Thursday’s death of Queen Elizabeth II dominated the news cycle, but the first day of the Toronto International Film Festival was filled with hope for the future. Introducing opening-night entry “The Swimmers” at the Princess of Wales Theatre, TIFF CEO Cameron Bailey addressed the two pandemic years that disrupted everything.
“It was artists, storytellers, filmmakers, who were finding ways to move us, inspire us, to remind us what we’re living for,” he said. “I want to thank you, the best movie audience in the world, for being part of this experience again.”
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That experience takes many forms. The festival is a beacon for awards-season titles as well as red-carpet galas, documentaries, genre films, and international cinema. It’s also a snapshot of how the industry views commercial movies at a most fragile moment.
Netflix launched “The Swimmers,” the rousing-but-familiar true story of sisters Yusra and Sara Mardini (Nathalie and Manal Issa) who fled Syria for Europe while retaining their dreams of becoming Olympic athletes.
Directed by Sally El Hosaini, the movie works as a wholesome crowdpleaser unlikely to crack the awards conversation. The streamer’s awards team can sit back and let “The Swimmers” perform well on Netflix, where audiences looking for easy viewing will likely embrace it worldwide. It falls in line with TIFF openers like Magnolia’s “Once Were Brothers: Robbie Robertson and the Band,” or Netflix’s “Outlaw King” and “Borg McEnroe” — audience-friendly movies with moderate commercial potential.
Netflix, which brings eight films to TIFF this year ranging from “Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery” to animated “Wendell and Wild” and the Eddie Redmayne and Jessica Chastain thriller “The Good Nurse,” arrives at the festival with a slate more attuned to general audiences than Academy members.
Meanwhile, A24 launched its gay military drama “The Inspection” in a late-evening slot designed to designate the movie as a hidden gem, but it has big plans. The touching and personable first feature of writer-director Elegance Bratton follows the experience of a 25-year-old Black man named Ellis (Jeremy Pope) who decides to enlist in the Marines after his mother (Gabrielle Union) kicks him out for being gay. The bulk of the movie takes place at a Mississippi boot camp overseen by a crude unit commander (Bokeem Woodbine) as Ellis develops an ill-fated attraction to his drill instructor (Raúl Castillo, in top form).
Bratton, who previously directed the documentary “Pier Kids,” about homeless youth in New York City, based his first narrative feature on his own experiences as an active-duty soldier from 2005-2010; the movie is dedicated to his estranged mother and unfolds in the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” era of the U.S. military. Nevertheless, “The Inspection” is less a coming-out than a coming-in story: Ellis never wavers from expressing his sexuality as the men in his unit make peace with it to varying degrees.
“Moonlight” meets “Full Metal Jacket,” Bratton’s script is sometimes disarmingly funny. Pope, best known for his Broadway roles, could be a dark horse in the Best Actor race, but the biggest opportunity lies with Union, whose own father was a drill sergeant. The actress delivers a passionate and conflicted turn as Ellis’ mother in a handful of scenes. While the Best Supporting Actress race has gotten competitive (mostly thanks to “Women Talking”), enthusiasm for the “Bring It On” star could help propel a campaign for her to finally be recognized.
To even consider that possibility, A24 needs this small-scale movie to build a much bigger profile. Behind the scenes, it boasts Gamechanger Films’ Effie T. Brown (“Real Women Have Curves”), who brought the project to A24 last year, and the company appears to be betting on an underexploited market. Sources tell me the recent trailer tested equally well in red and blue states, while some early screenings for gay members of the military showed promising results. The company is betting on an expansive demographic of veterans eager to revisit an aspect of the armed services that has never been shown, while also serving the same Black audiences that got excited by the representational strides of “Moonlight.”
Bratton is an excellent steward of the cause. The director teared up during the Q&A, dedicating his movie to “all the people that feel forgotten, to remember that you matter.” That’s a powerful message likely to get an even louder platform when the movie closes NYFF next month.
And then there was Apple, which premiered its documentary “Louis Armstrong’s Black & Blue,” an absorbing collage-like overview of the musician’s personal audio diaries where he recorded the personal viewpoints he hid from public life.
Director Sacha Jenkins pairs this material with an array of archival footage and talking heads to interrogate Armstrong’s conflicting identities as a socially conscious man and apolitical performer. At a time when few documentaries have shown commercial potential at the box office, Apple is well positioned to take advantage of the festival platform to draw attention to the streaming launch.
The movie could have some awards momentum in the documentary race, as high-profile music documentaries often do, but that field is already competitive. For “Louis Armstrong’s Black & Blue” to succeed, it just has to make a little noise at TIFF, then snake its way to AppleTV+.
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Manal Issa and Nathalie Issa, real life sisters who play a pair of Olympic swimming hopefuls, also sisters, said they weren’t at all aquatic when cast in the Sally El Hosaini film ‘The Swimmers’ that opened TIFF last night. “Manal and Natalie couldn’t swim when they took the roles,” El Hosaini said at a press […]
The Toronto International Film Festival kicked off on a historic day with one of its strongest opening films in years in Sally El Hosaini’s “The Swimmers,” but what some audience members will likely remember is the stressful experience of securing their tickets for the Roy Thomson Hall world premiere. TIFF, which has gone digital again […]
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Jeremy Pope and Gabrielle Union are absolutely stellar in The Inspection.
A Carnegie Mellon University professor drew pushback on Twitter after wishing Queen Elizabeth a painful death after it was announced she was in poor health.
Chris Jackson - Pool/Getty ImagesRoyalist is The Daily Beast’s newsletter for all things royal and Royal Family. Subscribe here to get it in your inbox every Sunday.King Charles III told his son Prince Harry that Meghan Markle was not “welcome” to join the rest of the royal family at Balmoral, the Sun has reported. If true, the report would solve the mystery of why Meghan was announced as to be going to Balmoral with Harry on Thursday, and then just as suddenly revealed not to be going.A source
Paulina Porizkova, 57, shows off her toned AF butt and legs in a leopard print thong bikini in a new Instagram photo. The model loves Pilates to stay strong.
Former British public affairs official Shannon Felton Spence said that Meghan Markle may not attend Queen Elizabeth II's funeral. She might return to California to be with her young children.
The Duke of Sussex raced to Balmoral to be at his beloved grandmother’s bedside, but arrived more than an hour after Buckingham Palace announced that the Queen had died, aged 96.
Prince Harry has left Balmoral following the Queen's death, but has changed his plans and will stay in England.
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Behind the scenes drama prevented Meghan Markle from being with Prince Harry in Balmoral after the Queen's death.
In a wide-ranging interview, Hall discusses the joys of making "The Class," addresses the legacy of "The Breakfast Club" and tells his side of a famous story involving Will Smith on the set of "Six Degrees of Separation."
The six-time coach also dished on the details of her new makeup line, GXVE by Gwen Stefani.
Jennifer Aniston, 53, posed in the shower to tease the launch of LolaVie’s Restoring Shampoo and Conditioner, which launched on September 8.
Host also suggested reparations to British colonies since the late queen "wore a crown with pillaged stones from India and Africa"
We're breaking down Queen Elizabeth's net worth and exactly how much money the Queen had in the bank before she passed this afternoon (hint: it's a lot).
Daniel Radcliffe also posed with the real-life "Weird Al" Yankovic and costar Evan Rachel Wood at the Toronto International Film Festival
As The Queen’s health quickly declined on Thursday prior to her passing, the entire royal family, sans Kate Middleton, had confirmed they were racing to the matriarch’s side. This included Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, whose spokesperson released a statement saying both the Duke and Duchess of Sussex were en route… Until, shortly after, their […]
Queen Elizabeth died Thursday at 96.