To carry on the tradition from past years (2006, 2007, 2008), here’s a breakdown of the feature-length films I saw at TIFF, more or less in order of preference.
Masterpieces
Will likely end up on my short list of favorite films of the decade:
- none
Stand Outs
Will be among my favorite films of the year:
- Face (Tsai Ming-liang)
- To Die Like a Man (João Pedro Rodrigues)
- Let Each One Go Where He May (Ben Russell)
- Police, Adjective (Corneliu Porumboiu)
- Wild Grass (Alain Resnair)
- Like You Know It All (Hong Sang-soo)
- Dogtooth (Yorgos Lanthimos)
- In Comparison (Harun Farocki)
Strong Recommendations
- Carcasses (Denis Côté)
- The White Ribbon (Michael Haneke)
- White Material (Claire Denis)
- Hadewijch (Bruno Dumont)
- Independencia (Raya Martin)
- Huacho (Alejandro Fernández Almendras)
- To the Sea (Pedro González-Rubio)
Solid Films
- Le Père de mes enfants (Mia Hansen-Løve)
- Colony (Carter Gunn & Ross McDonnell)
- Les Derniers Jours Du Monde (Arnaud Larrieu & Jean-Marie Larrieu)
- Ajami (Scandar Copti & Yaron Shani)
- Karaoke (Chris Chong Chan Fui)
- My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done (Werner Herzog)
- La Pivellina (Tizza Covi & Rainer Frimmel)
- Women Without Men
- Defendor (Peter Stebbings)
- Antichrist (Tars von Trier)
- L’Enfer de Henri-Georges Clouzot Inferno (Serge Bromberg & Ruxandra Medrea)
- Petropolis (Peter Mettler)
- Hiroshima (Pablo Stoll)
- Air Doll (Hirokazu Kore-eda)
Duds and Misfires
- At the End of Daybreak (Ho Yuhang)
- Samson & Delilah (Warwick Thornton)
- The Man Beyond the Bridge (Laxmikant Shetgaonkar)
- Fish Tank (Andrea Arnold)
- Moloch Tropical (Raoul Peck)
- The Wind Journeys (Ciro Guerra)
- Enter the Void (Gaspar Noé)