TIFF ’23: “Toll” tests the limits of a mother’s love

by Cláudio Alves

A mother’s love should be unconditional, but so often it isn’t. A mother knows best, except when she doesn’t. With some parents, preconceived notions of who their child should be crash against who their child actually is. Illusions and delusions take their toll and what one person calls love may feel like hatred to the person who endures it. It's easy to follow anger’s siren song, and rage against unfit mothers and ungrateful children, depending on where you fall. Broaching these fraught relationships is risky business for any artist, even those agile in avoiding cliché and melodrama. 

Watching Toll, Carolina Markowicz’s follow-up to the acclaimed Charcoal, one can’t help but give thanks that this particular artist took the risk…

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