TIFF 50: Benoit Blanc looks for grace in "Wake Up Dead Man"

by Cláudio Alves

If Wake Up Dead Man is the weakest Knives Out mystery yet, the blame lies at the feet of its outsized thematic ambition. In that regard, the new flick outdoes its predecessors and then some, touching on the same satirical points and terminally online observations of our socio-political present while stretching hands up, toward the heavens, in search of an ineffable grace. Rian Johnson thus tackles religion and belief and absolution with a Gothic twist and perverse glee, a complex proposal further complicated by the way he keeps playing with the whodunnit model in his usual deconstructionist manner. The director boldly adds Poe and Carr to the pantheon of authors he'll crib from in a metatextual game that reaches out an invitation to its audience. Share the pleasure of my mischief, it whispers in your ear…

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TIFF 50: "Noviembre" makes for a formidable debut

by Cláudio Alves

Dedicated to the memory of the victims, their families, and those still looking for the missing, Tomás Corredor's directorial debut reflects on the Palace of Justice siege in Bogotá, Colombia, without ever leaving a bathroom where M-19 guerrilleros took refuge and held hostages over two fateful days in November 1985. It starts at the close, with archival recordings over grainy blackness from which the vision of a destroyed room emerges, sunlight pouring in through a hole in the wall. One might wonder what happened here that turned a commonplace public toilet into an apocalyptic tableau such as this. Noviembre then goes back, to the beginning of the end, when the militants first took their hostages into the windowless room and signed their fates…

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TIFF 50: "Sentimental Value" falls victim to high expectations

by Cláudio Alves

To be loved so intensely, showered in adoration by a captive captivated crowd and the world beyond, can be as much of a curse as it is a blessing. Those who follow film festivals and the awards that come after are very familiar with such pitfalls. After all, who among us hasn't gone to the theater, hyped on months of exhaustive praise for a title that, when all is said and done, isn't as special as you thought it would be? Last year at TIFF, I wrote about my disappointment with Anora and loathing of Emilia Pérez, which was made worse by the reputation both films had accrued at Cannes and the palpable affection you could feel emanating from the Toronto crowd. 

This year, I come to you with a similar experience, another Cannes darling that failed to meet the high expectations placed upon it. Sorry, folks, but Joachim Trier's Sentimental Value left me cold…

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TIFF 50: "Aniki-Bóbó" shines in a new restoration

by Cláudio Alves

Few names in history are more synonymous with Portuguese cinema than that of Manoel de Oliveira. Perhaps we should go further still, as no cineaste in the medium's existence has followed its development for quite so long. His first project was 1931's Douro Fauna Fluvial, a non-fiction silent short whose radical form heralded the arrival of Modernism to Portuguese screens. His last major work before death was 2014's Gebo and the Shadow, a French-speaking chamber piece where theatrical tradition intersected with the digital vanguard. From pure kinetics to a studied staticity, from a cinema looking forward to one that found the future by glancing back at the past, 83 years of film. Even if he hadn't been a master of his craft, the man's sheer longevity and perseverance would have earned de Oliveira a place in the pantheon. Thankfully, historical importance is matched by the pictures' quality across the decades, metamorphoses and movie magics.

On its 50th edition, the Toronto International Film Festival honors this master of cinema's memory with a screening of his first feature, 1942's Aniki-Bóbó. The TIFF Classics selection marks the North American premiere of a new 4k restoration, bringing a film that was generally dismissed at the time of its original release to new, vibrant life. It's never looked or sounded better, a miracle on the silver screen…

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TIFF 50: Natalia Reyes loses her identity in "It Would Be Night in Caracas"

by Cláudio Alves

In the past decade, Natalia Reyes has consolidated her reputation as one of Latin American cinema's most promising rising stars. Though Birds of Passage put her on the map for many a cinephile, her sojourn into Hollywood filmmaking probably earned her more recognition. Six years ago, the Colombian actress was one of the highlights of Terminator: Dark Fate, and just this year, she appeared alongside Kerry Washington in Shadow Force. Indeed, 2025 is something of a banner year for Reyes, who stars in two new projects making their way through the fall festival season. Mariana Rondón and Marité Ugás' It Would Be Night in Caracas and Tomás Corredor's Noviembre find their star amid moments of societal unrest – the 2017 Venezuelan protests and the 1985 Palace of Justice siege in Bogotá.

First up, the Caracas-set drama, which had its world premiere today at Venice before making its North American debut at TIFF…

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