TIFF 2024 – It’s Almost a Wrap
by Thom Ernst – Film Correspondent
(September 13, 2024 – Toronto, ON) It’s been a memorable TIFF this year, with more Canadian films (feature and short) than in previous years. However, there was one loss for Canadian filmmakers, festival programmers and film festival participants when TIFF caved to pressures from protesters, many of which had likely not seen the film Russians at War.
Here are a few Canadian films (and two cheats) still left to see:
Your Tomorrow directed by Ali Weinstein, is a visual tribute to the last year of Ontario Place before it turns into a casino or spa or whatever plans the Ontario government has for it. The film screens Friday, September 13, at 12:45PM at the Scotiabank Theatre, and Saturday, September 14 at 9:40PM at the Scotiabank Theatre.
Canadian film cheat #1: Oddly, the Randy Bachman documentary, appropriately titled Takin’ Care of Business by Tyler Measom, is not Canadian. But seriously, can you get more Canadian than Bachman Turner Overdrive? There is one more screening tonight, September 13 at 3PM at the TIFF Lightbox.
Canadian film cheat #2: If you think it’s odd that a Randy Bachman documentary isn’t Canadian, what must you think of Oh, Canada, an American film directed by Paul Schrader and starring Richard Gere?The TIFF catalogue describes the film’s premise as a “protagonist confronting mortality through radical, willfully Canadian acts of self-definition.” I’m not sure what that means, but it has the ring of something that should be Canadian. Oh, Canada has three screenings left: Tonight at 5:30PM at the Roy Thompson Hall; Saturday, September 14 at 3:30PM at the VISA screening room at the Princess of Wales Theatre, and Sunday, September 15 at 5:30PM at the Scotiabank Theatre.
The Knowing is a documentary by directors Courtney Montour and Tanya Talaga. It has its final screening at 8PM this evening at the Scotiabank Theatre.
There is one more chance to catch Short Cuts 2024: Programme 04, which features the Canadian shorts On a Sunday at Eleven from director Alicia K. Harris, director Bec Pecaut’s Are You Scared To Be Yourself Because You Think You Might Fail—a title that runs the risk of being longer than the film, director Rachel Samson’s animated Out for Ice Cream and The Best from Winnipeg director Ian Bawa. The Short Cuts 2024: Programme 04 has its last screening tonight at 9:15PM at Scotiabank.
Films to watch out for when they are released:
Director R.T. Thorne’s 40 Acres is a turning point in Canadian cinema. Thorne shows signs of a Canadian film industry entering a new era, which could well lead to a more vital, vibrant, homegrown film community. 40 Acres works as a violent action film and a touching family drama. Both extremes play well together with a cast that pulls all the small bits together to form an entertaining. 40 Acres is set in the future (coinciding with at least five other films set in the near or distant future). A group of young people, overseen by a stern matriarch, Hailey, (Danielle Deadwyler) and Galen (Michael Greyeyes) solid patriarch. Hailey and Galen set up a farm protected by electrical wire and guarded with a rotating crew of lookouts. Much of the farm consists of younger people, including Emanuel (Katatem O’Connor) who discovers (in a scene almost torn from the pages of The Jungle Book) a young woman bathing in a lake.
Aberdeen is an Indigenous woman played with great care and empathy by Gail Maurice. She loses her status card and must revisit the reservation where she was born to get it replaced. But Aberdeen is troubled: She drinks too much, gets into fights, engages in petty arguments, and refuses to play by society’s rules. The film also stars Billy Meratsky as one of Aberdeen’s closest friends, a non-gender-specific cross-dresser.
Young Werther, the feature debut from Toronto director José Avelino Gilles Corbett Lourenço and starring Douglas Booth as the bright, wealthy and abundantly confident Werther. Based on the 18th-century novella, The Sorrows of Young Werther Lourenço has created a bright updated comedy of social mores and errors. Werther is a bundle of uncontained confidence that doesn’t allow for any real critical thinking, particularly when it comes to romance. Allison Pill stars as Werther’s intended love interest who, despite being engaged to the mature, devoted and hard-working Albert (Patrick J. Adams), is somewhat seduced by Werther’s attention. Booth does an admirable job of maintaining Werther’s level of energy and behaviour that occasionally dips into the obnoxious.
Measures for a Funeral is a slow-burn biopic that mixes fact and fiction to tell the story of renowned violinist Kathleen Parlow. This film from Sofia Bohdanowicz, which, when translated to Canadian, means “It’s Probably Going to be Good.” Deragh Campbell stars as a woman determined to find out more about Parlow.
Do I Know You From Somewhere? achieves the remarkable by giving context to the strange, and heartbreaking phenomenon of ‘disappearing’ after a relationship. Director Arianna Martinez, along with her two leads Olive (Caroline Bell) and Benny (Ian Ottis Goff), present a tangible argument for pushing truth through a filter of fiction.
One final weekend of TIFF films then King Street can have its streetcars back and Toronto can return to normal.
Thom Ernst is a Toronto-based film critic and writer and an active member of the (TFCA) Toronto Film Critics’ Association. His work has appeared in various publications including Playback Magazine, The Toronto Star, and The National Post. He is also a contributor to Original Cin. He was host, interviewer and producer of televisions’ longest running movie program Saturday Night at the Movies on TVOntario.
