! We spotted Ava DuVernay doing the rounds earlier! The history-making Oscar-nominated BAFTA and Primetime Emmy winner looked stunning earlier and was so lovely to stop for a snap! Her film ORIGIN was a late add to the lineup at TIFF ’23.

Shortly after, we saw Oscar-nominated Actress Salma Hayek Pinault arriving to her Red Carpet for SABOR DE LA NAVIDAD. In a rush to get to her interviews, she didn’ stop at the barricade for her fans. She serves as Executive Producer for the Film.

Also, a huge joy witnessing Chloe Domont‘s feature directorial debut FAIR PLAY. This is definitely one of the best things I’ve seen so far at TIFF ‘23. Alden Ehrenreich and Phoebe Dynevor play a couple who after getting engaged, live through a power struggle when one of them gets promoted at work. So wonderful seeing Domont at the Roy Thomson Hall Premiere tonight.

Please seeing Viggo Mortensen still here for THE DEAD DON’T HURT.

And last but not least, our friends at Elevation Pictures celebrated their 10th Birthday and it was a bustling party at their building on Richmond Street. They had a whopping 14 films at the Festival! Several noticables, including Stranger Things’ Finn Wolfhard were there.

(Photo/video credit Mr. Will Wong)

By David Baldwin

Gary Johnson (Glen Powell) is a professor who moonlights as a surveillance operative for the police. He is asked to fill in as an “undercover hitman-for-hire” during one sting, and surprises everyone with the strength and believability of his performance. Gary quickly becomes the go-to undercover performer and one day meets Madison (Adria Arjona), who wants to hire him to kill her husband.

Talk about your classic meet cute.

HIT MAN, the latest from multi-hyphenate Director Richard Linklater, is easily one of the hottest and most sought-after tickets at TIFF ’23. It is not hard to figure out why – he directs the hell out of the Film, crafting an offbeat Romantic Comedy that is just a joy to watch. Linklater has never been nailed down to one genre over the course of his nearly 40-year career, always swinging for the fences with mainstream experimentation and zigging when you assume he should be zagging. Though there are a few occasional story stumbles here and places where it could have been tightened, this is easily one of his best and funniest films; the kind of screwball Comedy we have not seen in decades.

Of course, we cannot give Linklater all the credit. The Film is very much a collaboration between him and Writer/Producer Powell, who is having the time of his life. This is their third film together and I can only hope there will be more collabs soon, because this has the promise of being one of the great actor/director pairings. Powell is electric from the moment the Film begins, narrating with gusto and confidently jumping into every scene headfirst. The scenes with him chatting with different perps in very different costumes are a clear highlight, showcasing his range and adoration for the material (which is based on a true story). But it is his powder keg chemistry with Arjona that really makes the Film sing. It is immediately palpable in their first scene together, and only gets stronger and sexier as the Film goes on.

Make sure you have the fire department on speed dial when you watch. Because any time these two are together threatens to ignite the screen from how incendiary their chemistry is.

HIT MAN screens at TIFF ’23:

Monday, September 11 at 5:30 PM at Royal Alexandra Theatre

Tuesday, September 12 at 2:00 PM at Royal Alexandra Theatre

Saturday, September 16 at 8:30 PM at Scotiabank Theatre Toronto [Newly Added]