Though the NYFF reviews may continue to pervade our page like an invasive species that just won't quit and go away, it's time to give a proper ending to the longest TIFF coverage we've ever done at The Film Experience. Though all good things must come to an end, it need not be a bitter one. So, let's go out on a fun note, with Cláudio Alves and Eurocheese back for the third and final part of their Jury of Two chat.
Diego Calva's hot social worker from CLUB KID welcomes you to the end of our TIFF 51 coverage.
CLÁUDIO: Well, it's been fun to analyze the many films we watched at TIFF (screeners included, I'm almost at 70!), yet I'm hankering for some silliness now. Some Canadian-flavored silliness at that, so be ready for a lot of nonsensical Heated Rivalry references. In my mind, the Far North used to be the realm of Cronenberg perversions and Maddin madness, but it's now all about the Hockey boys, the Hockey gays, and the Hockey romance. Picture that a Tim Hortons and one of Church Street's most outrageous gay clubs had a love child. That's both the Canada of my sick, sick mind and the venue for this imaginary awards ceremony. In that spirit, our first category is…
The "U-Haul Gay Skip" Award for Best Boyfriend Material
Yes, I know Scott and Kip are some of the show's few American characters, but my point stands. And my winner is obvious. I need Diego Calva's hot, caring, infinitely patient, soft-spoken, utterly dreamy social worker from Club Kid to leave his reformed hedonist of a boyfriend and come shack up with me in Lisbon.
What's your pick from the fictional men at TIFF, my friend? Or you may choose a non-fictional one. Young Edward Said was looking pretty husband material in Edward Said: Between Worlds, and you might like annoying co-workers, in which case the Dark Knight quoting volunteer from one of the festival's many pre-screenings could be the man for you. Or, let's go a step further and suggest the real Diego Calva. Why not? You've got so many options!
EUROCHEESE: Diego Calva, main course real with a side of empathetic character boyfriend to go, please. But since he's taken, I'll sashay away with Alberto Guerro's Fedir from Ha-Chan, Shake Your Booty! That man could teach me so much more than dance, and while Kikuchi's Hari might struggle to share, I'd be more than happy to play along. When he's busy, I’m eager to spend my free time guarding La Bola Negra's Miguel Bernardeau, just to make sure he feels secure. And yes, I mean the real-life actor.
Let's keep things sizzling!
The “Hollanov” Award for Best Sexpot
I missed Hudson Williams at the fest, but it would be fun to give him the Ilya prize. Instead, I'll go with Patrick Criado from Bitter Christmas, whose name I didn't know, but you better believe I looked him up after his stripper/firefighter act as Bonifacio. Almodóvar knows how to squeeze a hot man into even his minor works, and that scene can be earmarked among, um, cinematic moments to be cherished. Were you similarly moved?
Patrick Criado heats up Almodóvar's latest, BITTER CHRISTMAS.
CLÁUDIO: Can I give this prize to an Almodóvar hunk from a past edition? Because I'm still thinking about how he cast a guy so hot to play Julianne Moore's personal trainer in The Room Next Door that the very sight of him made the whole audience laugh nervously, a wave of horniness raging through TIFF Lightbox's Screening Room One. But no, I have to keep myself in check. Even in abject nonsense, there must be rules, and there's enough eye candy to go around this year anyway.
So much so that I feel like I need to give honorable mentions. To all those hot fascists in La Bola Negra, whose bodies are lusted after by the camera in ways Coward can never achieve, since it can barely keep its protagonists' faces in focus. To the unconscious, narcotized tragedy of an Adonis slumbering in the background of Double Freedom. To Minotaur's Yuriy Zavalnyouk, who might not overshadow Olivier Martinez's sex appeal in Unfaithful but clears Maurice Ronet in Chabrol's original The Unfaithful Wife. To Gabriel Dahmani's Djibril in All of a Sudden and Tega Alexander's Benji in Masc, both for their hotness and warmth. Empathetic beefcake tastes better than cruel beauty.
Or maybe not, since my pick is Zo In-sung, whose characters in two TIFF 51 titles aren't especially tender-hearted. Indeed, he's monstrous in Possible Love as a rich guy who supposedly looks like Steve Jobs - let's not question that or its awkward implications. In Hope, he's far hotter and way nicer, even though he's still playing a character defined by his potential for some form of violence. Bonus points for how much the rugged, denim-clad look suits him to a T. I wanted to do like those aliens and devour him.
To keep this carnal energy going, let's move on to the next category and make it a little weird.
The “Titane Car” Championship Ring for Biggest “Hear Me Out”
And I'm keeping the Hope streak going by choosing alien daddy Michael Fassbender, preferably when he looks less humanoid but isn't yet in full demon-dog-from-hell mode. Even then, I'm sure we could have some kinky, slightly life-threatening fun together.
In HOPE and in life, hotness comes in many forms.
EUROCHEESE: Most of the options that come to mind from my films are godawful characters, and in 2026, nothing is less hot. Tom Sturridge's Dennis is the only character I can stomach in The Man I Love, so I guess my "hear me out" is that being the only decent person in the room is sexy by default. If we're talking real-life actors’ appeal triumphing over vile characters, though, I'd gladly ignore Jack O'Connell's hate-spewing but impressive performance in Ink to appreciate his talents.
The “Svetlana Vetrova Knows!” Cup for Best Diva
Let's not forget the ladies - though, to be honest, Penélope Cruz's Nené in La Bola Negra is practically a drag queen. It must have been a blast parading around those sets surrounded by young soldiers hanging on your every note. Cruz was already an Almodóvar diva of the highest order, but there is no higher camp than this. Comments on her short screen time fail to understand that an iconic presence like this reverberates throughout the entire film.
Runners-up - Sophie Okonedo's Clarissa certainly carries herself with the airs of a diva, and it would be insane not to call out Bernadette Peters' Serena Cherry (iconic character name) in The Debut. I mean, it's Bernadette Peters, for god's sake.
CLÁUDIO: I wanted to say Nené, too, though maybe the greatest diva to be acknowledged in La Bola Negra is Lorca himself, whose greatness is the source for all that we see on screen and the stirring of Los Javis' imaginations. Some other divas that immediately jumped to mind might be better classified as villains, so I'll leave them to their own category.
Though is Brian Mulroney a villain in Matthew Rankin's latest documentary or just a grand diva of the television age? The real villain is nationalism and conservative politics writ large. Vincent Lindon is certainly a diva in A Good Little Soldier, though I might keep him to decry capitalism as the villain of a lot of different movies this year, not to mention our off-screen reality. Sandrine Kiberlain lands on a similar note in All About Corinne, though that film's parody of the French film industry is more about class than anything else, and it keeps its diva antics to a minimum. Restraint makes for better cinema there, but not for better divadom.
Evelyn and Nicky are a match made in heaven of divas in Club Kid, but they're more ridiculous than fabulous, and my heart yearns for fabulousness. Should I then go with Caitriona Balfe's glamorously tragic mother in A Long Winter, or the titular sex worker who inspires a preacher's son to embrace his own queerness in Marie Madeleine? Oh, screw it, I'm going back to the evil people, or should I say beings? TIFF 51's greatest diva was Valeria Bruni Tedeschi as Mephisto, the Devil, The Strange Woman in a fuckass bob and a giallo-ready trench coat, cigarette in hand, a condescending laugh in her throat, and a come-hither provocation on her tongue every time she appears to Jasmine Trinca's desperate socialite. The Spiral is so stupid but so much fun!
THE SPIRAL is the story of two divas coming together to maximize their joint slay.
But let's set aside evil for a moment and think about another category we've baptized in honor of the Heated Rivalry women.
The “Rose Landry Coming Out Guru” Tribute Award for Best Hero
Weirdly enough, this was one of the easiest categories to figure out, even though there are a lot of worthy candidates like the union organizers in Union Town, the concept of community theater in The Debut, and Robert, the aspiring singer at the center of Congo Boy. Or, really, the TIFF volunteers who are the true heroes of every edition. We'd be lost without them.
No, this award belongs to the collective of Harlem Renaissance luminaries in Once Upon a Time in Harlem. Though I delayed my write-up a great deal and synched it to Greaves' centennial during NYFF, I actually got to watch this film as part of my TIFF experience. And no heroes left a greater impression than those artists, archivists, critics, thinkers, geniuses, and all-around stars of a movement that might not have been thought of as such while it was happening, but whose influence reverberates into our contemporary times, as inspiring today as it was a century ago.
EUROCHEESE: Despite her attempts to stand in the way of Ian Charleson's Hamlet in Elsinore, Dr. Margaret Johnson heroically attended to HIV/AIDS patients in a time when most doctors wanted nothing to do with them. I don't believe she came out to TIFF, but she recently came out for screenings in London, and seeing pictures of Olivia Colman tearing up as she speaks to her is heartwarming. The Ian Charleson Day Center (ICDC) was her base of operations as London's first doctor devoted specifically to HIV care, a real-life hero.
But on to our flip side!
The “Homophobia in Professional Hockey” Award for Best Villain
Since I'm giving the honor of "best," I'm going to avoid the ghoulishness of sexual assaulters, diseases, or journalists selling out their integrity. Let's go with a fun, Disney-style villain: John Cho is relishing his gun-toting Pastor Hwan in all of his scenes in Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother, swimming in the camp of his ridiculous cult leader. Reality is so wild these days, there's certainly a world where someone this bombastic could come to life, spouting his religious nonsense like it's scripture. Thankfully, things like that only happen in fiction... (cough).
CLÁUDIO: Well, the great villains are the TIFF organizers who want to turn the fest into a market, cutting down the press opportunities, which led to journalists flooding public screenings and taking away from the public for whom the world's biggest public film festival is becoming less and less accessible. The market's embrace of AI was also dispiriting, but alas, I should probably keep this conversation light and silly.
John Cho is a sleazy, Christian fundamentalist menace in YOUR MOTHER YOUR MOTHER YOUR MOTHER, and Mahershala Ali is having none of it.
Honorable mentions go to the memory of Margaret Thatcher, who Mike Leigh thoroughly skewered in Tender Loving Care before Ryan Murphy and Jessica Lange did it on TV, Grand Guignol style. I guess Norway makes for a striking villain in Fjord, all with the ominous symbolism of giant flags slapping windows as the state comes to take a couple's children away. The preacher father in Marie Madeleine made my blood boil like few other characters this year, Phillip Ettinger's haunting presence in Josephine is hard to shake, and there's plenty to be said about the unknown entity at the heart of The Unknown and the ghost of a rapist grandfather in La Gradiva, but let's try to keep things more concrete. With that in mind, it all came down to two figures who represent cinema's potential for vampiric voraciousness. Well, it came down to that, since you got my original answer once more with John Cho's demented preacher.
Still, as much as Cho Yeo-jeong's director in Possible Love might cannibalize her documentary subjects, I have to give the award to Pedro Almodóvar's alter ego in Bitter Christmas. Leonardo Sbaraglia's Raúl is the auteur's lacerating self-portrait and the closest he's ever come to capturing the same evils crystallized in one of his favorite films, Zulueta's Arrebato. The artist may shine in his artistry, but as a friend, as a human, he has an insatiable hunger for personal tragedy he calls inspiration, all too willing to take, take, take from those he claims to love.
Next up, we're keeping it with the intolerable people and awarding the following category.
"Marty Supreme" Warning for an annoying character you'd least want to meet in real life
Aka our demon twink award. Even though some of the characters I have in mind aren't that twinkish. Think Louis Garrel in It Will Happen Tonight or Vincent Dedienne and Thomas Jolly playing themselves in All About Corinne. There surely are a lot of tertiary, unbearable twinks skittering through the background of Club Kid and Coward, but my response to this prompt was set in stone from the start. Sure, Rami Malek's Jimmy is difficult to stomach in The Man I Love, but there's a level of theatricality to him that makes self-obsession a tad justifiable. Luther Ford's Vincent, a complete non-entity the film insists on making its structural protagonist, has no redeeming qualities beyond his waifish, ginger-haired beauty. A demon twink, if I've ever seen one.
EUROCHEESE: Your turn to steal my answer! Kudos to Ford for making me want to throw things at the screen. Speaking of demon twinks, there is no more spoiled, entitled presence representing Gen Z than Will Price's Dylan in The Only Living Pickpocket in New York, ruining lives because he needed to buy into his own idiotic theories. Of COURSE you were robbed, walking around New York acting like that. If he had randomly been hit by a bus early in the film, I guarantee the audience would have clapped and cheered. Come to think of it, maybe he would be a good match for Vincent in The Man I Love, as long as they promised not to adopt. On to better, more interesting characters.
"Yuna Hollander and Irina Rozanova" Celebration Award for Best Mother
No contest - Midge in Tangles is the champion mother who rides for her daughter against the world, which makes it hit even harder when her daughter Sarah can't protect her from her descent into Alzheimer's. Flashbacks highlight core memories of a woman whose grit and curiosity couldn't help but inspire the creative storyteller her daughter would become. Since this will be my last mention of the film, please seek this film out. It might leave you in tears, but it will also make you call your mother and tell her how much you love her.
GENTLE MONSTER needed a whole lot more of Catherine Deneuve in it.
CLÁUDIO: So many mother characters at TIFF were doing their best amid horrible, often impossible circumstances. This isn't my way of defending The Spiral's mother, yet part of her monstrousness stemmed from love for her daughter, a tiny part, but still. The same goes for Lola Dueñas' troubled motherhood in La Bola Negra, Birgit Minichmayr trying to support a daughter while grieving another in Everytime, Gemma Chan's stressful attempts to protect her little girl in Josephine, the remembrance of a loving maternal figure in Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother, and Catherine Deneuve's no-nonsense, yet loving reality-check at the edges of Gentle Monster. And I know Marion Bailey's Birdie and Rejane Faria's Vicentina might not consider themselves great mothers in Tender Loving Care and On Behalf of My Son, respectively. Still, their struggle for goodness, accountability, self-control, and devotion to their children is inspiring.
In the end, I was most moved by mothers who took on children not their own by blood. My runner-up is Fei in The Violinist, dealing with the Japanese invasion of her country during WWII, the disappearance of her best friend and love of her life, all while becoming the de facto mother to two war orphans. My winner, though, is Pirati, played by Pushpa Thing Lama in Elephants in the Fog, as she is the mother of her Kinnar community and spends much of the film either looking for one of her missing girls or demanding justice in her name. What a figure! Maybe I should've chosen her as Hero of the Year instead.
Alas, many of these films left me wanting to give my mom a great big hug afterward. In that vein, let's move on to the next category.
The "David Hollander" Special Mention for Father we'd most like to Hug
Third place goes to Radu Jude's tragic pater familias in The Unknown. Second place belongs to Mahershala Ali in Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother, mostly because I'd rather apply to be stepfather to his kids rather than embrace him like a son, if you get what I mean. Still, Reba McEntire should write a song about Ali's Latif - that man goes through it for their kids. Finally, my winner is Paul Jesson's Geoff in Tender Loving Care, as he's got his priorities straight. Truly, a parent should want their child to be happy first and foremost. Screw societal expectations or one's own selfish desires for idealized futures. Even writing about that character is making me misty-eyed.
EUROCHEESE: Paul Jesson is absolutely the right answer - what a beautiful performance. I'll pivot, though, and give my hug to the father doing everything he can to make his life fitting for the son he didn't know existed - Jordan Firstman's Peter in Club Kid. His evolution as a character is surprisingly moving, and it's a huge part of the reason audiences are falling in love with the film. He's far from a perfect parent, but he's finding his way.
The “I’ll Believe in Anything” Crown for Queerest Moment
So many LGBTQ films at the festival this year, and many of them were among my favorites. La Bola Negra obviously has several options, and Elsinore has lovely moments showing gay men supporting each other. Still, the image that comes to mind is Valentin Campagne's Francis in Coward, stealing a hidden kiss with Emmanuel Macchia's Pierre right in front of their theater troupe without anyone seeing. Something about the sly secrecy, the defiance of it and the curiosity of acting out on their feelings - lovely.
ELSINORE came to queer up the place and make everyone cry.
CLÁUDIO: I have to say the queerest moment at TIFF might have been the awards announcement, with La Bola Negra and Elsinore winning, plus Ancestors' FIPRESCI honor and Spiral getting a runner-up mention in Midnight Madness. Also, our serendipitous encounter that very same last night of the fest at a place that might make it into Heated Rivalry season 2, or at least some of the talent working there - wink wink.
Not sure about you, but I feel like we're running out of gas, so let's keep these next ones quick, hopefully sweet with a touch of sharpness. No protracted honorable mentions, straight to the point, or as straight as we two can be.
The “Heated Rivalry” Tribute Award for Best Chemistry
I considered giving this to the All of a Sudden duo, but I'm jumping off your Club Kid love to say Jordan Firstman and Reggie Absolom as father and son, because chemistry on screen need not be romantic. If those two didn't click, the movie wouldn't pack any punch.
EUROCHEESE: I'll go with Sophie Okonedo and David Oyelowo in Clarissa - they're such good actors, we can feel the history between them in the years lost.
The "Goro Miyazaki" Cone of Shame for Biggest Disappointment
Speaking of our meeting, it was great fun picking apart the absurdity of Fjord. I'm still gobsmacked by how inept I found the storytelling and its fake nod to "understanding both sides." I left the theater frustrated and completely confused about how it walked away with the Palme. It made for an entertaining conversation, but still - shame!
CLÁUDIO: Fjord would probably be my answer, but I don't want repeats around these parts. So, I'll go with Wild Horse Nine. Though I've been hit-and-miss with McDonagh in the past, The Banshees of Inisherin seemed like a return to form in terms of text and actor work, if not directing prowess. His latest includes some nice performances, but there's very little else of value. I guess the joke's on me for having high expectations of the man who gave us Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri.
The "A Useful Ghost" Remembrance Wreath for Best Surprise
I did not, however, have high expectations for Look Back, a project that felt redundant after the brilliant anime adaptation of Tatsuki Fujimoto's manga a couple of years ago. That, coupled with the ghastly reviews Kore-eda earned at Cannes for Sheep in the Box, made me dread what would surely be a pointless exercise. Well, I ended up falling for the story's charms all over again and found that this director's specific expansions, especially his work with DP Senzo Ueno, justified the project's existence quite persuasively.
TANGLES might make it all the way to a surprise Oscar nomination of it earns enough passion.
EUROCHEESE: Tangles was my favorite surprise of the festival, but I was also pleasantly surprised by Onwards and Sideways - I'm not a big John Madden fan. Still, I should have known Laura Linney would win me over.
The “Touch of Evil Long Take” Tribute for Best Opening
I wasn't a fan of all of The Beloved, but I loved the opening scene between father (Javier Bardem) and estranged daughter (Victoria Luengo), which gives such a rich sense of history. I wish the rest of the film had been as strong as the introduction.
CLÁUDIO: Oh, that's a great call on The Beloved, which definitely starts stronger than it ends. Heavens, I love discussing openings, what they are and how they tell you how to watch a film, but I promised us brevity. So I'm going with My Wife Cries, whose extended, seemingly out-of-nowhere, and rather endless dialogue between coworkers immediately hooked me into that picture's odd energy.
The “Thelma & Louise Freeze-Frame” Prize for Best Ending
Similarly, I'm fascinated by how a film's ending can reframe everything that came before, a trick that gives Bitter Christmas its sharpness and sense of purpose. However, my winner must be Tender Loving Care. Heavens, if that is the last image in Mike Leigh's filmography, it's one barn-burner of a statement.
EUROCHEESE: Absolutely love that ending. I adored the button on The Debut - after the whirlwind of where the story takes us, the final moments were a perfect return to reality.
The “Hit Me with Your Best Shot” Memorial Prize for Best Shot
Several choices come to mind from La Bola Negra, climbing the statue, the fireworks, the boys running on the beach, the black ball interrogation room - what a beautiful film. My favorite, though, has to be an iconic mountain shot late in the film. And readers, you'll know it when you see it. Gorgeous.
CLÁUDIO: Readers who have been following my reviews already know this one. It's the shot that changes everything in Everytime, a whole tragic story of lost youth told in a long wandering take, from the rooftops to the heavens to the serenity of trees undulating, whispering in the morning breeze.
EVERYTIME has some of the most astonishing shots of the cinematic year.
But since we're talking about shots, why not backshots? Sorry, I couldn't resist introducing the next prize with that cheeky joke.
The “My Moon, My Man” Cup for Best Sex Scene
Honestly? I'm torn between La Bola Negra's single sex scene, an anonymous trist with a Grindr hookup, because it scandalized the straights at TIFF - a couple spent the entire walk from the Lightbox to the Scotiabank Theatre theorizing it was meant to signal the character's brokenness, which made me internally spiral into Edith Massey decrying the boringness of the heterosexual lifestyle. Anyway, though I started with a joke, my pick is something of a downer. It's from The Unknown, coming in the middle of its twisting plot, when two body-switched people go to bed in a last-ditch effort to solve their predicament. The scene itself might be the most astute cinematic representation I've ever seen of the nuances of consent and how something agreed upon by two parties can grow into rape halfway through. Apologies for the vibe shift, but it's an incredibly harrowing moment that deserves its flowers, if only for its rarity in big-screen storytelling.
EUROCHEESE: Ha, I wonder how many at the Academy will be clutching their pearls too! I will say the sex scene between the toxic Jimmy and Vincent in The Man I Love stood out more than anything else at the fest, though it obviously isn't made for audience enjoyment. Who knew our sex scene category would be so upsetting?
The “I’m coming to the cottage” prize for Best Line Reading
There's a reason audiences are bursting into applause at Julianne's performance in The Debut mid-film. Who knew a line reading asking for rent could wreck this woman's entire life? Fingers crossed: Give me this as her Oscar clip, complete with bleeps!
CLÁUDIO: I can't get over the soft gasp of self-realization, the whispering as if in secret confidence, the heartbreak of "I want to live. This world is the best, don't you think? I want to stay." I know people are head-over-heels for Virginie Efira in All of a Sudden, but please, don't sleep on Tao Okamoto's pitch-perfect performance and delivery as immaculate as this, like the gentlest sledgehammer to the solar plexus you'll ever feel, knocking the wind out of you.
Are we too mean to THE MAN I LOVE? Or maybe we're not mean enough.
This next one was your idea, and I really struggled to find a worthy winner. Alas, my annoyance always leads me back to The Man I Love.
The "I See You" Line" Avatar-blue ribbon for cringiest dialogue delivery
Sorry to be a hater, but I'm going with Rami Malek's whole spiel about how to play a woman. Not sure why he delivers every line with his jaw so tight and jutting forward, while projecting the self-satisfaction of the cat that ate the canary. From the nonsense about figure eights to the "Kiss that shoulder, kiss it," I couldn't stand him. It's made worse because this is the single best sequence in the entire film, full of remarkable supporting performances, as much of the ensemble gets their moment to shine in spontaneous song. He sticks out like a sore thumb of overwrought performativity.
EUROCHEESE: Mine is right there in the title - I sat in a packed, ecstatic theater watching I Play Rocky, and in a scene where he says the line over and over, my audience cheered like they were watching touchdowns at the Super Bowl. Nothing but the Stallone imitation, nothing else added to the line, over and over on a loop. And that being said...
The “Emilia Perez” Prize for Most Likely Oscar Villain
This is my villain origin story. Everything about I Play Rocky's bland, by-the-numbers take on the makings of Rocky is exactly what you would expect it to be. The accent in the trailer? Yeah, that's the entire performance, monotone and only mildly expressive. The girlfriend-eventual-wife who is only there to shower support, the difficult father, the minor setbacks when we all know where this is heading. I get that I Play Rocky was basically written on prescription to be a crowd-pleaser, but there is nothing interesting to say about it. If you love Rocky, you might very well love this, but it is just steak-eater pandering through and through. That's why I am concerned it'll overperform at the Oscars. You know the voter in the Academy who votes for everything you find mediocre? He's not only voting for I Play Rocky - he's dreaming it will win Best Picture.
CLÁUDIO: Last year, Joe Reid made the unpopular, somewhat cruel yet ultimately accurate prediction that, for many, Hamnet would become the Oscar Villain of the season after it won the TIFF People's Choice Award. To be honest, it was a controversial article that really irked me when I first read it. Because of that, I feel a tad uncomfortable doing my own prediction. Mostly because what Reid did last year, and what I'm now trying to do, is read the tea leaves of public opinion, perhaps discerning the worst impulses lying dormant in Oscar aficionados worldwide and on social media, specifically.
The hot takes have begun pouring in and it's not looking good for LA BOLA NEGRA, social media-wise.
I can tell you Wild Horse Nine and Fjord are the films I least want to discuss going forward, or else I'll explode in a ball of irritation - the Bugonias of 2026, you might say - but I'm not sure they'll get the same treatment by Film Twitter and Oscar blogs, YouTube channels and the lot across the land. I'll be bold and say the discourse around La Bola Negra having its camera lusting over fascist bodies and militarist iconography will spark a lot of rancid discourse, and that the "Miramax-y" quality many are already decrying will lead to a lot of Hamnet-like backlash.
The flip side of the coin, of course, is our next category.
"Hard Truths" prize for a film that should get awards love, but won't
And here, I'll break my heart again and say that Tender Loving Care is going the way of the last few Mike Leigh projects. Please tell me I'm wrong.
EUROCHEESE: I'm crossing my fingers that the writers will stand up for Leigh this time around - after all, it is likely to be his swan song. There's also an outside shot for recent Emmy winner Kate O'Flynn to be frauded into Supporting. However, she'd most likely be fighting for what looks like Tao Okamoto's slot (more fraud!), but we have a long time before nominations. Keep hope alive!
My choice doesn't make sense, but still feels very possible (get it?) - South Korea is still weirdly ignored outside of the massive victory for Parasite, and I have a strange feeling that despite the wonderful reviews, Possible Love might end up missing everywhere. I'd almost want to bet on it, but when we both want to be wrong, it would be far too depressing to put money on it. Let's hope voters realize we are right about Fjord and knock it out of Original Screenplay and International Film in favor of these gems.
Cláudio, I absolutely loved meeting you in person after reading your work over the years, and I loved revisiting our time at the festival. I adore TIFF now, and hope we are able to connect in real life again at some point! Until then, my friend, I will have to settle for your thoughtful, personal writing here at the Film Experience. <3
CLÁUDIO: Thank you for your kind words, for being such a great companion on this journey, for the lovely conversation, and for indulging all my silliness and endless yapping. Still, I am a stubborn ass, so I'll insist on wrapping up this TIFF coverage with some of the categories we skipped for brevity's sake and because, admittedly, I could see I was starting to tire you out. Let me paint a mental picture, like it's been my tradition in the past years of Best Costume Design Oscar volleys, iykyk.
Can you imagine a world where Isabelle Huppert never became a star? ALL ABOUT CORINNE can.
Imagine us sharing a bottle of Monkey's Blood from The Debut (The “Stocking Stuffer Pre-Selection” for Most Covetable Props), while crowned by some of the fest's most memorable wiggery. I'll don Comer's overacting frizz from Stuffed (The “Nicole Kidman in Holland” Dishonor for Most Criminal Wig), and you try on Nené's blonde bob from La Bola Negra (The “Nicole Kidman in Moulin Rouge!” Honor for Cuntiest Hair). On our laps, the white cat from All of a Sudden (The “Anya Rozanova” Award for Best Critter) asks for the pets it deserves, while "What Is Love?"/"Baby Don't Hurt Me" from The Dreamed Adventure (The “All the Things She Said” Golden Record for Best Needle Drop) plays in the background. And the topic of conversation in this dream? Well, the idea of Isabelle Huppert playing an extra rather than being a star in All About Corinne (The “Olivia Colman is fucking a basket person” Banner for Wackiest Premise), of course.
Anyway, thanks to all the readers for being so patient with us and for enduring all these reviews and reminiscences. As awards season starts in earnest, we'll have less time to talk pictures in depth, and punditry will supersede criticism, but I'm glad we had this respite for now. Not that you're escaping my Best International Film capsules. Anyway, here's to a great TIFF and hopes for a grand awards season ahead!