It is always exciting when film festival season rolls around and some of the biggest names in the game share with us their latest works, to eventually be released in theatres (or homes) in Canada. The Toronto International Film Festival boasts an extensive lineup, ranging from feel-good adaptations from beloved authors to original epics that have already been hailed as classics, despite not even being widely released yet. Here are 5 (more) films I saw at TIFF, with lots to see in the coming months, and others to anticipate for 2025.

The Life of Chuck

The TIFF People’s Choice Award has become synonymous with the Academy Award for Best Picture. In the last 15 years, 14 of the People’s Choice winning films have gone on to receive at least a nomination for Best Picture, with some going on to win it all. This year’s winner was The Life of Chuck, Mike Flannagan’s latest film adapted from the short story by Stephen King. The film tells the story of a man named Charles in three parts, told in reverse. The three parts each seem like their own short film, as more is revealed about who Chuck is, and different character’s are revealed to have impacted his life, or been impacted by Charles.

This is a beautiful story reminding us that death is always looming, highlighted by a story told backwards, but that can’t be the reason we live. It reminds us that we are not defined by the things we accomplish but the people we encounter and the world we simply exist in. The message was a bit too on the nose at times to fully grab me, even spelled out directly by characters dialogue, and more than once. On top of this, I think my own personal grievances with Flannagan’s direction and writing prevented me from fully diving in, namely dialogue that seems so slightly unnatural and performances are just uncanny enough that they feel forced. Given that Neon has purchased the rights to distribute the film, likely in summer 2025, it won’t be in the awards race until 2026, so it is still up in the air whether this will make the cut to keep the Best Picture streak alive. Overall, The Life of Chuck had me entertained throughout, though I will be surprised if this sneaks its way into the “best of” categories in 2026.

The Last Showgirl

Following Pamela Anderson’s Shelley, a Las Vegas performer who must decide how to move forward after it is announced her show is closing after a 30-year run, Gia Coppola’s The Last Showgirl was one of my favourites of the film festival. With a stellar ensemble cast including Jamie Lee Curtis, Dave Bautista, Billie Lourde, Brenda Song, and Kiernan Shipka, the relationships between the characters they play really make this film what it is. With a unique use of montage throughout the film, the film feels final throughout its entirety, sending the viewers on a ride that allows them to feel a sliver of finality the characters are experiencing living their final days in their show. There is such a unique conversation between generations on Vegas Showgirls and how a woman’s body is often used in Vegas, that was quite eye opening for someone like me, who went in with one more closed off idea of the type of woman a Vegas Showgirl is, and left with a much more open mind.

I would have liked to see a bit more depth to all of the relationships presented, namely the mother-daughter relationship between Anderson’s Shelly and both her daughter, played by Lourde, and her younger showgirl co-stars, played by Shipka and Song, as well as the differing outlooks the older and younger generations of characters had on the idea of a Las Vegas showgirl overall. The 80 minute runtime flies by, but I would not have minded an additional 20 minutes to explore these relationships and topics a bit more, adding much needed depth to this final chapter in Shelley’s time in Vegas. Regardless of this, the film still tugged at my heart, and was visually so stunning to watch, capturing the bright lights of the Las Vegas Strip in a surprisingly meditative way, paralleling the peace our Shelley feels at this place, her second home.

SATURDAY NIGHT

One of my most anticipated of the film festival, and one of my biggest disappointments. Although its ensemble cast is captivating, Saturday Night struggles to say much about the real life counterparts of its characters or anything about the creative process behind Saurday Night Live other than telling us, “hey, look how hard the first taping of SNL was!” It is a screenplay that seems to be clearly written on the basis of events that are brought together by the words “… and then…”, “… and then…”, with no true through line that left me leaving the film without any thoughts about the characters or their relationships other than, “great, they made it to air”.

I think this could have been a unique character study of Lorne Michaels, or said something cool and new about how important SNL was to television despite the way it is often looked down upon by todays generation. Heck, I even think this could have said anything about the state of comedy as a whole, or network television, and this would have felt more like it had a cohesive vision. Sure, maybe I’m not the target audience, as I have only ever seen one episode in its entirely of SNL, and have only watched some highlights that come across my Twitter feed. But then I ask, if you’re making a film that rides so heavily on viewer’s nostalgia, don’t you want to leave them, your biggest fans, with something more than simply telling them, “the first night? That was Hard!” Obviously.

Eden

Looking back at Ron Howards vast filmography, I was not sure what to expect when his latest, Eden, was announced to play at TIFF. The film follows a group of Europeans who decide to live on an uninhabited island, each with their own motivations, who must learn to live amongst each other with limited supplies, and ever changing alliances and goals. Although the film has the star power, starring Jude Law, Vanessa Kirby, Ana de Armas, Sydney Sweeney, and Daniel Bruehl, the film bored me quite quickly, and never succeeded in capturing my attention again.

While the story is of course quite bleak going in, knowing the people on the island will struggle in their relationships with each other, the entire story never fails to remind you that other people are often worse than the difficulties of living in isolation. I liked how Eden fully committed to being a no-hope, dark satire. But I felt like at a certain point it just belaboured the point and became monotonous, further digging into the same message over and over again that people are not always to be trusted. I was shocked to learn this was a true story, given its absurdity, but overall found this to be quite a bore.

The Brutalist

The Brutalist was one of the hottest tickets of the film festival, and for good reason. Director Brady Corbet’s third feature, The Brutalist, quickly broke its way into “best of the year” discussions after its premiere at the Venice International Film Festival, and became one of the most sought after tickets at TIFF, where the movie was projected on 70 mm film. The Brutalist is a 3.5 hour epic historical drama that stars Adrien Brody, Felicity Jones, Guy Pearce, and Joe Alwyn, and follows Jewish architect László (Brody) after he flees from Europe in 1947 along with his wife (Jones), and is approached for a project by a wealthy client (Alwyn) and his father (Pearce) in this exploration of the American dream.

It’s hard to say anything that has not already been said about this film, and so early on. For myself, I was amazed at how the runtime flew by. The story is told unofficially in two parts, separated by an intermission, and each follows its own smaller arc that is told succinctly. The story itself is quite simple, but this simplicity allowed the the characters to shine, and the overall themes of power, dreams, and America as a project to take centre stage. I saw Eden the next day, and was surprised to find that it felt much longer, despite Eden being over 1 hour shorter, an ode to The Brutalist‘s relentless pacing and overall ability to keep me captivated throughout. Its been said, but this is easily going to become one of the greats (it probably already is).

The films were screened at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival. Images courtesy of TIFF.