043: dispatch from tiff
hannah’s going to a festival!
During my adolescence, I harboured fantasies about attending some of the world’s biggest film festivals. I remember telling people it was my dream to go to TIFF, I think because I had seen photos of it in Teen Vogue and felt that attendance there would give me certifiable cinephile cred. Strange then that in the four years I lived in Toronto, I never managed to attend the festival once! I’ve been experiencing it in small vicarious doses through RsAFsTM1 Winnie—who wrote about a few films for Cinemascope—Tia, and Jess. I knew that RAFTM Hannah was attending the festival as well based on her Letterboxd but because she is classy and much evolved, she doesn’t give movies ratings! I really wanted to know more about her festival reading so I asked her to share her experience with me and all of you. Below, Hannah’s dispatch from TIFF!
A week before what I believed was going to be a light film festival week for me—I had my eyes set on Women Talking and Aftersun—TIFF’s Twitter account posted that fateful red scarf emoji. Reader, I Knew It Was Trouble, wreck my plans, etc.!
In a last-minute Swiftie fervour I opted to buy a rush pass just in case it would help my cause to see Taylor Swift present and discuss her short film, All Too Well. Long story short, and despite my best efforts, I was not one of the 523 lucky ones (can’t stop with the easter eggs, sorry) to be in the room where it happened. However, I wound up seeing six films, four of which I rushed successfully!
It’s difficult to reflect on the festival without sounding horribly cheesy and cliche, but the experience—cramming into packed movie theatres with a buzzing crowd, crawling down King Street like you’re on a mission (trying to spot Mr. Styles)—made it finally feel like the movies are back, baby. Behold: the highlights, lowlights, and celebrity spottings of TIFF 2022 (My Version).
Best
A haunted house, a hostile hotel clerk, Tilda Swinton playing multiple roles a la Suspiria… The Eternal Daughter checks off all my boxes tbh. It’s as dark & delicious as Gothic tales get.
I will confess that I am not super familiar with Joanna Hogg’s previous work (I tried to watch The Souvenir at home one rainy day and succumbed to fatigue). This film made me want to do a deep dive. Without giving too much away—as it’s best to go in blind—the movie details a mother and daughter’s November getaway to a remote manor, in celebration of mom’s birthday. As they spill over with long-harboured guilt and shame, their already fraught relationship begins to fray. It’s a stunning portrait of grief, memory, and how the latter feeds the former.
A few days prior, I tried to rush The Whale, not realizing just how many people were pining after a Brenaissance, and Tilda appeared around the corner. She is striking; regal energy. I stayed in my spot in line but wish I dipped to marvel at her (i.e., uh, tell her I love her work). A performer you could study for hours.
Worst:
I’m a sucker for coming-of-age cinema, so I was intrigued when I saw Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe on this year’s programming list. I have not read the book, so I’m not sure how it would have impacted my viewing experience, though I found the film clunky, stiff, and uninspired/uninspring. Great needle drops, though.
Surprises:
In the aforementioned line for The Whale, I also got a glimpse of Anna Kendrick mere hours after her elevator fiasco. Self-control is seeing a Bella IRL and restraining from performing “The Cup Song.”
After I was cut off from the rush line for Aftersun, I scrambled to find something else to watch. I’m glad I wound up at Joyland, a queer Pakistani film that wasn’t previously on my radar but gently cracked open my world with its tender and daring story of a young man who falls in love with a trans erotic dancer.
Steven Spielberg introduced the screening of The Fabelmans that I attended. He was humble and endearing. I couldn’t help but kvell!
You can find Hannah’s work on her website
Readers and Friends to Me; thank you Rachel Tashjian