The 49th Annual Toronto International Festival (TIFF) may be over, but the memories of so many great movies remain! Over 10 days, I caught 48 screenings (47 films and one television show), and here are five more of my favorites, The Best of TIFF 2024 – Part Two.
“Hard Truths” – Director/writer Mike Leigh is back with his first movie in six years, and he does not disappoint. Neither does Marianne Jean-Baptiste (“Secrets & Lies” (1996)), who delivered the best performance that this critic saw at TIFF 2024. Pansy (Jean-Baptiste) is possibly the most cantankerous matriarch portrayed on screen since Violet Weston (Meryl Streep) in “August: Osage County” (2013). The difference here is that Jean-Baptiste’s Pansy carries massive swaths of comedy during her astonishing rants, ones that rival Allison Janney’s Oscar-winning work as Tonya Harding’s mother, LaVona, in “I, Tonya” (2017). The rest of the characters, in this English family drama, attempt to cope with Pansy’s angst while Leigh offers no easy answers to reach harmony, as only he can.
“I’m Still Here” – Former Brazilian Congressman Rubens Paiva (Selton Mello) turned away from politics. He’s a successful businessman now and lives with his wife, Eunice (Fernanda Torres), and their children, steps away from Rio de Janeiro’s beach scene. Life is beautiful, until it’s not. Director Walter Salles (“Central Station” (1998), “The Motorcycle Diaries” (2004)) chronicles a Paiva family biopic about their deeply personal and unjust encounter with Brazil’s military dictatorship during the 1970s. Salles’ film is a cautionary tale of extreme government overreach, while Mello and Torres deliver absorbing performances during this unsettling and inspirational watch.
“Santosh” – Santosh (Shahana Goswami) loses her husband, a police officer, when he is killed in the line of duty; however, through a government-sponsored program, as a widow, she is offered his position within the force. With no background in law enforcement, Santosh attempts to navigate her new career in a male-dominated arena but finds an ally, a toughened female veteran, Sharma (Sunita Rajwar). They follow a troubling case in Northern India that leads to raw, explosive choices for the new constable. Goswami and Rajwar are nothing short of mesmerizing during their characters’ complex relationship in director/writer Sandhya Suri’s impressive effort, her first narrative feature.
“The Shadow Strays” – Holy smokes. Director/writer Timo Tjahjanto modern-day martial arts film is a wildly entertaining, crowd-pleasing bloodbath. Granted, this critic doesn’t often catch flicks in this genre, but I can’t recall a more violent movie, which is Tjahjanto’s point. Set in Jakarta, a gifted, efficient assassin named 13 (Aurora Ribero) embarks on a ferocious campaign against a vast, vicious criminal organization. Well, its nefarious members are in trouble! Twenty-year-old Ribero, with only four months of training, is a wondrous, charismatic phenom, and Hana Malasan plays 13’s mentor, Umbra, as her coercing, cutthroat on-screen co-star. Swordplay, knife fights, machine-gun fire, slugfests, ruthless swings of a baseball bat, and more fill the screen for 144 minutes!
“Vermiglio” – Director/writer Maura Delpero whisks us to a gorgeous, mountainous setting in Northern Italy for a sensitive family tale at the end of World War II. Pietro (Giuseppe De Domenico), a war veteran from Sicily, arrives in town and meets Lucia (Martina Scrinzi), the daughter of a revered teacher, Cesare (Tommaso Rango). Lucia is shy but smitten, and she and Pietro begin cordial flirting, which blossoms into something more. Delpero develops several rich supporting characters, in addition to Lucia and Pietro, and she and the actors easily allow our immediate investment into following their individual destinies. A beautifully crafted picture.
