TIFF Wrap: Did La Bola Negra deserve People's Choice?

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Every year you're like, okay, tiff, how are we going to make it through this? And then you do. I didn't make my roast chicken yesterday. I'm going to make it today. And that's surviving. That's what that's called. Okay, let's start with the People's Choice Award, which went to the film La Bola Negra. It's been 15 years since a non-English film won this award. Last one, Where Do We Go Now? That's a shout out to Nadine Labecki. I think it's the highest grossest Arabic film of all time. Brad, what do you make of this choice, La Bola Negra? Well, look, I mean, we're talking about people's choice. Obviously, we're not talking about my choice, right? So as far as people's choice goes, I mean, I think it's a fine one, especially when you look at the movies that were run, like I Play Rocky and Being Human. I certainly preferred La Bola Negra to those movies, like as in it was like the slightly less annoying choice out of all of those movies. But like, look, La Bola Negra. I mean, this is exactly the kind of movie that sweeps an audience off their feet because it's an epic love story about gay love that has been repressed across generations. It's got multiple characters. A lot of the story centers around the Spanish Civil War. And a lot of it is taken from the poetry. A lot of the poetry is taken from the poetry of Federico Lorca. A lot of it is based on some of his missing work. And there's a lot of speculative fiction imagining his story, introducing him as a character into this movie and building off of that. And like, I mean, think of this movie as like the English patient by way of La La Land, right? In the sense that it's that kind of an epic journey, but with this big musical sweep and a lot of the pizzazz and spectacle that people absolutely die for. I myself. Like, I thought the characters were a bit thin and archetypal. And I think a lot of that spectacle and a lot of that the grand sweep covers for how little story there is there across three hours. Yeah. Only you could go, "Grand sweep, not me, thank you, but I'm happy for you people." You are not Lawrence of Arabia. You don't have the goods. First of all, I just want to just acknowledge the extraordinary act that Rad just pulled off. He just said, "This movie, not for me, but also the runner ups, also not for me." All in one answer, right? Like, so we should say the TIFF People's Choice Award, that's the big award of TIFF, right? Historically, that has been the big award at this festival. The runner up for this award is a film called I Play Rocky. Terry, you thought that movie had a better chance of winning this award. It did not. But let's have a listen to the trailer. This movie is about having a belief in yourself. It's about going the distance. I put my heart and soul on the page. If I'm not willing to live up to what I wrote, then what's the point? So do you believe in me or not? Terry, first of all, I'm swept by just that trailer. Love that movie. Because you know why? We love a grand sweep. Unlike some people. No, I love a good movie. I couldn't handle all the physical action that was happening here while that trailer was playing. Oh, Lord. Well, you can't handle my love of movies. That's a general rule. Talk to me about your love of I Play Rocky. Get into it. I love movies that sweep an audience away, that get them excited, and this is a movie that does that. This is the story of Sylvester Stallone trying to get the movie Rocky made. So it's super meta, you know, an underdog story telling an underdog story. Because Sylvester Stallone, he insisted that he play Rocky, and then the studios were like, "We're not so sure about this." You know. Yeah. It's like the ongoing thing of them upping the ante of how much they're going to pay him to not play Rocky just for the script all through it. We've got this groundbreaking performance by Anthony Ippolito, who nobody has heard of before this movie, and he's going to be on the lips of everybody after seeing this film. It is, you know, you see something that is kind of romantic about Hollywood, and at the same time is showing a big problem in Hollywood, that we should let artists actually fulfill the dream that they have, because they're the artists. And so rarely does that happen. I'm going to swipe away by your description. I'm telling you, this is a movie that really works for people. It is a story that is about believing in yourself and taking the risks. And I don't know, I had a really good time. I also thought it was going to win. You know, Peter Farrelly won People's Choice Award in 2018 for Green Book. Now, historically, that has not been a great win. We all recognize that. But he is a filmmaker that makes movies that people tend to get swept away by and really love. People-pleasers. Crowd-pleasers. Crowd-pleasers. And I sat in that premiere. I didn't go to the premiere. I went to the second premiere. And people were cheering. People were rapturous. And that is the feeling that you get for a People's Choice Award winner. And I was really shocked when I saw the list, and equally shocked that Being Human was the second runner-up. I mean, it's only, I think, the second time in history that an opening night film from the Toronto Film Festival found itself in the placement of a People's Choice Award. The first one, I think, was Decline of the American Empire. So, a long time ago. And so, that really says something about being human. And again, it is called People's Choice. It is what excites the people, you know? It's meant to be. In fairness to the people who are anti-Sweep at this table, people were also rapturous at the Green Book screening. And in retrospect, that does not necessarily hold up as the greatest sort of crowd reaction. But having said that, I feel like there's something to be said about it. I mean, I think it's a big thing. In fairness to the people who are anti-sweep at this table, people were also rapturous at the Greenberg screening. But having said that, I feel like there's something about I Play Rocky and this story that, to me, I was swept by the trailer, man. I was like, I'm ready to go. You didn't love this movie. I mean, don't get me wrong. Like, a lot of the moments that get the audience on their feet, I felt that because Peter Farrelly, he will always win on comedic chops. I mean, the man knows how to wring a lot of laughs out of this material. And absolutely, I described it as like this guy can do like the one, two cross jab, an uppercut of laughs, the laugh scenario. I think where this movie fell short for me is a I mean, like the kind of emotional notes it has to hit at the end felt cheapen because it's very much piggybacking on all your sentiment for the original Rocky. And then it also like I mean, the whole idea of why, why do we need to tell the story of making Rocky when you're not even going to kind of grapple with the cultural and political context around Rocky? Because if you think about the movie Rocky, it is based on and the movie acknowledges this is based on Sylvester Stallone seeing Chuck Wepner last 15 rounds against Muhammad Ali in a fight that took place just like how many months after Rumble in the Jungle. So basically in that political context of Muhammad Ali having to fight the American system, fight his draft dodge has been outspoken as a black voice. And then then the movie that gets made is the one about the white guy that lasted 15 rounds with him. It's about the underdog. I mean, he made the story about Ali was not the underdog. But I mean, again, I mean, the underdog was Chuck. Like, I mean, I do enjoy that when I get to come in and go like, you're both right. You know, because I do think like the movie Rocky has its own cultural footprint now. You're not even going to explore that. You're not going to explore like the political context of the U.S. and why people gravitated towards this story about a white man who can last that long with a loudmouthed black man as champion. But he wasn't making the story of that fight, right? He was inspired by that story. It's a very different thing. And then also, on top of that, and that's why this is, by the way, this is also appropriate that the Green Book director directed this. Because, you know, just like Green Book. You meant that derogatorily. Well, Rocky being yet another story about like, hey, let's make a story about the white guy in proximity to a great black man. Green Book and Rocky, they have some connective tissue on that one. I will say, if I show up to this movie, if I show up to I Play Rocky, I think I'm showing up for the thing that Terry's talking about. No, of course. The idea of like there is a newer cultural footprint of like, hey, this person insisted on making this film in this way. And then it created its own separate legacy. But I also would have to agree like that feels like, oh, that's a question to be answered somewhere in the script. So I feel like you're both right. Usually I like going like, ah, this guy's more right. This guy's more right. You feel like she's Muhammad Ali, but I lasted 15 rounds longer. So we're both winners in that extent. I would never describe you as that. I want to talk about an interesting reversal that happened, which is like we had a non-English film win the People's Choice Award. We had an English language film win the People's Choice Award for international film, which is Elsinore. That is a movie that you said, Terry, it broke you. Broke me. Why did it break you? What happened? It is a true story of Ian Christensen who played Hamlet on stage at the Old Vic as he was. was Dying of AIDS, and it is played by Andrew Scott. I am now calling the paper towel at the light box the Andrew Scott tissues because I needed all of them for this movie. It will break you. It is an incredible performance. Andrew Scott's going to win the Academy Award for Best Actor. I think it's really hard to imagine anybody else winning this. Matt Damon, but sure. Poor Matt right now. Matt is in a fetal position right now. He needs all the Andrew Scott tissues because of that performance and how it came out of the festival circuit. But it is – so to answer your question, Elsinore won the International People's Choice. Elsinore doesn't seem like an international movie, but it is a British movie, so it qualifies as International People's Choice. The People's Choice Award, La Bola Negra, is chosen first. So when it won, it was taken out of contention for International People's Choice. It's a little confusing, and I think TIFF needs to figure this out a little bit better. Clarify it a little bit more. And then Andrew Scott comes out with this wonderful statement, so it's definitely confusing. But Elsinore is one of my faves of the festival, so I'm not mad about any of it. I will say, I am here for as long as Andrew Scott wants to make movies and make us all weep. That is a thing that I'm interested in. But before we get into the overall sort of festival vibe, I want to talk about some of the movies and also want to talk about some of the themes that are running through them. Rad, for you, as you sort of watch all these movies, there was a couple of TIFFs ago that was like, there's a lot of body horror that's kind of running through. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. What kind of continuity do you notice this year? What kind of themes that are connected? I have to give credit to Amy Nicholson in the L.A. Times, because I wouldn't have actually noticed, because I wouldn't have clocked this if it wasn't for her piece, where she clocked that. There's a lot of movies about actors and, like, actors, like Elsinore being one of them, and I didn't catch Elsinore. But basically a lot of actors, like, fighting for these roles that they're being counted out for. I mean, of course, I play Rocky falling into that as well. Jesse Eisenberg's the debut. Jesse, well, that was like a sub, yeah. That's a great example, where Julianne Moore is a housewife trying to make it in community theater as an escape from her life. Closing Night, starring Sarah Paulson as an actor trying to fight with her way. And then, of course, then Misty Green, the movie directed by Chris Rock, about a black woman trying to make it in this industry. So that seems to be the, that was like kind of the most noticeable trend among a lot of the big ticket pictures at TIFF. I don't know what that says about, like, you know, as that being a trend at TIFF. I wonder if it's because, you know, the studios that are programming movies at TIFF has got this idea that us Toronto audiences, we love to reward movies like La La Land and movies about people in the entertainment business and tell these stories of Hollywood. The way that you said La La Land was so loaded. Movies like La La Land, yeah, yeah. It did win people's choice, you know. And I'm familiar with this. But, Terry, what about you? What themes did you notice running through TIFF this year? Yeah, I did notice. I did notice the actors on actors. I saw 32 movies at the festival and 16 of them were Canadian. So I had a real focus on Canadian movies. And another theme that was running through, and, you know, guilty as guilty is charged, but it's something that I'm really tapped into right now. There are a lot of movies about caregiving and, like, an incredible number of movies. So there's Neverman, there's Strong Son, All of a Sudden, which is an absolutely beautiful movie, Japanese and French, Tender, Loving Care, the Mike Lee movie. A Wild Horse Nine has, there's some caregiving in it, the Martin McDonagh. Tangles, which is an animated movie about Alzheimer's. Diary of an Old Man. Wow, that's a lot of caregiving. And It's My Time. They're all movies that have a caregiving element. So I really think that that is sneaking into, I think, where filmmakers find themselves at a certain stage of life as their parents or people that they love are aging and it's impacting how they're seeing the world. Do you think it's like a people who see Jesus on toast? Like, you see caregiving in the world because you host a caregiving podcast and so you're like, oh, I am paying attention to our caregiving and showing up. Whereas the baby boomers are all of that age. Well, the baby boomers are the seniors, right? We're now, the Gen X and the Millennials are the ones taking care of the baby boomers. The first Gen of the baby boomers are all turning 80 this year. So this is, and I mean, the list is the list. If you see as many as I do, you see that trend, right? You start to see the trend, 100%. I do want to pivot to the Canadian films because I feel like there's a few movies that are like that. One of the few that I want to talk about is particularly the one that I want to start with is Ladies and Gentlemen, Brian Mulroney, which won the People's Choice Midnight Madness Award. Such an unlikely thing to say out loud, just as a sentence. Let's have a listen to the trailer. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Brian Mulroney. There are no great men. There are only ordinary men who rise to meet great challenges. I'm a Mulroney man. Ladies and gentlemen, Brian Mulroney is directed by Matthew Rankin. I will tell you that I will follow Matthew Rankin into the sun. I mean, I just love his work and I love the tone that he does. Why is there so much buzz around this film, Brad? I mean, the dude made a Midnight Madness movie around Brian Mulroney. A documentary film, would you say? If you can call it a documentary. Yeah, because the thing is, I mean, when we say that, it's like it is like a documentary as the most kaleidoscopic acid trip through Asia. 80s, 70s, 80s ephemera. I mean, this is like, yeah, he's got this archival footage of Brian Mulroney, but also like WWF and like Atari graphics. And it's all just muddled together. It is a bonkers ride that is absolutely hilarious. I had so much fun with it. He's having fun with that history of Brian Mulroney's rise to power. But then beyond that and beyond the kind of the wackiness of it all, he is kind of, you know, exploring what is it? What is what is progressive consumption? What does conservatism mean? And kind of how that rise of Brian Mulroney's campaign style, how it parallels kind of where the conservative party, the way where their rhetoric has gone in recent years. So it is a movie that sneakily packs a punch. I will say I ran into Matthew Rankin last year at the Kingston Film Festival. And I was talking to him about it. I was like, what do you know? What are you working on now? And he's like, well, I'm making a movie about Brian Mulroney. I said, what are you talking about? I said, yeah, it's an archival footage film about Brian Mulroney. But really, the thing that I'm trying to do is figure out how to tell the story of modern conservatism and how we got to this place. Is that a thing that he succeeded at? Do you think the movie works in terms of orienting you to where conservatism has arrived? It worked for me. Yeah. And maybe because I'm just attuned to like where he's going with this. Right. But I could see I've seen so many people reacting to it. Like that was nothing. He's just he's just giving Brian Mulroney a pat on the back. Like, no, he's not like that's like it's like if he's giving him a pat on the back, that's like the ultimate warrior giving out of the Brian. Brian Mulroney, a pat on the back as if that is like something to take genuinely or sincerely. Yeah, I haven't. Listen, I haven't seen it yet. But I've every everything that I've heard about the film. Like, I'm just so excited to actually get my hands on it. Terry, you've seen a lot of Canadian films. The stiff. What stands out for you? Strong, strong year. I was thrilled to see Sunburn win Best Canadian Feature. I have a text to Rad from mid-August and all caps. You have to see Sunburn. Return the favor. I told you about Blue Heron last year. You put me on to Sunburn. Yeah. Tell people about Sunburn. Sunburn is a movie set in one day, set in St. Jamestown, directed by Servil Pobletta. And it is the story of six kids in their day, all at different times of their life changing. It knows exactly what it is. It is squarely understanding who these characters are, where they're going. You can feel the heat of the day off the screen. The performances are spectacular. So not only are we going to see this director in this country do amazing things, but I want to watch every single one of those actors. I think it's going to be a great movie that we meet in this film. It really is a great success, I think. And I loved a couple of movies from Quebec. Toy Gun Bandit is a really, really incredible, kind of full of propulsion, action-y movie of a 15-year-old who makes a couple of bad decisions that go really wrong. And also L'Otra, excuse my French, but it is a story of a man who loses the bottom half of his leg to cancer. And he's in the hospital. And it's like a claustrophobic, kind of, thriller of what is going on in his mind, what's real, what's not. And it is really, really well made. So those ones. I also liked In Alaska. Great movie. And archival footage movie, the Terry Fox documentary, Run, Terry, Run. Oh, I haven't heard anything about this. It's exceptional. They played it really late in the festival. So it was running into the Terry Fox run yesterday. That's right. And it's a really successful movie. You're immersed in Terry's world. And you're seeing things that you hadn't seen before. And there's a lot of people. It was a long time ago. You know, it was 1980. It was 46 years ago. There are people who aren't as familiar with what that looked like for him as he set out from the East Coast to run across this country. And it really deserves to be seen. Sean Menard did a great job. Man, Terry, I'm excited to hear about that because actually I didn't know that there was a Terry Fox doc. So I'm really excited to check that out. OK, we are going to take a quick break. We'll be back in just a moment. This is number one entertainment news podcast. I've spent more time with Taylor Swift than most other people. We're media pros. We hosted the Verity screening. Besties. Howie has become the hottest Backstreet Boy. Said no one but you ever. Ever. And insiders who have seen it all. IRL. Oscars, Golden Globes, you name it. We have been there with access to the biggest talent. Welcome to In 3, Patrick J. Adams. Thank you for having me. The fun starts in three. You know who's not going to survive this? Dad talk. Oh, new episode. Mondays and Thursdays. days my name is alameen abdul mahmoud and this is commotion and we are talking about this year's tiff with rats i'm playing terry hart who have seen every film i believe at this year's festival rad this was your 25th tiff talk to me about the general vibe this year you know it's interesting i mean because we exist when we operate through tiff we we exist in our own silos right like we have our assignments and stuff so for me it was like rocking and rolling going between the screenings that i'm assigned to see and whatever the parties that i get invited to whatever and it was good but i mean the vibe i hear from a lot of people that it was an off year um it was it was i mean there wasn't as much excitement on the streets and it's interesting because i mean i think that's a vibe that carried over even from the can film festival like the can film festival was certainly like a down year you felt it was very muted you felt even like uber drivers in can were saying it's like oh it doesn't seem like attract a lot of attention um and and and you see even in the movies that came over from can like not they were you didn't have a lot of attention to the like last year where it was like it was just an accident and the secret agent like there wasn't anything from can that really blew the roof off uh this year like those movies last year and so that i think carried over into tiff where there wasn't except for one movie on for that i got to see there wasn't a lot of movies that blew the roof off i will say that like terry so let me ask you terry so your 31st year in terms of like assessing the general vibe this year what's what's your take what's your yeah i i i mean stop the presses i agree with rad whoa it's happened it seems to be muted and you know i said that i play rocky played through the roof and elsinore played through the roof i mean the ovation for andrew scott was huge but one of the things that i noticed is leaving the theater it's like people have that big emotion and previous years you'd walk out on the streets and people would still be buzzing and now it's like you walk out on the streets and people are just not as buzzing yeah and and i don't know what we had a really good weather this festival and i know people are like why are you talking about the weather it has a huge impact that changes yeah it really does and we had a good weather this year so there just seemed to be we did not have a hotel that was the host hotel on king street this year that was different that's a fundamental difference so things were more spread out yeah and um yeah so i did feel it was quieter we didn't have any like we had big stars but we didn't have single name stars we didn't have like the denzel we didn't have the angelina we didn't have the brad we didn't have the taylor swift the taylor you know yeah um so i i feel like this everything was just ratcheted down a couple notches i think it's worth talking about this as a general trend because like you know when we think about the big movies that are coming out this fall for example digger tom cruise um that's an in your reach a movie um you know birdman opened at i believe it was venice you know like the idea that in your reach of this this movie is coming out and it's not going to any festivals they're just gonna go straight to the theaters but people are like they want to see a tom cruise movie you know uh brad pitt has the beast in me um i'm sorry the heart of the beast that's entirely different um the social reckoning which is aaron sorkin's uh follow-up to uh the social media film uh there's something to be said about how none of these films are opening at tiff they're just studios are maybe stepping aside from festivals what's your reaction to that i mean i think that's absolutely true especially when you point it to something like digger which i think is premiering tonight so it was ready to launch at a festival from the beginning of the year and i think it's going to be a really good director who almost every one of his movies launched a festival that's right um and like a festival mainstay right yeah exactly and it's it's just i think it just signals this moment where especially the big studios they are caught they're wary of festivals because there's too many critics at festivals right and you guys exactly there's us right and so like lately studios have been preferring to show their movies to influencers where opinions can be more uh guaranteed in some ways positive reactions to movies are more guaranteed so why why show uh why do you think why why premiere your movie in front of a bunch of critics where you you run the risk of them slagging your movie killing the momentum of your movie instead of just going to your influencers first where you know you could like kind of where the first out the gate reactions will be largely positive and you could build momentum off that so that's why we're seeing this trend of a lot of the big studio movies that are you would typically have launched their awards contenders into festival opting not to and you even look at like and when we're talking about digger that's a warner brothers movie look at their strategy last year sinners and one battle after another neither went first of all they also performed pretty well exactly both in box office and don't reinforce their argument that strategy that strategy has kind of paid off i what's your sense of the yeah i agree with all that i would also say that toronto has another uh hurdle on top of that which is we are a public festival so when you're talking about the other festivals yes there are critics there in toronto there's public you you're showing your movie to 500 people who can all jump on letterboxd i'll jump on their own social media and say whatever they want about their films so that's an extra vulnerability for movies that are hoping to go the distance in terms of award season or movies that are hoping to sell that's right so there's a real vulnerability there now i think social media has changed the game and also i think that you know you mentioned sinners last year i will add to that everything everywhere all at once those two movies really changed the game in terms of how the the long memory of voters used to be what people would say like voters can't remember a movie that was released before september come award season so you know now it seems we can um so that i think has changed the trajectory of how the strategy of when movies are released so i think there's a lot of things at play here and also i mean there are fewer movies being made that should be for contention of film festivals a lot of those movies that would have been considered film festival movies previously are now limited series on streaming yeah i think that's a really good point i think that's a really good point yeah i think that's true yeah it's a very big difference in terms of what people and there's criticism when they do put movies in that shouldn't be there okay i'm sensitive to the point that you just raised like this idea of okay if there's so many different avenues to reach people but then it sort of raises a larger question of like do we still think that the festival place is still a place of prestige because that's what i associate a festival with right like the idea of like prestigious films debut at festivals right that's the expectation that's the expectation that like why you go to a film festival and if i'm suddenly looking at like the big tom cruise film if i'm looking at one battle after another and going like that's the best film of last year and also it didn't go to any of the festivals do you suddenly go like well what's a what's the festival for yeah i mean i think that we've seen tiff respond to that in a way by adding the prime time section so we now have we have a section during the film fest we have a section of the film festival that um programs tv shows that programs the film festival and we have a section miniseries i love the way movie critics say the words tv shows listen there's nobody listen i was really happy to see gary oldman here in slow horses i love that show you know i really enjoyed carrie yeah i love the premiere carrie's fantastic you know yaga the new canadian series is in there so nobody's mad about that but what what i'm suggesting is that it has changed and yes there are still prestigious movies that are in film festivals it's just not the only option anymore yeah people are allowed to and again we saw this the business doesn't stay the same the business changes the kind of movies that were happening in the early aughts when tiff went from being you know the really regarded as the festival of festivals to be a launching pad was when movies changed to the independent world of movies we had miramax coming on strong we had box searchlight movies that were changing the world and everything was coming to tiff since then and certainly post-pandemic what we've seen is the kind of movies that are made are going to streaming services turning into limited series like when we talk about i play rocky and you suggest you know where is that b storyline of what was happening there's just not enough time in a movie that's what happens in a limited series in a movie you have to choose what you are talking about and what you're not talking about so i think that that is a bigger question whether then um do film festivals matter anymore they do they're just not the only thing that matters for prestige right so i do want to piggyback off something she's saying there right because i mean and this is where i think tiff in terms of this evolution of festivals and in terms of this general withdrawal of of these big studio movies from festivals and it's not just tiff it's like can and venice and tell you right as well in terms of that tiff has a particular advantage in the people's aspect of it in the fact that it is a public festival because what you do because you know the one thing that studios will come to tiff for is i mean on the one hand they're afraid of those multiplicity of voices on the other hand they do love those very enthusiastic toronto audiences that'll give a standing ovation to a turd sometimes right so wait they love that but um but the thing about tiff is because it is it has that public i mean the tiff is like you know like from sundance being the people's festival can and and berlin are not festivals that the public can attend yeah so that's why a lot of the world premiere movies that we got a lot of the the biggest ones were movies that they would assume will play well with an audience for instance a chris rock comedy a seth rogan and a kendrick comedy i'm not i'm not saying mr green played well with audiences but i'm saying those movies that have a shot at that people's choice award like i play rocky and like your mother your mother your mother they're they're they're willing to put those movies that could play that could compete for the people's choice awards in those world premiere slots at tiff i one of my favorite things is like when you say a thing and terry's like the thing you just said makes me have a million. that i'm mad about but also you just mentioned your mother your mother your mother i think it is worth maybe listening to the trailer for that that is that is in fact a film about caregiving as a matter of fact Let's just listen. Let's just listen to the clip right now. I see her everywhere. They take her from me. And you expect me to bow down to you? I thought I was your sword. Now I have to feel her shoes. A very delicious thing happens, right? When two critics feel very strongly on opposite ends about a movie. Rad, I will start with you on this one. Why were you a fan of Your Mother, Your Mother, Your Mother? This is Mahershala Ali. This is Bassam Tariq. And look, I went into this. I mean, we talked about this in the pre-festival thing. And what I talked about at that point, I mean, this is the movie that came from the ashes of the aborted Blade movie, right? That's right. Mahershala Ali and Bassam Tariq. Mahershala was supposed to play Blade. He was supposed to play Blade. Bassam Tariq was signed on to be the director of that film. They had worked on it for a while, but then it never happened. So then Bassam Tariq. They bailed and whatnot. But then they ended up using a lot of the fight choreography and some of their ideas in that movie, in this movie. And so a lot of this movie, I mean, it was kind of living in the shadow of that. And the movie turned out to be something completely unexpected for me. I mean, never mind the aspect of it being a gritty action thriller by way of like the limey meets drive. It's also this really beautiful family story about this Muslim family who are trying to grapple with their faith. They're trying to reconcile with their faith with their grief. After. The mother of the house has passed away. They're trying to reconcile their Muslim religion with their way of life. And so much of this is like this movie is about the contradictions of Mahershala Ali being a righteous killer, trying to negotiate that and make that work within what he believes his beliefs to be. But it's also this young daughter who's, you know, a very modern child growing up and coming of age in this modern world and trying to navigate how her religion works for her. And throughout this movie, you see in the textures of this. All these different ways where these people have to grapple with and negotiate with their religions. And that's beautiful. Like, that's the beautiful part of faith, like not blind faith, but this willingness to criticize and challenge every aspect of your religion and find a way to make it work for you. And that's what this movie made me feel more than anything. You describe a beautiful meditation on grief and the way that it sort of maybe challenges you and pushes you in different directions. As you were saying that, Terry was doing breathing exercises in order to wait to get her opinion in. Because it feels like you. Maybe hated this movie. Yeah, I did. This didn't work for me at all. I feel like why do I care about a hit man who abandoned his dying wife and continually puts his children in jeopardy? He's not grappling with his faith. He's not. And that is not. I mean, if you want to show me a person grappling with their faith, show me a person who is actually moving through the world without murdering people. Show me a person who is not indiscriminately exposing violence to their young children, including an infant. And don't. Please. Please don't use breast milk as the reason he's doing this. What? Do not. Yeah. The plot about the big plot of this movie borrowed from Bassam Tariq's own life is that, I mean, in Bassam Tariq's wife's life, it was a sentence of his wife fell ill after giving birth to a child. And he had to go around hunting at breast milk banks to find breast milk for his child who wasn't taking formula. And so that is a big part of the plot in this. But he's. This is good. This is. When I have the full spectrum of reaction to a film, I go, oh, I have no idea what to expect. And on top of this, I mean, I understand there are a lot of people who are very upset that Blade didn't get made. I might fall into that category as well. But to then make a movie where you are borrowing choreography from a comic book movie that is the violence is cartoon. The choreography should respond to the cartoon nature of what Blade is. And then use it in an actually squarely realistic way. Violence, horrifying violence. There is a mosque shooting that is devastating to watch. The imam is begging him to not continue this life. And he's like, I mean, these are not this is not a character that I want anybody to feel anything for. He is a hitman who continually chooses that life over another life when there are opportunities left, right and center for him to do something different. I'll tell you this, that having not seen the film yet. The very specific thing that makes me want to go see a movie is a polarized reaction as a reaction. Like if people come out of and go like, I really love that. I go like, I don't know. I'm a little skeptical. If you will come out, go like, I really hated that. I go, I'm a little skeptical. But if it does both of those things, I'm sold. Like that's what I'm kind of like. Oh, we've made people feel the whole range of human emotions. And that's the thing that gets me in the door. OK, we got to wrap this up. But a bunch of these movies are going to be opening soon. What should people avoid, Brad? Because they're going to be seeing movies like, oh, that was. And now it's opening. What they should maybe go like, no, everything except your mother, your mother, your mother. Yeah, I haven't seen a movie that I would say really made me be like, oh, you got to avoid this. Like, I think every one of them that I managed to see has some quality to it that says, if not like that, you may like this. You need to grapple with this. I mean, I'm going to save like the one that offended me the most for like a real into it. But like, like it's something that I would say people have to see so we could debate it on promising young level terms. And well, I'll say. Name the movie. It's Josephine. But then in terms of the movie that you absolutely, absolutely have to like. So the one movie that blew me away and predictably because I've been I've mentioned this movie before. I'm a huge, huge fan of this director, Lee Chang Dong, a Korean filmmaker. His latest movie is called Possible Love. And this is a movie about a documentary filmmaker who is making a documentary about a labor strike and the kind of traumatic events that unfolded in this failed labor strike. And. She gets really close to a family and that relationship between the family and the filmmakers where there's a there's a very obvious class difference. Lee Chang Dong just unpacks that for all these moral complexities, for all these rolling like it just becomes so emotionally devastating, but so nuanced and make you prod so many questions about allyship and kind of like the moral complications when you are in a certain position trying to uplift people that have not. But then you yourself are part of our complicit. But then that that wealthy class that exploits people and in making a documentary about them, you are possibly exploiting them as well. The movie just takes that and goes to places I did not see coming. And it absolutely blew me away. What about you? Hits and misses. Biggest miss, I would say, is Misty Green, the Chris Rock. Unfortunately, the lead performance by Rosalind Elizar. I'm not sure about the emphasis on what syllable, but she's fantastic in it. But boy, oh boy, does he hate women. He Chris Rock just hates women. And there's there's a real ugliness to what he puts her through, what he how he how he shows other women in this. And he plays the only character that has no complications. He plays the only character in the whole movie who is like always doing the right thing and always. And I would say that it came into the festival with a whole lot of anticipation and buzz. And it left with a whimper. I saw it in front of the show, Andrea. I was maybe positively reviewing that on social media, but I've not read her full review. But I think she's had a generally positive reaction. Like, oh, I'm interested in how this kind of how people respond to this film. And now you're telling me it's a miss. I think Chris Rock hates women. OK. And again, another protagonist who is doing nothing to help herself is consistently doing things and behaving in ways that is just like you make one little difference in your life is so much better. And I don't I didn't believe that. The character would do the thing that she needs to do on the journey. Anyway, and a big hit for me. I've mentioned a few already, but also I'll mention Wild Horse 9, which is John Malkovich and Sam Rockwell, the new Martin McDonough, who did Banshees of Inner Sheeran. Three billboards. Three billboards. It's a fantastic movie. Again, like a two hander really between Sam Rockwell and. That man was a two hander. Oh, does he ever. And the two of. Them are just so spectacular together. I don't want to give too much away. It really is a movie that I'd like people to go in not knowing a lot about because the enjoyment are in these performances. Laugh out loud, funny at times and also really heartbreaking. Really. It might be recency bias because I just saw it on Sunday, but it's a really, really fine film. I what I love about this slate of films is that they're unexpected. And you guys had polarized reactions. Genuinely, like that stuff excites me. I go, oh, this is going to be a fun. Award season. Let's do this. Let's go. I really appreciate your time. You guys. This has been wonderful. Thank you so much for coming in. Thanks for having us. Good to see you guys. Terry Hart, entertainment reporter in Toronto. She's also is the podcast host of the heart of it all. It's a podcast about caregiving rats on plays a film critic with CBC and CTV. My name is Alameen Abdul-Mahmood. This show is called Commotion. We'll be back tomorrow. See you then. For more CBC podcasts, go to cbc.ca slash podcasts.