We’re posting daily picks and pans throughout the festival, to help you choose what to see (or avoid!) from the films scheduled that day.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
OUR PEOPLE WILL BE HEALED
Documentarian Alanis Obomsawin’s 50th project looks at the ways a community in Northern Manitoba is decolonizing school curriculums for Cree students from nursery to Grade 12. See review.
Screens at 4:45 pm at AGO.
MARY GOES ROUND
The first feature from Canadian director Molly McGlynn follows a Toronto-based addiction counsellor as she travels to Niagara Falls to reconnect with family after getting busted for a DUI. A sleeper among this year’s Canadian titles. See review.
Screens at 3 pm at TIFF Bell Lightbox 3.
Killing Of A Sacred Deer
KILLING OF A SACRED DEER
Yorgos Lanthimos’s latest is another understated horror set in a deceptively mundane universe of the Greek auteur’s making. Nicole Kidman gives a standout performance as the unsuspecting wife of a cardiac surgeon receiving mysterious visits from teenage boy. See review.
Screens at 9 pm at the Elgin.
3/4
Bulgarian director Ilian Metev’s first narrative feature is a charming and melancholy meditation on familial loss with a subtly affecting visual conceit. It’s all about the quiet rhythms of life and a real gem in this year’s lineup. See review.
Screens at 9:45 pm at AGO.
NOT RECOMMENDED
SUBURBICON
Director George Clooney does his best Coen Brothers impersonation with this zany satire about white people in 1959 middle America whipping themselves into a frenzy over the arrival of a Black family. The Coens wrote the script, but it feels like an uneven take on Blood Simple. Oscar Isaac is the best thing about it. See review.
Screens at 6:30 pm at Princess of Wales.
WILD CARDS
BODIED
Prolific music video director’ Joseph Kahn’s Midnight Madness opener about a nerdy white guy infiltrating Oakland’s battle rap scene is intentionally offensive, but also critical of the culture it seeks to elevate with thrilling face-off sequences. Written by Toronto-born battle rapper Alex “Kid Twist” Larsen.
Screens at 1:45 pm at Scotiabank 4.
I, Tonya
I, TONYA
Margot Robbie as 90s figure skater-turned-tabloid sensation Tonya Harding? Yes, please.
Screens at 11:30 am at Roy Thomson Hall.
See our full directory of reviews, updated constantly, here.
kevinr@nowtoronto.com | @kevinritchie
