By Amanda Gilmore

Director Paul Greengrass brings the events that transpired during the California Camp Fire to the big screen. Greengrass and Co-Writer Brad Ingelsby adapt Lizzie Johnson’s non-fiction book, Paradise: One Town’s Struggle to Survive an American Wildfire. Here, they focus on one story during that disaster. A busload of school children, their teacher Amy (America Ferrera), and the bus driver Kevin (Matthew McConaughey).

In a rush to return home to his sick son, Kevin instead accepts a call requesting help for 23 children stranded at Ponderosa Elementary School. While on the road attempting to get the children back to their parents, the disaster escalates. And they find themselves stranded in the heat of the blaze.

The Lost Bus may be a docudrama, but it’s shot like a horror/disaster film. Greengrass introduces us to the beginning of the fire with ominous music and a collapsing electric pylon that causes a cable to fall to the ground. From then on, different viewpoints from first responders and citizens show the horror exploding due to the fire becoming uncontrollable. We actually hear the decision was made to stop fighting the fire and save as many lives as they can.

Greengrass literally engulfs each frame in flames. Danger is around every corner. There is a sense of urgency throughout the runtime that is thanks to quick edits and camera work that thrusts audiences into the horrific tragedy. Especially when we are with the children on the bus. There are lots of VFX being used here. For the most part, they achieve the goal of transporting the audience into the fire. However, there are times when the visuals appear too artificial. Especially when they are shown next to actual live footage of the blaze.

The Lost Bus pays homage to the everyday heroes during the California Camp Fire. It also features indelible performances from its entire cast. Particularly, the formidable Ferrera as a level-headed teacher fighting her own instincts to show her fear, and a strong McConaughey as a man searching for redemption.

The Lost Bus screens at TIFF ’25:

Fri. Sept 5 at 9:30 PM at VISA Screening Room at the Princess of Wales Theatre

Sat. Sept 6 at 9:45 PM at Scotiabank Theatre Toronto

Fri. Sept 12 at 8:15 PM at Scotiabank Theatre Toronto

Sat. Sept 13 at 1:30 PM at Scotiabank Theatre Toronto

sorry! we thought we posted this but it remained in drafts! these days have been rather long and exhausting!

Some sightings from day three!

•victor garber at tiff for you had to be there
•tom blyth and david jonsson at tiff for wasteman
•riz ahmed at tiff for hamlet
•kirsten dunst, channing tatum, and dwrek cianfrance at tiff for roofman
•diego boneta at tiff for killing castro
•andrew barth feldman, cooper hoffman, maude apatow and nico parker at tiff for poetic license
•imogen poots, tessa thompson, nina hoss, tom sturridge at tiff for hedda
•bobby deol at tiff for the monkey in a cage
•padma lakshmi, jeremy renner, andrew scott, toni collette (here fpr waywsrd) at tiff celebrating wake up dead man: a knives out mystery
•chris evans, anya taylor-joy, romain gavras, jade croot, m.i.a. and yung lean at tiff for sacrifice (chats coming soon).

Live from the Red Carpet for SACRIFICE!

(Photo/video credit: Mr. Will Wong)

By Mr. Will Wong

With the distinction of being tiff50′s Opening Night Gala, there couldn’t have been a more worthy selection than JOHN CANDY: I LIKE ME, giving a true national hero his long due flowers.

Actor/Director Colin Hanks, with celebrated Ryan Reynolds among others, listed as Producer, pays tribute to this icon in this Documentary. Often when we think of John Candy and his legacy, we think big laughs and big personality, but it is via a star-studded lineup for talking heads here that we get a more intimate glimpse into Candy and what made him tick, in addition to his struggles and pain. Names like Candy‘s son Chris, Steve Martin, Tom Hanks, Martin Short, Bill Murray, Macaulay Culkin, Catherine O’Hara, and Eugene Levy speak candidly with anecdotes that paint a picture of a sensitive, generous, and caring man who was a people-pleaser, delivering what audiences wanted and expected of him. Even if he was at odds sometimes with the work he had to do.

The Film explores the topic of his appearance constantly being mentioned and scrutinized, when he saw others beyond their shells and exteriors, never quite getting that same level of empathy back. And of course, having lost his father at a young age, he operated with the dark cloud of maybe him suffering a similar fate as well, which is so tragic.

JOHN CANDY: I LIKE ME is the public eulogy this icon didn’t receive after his premature passing and Hanks nobly takes the time to ensure that his story is told on forever to a new generation.

JOHN CANDY: I LIKE ME screens at TIFF ’25 as follows:

Thursday, September 4
VISA Screening Room at the Princess of Wales Theatre
Premium
Closed captions (CC),
Audio description (AD)
6:00 pm

Roy Thomson Hall
Premium
Closed captions (CC),
Audio description (AD)
8:00 pm

Thursday, September 11
Scotiabank Theatre Toronto
Closed captions (CC),
Audio description (AD)
9:00 pm

Friday, September 12
Scotiabank Theatre Toronto
Closed captions (CC),
Audio description (AD)
9:00 am

Saturday, September 13
Scotiabank Theatre Toronto
Closed captions (CC),
Audio description (AD)
9:00 am

Sunday, September 14
Scotiabank Theatre Toronto
Closed captions (CC),
Audio description (AD)
9:25 am

By David Baldwin

Christy Salters (Sydney Sweeney) went from being a college basketball player in the late 1980s to being one of the pioneers of women’s boxing, going by the nickname “The Coal Miner’s Daughter”. Behind closed doors however, Christy was enduring abuse and degradation at the hands of her 25-years-older husband and boxing coach Jim Martin (Ben Foster).

For much of its running time, CHRISTY is your standard sports Biopic. It is based on a true story, and it hits all of the triumphant, disappointing and inspiring beats you expect. Co-Writer/Director David Michôd does not stray too far from the formula and does a more than admirable job telling Christy’s story. When the film is not focusing on boxing, it pivots into being the story of a woman who does not fit in and is made to suffer for it. While I wish Michôd and his Co-Writer Mirrah Foulkes went a little past the surface level with many softened elements, they wisely maintain restraint when it comes to the scenes of abuse (although one scene is just as shockingly brutal as it needs to be).

Though the supporting cast is uniformly solid – with Foster delivering another impeccable performance as a really shitty and deeply disturbed individual, Merritt Wever nailing some truly devastating scenes, Katy O’Brian stealing scenes left and right, and Chad L. Coleman positively slaying as Don King – the film belongs to Sweeney. She gives an absolute knockout performance as Christy, landing each right hook harder than the last both figuratively and literally. Her alternatively physical and vulnerable work here is some of the strongest of her career and should easily silence all of her haters.

CHRISTY screens at TIFF ‘25:

Fri. Sept 5 at 2:00 PM at VISA Screening Room at the Princess of Wales Theatre

Sat. Sept 6 at 11:00 AM at VISA Screening Room at the Princess of Wales Theatre

By Amanda Gilmore

Writer-Director Mary Bronstein brings us into a mother’s escalating anxieties in this claustrophobic pressure-cooker.

Linda (Rose Byrne) can’t catch a break. Her husband is away on a work trip, leaving her to care for their sick daughter while still working daily as a mental health counsellor. It’s clear from the jump that Linda is struggling with debilitating mental health issues herself. And if the pressures of her daily life weren’t enough, the ceiling of her apartment literally caves in. Thus, forcing Linda and her daughter out of their home and into a motel. This causes her mental health to spiral out of control.

Motherhood has never been depicted quite as honestly, or harshly, as under Bronstein’s meticulous vision. We follow Linda as she suffers through crippling anxieties that come along with being a mother of a sick child. Someone who has no control over the health and well-being of their kin. This lack of control extends to her own life and the apartment she resides in.

Bronstein transports the audience into Linda’s mind. Extreme close-ups create a claustrophobia that parallels the chamber in which Linda is being held captive by her mind. It’s an incredible feat of filmmaking to be able to place your audience in the psyche of the character. This is integral. Without forcing the audience to empathize with Linda, they wouldn’t lock in with her for the 2-hour runtime. Linda makes some questionable decisions—downright wrong ones. But Bronstein has allowed us to feel her agony. 

At the centre is the greatest performance of Byrne’s career. She’s fearless as a woman having the walls around her come crumbling down. Someone drowning and not knowing how to come up for air. It’s desperate, raw, and heartbreaking.

If I Had Legs I’d Kick You screens at TIFF:

Fri. Sept 12 at 8:30 PM at Royal Alexandra Theatre

Sat. Sept 13 at 12:00 PM at Scotiabank Theatre Toronto

By Amanda Gilmore

Mascha Schilinski’s Cannes Jury Prize–winner follows the lives of four women from different generations who all lived on the same farm in northern Germany. This particular farm sits on a tumultuous region, one that saw both world wars and defined East and West Germany. The four generations of women are: Alma (Hanna Heckt) in the early 20th century, Erika (Lea Drinda) in the 1940s, Angelika (Lena Urzendowsky) in the 1980s, and Lenka (Laeni Geiseler) in the present.

Sound of Falling braids past and present throughout the narratives and timeframes. We watch as these women live and struggle with facing the confines and cages their world has thrust them into. Regardless of the decade, one thing is certain: each of these women is under the suppression of men, both within their homes and at large. Some are forced to be servants, while others are looked at as objects.

Schilinski uses emotive and cerebral filmmaking that realizes on the visuals to tell the story. The dread that follows these women in their lives is mirrored by the incredible cinematography by Fabian Gamper. The camera feels like a ghost following these women and girls. Haunting them. It creates an atmosphere that oozes with dread at every frame.

The first hour takes a bit to settle into. It feels almost meditative. We are waiting to see what story unfolds. Once we understand the lives of these women, we see the story for what it is. It’s a film that touches on its country’s troubled history while remaining intimate.

Sound of Falling screens at TIFF:

Sun. Sept 7 at 5:45 PM at TIFF Lightbox

Mon. Sept 8 at 7:00 PM at Scotiabank Theatre Toronto

Sat. Sept 13 at 7:30 PM at Scotiabank Theatre Toronto

By Amanda Gilmore

First-time filmmakers Mac Eldridge and Tom Dean have crafted a romance that is grounded and raw. It showcases two magnetic performances from indie favourites Emilia Jones and Nick Robinson.

We follow the complicated relationship between Charlie (Robinson) and Harper (Jones) over the course of five years. The two met in high school but then lost touch before rekindling their flame in that tender time after graduating high school. Soon after, they moved to New Orleans together. Before they know it, Harper has her dream job as a chef, and Charlie is stuck in a rut. It’s here that the cracks become exposed in their relationship.

Charlie and Harper meet many times over their lives. The filmmakers have used this as a way to tell their narrative non-linearly. We watch their romance through different moments in time. At the end. At the start. And most importantly, all those moments in between. The moments where our memories become a mix of our emotions. This is what separates Charlie Harper from other romances. Even if it does feel like the common, boy-meets-girl, boy-loses-girl story.

Eldridge and Dean make a statement on how two people can experience the same moment together, but have different takes on it. At various points, the characters directly retell a moment in their relationship, and there are slight discrepancies in the memory. These scenes serve as poignant reminders of the subjectivity of memory.

Jones and Robinson give impactful performances, and their chemistry is undeniable. Jones is terrific as the ambitious and caring Harper. And Robinson stuns as a young man dealing with addiction while loving with all his heart. They keep us locked into this romance.

Charlie Harper screens at TIFF ’25:

Thur. Sept 4 at 3:00 PM at TIFF Lightbox

Sat. Sept 6 at 2:45 PM at Scotiabank Theatre Toronto

By Amanda Gilmore

Filmmaker Gail Maurice’s second feature follows Beatrice (Dana Solomon), a storyteller and store clerk, who is completely taken by a new woman who arrives in her Métis community looking to find her biological family. She decides to help this newcomer, Chani (Derica Lafrance), to spend more time with her. While Chani is searching for her family, Beatrice’s estranged mother Léonore (played by the director Maurice) returns home in hopes of repairing their relationship.

Blood Lines is a love story and domestic drama. The script excels at these two themes…in the first two acts of the story. It’s beautiful to watch young love blossom between Beatrice and Chani. Thanks to Solomon and Lafrance’s strong chemistry. The two help each other through their complex familial issues. Allowing each other grace in their pain.

The domestic drama aspect is l impactful. Beatrice is struggling with her mother’s return. A mother whom Beatrice believes she was abandoned by due to Léonore’s alcohol addiction. Solomon packs a punch as a young woman enraged by her childhood neglect. While Chani is a crux to tell a larger story. One about social workers who took children from their Métis parents and put them up for adoption. This is a powerful storyline that we wish were explored more in-depth.

However, rather than having this impactful storyline expand, it becomes lost in a twist that happens in the final 30 minutes. It’s a twist that feels out of place in this particular film. It complicates the purity of what’s happened beforehand, both with the love and domestic storylines.

Blood Lines screens at TIFF ’25:

Mon. Sept 8 at 6:15 PM at Scotiabank Theatre Toronto

Wed. Sept 10 at 11:30 AM at TIFF Lightbox

By Nicholas Porteous

Park Chan-wook returns to TIFF (after his singularly dazzling Decision to Leave) with No Other Choice. It’s a very different kind of war movie about a factory worker (Lee Byung-hun) and the battle to feed his family when he’s unceremoniously let go. How far will he go to recapture the old life that seems to be slipping through his fingers? Take your wildest guess–then go another few steps further.

No Other Choice is a classic Chan-wook vibe, full of unexpectedly hilarious moments that serve to counteract the unrelenting bleakness of the bigger picture. Chan-wook is a daring tightrope walker of tone, and his vision is so precise it’s hard to imagine any other filmmaker who could pull off this hyper-specific potpourri of comedy and tragedy. This is by no means a feel-good story, but the jokes are undeniable.

Chan-wook also continues to move his camera with nearly unmatched gusto. Tablet screens and video calls have never been more cinematic. Out of context, his frames might seem gimmicky, but his focus is always bringing you closer to these characters and their little worlds. Despite our lead’s indefensible actions, I never lost sight of his humanity, or the real villain: a world without mercy that pits us against each other, and rewards the vicious with jobs that may as well be performed by robots.

No Other Choice is labyrinthine, and certainly feels its length–a hefty 139 minutes. It’s easy to get a bit lost in all the details, and every little thing is there for a reason. By the same token, it’s a rewarding watch, even though the whole package may leave you queasy. Its conclusion feels abrupt, and necessarily harsh. Particularly if you’ve enjoyed Chan-wook’s other, oftentimes brutal works, this will not disappoint.

No Other Choice screens at TIFF ’25:

Mon. Sept 8 at 9:30 PM at Roy Thompson Hall

Tues. Sept 9 at 8:45 PM at Scotiabank Theatre Toronto

Thurs. Sept 11 at 11:30 AM at TIFF Bell Lightbox

By Amanda Gilmore

Writer-Director Chandler Levack’s hotly-anticipated second feature takes place in 2011 and follows young female music critic Grace (Barbie Ferreira), who moves to Montreal to figure out life and love. 

After leaving her job at a magazine in Toronto, Grace moves into a shared apartment in Montreal that she found on Craigslist. It’s there that she should devote herself to finishing the next great book in the 33 1/3 album exploration series that she’s already been paid an advance on. Hers will be on the iconic Alanis Morissette opus Jagged Little Pill. However, like many in their early 20s…life gets in the way.

Just like with Lawrence in I Like Movies, Grace makes a lot of bad choices. Levack has a knack for writing endearing leads that make audiences cringe at their poor decisions or indecisions. Here, Grace is a young woman whose focus is on everything and everyone but herself. This leads to Grace blowing her own life up.

This focus on others rather than herself comes from society, but also the career Grace has. There aren’t many films that depict a female critic. Here, Levack shows just how isolating it can be for a young woman. Grace is always on the outside of a circle of men. When she arrives in Montreal, she quickly becomes friends with the band Bone Patrol. Again, she’s the only woman around this band of boys. Ferreira encapsulates the indecision and enclosed rage within a young woman who is simultaneously trying to break the ceiling but at times allowing it to suffocate her.

Even with all of this heavy material, Mile End Kicks is a hilarious romantic-comedy. The semi-love triangle that happens brings nostalgia for the rom-coms we love. Devon Bostick and Stanley Simons are a joy and fully commit to their characters. Bostick as the stoner, sweet guitarist, and Simons as the sleezy, ‘artsy’ lead singer.

At its centre, Mile End Kicks is a story about a young woman learning to respect herself. All of Grace’s poor decisions lead her to respect herself and demand it from others.

Mile End Kicks screens at TIFF:

Thurs. Sept 4 at 8:30 PM at Royal Alexandra Theatre

Tues. Sept 9 at 11:55 AM at Scotiabank Theatre Toronto

Sat. Sept 13 at 9:00 AM at Scotiabank Theatre Toronto