The Best and Worst of TIFF 2025
What is up Hammer to Nail readers. It’s me, Rendy Jones, back for another TIFF critic’s notebook. Unlike my previous years, this being my sixth, this one was rather packed and busier than ever. Partly because of the terrible ticketing system with Ticketmaster leaving me with little tickets to redeem and last minute decisions for events and film screenings that often obstructed my “set” daily plans, TIFF50 or “TIFFTY” as the preshow “volunteer acknowledgment” bumpers called it, might’ve been the busiest and most draining TIFF I’ve ever done. So let’s recap, shall we.
Day one, September 4 — I arrived earlier than usual via Flixbus in time to hide my luggage in the press office, get my badge, and dash to Joachim Trier’s Sentimental Value. Everything you’ve heard about this movie stands, and more. It’s a great family drama epic about the link between a deadbeat acting dad (Stellan Skarsgard), his theater daughter (Renate Reinsve), and her little sister (Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas) amid his attempt to get his first production in 15 years off the ground. Trier does what Trier (and co-writer Eskil Vogt) does best in introspecting on the humanity and complex navigation between its characters and their internalized loss of self and loneliness mixed with strong comedic beats and sincere emotions that knock you out sobbing. I wish I didn’t see this at 9 AM when my emotions aren’t quite awake but alas, we ball.
That evening I went to Chandler Levack’s sophomore feature Mile End Kicks. Funnily enough I met the director on the coffee line in Scotiabank that morning as we both were seeing Sentimental Value. Levack’s film is a solid coming-of-age flick with Barbie Ferreira as a 20-something music journalist going from Toronto to Montreal to write a 33 ⅓ book and getting smitten by a local alt rock indie band’s vocalist (Stanley Simons) while starting a friendship-turned-romance with the guitarist (Devon Bostick). Very funny movie, plus a good dose of realism of Ferreira being not-so-ready to handle adulthood just yet.
Afterwards, I went to a Netflix-hosted Kpop Demon Hunters karaoke party with the filmmakers Maggie Kang and Chris Appelhans and vocal artists Rei Ami (Zoey), Audrey Nuna (Mira), and Kevin Woo (Mystery Saja). The movie was not playing at TIFF but is in the midst of a worldwide press tour. As someone whose summer hyperfixation revolved around that movie, I was having the time of my life. Knowing all the songs instinctively, we continued drinking and singing loudly, losing my voice at some of the songs. At Your Idol, I was encouraged by Audrey to sing with them and it was legendary. We ‘sealed tf out of that Honmoon’.
‘Sealed the honmoon’ so hard the next morning I woke up at my Airbnb with a massive hangover and managed to miss my first two movies of the day. But I still had three movies that day to see nonetheless, so perhaps it was a blessing in disguise. First was the Sydney Sweeney-led sports biopic Christy, which was extremely mediocre and conventional, and in need of a queer voice behind the scenes to make Christy Martin’s story into the triumph it deserved.
Following was Maddie’s Secret, John Early’s directorial debut that I thought was going to be an absurdist romp. Oh how wrong I was. In reality, it’s an Almodóvar-esque portrait of a woman (played by Early) with an eating disorder who is propelled into the spotlight at her culinary kitchen job as a video influencer. However her relationship with food, unbeknownst to everyone around her, becomes troublesome to herself and she’s admitted to a rehabilitation center. It has the hallmarks and visual style of an afterschool special, but really, Early’s bold and empathetic tackling on the ED subject matter through a remarkable unexpected portrayal and direction made this one of the best films I screened at TIFF.
My original plans following Maddie’s Secret was Clement Vigo’s Steal Away but 20-minutes through I couldn’t stomach another heavy handed moment. Especially one that discussed Black and White racial relationships. So I walked out and went to see this lighthearted CG animated movie called Space Cadet. Think Robot Dreams and The Martian at once where a young woman astronaut, raised by her grandma-like guardian robot ventures off to space. But as time passes, the Robot finds itself alone, and the difficulty in finding purpose without the girl to care for. It’s so sweet, cute, and stunningly animated. Goes down easy and leaves you a lil teary-eyed. Plus Karen O being a singer on some of the tracks scratches a nice itch for me as well. Afterwards we went to the Maddie’s Secret afterparty which was very fun. Met a lot of people, including actors I admired for quite some time. But I turned in early cause lord knows Saturday was gonna be a packed day.
Saturday rolled around and I left the Airbnb around 7 for The Testament of Ann Lee, which I knew was going to be a bitch and a half to get into if I wasn’t early as hell. I don’t believe in 8 am screenings and while this one started at 9, if you didn’t arrive around 7, your chances of getting into the P&I were below 60 percent. Got in well at a safe line distance and the film started, initially playing in the 70mm vistavision. But within 20 minutes, the projection got messed up and they played the rest on digital. Mona Fastvold’s religious musical epic is a phenomenal and gorgeously crafted ode to the shaking quakers, a religion that used to be a pacifistic communal sect of worship. It’s so experimental in its style and musicality that I was transfixed with how it told this epic tale of the Shakers, led by a remarkable Amanda Seyfried performance.
Then literally right after I had to re-enter the same theater for Shih-Ching Tsou’s Left-Handed Girl, an entertaining family dramedy about a family stripped back into working class status navigating modern Taipei. With it being co-written by Sean Baker, Tsou’s frequent collaborator of nearly two decades, you can guess the kind of tone the film takes. Yet it’s done in the most refreshing manner. Following a lunch event for the movie, I had to make it to Wake Up Dead Man, the latest Knives Out flick. Rian Johnson three-peated his Knives Out streak. Here, and through an incredible Josh O’ Connor, he contends with his religious roots and makes commentary discussing the right co-opting of institutionalized religions. If Testament of Ann Lee was the start of the conversation about the timeline of when a religion was first tainted by American society as its influence from its British origin diminished across the centuries, Wake Up Dead Man continues those themes into our post-modern society.
Truthfully Netflix and A24 guided me through the fest where not even TIFF itself could, as I was at the mercy of their invitations especially considering that I couldn’t get a ticket for a movie to save my life. Other worthwhile mentions on the Netflix front were Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein which I felt very strongly emotional toward, given its discussion of monster vs. human (not man, human). I loved it, despite it being overlong and a bit messily structured. Then on to Richard Linklater’s Jean Luc-Goddard Disaster Artist production procedural comedy piece, Nouvelle Vague, which I had a genuine all-around blast with.
A24 this year had Eternity and Benny Safdie’s The Smashing Machine, which is capital F-fine. It’s an overlong hangout portrait of a UFC pioneer and the start of the descent of his career. I considered watching Eternity, but I had to prioritize Nia DaCosta’s Hedda and a luncheon that occurred the day following. I was in need of Black art, and also my heart has been tied to her work since Little Woods. Some of the best titles were genuine premieres like Maude Apatow’s incredible debut Poetic License featuring her mom Leslie Mann in her best role ever. Mann portrays a middle aged former therapist who feels invisible to her husband (Method Man) and high school senior daughter (Nico Parker) as they move to a college town for husband’s work. There she audits a poetry class and befriends two college senior idiots and best friends (Cooper Hoffman and Andrew Barth Feldman) who take a real liking to her. It has traces of Linklater (hangout movie) and Holofcener (strong female-centric character study) as it profoundly and humorously tells of three lost and lonely souls finding purpose and power within each other at major turning points in their lives.
Rendy Jones and friend
Then a Venice holdover, the hybrid procedural drama The Voice of Hind Rajab, which had me sobbing to the point of numbness. It takes real footage and recordings from actual events to highlight the heartbreaking efforts Red Crescent volunteers made when they received a call from a young Palestinian girl named Hind Rajab trapped in a car in Gaza while under IDF fire, and their hours-long attempt to get her out from just their offices and lengthy conversations. While the bubbling emotions from the volunteers escalate as this innocent child is pleading for her life, this film makes you reflect on your humanity as Palestinians as young as her are facing the same or even worse conditions today.
On the animation front, a great variety of French family-friendly fare with much food for thought. Little Amelie or the Character of Rain is a sweet outlook on early childhood with sophisticated conversations of life and death and is one of my favorite films of the year, which I screened pre-fest and still in need of seeing on a big screen. Then there’s Ugo Bienvenu’s gorgeous retro-futuristic Arco which premiered its English language version at TIFF. While I’m someone who would rather watch an international film in its language of origin, the dub which stars the voice talents of producer Natalie Portman, Mark Ruffalo, and Will Ferrell to name a few, is perfectly charming. The story tells of a young time traveler who rides on rainbows and enters a retrofuturistic past ravaged by climate change. Taught and raised by robots, he befriends a girl his age, abandoned by her family and cared for by her robot. It’s like Ponyo with a mix of Meet the Robinsons as it presents a gorgeous and beautifully built world with an organic sense of childhood whimsy and non-cynical commentary on environmentalism that I would hope will radicalize the future generations watching as Miyazaki’s work did for audiences who grew up with him.
All in all it was a fine and busy TIFF. One that I would hope to never have to be this exhausted by afterwards again – and hopefully with no Ticketmaster issues and better scheduling next year. There were a few films that blew me away and many other good to great ones that I recommend seeing.
– Rendy Jones (@Rendy_Jones)
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