Richard Linklater’s confectionary romcom tears the house down at the Toronto International Film Festival this year. Paradoxically breezy yet unpredictable, Hit Man is a full-blooded rejuvenation of its genre, buoyed by volcanic chemistry and capital “M” movie star performances from Glen Powell and Adria Arjona. A movie about self-actualization and the moral chasms we pave over, it’s sexy, funny, and just a little twisted. Minor spoilers ahead…

My coverage of this year’s Toronto International Film Festival begins with possibly the most horrifying — and masterful — film of 2023. A picturesque idyll conjured by history’s most monstrous as hell seeps around all its corners, Jonathan Glazer’s The Zone of Interest is a haymaker display of a filmmaker’s restraint and precision — a masterwork in a career full of them. Minor spoilers ahead…

The superstar team of Steven Spielberg, Tony Kushner, and Janusz Kaminski ripping another one out of the park is the least surprising development at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival. The entirety of Spielberg’s being splashed upon the big screen, The Fabelmans sidesteps the treacly sentimentality of your typical autobiography to deliver a moving form of self-therapy: the legendary director’s heart and soul, delivered through his masterful craft. The Fabelmans is Spielberg’s most personal film, and one of the year’s best. Minor spoilers ahead…

Director Martin McDonagh reunites with Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson in The Banshees of Inisherin, a darkly comedic portrait of an imploding friendship amidst mounting pettiness. Men and their decimated kinships unraveled upon the screen, richly textured and frequently uproarious, it’s McDonagh at his best as he explores evaporating bonds, crushing loneliness, and enmity in grotesque escalation. Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson are unsurprisingly in top form in what will likely be my favorite film of the year. Minor spoilers ahead…

A knock-down-drag-out battle of wits within the confines of a hotel room, Zachary Wigon’s Sanctuary is a two-handed chamber piece for the ages. Sexy, twisted, and eager to draw blood, the film explores the whirlwind disintegration of a relationship that slowly chips away at the barriers between fantasy and reality, class and control. One of my favorites of the festival. Minor spoilers ahead…

Welcome to my dispatch from this year’s Toronto International Film Festival. As usual, I won’t be writing full reviews of everything I see at the festival, but there are plenty of notable films in this year’s slate that deserve attention. Here are the capsule reviews for 2022’s TIFF: Devotion, The Whale, My Policeman, and Sick. Minor spoilers ahead…

Coverage of TIFF’s Midnight Madness begins here! The Golden Age of Hollywood meets the bloody end of a pitchfork, Ti West’s colorful prequel is the perfect companion piece to this year’s X. Expanding Mia Goth’s performance into an unhinged showcase with a jaw-dropping, single-take monologue, Pearl leaves behind the grimy 70s porn slasher for the pastures of a technicolor nightmare. Spoilers for X and minor spoilers for Pearl ahead…

Detective Benoît Blanc is back in another intricate whodunit in Rian Johnson’s sprawling sequel, Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery. A new location, a new mystery, and a new cabal of suspicious, bumbling elites are at the center of yet another murder, and it’s up to the world-renowned gumshoe to solve the case. Glass Onion is frantic and far from the airtight elegance of its predecessor, but Johnson’s wit and craft remain electrifyingly. Frequently surprising, frequently uproarious, this is one mystery you won’t want revealed ahead of time. Minor spoilers ahead…

Another entry in this year’s Midnight Madness slate, Congolese filmmaker Jean Luc Herbulot’s Saloum is a confident genre mashup. Part Spaghetti Western, part crime thriller, part folk horror, the film packs a potent cocktail of tones within its brisk 84-minute runtime. With tinges of Robert Rodriguez and John Carpenter, coupled with a crackling performance from Yann Gael, Saloum is a lean, breakneck journey into the terrifying unknown and the wildest surprise at TIFF this year. Minor spoilers ahead…

Kicking off TIFF’s documentary slate is Jimmy Chin and Elizabeth Chai Vaserhelyi’s The Rescue, a deeper look at the daring mission to save 12 children and their soccer coach from a flooded cave in Thailand. A film naturally picking up the mantle of the filmmakers’ Oscar-winning Free Solo, it’s a rousing tale of humanity that crescendoes into an unbelievable climax of selfless individuals coming together.

I may be missing the big headliners of TIFF, but that only gives me more time to cover Midnight Madness and the festival’s less splashy titles. My first review roundup from this year’s TIFF includes an alien invasion road trip with Riz Ahmed, Jake Gyllenaal in a remake of a Danish hidden gem, and Naomi Watts in a misguided school shooting thriller. Here are the capsule reviews for Encounter, The Guilty, and Lakewood…

My TIFF 2021 coverage starts here! Kicking off this year’s Midnight Madness slate is Rob Savage’s followup to his 2020 “screenlife” hit, Host. Extrapolating COVID found footage beyond just a Zoom lobby, DASHCAM doubles down on pandemic horror to very mixed results. Ramping up the scope and intricacy - but not the ingenuity - of Host, the film gets wildly uneven mileage out of its grating protagonist and its everything-but-the-kitchen-sink terrors. Minor spoilers ahead…

This marks my second year attending Toronto International Film Festival virtually. And while I won’t be able to access some of the biggest screenings - here’s looking at you, Dune, Last Night in Soho, Spencer, and Power of the Dog - this allows me to cover a wide range of smaller films, and my favorite slate of TIFF: Midnight Madness. Some of my planned coverage includes Antoine Fuqua’s remake of the Danish thriller The Guilty, Jimmy Chin and Chai Vaserhelyi’s cave rescue doc The Rescue, and Rob Savage’s second pandemic-era horror film DASHCAM. All reviews in viewing order…

A vérité mix of fiction and documentary, Chloé Zhao’s enthralling Nomadland captures a lost sliver of American life. Frances McDormand is astounding as the understated Fern, bringing a quiet dignity to one of the most soulful performances of the year. Adapted from Jessica Bruder’s book, Nomadland jettisons melodrama and traditional narrative tensions, choosing instead to explore life on the road with lightly-fictionalized versions of real-life nomads. A graceful elegy and a hopeful portrait, Nomadland - like Zhao’s The Rider before it - is a new standard for the American western.

With its nonsensical story, unlikeable characters, and tawdry effects, Shadow in the Cloud is a flight better off grounded. Chloë Grace Moretz does her best to anchor this installment of TIFF’s Midnight Madness, but it’s mostly a weightless and messy endeavor that squanders its potential. Minor spoilers ahead…

One of only three titles in TIFF’s Midnight Madness slate this year, Madeleine Sims-Fewer and Dusty Mancinelli’s Violation is a haunting and disturbing deconstruction of the rape-revenge genre. Exacting to watch and remarkably complex, the film eschews formula and withholds catharsis to chilling effect, delivering a horror experience that is as harrowing as it is challenging. Minor spoilers ahead…

Vanessa Kirby shines in Kornél Mundruczó’s and Kata Wéber’s Pieces of a Woman, a devastating drama that details the act of living in the wake of unimaginable tragedy. The film finds considerable buoyancy in its awards-worthy performances, but struggles to escape the shadow of its searing single-take opening scene. Unable to commit to its most powerful thread, Pieces of a Woman flounders in its scattered and callow narratives. Minor spoilers below…

My TIFF 2020 coverage starts here! Regina King, in her first full-length feature, crafts a dialogue-driven triumph grounded by evocative performances, powerful debate, and a gripping timeliness. Following four Black icons of the 20th Century as they navigate the winds of change in a semi-fictional meeting of the minds, One Night in Miami hews close to its stage play roots, translating Kemp Powers’ theater into rousing, intimate cinema. Minor spoilers ahead…