Last week when I was at TIFF, I got an email from a friend back in Los Angeles: "I heard Toronto this year hasn't been stellar, but still hope you are having a good time." News travels fast: Indeed, the consensus was that the 48th edition of the festival was not particularly strong, with people blaming different factors. Was it the double strike? Was it that so many of the high-profile Venice entries didn't screen there? Was it that the Toronto world premieres were fairly lackluster?
I'd say all three were contributing factors. I've been attending TIFF for about 15 years now, give or take a pandemic, and this was the first time that it didn't feel like one-stop shopping for the fall film festivals. All of Us Strangers, The Bikeriders, The Killer, Maestro, The Mission, Poor Things and Priscilla all either played Venice or Telluride (or both) but skipped Toronto. I was lucky enough to see the Telluride premiere Janet Planet ahead of time, and the Venice premiere Gasoline Rainbow, but much of my week in Toronto was spent hearing people lament what wasn't there -- especially after Yorgos Lanthimos' film won the Golden Lion at Venice.
Still, you're not going to hear me complain. Going to a festival is a privilege, and I'll eventually get to all of the above-mentioned films, as well as others I couldn't fit into my schedule. Plus, it's not as if there weren't great movies to choose from. The below list reflects my rankings of every film that screened at Venice, Telluride or Toronto that I saw, either during the fall or previously. (As usual, choice Sundance, Berlin and Cannes titles show up as well.) Looking down the list, I'd say roughly 80 percent of these films I would categorize as at least "good" or "good enough." And more than half gave me considerable pleasure. As for the Top 10, well, those are absolute keepers, and so are several after that. However you slice it, plenty of excellent films are on our way soon.
A couple caveats about these rankings. I decided to leave off Reality, which played in Telluride, since that's already opened. I also opted not to rank Stop Making Sense, which I already adore beyond all measure, and whose IMAX restoration screening at TIFF only underlined its brilliance. It occurred to me afterward that I caught the Talking Heads concert film in the same IMAX venue that I saw Justin Timberlake + the Tennessee Kids back in 2016. As if I needed more reason to miss Jonathan Demme.
Links lead to individual reviews:
50. Riddle of Fire
49. The Teacher
48. Reptile
47. Pain Hustlers
46. Quiz Lady
45. Pet Shop Days
44. Mother, Couch
43. The Critic
42. Dear Jassi
41. Dicks: The Musical
40. Perfect Days
39. Les Indésirables
38. El Conde
37. Rustin
36. Seven Veils
35. An Endless Sunday
34. Last Summer
33. Cassandro
32. Dumb Money
31. Fingernails
30. Sleep
29. Fair Play
28. In Restless Dreams: The Music of Paul Simon
27. American Fiction
26. La Chimera
25. Monster
24. Fallen Leaves
23. Shayda
22. Hit Man
21. The Pigeon Tunnel
20. The Teachers' Lounge
19. Gasoline Rainbow
18. How to Have Sex
17. The Royal Hotel
16. Robot Dreams
15. Together 99
14. The Holdovers
13. Menus-Plaisirs Les Troisgros
12. Anatomy of a Fall
11. The Delinquents
10. The Taste of Things
9. The Boy and the Heron
8. The Beast
7. Evil Does Not Exist
6. Do Not Expect Too Much From the End of the World
5. Here
4. Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell
3. His Three Daughters
2. Janet Planet
1. The Zone of Interest
