So I saw Brittany Runs a Marathon this week and I thought it was really very charming. Brittany is a hot mess and she shoots herself in the foot but you want to her to succeed, and she does too, but she doesn't quite know what "to succeed" means and it hurts to see her fucking it up. But then it mostly works out.

I really liked Jillian Bell, and the rest of the cast, and I hope it does well.

Also it's pretty inspirational.

I am not sure if Taika Waititi's satire about Nazism, Jojo Rabbit, entirely works - it's whimsical and adorable, anchored by an excellent center performance by its lead child actor. But it's tonally a tough sell given the subject matter and there are parts in the movie that made me go 'yikes.' But my audience at the screening last night was extremely into it. And I talked to a couple of festival goers this afternoon who were convinced that it was the best film of the festival and the frontrunner for People's Choice Award. It might pull a Life Is Beautiful.

Help me, movie people? Of the following, which should I watch tonight? Suburbicon, I Tonya, The Favorite, Bad Times at the El Royale, or Sorry to Bother You?

I just saw Sorry to Bother You last week and loved it. It had a sort of Terry Gilliam feel to it, especially toward the end, which I really dug.

Of the others, I've only seen I, Tonya, which I also really enjoyed.

I've only seen Bad Times at the El Royale out of those. It was fun, but I think The Favorite is the best film of the lot based on people's reactions.

The Favourite is weird, so be prepared for that.

Didn't love Suburbicon, despite the Oscar Isaac.

Help me, movie people? Of the following, which should I watch tonight? Suburbicon, I Tonya, The Favorite, Bad Times at the El Royale, or Sorry to Bother You?

Of those that I've seen, I'd rank them roughly as follows:
Bad Times at the El Royale
...

I, Tonya
The Favorite
...





Sorry to Bother You

I really liked Sorry to Bother You but I live in Oakland, and one of my nieces is an extra in the movie. It's very much an Oakland movie.

I went with The Favourite and while it was really well done and the performances were fantastic, I didn't make it all the way through. Not for me, I guess, although some of the choices were really fascinating, like the conversation between Sarah and the young guy in the big wig, with all the background noise still audible. The fish eye lens was a cool choice, too.

Knives Out is AWESOME. Probably the most fun I had during the entire festival, and absolutely the type of film to see on the big screen with an appreciative audience. I've missed several lines of dialogue because of deafening laughter in the theater (gigantic Princess of Wales theater with 2000 seats, which was sold out.) Y'all are in for a treat.

Total tally of the films seen during TIFF: 34. I've thoroughly enjoyed most of them -- overall, a much better festival than last year in terms of the quality of the films.

Some other movies seen during the fest I could recommend:

The Kingmaker: a documentary about Imelda Marcos (First Lady of Philippines in 60's-80s) that charts her ascent, fall, and attempts at re-ascension to power, which is happening right now at the Philippines. Both entertaining and frightening as fuck. It's coming to Showtime so should be easily available in the few months.

Bad Education: about an embezzlement scandal in a Long Island high school about 15 years ago, starring Hugh Jackman and Allison Janney, who are in top form. Fun fact: it was written by a screenwriter who was actually a student at the school when the scandal broke out.

The Lighthouse: second feature by Robert Eggers, who did The Witch. It's a two-hander with Willem Dafoe and Robert Pattinson as a pair of lighthouse keepers in New England circa late 1800's, with period-specific language, amazing black and white photography, and a claustrophobic aspect ratio (almost a square). It's a fucking weird film and I'm still trying to wrap my head around it. The performances are mad and fearless.

Ford v Ferrari: Didn't think I'd like this one as I don't really give a crap about cars, but it's terrifically well-made with fine performances. The racing scenes are genuinely exciting. I mean, it has like 100 middle aged white dudes and 1 woman, but the movie was so entertaining, I only minded a little.

Waves: a gorgeously shot family drama, with wall-to-wall music and dreamy cinematography. I haven't seen such interesting POV switch in a narrative film since USS Callister.

Alright, that's it for dispatches from TIFF. Got a long drive ahead of me. Looking forward to the new releases that came out in theaters while I was busy festival-ing (Hustlers and Ad Astra) -- you'd think I've had enough of movies but apparently not!