Tiff 2022: Every Drama Movie Breakdown
TIFF 2022: Every Family Friendly and Fantasy Movie Breakdown
The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) ispremiering some exciting new moviesthis year in what will be a massive return after two years of Covid-19. For 10 days, from Sep. 8th to Sep. 18th, Toronto will be the home to some of the most anticipated films of the year in a wide range of genres. There’s a rich variety of biographical and historical films making a world premier at the festival, and these are the movies that are focusing on real lives and real stories across the globe.
Biography and History Movies at TIFF
Marie Kreutzer follows up a string of perceptivefilms about women’s relationshipsto each other and social institutions (Gruber is Leaving, We Used to Be Cool, The Ground Beneath My Feet) with the new filmCorsage. The already acclaimed Cannes breakout from the Austrian filmmaker stars Vicky Krieps (ofOldandPhantom Thread) as the 19th century Austrian Empress Elisabeth. Withvisually stunning cinematographyfrom Judith Kaufmann and an incongruous but beautiful score from Camille, the sumptuous and slightly fictionalized picture details the extravagant lifestyle of an older elite class, albeit with a wicked sense of humor.
In what is surely one of the most bizarre cinematic combinations of the year,American Psychodirector Mary Harroncasts Ben Kingsley and Ezra Miller as an older and younger Salvador Dalí inDalíland. The film will focus more exclusively on the famed surrealist painter’s relationship with his wife Gala, played by the legendary Barbara Sukowa. Rupert Graves and Suki Waterhouse co-star in what will certainly be aninteresting biographical film.
Ever Deadly
Ever Deadlyis a biographical documentary film about the recent Polaris Prize-winning musician Tanya Tagaq. Produced by the National Film Board of Canada, the movie is co-created by Tagaq with the ever-playful filmmaker Chelsea McMullan (My Prairie Home), who implements concert footage, interviews and experimental footage in Nunavut, and delightful animation from the Inuk artist Shuvinai Ashoona. The film will be a vibrant combination of these styles as a meditation not just on Tagaq’s family history, but on Indigenous culture, music, and Canada itself.
Mariupolis 2
The screening ofMariupolis 2, the final documentary from Lithuanian filmmaker and anthropologist Mantas Kvedaravičius, promises to be one of the most touching and melancholic moments at TIFF. Kvedaravičius was a fearless researcher and documentarian, often immersing himself in war zones; he returned to the Ukrainian port city of Mariupol (after filming there in 2016) to make a follow-up film during the Siege, when Russian troops invaded.
Related:Ukrainian Films: Some of the Best Movies Ever Made
While filmingMariupolis 2, he was tragically shot and killed, and his loving wife Hanna Bilobrova brought his film back home to finish. A melancholic tone poem about war and death,Mariupolis 2will be a sad swan song to a brilliant career cut short, and a brutally raw glimpse at the horrors of the Russian war against Ukraine.
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North of Normal
Canadian filmmaker Carly Stone is following up her sweet filmThe New Romanticwith this adaptation of Cea Sunrise Person’s memoirNorth of Normal. Person grew up in the wilderness of Canada with a perpetually stoned young mother during the 1970s, and the film follows her path out of the woods and off to Paris, where Person became a famous runway model. The great Sarah Gadon stars inNorth of Normalalongside Amanda Fix, Robert Carlyle, and James D’Arcy, and is scored by the warm synth-pop band Electric Youth.
Pray for Our Sinners
The Irish journalist and documentarian Sinéad O’Shea follows up her powerful but painful filmA Mother Brings Her Son to Be Shotwith the new documentaryPray for Our Sinners. Compiling interviews with a wide range of people across Ireland, the film constructs a damning narrative about the mistreatment of women and children in the country, focusing on certain ‘normal’ citizens who are confronting the violence and trauma of state-sanctioned homes for babies and women where so much brutality occurs.
The Woman King
Filmmaker Gina Prince-Bythewood has been building her wonderful career up to this very moment at TIFF — from the intimate explorations of sexuality and the Black experience inLove & BasketballandBeyond the Lights, to managing ensemble casts of women inThe Secret Life of Bees, and finally mastering action withCloak & DaggerandThe Old Guard.
Related:Best Movies Directed by Black Women
Now she has helmed the epic historical action filmThe Woman King, which tells the story of the Agojie, an all-female group of militaristic warriors who ruled the African Kingdom of Dahomey. Often compared to mythical Amazon women, the Agojie were a fearless, matriarchal group who are wonderful subjects for a big film like this.Viola Davis plays Nanisca, a 19th century warrior woman training new troops of the Agojie regime as they prepare for war.
Weird: The Al Yankovic Story
The title says it all. After four decades in the music and movie industry, the great Weird Al Yankovic is getting a proper musician’s biopic, though it promises to be almost as parodic as his music, especially since it incongruously starsHarry Potterhimself, Daniel Radcliffe.Weird: The Al Yankovic Storyis actually a feature film variation on a Funny or Die short from 2010, which hilariouslystarred Aaron Paulas Yankovic at the height of Paul’sBreaking Badfame (Paul was supposed to reprise the role, but came down with Covid-19 right before production).
Whether the film holds up with a full feature length runtime remains to be seen, but considering how beloved both Radcliffe and Yankovic are, it’s certain to be delightful. It also marks the most popular and anticipated release from The Roku Channel, who are putting their hat into the ring of streaming services with this big, fun, festival-ready film.Weird: The Al Yankovicmight be a bright good time in the midst of many darker, more serious films at TIFF.
TIFF 2022: Every Movie Broken Down by Genre
