As TIFF turned 50 it rolled out the red carpet for 291 films from around the world. Over 11 festive days, features, documentaries and shorts were screened and enjoyed by hundreds of thousands of film lovers. Black directors, actors and their films left lasting impressions in unique ways. These are just a few.
Hedda (***)
Writer-director Nia DaCosta (Candyman) ambitiously interprets the classic 1891 Henrick Ibsen play Hedda Gabler. Her version sets the main character Hedda (Tessa Thompson, Creed) in 1950ish England on a grand estate, in a mansion living with her new husband George (Tom Bateman). They throw a party to impress the upper crust, but really they’ve run out of money and are desperate for him to land a job as a professor. His duty at the party is to impress a guest who might become a possible boss at a university. Her’s is to sabotage his competition for the position, the author Eileen Lovborg (Nina Hoss). The venom flows as freely as the champagne. Says the professor and potential boss, “I’m gonna shoot whoever slept with my wife.” Hedda warns, ‘You’re going to run out of bullets!”
DaCosta steers the wicked tale in the right directions. Greatly aided by Thompson, whose performance is sharp as a razor blade. Terse, witty dialogue propels the storyline as well as sneaky tricks, embarrassing incidents, drunken debauchery and outlandish behavior. Unkind words are said. Drinks are thrown. The antics are beautifully shot (cinematographer Sean Bobbitt, 12 Years a Slave), especially a fireworks scene. The settings (production design from Cara Brower) are as sumptuous as the costumes (Lindsay Pugh). There are some lulls in the pacing, and some may wish that all the scenes were consistently tight and venomous.
Otherwise, devilish fun is rarely this beautiful. FYI, it looks like the driveway to the mansion goes both ways. So does Hedda.
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m3lgD59KrTw
Laundry (**1/2)
In 1968 South Africa, the horror of apartheid reigns, and this Black family is living through it. Their anchor is a laundry owned by the family patriarch Enoch (Siyabonga Shibe). It’s a business he wants to pass on to his 16-year-old son Khuthala (Ntobeko Sishi). That’s the plan. Except, the heir wants to be a musician. Regardless, both their lives are made difficult by operating a black-owned business in a white racist neighborhood. Affiliations with racist town officials are tentative on a good day. Degrading on a normal one.
Filmmaker Zamo Mkhwanazi recreates the period well. But most of the sets look sterile. Too clean. Not lived in. A lot of the performances are never as deep-rooted and emotional as they should be to reflect the harrowing times. Mkhwanazi based the story on her grandfather’s laundry business, which was taken from him by the apartheid government. Her fervent desire to tell a story about middle class people who were robbed of their businesses and dignity is evident in every frame. Nicely shot by Gabriel Lobos, though the lighting could have been more intimate and editing tighter (Christine Hoffet).
Reminds viewers how far South Africa has come and may make some wonder how that country, after all it went through, chose truth and reconciliation over vengeance.
My Father’s Shadow (****)
“May the four colors of the earth bless me. I will see you in my dreams.” Writer/director Akinola Davies has a way with words that’s poetic. Also, a feel for sensitive and compelling storytelling, which pervades all that’s delicately drawn in this father/son allegory.
Two young brothers, Remi (Chibuike Marvelous Egbo) the outspoken one and Aki (Godwin Chiemerie Egbo) the introvert, live in a rural town. They love each other even when they’re bickering. The day they reunite with their estranged dad Folarin (Ṣọpẹ́ Dìrísù, Gangs of London), there is a monumental shift in the father/son relationship. Especially when he takes them to the big city of Lagos in 1993 and they experience the perils of a very volatile election, military rule and big city dangers. It’s a humanizing experience for all. Folarin: “My own father had many wives. Before he died he told me the only job a man has is to take care of his family.”
Davies weaves this fable with the help of his cowriter and brother Wale Davies. They establish the bond between the brothers in ways that are universal. Then they pair them with an absentee, philandering and yet loving dad. That’s when their true genius kicks in. Folarin says all the things a dad who hasn’t done his job thoroughly would say if he was honest about his feelings. And Remi asks him all the questions a son would ask a father who wasn’t there. As forgiveness takes center stage, the narrative captures your heart and doesn’t let go. Scenes of the three on a beach are reminiscent of sequences from the Oscar® winning film Moonlight.
Gorgeously filmed by cinematographer Jermain Canute Edwards, from the quiet moments to scary ones when soldiers dressed in olive green uniforms patrol on a truck and sneer. Entire cast is perfectly clothed by costume designer PC Williams in western and African garb. Footage is edited by Omar Guzmán with certain precision. The music by CJ Mirra and Duval Timothy is wondrous. A meditation on fatherhood, political strife and the frailty of life that’s touching beyond words.
Youngblood (**1/2)
His soul is on ice. Dean Youngblood (Ashton James) is a young celebrated Canadian hockey player who needs a second chance. He’s given that the day he becomes a rookie on the Hamilton Mustangs team. Unfortunately for him, his coldhearted coach Murray (Shawn Doyle) is aloof, and his new team hazes him. In the back of his mind, the teachings of his stern dad (Blair Underwood) guide and propel him forward. Those missives also set him up to be suspicious of all and assume that the world is stacked against him.
Filmmaker Hubert Davis knows the subject matter well. He won TIFF’s People’s Choice Award for Best Documentary for his stirring documentary Black Ice back in 2022. That perceptive filmmaking revealed the tribulations of Black hockey players in Canada. It was a project that familiarized him with the challenges of a talented minority players who struggle to get treated fairly. This project is a twist on the 1986 Rob Lowe movie of the same name and with a similar subject matter.
Davis works well with James and Alexandra McDonald, who plays his love interest. Underwood is consistently tough as the taskmaster father. Everyone loves a sports movie. But it’s harder when the narrative seems so focused on the trials of the protagonist and not enough on the triumphs. That’s the flaw in a script credited to Josh Epstein, Kyle Rideout, Seneca Aaron and Charles Officer. A flaw that nulls some of the good work the director, cast and production crew do. But not enough to entirely block the film’s goals.
Photos courtesy of the Toronto International Film Festival
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Visit Film Critic Dwight Brown at DwightBrownInk.com.