Best TIFF 2019 movies and a TV show

This year we have a change of guard, but personally, I have stopped paying as much attention as I used to as the Festival is continuing its march to commercialism. For many Torontonians, a more relevant and authentic moment of triumph was Bianca Andreescu’s win over Serena Williams at the US Open, even though she is from Mississauga.

Whether this film festival is too commercial for its own good or not, we’re still going to mention the movies worth watching (if not within the festival, then perhaps later), rather than present a movie we happened to watch as we did in the past.

The buzz – and my curiosity – is centered on Jojo Rabbit (trailer, imdb; Nazi antisatire).

The big movies (which we’ll definitely see on the big screen) are Joker (Joaquin Phoenix 9.6/11234), A Beautiful Day in the Neighbourhood (Tom Hanks 7.5/118), Judy (Renee Zwellweger 6.9/69), Dolemite is My Name (Edie Murphy – 7.6/51).

Other buzz-worthy movies (which may or not be great, but interest me):

• Jallikattu (t, i, 8.2/6) bull escapes in Hindu village
• Marriage Story (t, i, 7.8/298) – Kramer v Kramer w/ Adam Driver & Scarlett Johansson
• Parasite (t, i, 8.5/24777) – Korean movie on unemployed scamming family twist
• Antigone (t, i, ?) – social realist adaptation of Greek tragedy
• A Hidden Life (t, i, 7.1/343) – true story of conscientious objector in Nazi Germany
• The Truth (t, i, 5.9/108) – Deneuve, Binoche – mother actress vs daughter/ Made in Japan
• Wasp Network (t, i, 4.8/109) – controversial movie about Cuban political prisoners
• White Lie (t, i, 8.7/12) – Canadian undergrad faking cancer
• Anne at 13,000 ft (t, i, ?) – Canadian daycare worker existential drama
• Color Out of Space (t, i, 7.4/56) – Nicholas Cage in another weird meteorite Sci-Fi
• Pain and Glory (t, i, 7.8/10440) – Almodovar/Banderas director introspection
• The Lighthouse (t, i, 7.9/883) – Willem Dafoe plays in a dark retro comedic horror.
• Portrait of a Lady on Fire (t, i, 8.4/658) – Brittany XVIII female painter forced to paint wedding portrait of a young woman
• Beanpole (t, i, 7.2/745) – 2 women in post-WW2 Leningrad
• It Must Be Heaven (t, i, 7.3/203) – travelling filmmaker finds parallels to his native Palestine
• The Climb (t, i, 7.4/61) – 84 metascore – friendship + fiancee sogors
• Bacurau (t, i, 8.3/1790) – 74 metascore – sci-fi Brazil village mobilization
• Atlantics (t, i, 7.6/225) – Dakar workers
• The Report (t, i, ) – Adam Driver, John Hamm

I used the TIFF recommendation engine two times, each with slightly different choices, but generally preferring European movies, weighting for World and Drama.

The first time I got (by email):

• Beanpole Learn more
• Synonyms - Learn more
• Dogs Don't Wear Pants - Learn more
• Maria's Paradise - Learn more
• Disco - Learn more

The second time I pressed “Show More” a few times, getting, among others: The Painted Bird, A Hidden Life, The Moneychanger, The Sleepers, A Herdade, Heroic Losers, How to Build a Girl, The Laundromat, The Personal History of David Copperfield, The Two Popes, Waves, While at War, A White, White Day.

The TV series I’ve recently discovered is Undercover Billionaire (t, i, 6.6/103), which is about a billionaire who’s trying to emulate on Donald Trump’s success, but with a show that’s a bit smarter and more watchable (I could never watch Trump’s crap, but this one is better at helping you understand these guys).

I’m not interested in something like IT 2 (7.1/39177) either.

Sources / More info: yt-tifftrailers, yt-tifftalks, yt-tifforiginals, fb-tiff, tiff, tiff-recommend

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