September 13, 2020

Day three of TIFF 2020 was a day for Canadians premieres. The festival debuted the Canadian features Akilla’s Escape, directed by Charles Officer; Beans, directed by Tracey Deer; Inconvenient Indian, directed by Michelle Latimer; and the American-Canadian co-production Pieces of a Woman, directed by Hungarian filmmaker Kornél Mundruczó. The latter film drew extra buzz yesterday with the announcement that star Vanessa Kirby won Best Actress at the Venice Film Festival. (Nomadland won the Golden Lion.) All four films drew strong responses across the board from TFCA members as our critics spread out their viewing options after TIFF revealed its splashier titles on Thursday and Friday. Expect more hidden gems to emerge as the festival progresses.

Check out some reactions to yesterday’s spread of CanCon.

Here’s What TFCA Members Say About Akilla’s Escape

Akilla's Escape – Saul Williams creates his own gravity in this tale of drug deals gone wrong. Some powerful images near the end. Smoke & sparks, a face filled with anguish. #TIFF20

— Eli Glasner 🎥 (@glasneronfilm) September 12, 2020

AKILLA'S ESCAPE: Beautiful and slick and with a throbbing heart all its own, @canesugar's tale of one very bad night in Toronto should go down as one of TIFF's best surprises. @SaulWilliams is astounding in the lead role, and the score is massively effective. #TIFF20

— Barry Hertz (@HertzBarry) September 13, 2020

Totally gripped by @TIFF_NET Charles Officer’s Akilla’s Escape. The opening credits alone should be a whole h.s. class.

— Johanna Schneller (@JoSchneller) September 11, 2020

Congrats to @canesugar & crew on the tense, tender, cerebral Akilla's Escape, dir. #Toronto's Charles Officer, premiering 2nite #TIFF20. Saul Williams' quiet, deep, centered performance is CBD for the soul. Here's @Variety's interview w/ Williams. https://t.co/o5v7ppSFHx

— Jennie Punter (@JenniePunter) September 12, 2020

AKILLA'S ESCAPE – Charles Officer's Canadian twist on the crime thriller is visually poetic and well performed. While split-timeline and several generic characters makes for a highly predictable narrative, there's enough of a hint to likes of GHOST DOG to make it fly #tiff20

— Jason Gorber – #tiff20 adjacent (@filmfest_ca) September 12, 2020

My review of @canesugar's AKILLA'S ESCAPE — premiering tomorrow night at #TIFF20 — just went up at @nowtoronto. So great to see @SaulWilliams carry a movie again. https://t.co/ZMxYLE7xaU

— Norm Wilner (@normwilner) September 11, 2020

Norm Likes Beans, too.

BEANS: A Mohawk kid comes of age in the summer of Oka. Excellent use of news footage to flesh out the world, and a complex performance from Kiawentiio in the lead. #TIFF20

— Norm Wilner (@normwilner) September 13, 2020

Inconvenient Indian Wows the Crowd at TIFF.

early morning screening update: Michelle Latimer's essayistic INCONVENIENT INDIAN is by far the best new movie I've watched at #TIFF20, a (pop)-cultural study bristling with wit and semiotic aplomb. Pretty terrific.

— Adam Nayman (@brofromanother) September 13, 2020

INCONVENIENT INDIAN: Michelle Latimer takes Thomas King’s central thesis of white culpability for Indigenous suppression and conjures conscience-tweaking images of grace and power. Myth and fact jam: author/narrator King hops a Toronto taxi apparently driven by a coyote. #TIFF20 pic.twitter.com/XQcG9DkGlr

— Peter Howell (@peterhowellfilm) September 13, 2020

INCONVENIENT INDIAN: Although classified as a documentary, Michelle Latimer's work is far more experimental, abandoning tired doc devices (no talking heads here) in favour of exploring the limitless possibilities of visual storytelling. Poetic, engaging, essential. #TIFF20

— Barry Hertz (@HertzBarry) September 12, 2020

"You have to be careful with the stories you tell and you have to watch out for the stories you are told.” Dizzyingly good #TIFF20 so far, still thinking about yesterday's docs. INCONVENIENT INDIAN adapts book's circular approach to history with striking juxtapositions + imagery. pic.twitter.com/5Nq51dB5jM

— Nathalie Atkinson (@NathAt) September 12, 2020

Inconvenient Indian – Blown away by what @NORTHERNGRRL has created with this doc exploring the Indigenous experience in North America. She's working at a new level. Equal parts Manufactured Landscapes meets Baraka. Artful, playful, scathing and searching. Don't miss. #TIFF20 pic.twitter.com/ebl897Vp8s

— Eli Glasner 🎥 (@glasneronfilm) September 12, 2020

Conveniently INCONVENIENT INDIAN is pretty great, with Michelle Latimer amplifying Thomas King's subtle take on historic and contemporary indigenous expression take center stage, a kind of travelogue where each stop belies stereotype to draw a rich, varied portrait #tiff20

— Jason Gorber – #tiff20 adjacent (@filmfest_ca) September 11, 2020

Visit our weekly for links to member reviews with director Michelle Latimer.

And Pieces of a Woman Is Tough, But Solid

PIECES OF A WOMAN: Vanessa Kirby won Best Actress at Venice for her harrowing portrait, directed by Kornél Mundruczó, of a mom's journey through & beyond a tragic birth. Applause earned; add supporting kudos for Ellen Burstyn's intensity as a source of family friction. #TIFF20 pic.twitter.com/yBS8cZYwEZ

— Peter Howell (@peterhowellfilm) September 12, 2020

PIECES OF A WOMAN: watching Vanessa Kirby's labour scene is like witnessing an exorcism. Visceral, excruciating body horror. 👏 #TIFF20

— Pat Mullen (@cinemablogrpher) September 13, 2020

PIECES OF A WOMAN: Stirring, deep-in-the-muck, break-you-down performances from Vanessa Kirby, Shia LaBeouf and Ellen Burstyn. The cast is so sharp that you almost forget about an early, subtly effective 23-min "one-shot" scene. Absolutely do not watch if you're pregnant. #TIFF20

— Barry Hertz (@HertzBarry) September 12, 2020

TIFF runs Sept. 9-19, 2020.