by Thom Ernst – Film Correspondent
(September 7, 2024 – Toronto, ON) Director Mike Downie’s documentary The Tragically Hip: No Dress Rehearsal is one of the buzz films from Canada getting its World Premiere at the festival. You can’t avoid the hype if you find yourself near the apex of the festival at Toronto’s King and John Street. Champions of Downie’s film assure me that The Tragically Hip: No Dress Rehearsal is a balanced look at one of Canada’s most beloved bands and not just a musical love fest for fans.
A third act steps up with an honest insider’s glimpse into the dynamics of prominent personalities working and not working together. Downie is a seasoned enough filmmaker to know that celebrating without insight or critique is a missed opportunity, even if the documentary features your younger brother.
The Tragically Hip: No Dress Rehearsal will be seen as episodes once it leaves the festival. But for those who like to binge-watch their programs, TIFF offers the entire series at a 256-minute running time, which clocks in at over 4 hours.
The film had its World Premiere at 6:30 p.m. Thursday evening. Word has it that the band, the film’s director, and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, the film’s special guest, attended the screening.
The Tragically Hip: No Dress Rehearsal will screen one more time on Friday, September 13, at 6:30 p.m., at the Scotiabank Theatre 12.
For those who don’t like sitting through four hours of a single film, there is the option of the Short Cuts Programme. Jason Anderson leads the programming in the short films category. Of the 48 short films, 21 are homegrown. Short Cuts is divided into six digestible programmes combining Canadian short films with international short films.
Programme One features Fantas from Halima Elkhatabi, the animated Maybe Elephants, a Norwegian/Canadian co-production from Torill Kove, welima’q from shalanjourdy and the anticipated short Julian and the Wind from actor and director, Connor Jessup. This will be Jessop’s ninth short film. Screens Thursday September 12, 5:45 pm Scotiabank Theatre
Programme Two features Alexander Farah’s One Day This Kind, Pier-Phillippe Chevigny’s Mercinaire, and Alison McAlpine’s perfectly strangeness. Not to be missed is Every Other Weekend, which has a recently single mother anticipating a romantic night. Directors Mick Robertson and Margaret Rose’s make waiting for the ‘babysitter’ feel like a David Fincher thriller. If you missed last night’s screening, it will play again Tuesday, September 10, 1:30 pm Scotiabank Theatre.
Programme Three includes Serve the Country from Fabián Velasco and Milos Mitrovic, Who Loves the Sun from Arshia Shakiba, which won the Orizzonti Award for Best Short Film at the Venice International Film Festival earlier today, and Amanda Strong’s Inkwo for When the Starving Return. Screens Saturday, September 7, 3:30 pm Scotiabank Theatre and Thursday, September 12, 3:30 pm.
Programme Four features Alicia K. Harris’ On a Sunday at Eleven, Rachel Samson’s animated Out for Ice Cream, and Ian Bawa’s The Best. Screens Friday, September 13, at 9:15 pm at Scotiabank Theatre.
Programme Five screens Soulmates, a bizarre but engaging play on innuendoes, fetishes, and old-school bartering from co-directors James Rathbone and Mike Feswick. Also on the bill is Theodore Ushev’s The Wolf and Ethiopia/France/Canada collaborative, Alazar by Beza Hailu Lemma. Screens Tuesday, September 10, 6:45pm, Scotiabank Theatre and Saturday, September 14, Scotiabank Theatre.
Programme Six has After Sunday by Omoloda Ajao, Catherine Bovin’s Anotc ota ickwaparin akoslin, Helen Lee’s Canadian/South Korean co-pro, Tenderness, and to prove that the apples in Canada don’t fall far from the tree is Arshile Khanjian Egoyan’s Before They Joined Us. Screens Wednesday, September 11, 9:15pm Scotiabank Theatre and Saturday, September 14, 3:45 pm Scotiabank Theatre.
Click here to find the TIFF schedule page.
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.
