MOVIE SCENE CANADA
TORONTO INTERNATIONAL
FILM FESTIVAL 2023
Stay tuned for Darren's review at this year's film festival.
Image credit: Courtesy of TIFF
AMERICAN FICITION
MGM/Warner Bros. Pictures | 2023 | 121 min
English professor and author Thelonious "Monk" Ellison writes a satirical novel under a pseudonym, intending to expose the hypocrisies of the publishing industry.
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BOY KILLS WORLD
VVS Films | 2023 | 111 mins
Bill Skarsgård commits bloody martial-arts mayhem as a deaf warrior trained by a mysterious shaman (The Raid’s Yayan Ruhian) to topple a far-flung dystopia in Moritz Mohr’s loony debut feature.
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DUMB MONEY
Elevation Pictures | 2023 | 104 mins
Paul Dano and Seth Rogen find themselves on opposite ends during a tug-of-war, in Craig Gillespie’s take on the outrageous battle of wits between amateur investors and hedge fund billionaires that became the infamous GameStop Wall Street scandal.
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FINESTKIND
Paramount+ | 2023 | 126 mins
Ben Foster, Toby Wallace, Tommy Lee Jones, and Jenna Ortega star in this new crime drama from Brian Helgeland about a crew of fishermen who tread dangerous waters after their debts start piling up.
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HELL OF A SUMMER
Aggregate Films | 2023 | 88 mins
The counselors of a summer camp are terrorized by a masked killer.
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KNOX GOES AWAY
Elevation Pictures | 2023 | 114 mins
Michael Keaton stars as a hitman who is diagnosed with a fast-moving form of dementia, with one last task to take care of before he can fade away.
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ONE LIFE
VVS Films | 2023 | 110 mins
The story of British humanitarian Nicholas Winton, who helped save hundreds of Central European children from the Nazis on the eve of World War II.
Image credit: Courtesy of TIFF
POOLMAN
Vertical Entertainment | 2023 | 100 mins
Chris Pine stars in a kinetic noir comedy where he plays an anxious pool cleaner who uncovers a curious conspiracy in the city of Los Angeles.
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SLY
Netflix | 2023 | 95 mins
For nearly 50 years Sylvester Stallone has entertained millions.. This retrospective documentary offers an intimate look at the Oscar-nominated actor-writer-director-producer.
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ANATOMY OF A FALL
Elevation Pictures | 2023 | 151 min
Winner of this year’s Palme d’Or, and starring German actress Sandra Hüller, Justine Triet’s 'Anatomy of a Fall' is a riveting portrait of a complex woman put on trial for the murder of her spouse.
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THE BURIAL
Amazon Studios | 2023 | 126 mins
Oscar winners Tommy Lee Jones and Jamie Foxx star in this rousing David and Goliath courtroom drama about one family’s struggle to hold onto their funeral home in the face of heartless corporate exploitation.
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THE END WE START FROM
BBC Films | 2023 | 102 mins
England, tomorrow: Forced out of London by cataclysmic flooding, a new mother (Jodie Comer) her partner (Joel Fry), and their infant make their way to his parents’ home in the countryside, only to find the situation growing increasingly desperate there, as well.
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FINGERNAILS
AppleTV | 2023 | 113 mins
Starring Jessie Buckley, Riz Ahmed, and Jeremy Allen White, Greek director Christos Nikou’s English-language debut weaves an allegory about our desire for certainty, reliance on technology, and the price we pay for losing the connection to our most primal instincts.
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HIT MAN
VVS Films | 2023 | 113 mins
The latest from Richard Linklater reunites the prolific indie auteur with Everybody Wants Some!!’s Glen Powell for a sorta-true crime comedy thriller about role-play, romance, and the precarious pursuit of self-knowledge.
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LEE
Elevation Pictures | 2023 | 116 mins
This fascinating portrait of the great American photojournalist Lee Miller, whose singular talent and ferocious tenacity gave us some of the 20th century’s most indelible images.
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ORIGIN
Elevation Pictures | 2023 | 130 mins
The unspoken system that has shaped America and chronicles how lives today are defined by a hierarchy of human divisions.
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THE PROMISED LAND
Mongrel Media | 2023 | 127 mins
In this reteaming of the star and director of A Royal Affair, Mads Mikkelsen displays his mettle as a former soldier trying to tame Jutland in 18th-century Denmark.
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WOMAN OF THE HOUR
VVS Films | 2023 | 89 mins
Anna Kendrick’s directorial debut examines uncomfortable gender dynamics with the story of Rodney Alcala’s appearance on The Dating Game in the middle of his 1970s murder spree.
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THE BOY AND THE HERON
GKids | 2023 | 124 min
Already acclaimed as a masterpiece in Japan, Hayao Miyazaki’s new film begins as a simple story of loss and love, and rises to a staggering work of imagination.
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DICKS: THE MUSICAL
A24 | 2023 | 86 mins
Larry Charles conducts an uproarious musical-comedy riff on The Parent Trap that follows a pair of identical twins who conspire to reunite their divorced and disturbingly deranged parents.
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FAIR PLAY
Netflix | 2023 | 113 mins
An unexpected promotion at a cutthroat hedge fund pushes a newly engaged couple's relationship to the brink.
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FLORA AND SON
AppleTV | 2023 | 94 mins
The latest from writer-director John Carney (Once, Sing Street) features a revelatory performance from Eve Hewson as a young mother trying to connect with her teenage son through a shared love of music.
Image credit: Courtesy of TIFF
THE HOLDOVERS
Universal Pictures Canada | 2023 | 133 mins
The disliked teacher Paul Hunham is responsible for supervising the students who are unable to return to their homes for Christmas break. He is forced to deal with one particularly rebellious student, Angus.
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NEXT GOAL WINS
Searchlight Pictures | 2023 | 103 mins
Michael Fassbender star in Taika Waititi’s comedy about the American Samoa soccer team’s attempt to make a World Cup — 12 years after their infamous 31-0 loss in 2002 World Cup qualifying.
Image credit: Courtesy of TIFF
PAIN HUSTLERS
AppleTV | 2023 | 122 mins
Emily Blunt and Chris Evans star as pharmaceutical drug reps who unwittingly help kickstart the opioid epidemic in the pursuit of financial success.
Image credit: Courtesy of TIFF
RUSTIN
Netflix | 2023 | 99 mins
George C. Wolfe brings Colman Domingo, a activist who organized the 1963 March on Washington while being forced into the background because of his sexuality.
Image credit: Courtesy of TIFF
THE ZONE OF INTEREST
Elevation Pictures | 2023 | 106 mins
The commandant of Auschwitz, Rudolf Höss, and his wife Hedwig, strive to build a dream life for their family in a house and garden next to the camp.
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