TIFF 2026 · Volume 3 of 4
Here’s Volume 3 of my TIFF 2026 coverage: 10 more films, in the order I saw them.
Seen Sept. 13 · Princess of Wales Theatre
Alpha Gang
Directors: David Zellner & Nathan Zellner
Starring: Cate Blanchett, Dave Bautista, Kelvin Harrison Jr., Bae Doona, Riley Keough, LĂ©a Seydoux, Lily-Rose Depp, Chris Pine
A squad of aliens lands on Earth in matching fifties greaser gear to conquer the place, then catches human emotion like a disease and loses the mission to the experience.
Loud and Clear score: 6/10
Aliens land to take over Earth and catch human emotion like a disease, and the Zellner brothers commit to that joke without blinking. Funny, strange and episodic, and absolutely a film to see in a full room rather than at home.
Seen Sept. 13 · Royal Alexandra Theatre
The Spiral
Director: Paolo Strippoli
Starring: Jasmine Trinca, Romana Maggiora Vergano, Adriano Giannini, Valeria Bruni Tedeschi
In Bari in 1999, a mother accepts a stranger’s offer in a hospital chapel: her daughter will survive a vicious dog attack, but her family will suffer in other ways for years to come.
Now THIS was a Midnight Madness pick. The Spiral begins in Bari in 1999, when Anna’s young daughter is fighting for her life after a vicious dog attack. At the hospital chapel, a stranger in a trench coat offers Anna a deal: the girl will survive, but her family will suffer in other ways. Anna says yes, of course she does. Jasmine Trinca makes that instant of desperation so human that I felt the trap closing before Anna could possibly understand its terms. It’s what The Stranger is counting on, too.
Director Paolo Strippoli then follows the family through the years as the bargain collects its price. It’s a delicious premise because I could never quite blame Anna for accepting it, even while every new consequence made me want to warn her away from the next choice.
Trinca is tremendous. This is her first genre film, according to her TIFF introduction, and she plays Anna with the force of someone fighting for her child long after the emergency should have ended. She makes the increasingly desperate decisions feel connected to the mother who said yes in that chapel. Valeria Bruni Tedeschi, meanwhile, is having a wickedly good time as The Stranger. I couldn’t tell whether she was the devil or just the employee assigned to ruin Anna’s life, and I didn’t need an answer.
The pleasure is in watching her present another awful bargain as if she’s doing a family a favor. Whenever she and Trinca share a scene, the film gets sharper. Their conversations feel dangerous before either woman has moved an inch.
Strippoli makes every jump forward count. Each new chapter shows how the last decision has changed the family, then finds a nastier way to tighten the bargain. I kept thinking I’d spotted the next turn, only to be wrong in a way that made me so very happy.
The film looks terrific, with the scale and detail to make Anna’s ordeal feel like it has spread into every part of her life. Better yet, the horror never loses the family that gave The Stranger her opening. I cared what another consequence would do to them, not just how grisly it might be.
The Spiral is twisted, funny in the cruelest ways, and tremendously entertaining with a crowd. I’d happily go back to hear a full Midnight Madness audience react to some of its jaw-dropping turns again.
Seen Sept. 14 · TIFF Lightbox
Prima Facie
Director: Susanna White
Starring: Cynthia Erivo, Daniel Ings, Noma Dumezweni, Toheeb Jimoh, Elizabeth Dulau, Harry Treadaway
A barrister who rose from a working-class upbringing to build a career defending men accused of sexual assault sees the legal system from the other side of the courtroom after a colleague assaults her.
Tessa Ensler has built a career defending men accused of sexual assault. She knows how to find a weak spot in a witness’s account, and she’s proud of how far she’s come from her working-class upbringing. Then a colleague assaults her, and the legal system she trusted looks different from the other side of the courtroom.
Cynthia Erivo plays Tessa in Prima Facie, Suzie Miller’s screen adaptation of her own one-woman play. I haven’t seen the stage version, but I can understand why the role caught fire there. It gives an actor a painful change in perspective and asks us to reckon with how the law defines credibility. Erivo is more than capable of carrying that. I wish the film had given her more scenes that let us feel Tessa’s thinking change in real time.
For too much of the film, I could see the argument being made without feeling much of Tessa’s life around it. The legal details seem simplified, which is frustrating when the story depends on exactly how this system treats a complainant. Her relationships also feel thin. Simon Russell Beale and Noma Dumezweni are in the cast, yet the people around Tessa rarely seem to connect with her beyond what the next scene needs.
I kept waiting for the movie to surprise me with a detail that only a film version could show, something beyond the force of the original monologue. Instead, it often feels like a play opened out into more rooms without finding much to do in them. Erivo keeps working; she’s an absolute pro, but even she can’t give every underwritten exchange a pulse.
Then Erivo reaches her climactic speech, and suddenly I see the film I’d been waiting for. When Tessa says she’s “GOING to say some things,” she commands the room and the screen. Anger, expertise, and the cost of being disbelieved all come through at once.
It’s a knockout, and it makes the flatter stretches before it even more frustrating. The story’s point still lands: knowing the rules is no protection when those rules weren’t built to hear you. I just wanted the journey to that moment to have the same force.
Fans of Erivo will have plenty to admire in those final scenes. If a live production comes your way, though, I’d be curious to see how the story works with one actor holding the room from beginning to end.
Seen Sept. 14 · Princess of Wales Theatre
Elsinore
Director: Simon Stone
Starring: Andrew Scott, Olivia Colman, Billie Piper, Johnny Flynn, Joe Locke, Juliet Stevenson, Monica Dolan, David Dawson, Matthew Beard, Peter Mullan, Georgie Glen, Luke Thompson, Sadie Soverall, Adeel Akhtar
In 1989 London, a gifted actor dying of AIDS takes the title role in Hamlet at the National Theatre, knowing the run will cost him time he does not have.
Loud and Clear score: 10/10
Andrew Scott is untouchable as Ian Charleson, the actor who played Hamlet at the National in 1989 while dying of AIDS. Simon Stone and Stephen Beresford build it like a sports movie, and that choice is what turns a tragedy into a case for living.
Seen Sept. 14 · John Bassett Theatre
The Debut
Director: Jesse Eisenberg
Starring: Julianne Moore, Paul Giamatti, Halle Bailey, Jesse Eisenberg, Cara Buono, Craig Bierko, Eldar Isgandarov, Bernadette Peters
A shy New Jersey housewife auditions for a community theater musical and lands a small role, then throws herself into the show with such conviction that the production and its director have to make room for her.
Believe the buzz on The Debut.
Julianne Moore plays Mona, a shy New Jersey housewife who auditions for a community theater musical and lands a small supporting role. It’s meant to be a hobby, a few evenings away from home. Instead, she throws herself into the show with such conviction that the production, and its director Jerry, have to make room for her.
Jesse Eisenberg writes and directs, and he understands what an audition can wake up in someone who’s spent years being overlooked. Mona doesn’t arrive announcing that she’s a star. She starts by taking the work seriously, then keeps asking for more of herself than anyone thought she had to give. Watching the rest of the company adjust is funny, touching, and occasionally a little terrifying.
Paul Giamatti plays Jerry, a director accustomed to being the loudest person in the rehearsal room. Mona gives him a challenge he can’t solve by raising his voice. Their push and pull is one of the film’s great pleasures. Halle Bailey and Bonnie Milligan bring their own spark to the company, so the show feels populated by people with hopes beyond Mona’s big discovery.
From the first rehearsal to opening night, Eisenberg finds comedy in the work of making theater: the bruised egos, the unexpected friendships, and the bravery it takes to try something in front of a room full of people. The jokes land because the film loves these performers, even when they’re making fools of themselves. It made me miss the particular chaos of being in a cast.
Moore plays Mona as someone who has spent years making herself smaller and suddenly realizes she can take up the whole stage. She’s hilarious, especially when her growing confidence wrecks Jerry’s carefully laid plans. But the performance also has a tenderness that keeps Mona from becoming one big joke about an amateur with ambition. I can’t imagine many performances topping Moore’s this year. Eisenberg trusts her to surprise us, and she trusts the film enough to go all the way with Mona’s transformation.
See The Debut with a packed audience if you can. I heard laughter roll through the room from the first downbeat to the final note, and there were moments when a laugh caught in my throat as I was holding back tears. That mix is what made the film such a joy for me. And I can’t wait for the rest of the world to experience it.
Seen Sept. 14 · Royal Alexandra Theatre
Kick On
Director: Nick Kozakis
Starring: Markella Kavenagh, Nikolai Nikolaeff, Ras-Samuel, Jacek Koman
Four friends who don’t want their night out to end carry the party to the lavish estate of a mobster’s son, where one more drink turns into a siege.
The world premiere crowd went wild for Kick On, and I understood why within minutes. Four friends don’t want their night out to end, so they carry the party to the lavish estate of a mobster’s son. That sounds like a terrible decision because it is. What starts as one more drink becomes a siege, with paranoia and betrayal making a mess of whatever trust the group had left.
Director Nick Kozakis gives the film the energy of a party you know will end with somebody calling the police, if anybody can still reach a phone. I liked how quickly the house went from playground to trap. Every room offers a new place to hide, and every attempt to get out gives someone else a chance to turn on a friend (and either lose a limb or become horribly maimed in another way.)
If you came to Midnight Madness for practical gore, Kozakis brought enough for the whole audience. Skin tears, blades find places they shouldn’t, and the injuries get nastier as the night goes on. The crowd reacted to every fresh indignity, often while I was still wincing at the last one. There’s a distinctly Australian sense of humor amid the damage, too, which helps the film feel like its own unruly thing.
The problem is that the violence eventually stops surprising me. Around the seventy-minute mark, another grisly turn begins to feel like a repeat of the previous one. I couldn’t decide whether the film had waited too long to unleash its worst or kept going too long after it had. Either way, a tighter cut would give every hit more force.
I also struggled to hear some of the dialogue, especially when the background noise swallowed what the characters were saying. Sound had been spotty for me at both the Royal Alex and the Princess of Wales, so I’m reluctant to lay all of that at the film’s feet.
The broader pacing issue is harder to explain away. When a siege thriller pauses, I need to feel the pressure building; here, I sometimes felt the movie getting ready to do the same trick again. Still, Kick On has a crowd-pleasing mean streak, a superb leading performance from Markella Kavenagh, and practical effects that deserve to be seen with people who can scream at them. Kozakis clearly knows how to get a Midnight Madness audience on his side. Give this a little trim and I’d be first in line for another round.
Seen Sept. 15 · Scotiabank Theatre
A Talent for Murder
Director: Anton Corbijn
Starring: Helen Mirren, Alden Ehrenreich, Olivia Cooke, Juliet Stevenson, Brid Brennan, James Faulkner
In a fictional chapter of her life, Patricia Highsmith is holed up at her Swiss home when a young man from her publisher arrives, determined to stay until she agrees to write one more Tom Ripley novel.
Someone should hand out cardigans and hot toddies at the door because A Talent for Murder is the coziest Sunday afternoon mystery I’ve seen in ages, though my screening was on a Tuesday.
Helen Mirren plays Patricia Highsmith in a fictional chapter of the author’s life. She’s holed up at her Swiss home when Edward, a young man from her publisher, arrives with a mission: persuade her to write one more Tom Ripley novel. She has no interest in doing him a favor, and he’s clearly prepared to stay until she changes her mind. That gives the two of them plenty of time to trade barbs, test each other’s stories, and decide what the other person is hiding.
I settled in almost immediately, delighting in the fact that Mirren knows exactly how much fun Highsmith can have making a guest uncomfortable.
Alden Ehrenreich plays Edward, and he’s a wonderful match for Mirren. He has to be charming enough to get through Highsmith’s front door and cagey enough to make us wonder why he’s so eager. I’d missed seeing him in a role that lets him do both. Their scenes have the pleasure of watching two people who think they’re the smartest one in the room. One will offer a little kindness; the other will hear the trap tucked inside it.
Olivia Cooke and Juliet Stevenson help fill out the world, but Mirren and Ehrenreich are the reason to come. Also watch for an excellent scene between Ehrenreich and Brid Brennan at a high class party – it’s a corker. Joanna Murray-Smith adapted her own play, Switzerland, and you can hear that theatrical origin in the dialogue. Here, that’s a treat: these actors get to savor every insult instead of hurrying to the next clue.
Director Anton Corbijn makes the Swiss setting look inviting and faintly dangerous at the same time. Smoke hangs in the rooms, the landscape outside is gorgeous, and neither offers Edward much comfort when Highsmith starts pressing him.
The plot does get muddled, especially when the sparring gives way to the machinery of the mystery. I was having such a good time with the two leads that I didn’t mind much. Mirren gets a takedown of Edward so sharp I wanted to applaud before she’d finished speaking.
The film doesn’t need to reinvent anything to work; it knows the pleasure of a secluded house, a suspicious visitor, and a host who may be enjoying this far too much. Grab a blanket, pour something warm, and let them have at each other.
Seen Sept. 15 · Princess of Wales Theatre
La Bola Negra
Directors: Javier Calvo & Javier Ambrossi
Starring: Guitarricadelafuente, Miguel Bernardeau, Carlos González, Milo Quifes, Lola Dueñas, Julio Torres, Penélope Cruz, Glenn Close
Built around four pages of a novel Federico GarcĂa Lorca was writing when he was murdered in 1936, the film follows three gay men across 1932, 1937 and 2017 as each decides how openly he can love and what it might cost him.
Federico GarcĂa Lorca had written just four pages of a novel when he was murdered in 1936. Javier Ambrossi and Javier Calvo take those pages, draw from Alberto Conejero’s play La piedra oscura, and imagine the lives that might grow around them. The film moves between 1932, 1937, and 2017, following three gay men through very different versions of Spain. Each has to decide how openly he can love and what it might cost him. Even the title carries that history: a black ball was cast to keep a young gay man out of a social club in Granada. It sounds like a lot to hold together, and at nearly 160 minutes, it is. But I was never checking the time. I was too busy wondering where these lives would meet and what each man might leave behind.
I’m still trying to take in everything La Bola Negra gave me. There’s so much to follow, and so much I want to revisit, that I’m saving a longer review for a second viewing. Guitarricadelafuente, a major musician in Spain, makes his film debut as Sebastián. He barely needs to raise his voice to hold a scene; I kept finding my eyes drawn back to him. Miguel Bernardeau, Carlos González, and Milo Quifes each give their characters a distinct presence, while Lola Dueñas makes her brief scenes resonate. If some of those names are new to North American audiences, I don’t think they’ll stay that way. Ambrossi and Calvo give each performer room, even as the story jumps between decades. I got swept up in these people, then found myself wanting to go back and watch them more closely.
Julio Torres appears, Glenn Close acts in Spanish, and Penélope Cruz blazes in to steal a handful of scenes. Her work here could even put her in the running for two acting nominations this Oscar season. Gris Jordana’s 35mm cinematography is gorgeous, and the editing, costumes, score, and production design give you something new to notice whenever your eye wanders. Cannes gave Ambrossi and Calvo Best Director, Toronto gave the film its People’s Choice Award, and Spain chose it for the Oscars. I understand all three decisions. If Letterboxd allowed one six-star rating a year, mine would go here. Netflix plans a theatrical run starting October 16, ahead of streaming on December 2.
Please see it on a big screen if you can.
Seen Sept. 16 · Scotiabank Theatre
Vintage Violence
Director: Eugene Kotlyarenko
Starring: Cole Sprouse, Kiko Mizuhara, Nijiro Murakami, Pierre Taki, Hio Miyazawa
A livestreaming urban explorer finds a stash of nineteenth-century denim worth a fortune, and a viewer in Japan persuades him to bring the jeans to Tokyo, where she sees a way to change her own life.
Carter Tipe livestreams trips into abandoned buildings, still trying to make a name for himself after the end of his urban exploration partnership. In a cave he discovers a stash of nineteenth-century denim worth a fortune. Izumi watches from Japan and persuades him to bring the jeans to Tokyo, where she sees a way to change her own life.
Cole Sprouse and Kiko Mizuhara make that setup a lot of fun, partly because I had no idea the market for antique denim could inspire this much trouble. Vintage Violence premiered at TIFF’s Midnight Madness, and the first forty minutes know exactly what kind of movie they want to be. Carter’s feed pulls me into the hunt, Izumi’s interest gives it a second angle, and I was ready to follow those jeans wherever they went.
Director Eugene Kotlyarenko fills the screen with Carter’s livestream, the people watching it, comments, and floods of emoji. It could have become exhausting, but early on it captures the strange energy of watching someone else take a risk in real time. Sprouse is comfortable in that chaos as Carter fumbles his way around Tokyo, sometimes in ways I found endearing and sometimes with a joke about language that wore thin fast.
Mizuhara gives Izumi a hunger that makes her scheme more than a convenient plot turn. Sean Price Williams’s camerawork and the Tokyo locations keep the first stretch moving. I liked how the film made its online audience part of the action. When Carter finds something valuable, everyone can see it at once, including people who might want to take it from him.
Then the performances get broader, as though half the cast has been told they’re in a different movie. Izumi’s boyfriend Hiro and several others play everything with a wink, and the tension drains away. Pierre Taki is the exception. His exiled Yakuza enforcer has a metal replacement finger that sprays a homemade speedball, which he uses on himself and his enemies. It’s gloriously absurd and gives the second half a badly needed burst of personality.
But the film keeps revving up and stalling again before any new idea can take hold. I wanted the scrappy, unpredictable chase I’d been promised by that first act. Instead, I spent the final stretch thinking back to how much fun I was having when Carter found the denim. That’s a frustrating place to leave a Midnight Madness screening.
Seen Sept. 16 · Princess of Wales Theatre
The Man I Love
Director: Ira Sachs
Starring: Rami Malek, Tom Sturridge, Rebecca Hall, Ebon Moss-Bachrach, Luther Ford, Sasha Lane, Maisy Stella
In late-eighties New York, a theater artist with little time left leaves the hospital determined to make one more show with his collective, while his boyfriend becomes his caregiver.
In late-eighties New York, Jimmy George leaves the hospital determined to make one more show with his theater collective. Rami Malek plays Jimmy, whose remaining time is short, while Tom Sturridge plays Dennis, the boyfriend becoming his caregiver. The film never names Jimmy’s illness, though the period makes its shadow impossible to miss.
Director Ira Sachs spent years trying to make this and shot it on 35mm in the city. You can see the care in its rooms, clothes, and streets. I wanted to feel the same care in how the people relate to Jimmy. They rearrange their lives around him, and the film often treats their devotion as a fact instead of showing me why they stay. That distance became harder to ignore the longer I spent with the group.
I interviewed Sachs years ago and remember the warmth I felt in our conversation about his work. Here, I struggled to find much warmth between the people on screen. Jimmy takes what he wants, leaves others to deal with the fallout, and seems to expect their love to survive every slight. That could make for a fascinating character. But the film doesn’t show the charm that keeps everyone in his orbit.
I don’t need Jimmy to be admirable. I do need to understand the hold he has on Dennis and the rest of the collective. Sturridge comes closest to making me feel it. He listens, hesitates, and lets small gestures show how tired Dennis is. His performance gives the relationship a history that the script keeps asking me to take on faith.
The best moment lets the whole collective crowd together and sing. Malek, Sturridge, Rebecca Hall, Ebon Moss-Bachrach, Maisy Stella, and Luther Ford share the room, and for a few minutes I finally believed in this group. Hall’s voice was a wonderful surprise. Later, Malek’s solo numbers sound so plainly recorded elsewhere that the lip-syncing pulls the feeling right out of them. There’s also an anniversary gift scene in which Jimmy, shirtless and on camera, tells his parents about his hookups and drug use while his young nephew films. It goes on so long that my discomfort turned into disbelief.
Sachs has assembled terrific actors and a lovingly detailed world, but the people never quite came together for me. Sturridge is the reason I’d still tell you to see it.
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