With the whirlwind of cinematic madness still swirling as the 46th Toronto International Film Festival winds down to one final day, some legitimate “Midnight Madness” is about to be released into the world.
If you don’t know, that’s the program title given to TIFF’s annual collection of specialty films — mostly subversive, extreme, horror-based stuff — generally shown at 11:59 p.m. at the very end of any festival day, when weirdos and goblins and spirits might like to come out to watch movies.
Last year, because of the novel coronavirus pandemic, Madness programmer Peter Kuplowsky could make just three choices for inclusion in a slimmed-down festival slate of 50 films shown only for digital consumption. In 2021, though, with the world and more protocol-savvy festival venues opening up, six Kuplowsky picks made the final cut, and all played at midnight, even moving to the exquisite TIFF Bell Lightbox from their old, pre-virus haunts at the Ryerson University Theater. Most also streamed on digital cinema.
This year’s mad players (in alphabetical order):
“After Blue (Dirty Paradise)”: That’s also the name of the all-female planet in this ultra-strange, sci-fi concoction from director/writer Bertrand Mandico (“The Wild Boys”). It’s a colorful cinematic mix of the Old West, the avant-garde and that place limited to “ovarian bearers,” as men immediately die because their hair grows inward. The main lady (Paula Luna) goes by the name Roxy, but some call her “Toxic,” and, well, you get the picture. Maybe.
“DASHCAM”: Director and co-screenwriter Rob Savage (“Host’) puts the title device in a couple of cars (in L.A. and London) and his unfiltered, garbage-spewing heroine (Annie Hardy) — who never lets propriety get in the way of her non-stop verbal abuse — behind the wheel. Regardless, her hundreds(?) of fans must love her work, because they keep streaming her silly, supportive comments while she drives “The Internet’s No. 1 Improvised Live Music Show from a Moving Vehicle.” The rest of us might recognize the good news of a slight 77-minute running time, including end(less) credits of impromptu rap lyrics directed at cast and crew. Believe it, you’ll be shouting “Annie Hardy Go Home” long before then.
“Saloum”: Midnight Madness runs the gamut of perspectives, of course, but the most thoughtful in this year’s bunch might be this genre-twisting effort about bad guys (paid killers working for a drug cartel) identified as heroes by some, then running into both African-based magic and dreadful swarms of horror. Writer-director Jean Luc Herbulot might have started something with his “Hyenas” troupe here.
“Titane”: Aforementioned TIFF programmer Kuplowsky calls this one “a Midnight masterpiece,” and a Cannes Film Festival jury (headed by Spike Lee) went one further in giving the disturbing tale from Julia Ducournau the Palme d’Or top prize. Surely deserving credit, too, is the performance of Agatha Rousselle, as a pregnant, serial-killing showroom model who, while on the lam, turns male and becomes a fireman. Hey, it’s a strange, occasionally funny brew, folks. Ya think?
“You Are Not My Mother”: My favorite in the unsettling mix comes from Irish filmmaker Kate Dolan (in her feature debut), offering more traditional scares, an assortment of witchcraft and troublesome shapeshifters. A dysfunctional family of three women and one mostly ineffectual man is held together by a teenager (Hazel Doupe), carrying the load with bullies bothering her to boot. Slainte!
“Zalava”: An ancient gypsy curse plays havoc with citizens of the titular Kurdistan village, circa 1978, “before the revolution.” That means more than a few old-fashioned bumps in the night, perhaps a possessed cat, and a love story with a “Sophie’s Choice” dilemma. Iranian director Arsalan Amiri nicely paces it with tension galore.
The 46th fest ends Sept. 18 with a full day of films, headlined by the closing-nighter, “One Second,” the latest from China-based auteur Zhang Yimou. Also on tap are the annual TIFF Tribute Awards, which will be streamed internationally at 8 p.m. by Variety. After watching, return here Sept. 19 for a full list of festival winners and, perhaps, even a few of our own. Until then, for more information on all Toronto titles and events, visit tiff.net.
John M. Urbancich, former and first executive editor of CriticsChoiceMovies (criticschoice.com), reviewed films and wrote related features and celebrity profiles at Cleveland’s Sun Newspapers from 1983 to 2018. He has been an accredited journalist at the Toronto International Film Festival for 28 straight years. Look for his ratings on recent releases at JMUvies.com.
![How much of your disbelief are you able to suspend? The more willing you are to just go along with the new Netflix series “3 Body Problem” and not question its increasingly frequent leaps in logic, the more likely you are to enjoy it. An adaptation of Chinese author Liu Cixin’s award-winning 2008 science fiction novel, “The Three-Body Problem,” the intriguing show is one of the first big projects of the Netflix deal signed by “Game of Thrones” showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, who are steering this ship along with fellow executive producer, showrunner and writer Alexander Woo (“True […]](https://www.morningjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/TNH-L-TVReview-3BodyProblem-WBOX-032224-04.jpg?w=620 "How much of your disbelief are you able to suspend? The more willing you are to just go along with the new Netflix series “3 Body Problem” and not question its increasingly frequent leaps in logic, the more likely you are to enjoy it. An adaptation of Chinese author Liu Cixin’s award-winning 2008 science fiction novel, “The Three-Body Problem,” the intriguing show is one of the first big projects of the Netflix deal signed by “Game of Thrones” showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, who are steering this ship along with fellow executive producer, showrunner and writer Alexander Woo (“True […]")
![Told in a mere seven hourlong installments and focusing primarily on the handful of days between President Abraham Lincoln’s assassination and the locating of his killer, John Wilkes Booth, “Manhunt” impressively paints a more sprawling portrait of a time in our country’s history. The highly compelling limited series, debuting this week on Apple TV+ with its first two episodes, is based on the 2006 bestselling and Edgar Award-winning nonfiction book from historian James L. Swanson, “Manhunt: The 12-Day Chase for Lincoln’s Killer.” Making liberal use of flashbacks and no doubt taking some liberties while filling in the blanks, the adaptation […]](https://www.morningjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/TNH-L-TVReview-Manhunt-WBOX-031524-01.jpg?w=620 "Told in a mere seven hourlong installments and focusing primarily on the handful of days between President Abraham Lincoln’s assassination and the locating of his killer, John Wilkes Booth, “Manhunt” impressively paints a more sprawling portrait of a time in our country’s history. The highly compelling limited series, debuting this week on Apple TV+ with its first two episodes, is based on the 2006 bestselling and Edgar Award-winning nonfiction book from historian James L. Swanson, “Manhunt: The 12-Day Chase for Lincoln’s Killer.” Making liberal use of flashbacks and no doubt taking some liberties while filling in the blanks, the adaptation […]")
![Best known for highly stylized action-comedy movies, English filmmaker Guy Ritchie hasn’t exactly stepped out of his comfort zone for a foray into television with “The Gentlemen,” a fairly entertaining eight-part hourlong action-comedy series debuting on Netflix this week. It’s inspired by his similarly enjoyable 2019 film of the same name in which expensive-suit refinement meets drug-trade violence. (This would seem to be similar to the move Ritchie made as a producer with 2000’s “Lock, Stock…,” a seven-part series coming two years after his feature directorial debut, “Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels.”) Hey, sometimes it’s best to stick with […]](https://www.morningjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/TNH-L-TVReview-TheGentlemen-WBOX-030824-04.jpg?w=525 "Best known for highly stylized action-comedy movies, English filmmaker Guy Ritchie hasn’t exactly stepped out of his comfort zone for a foray into television with “The Gentlemen,” a fairly entertaining eight-part hourlong action-comedy series debuting on Netflix this week. It’s inspired by his similarly enjoyable 2019 film of the same name in which expensive-suit refinement meets drug-trade violence. (This would seem to be similar to the move Ritchie made as a producer with 2000’s “Lock, Stock…,” a seven-part series coming two years after his feature directorial debut, “Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels.”) Hey, sometimes it’s best to stick with […]")
![By WYATTE GRANTHAM-PHILIPS NEW YORK — The Kansas City Chiefs were crowned victorious over the San Francisco 49ers in this year’s Super Bowl — and, off the field, big-name advertisers competed for viewers’ attention with celebrity-filled, glitzy messages. Beyoncé broke the internet yet again in a Verizon ad, which was soon followed by a viral music drop. Lionel Messi’s showed off his apparent loyalty to Michelob Ultra. And T-Mobile, e.l.f. cosmetics, Uber Eats and more offered a slew of mini TV show reunions, bringing together cast members from “Suits” to “Friends.” Despite being an election year in the U.S., there was very little […]](https://www.morningjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/AP24039639357721.jpg?w=525 "By WYATTE GRANTHAM-PHILIPS NEW YORK — The Kansas City Chiefs were crowned victorious over the San Francisco 49ers in this year’s Super Bowl — and, off the field, big-name advertisers competed for viewers’ attention with celebrity-filled, glitzy messages. Beyoncé broke the internet yet again in a Verizon ad, which was soon followed by a viral music drop. Lionel Messi’s showed off his apparent loyalty to Michelob Ultra. And T-Mobile, e.l.f. cosmetics, Uber Eats and more offered a slew of mini TV show reunions, bringing together cast members from “Suits” to “Friends.” Despite being an election year in the U.S., there was very little […]")