September 4, 2026

Welcome to the TFCA weekly, a round-up of reviews and coverage by members of the Toronto Film Critics Association.

In Release this Week

By Any Means (dir. Elegance Bratton)

“As Strider, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II brings the gravitas that anchors the movie; his understated performance tethers the action whenever Wahlberg starts chewing the scenery. As for that, let us freely confess an obsession with Mark Wahlberg and his existence as some kind of human nuclear micro-reactor, a barely contained energy source radiating a strange mix of exuberance and street-smart belligerence,” says Liz Braun at Original Cin. “Whatever the hell that is, it makes By Any Means kind of ridiculous but also engaging. And, preposterous touches notwithstanding, it couldn’t hurt to illustrate a bit of history on the big screen.”

Dear You (dir. Lan Hongchun)

“The practice of parents working away from home still continues nowadays, mostly in rural China, when couples find work in the city, leaving their kids with the grandparents and visiting home once a year. Filipino and Indonesian maids also leave home to work as domestic helpers throughout the world. This story resonates with these lonely souls as well,” says Alice Shih at Original Cin. “However, Dear You falls flat on characterization. Using non-professional actors is not an excuse as the two-dimensional characters are saint-like and not convincingly written as human beings. The character of Nanzhi (Li Sitong), the biracial Thai-Chinese daughter of a drunkard innkeeper, is another woman who sacrifices her whole life trying to care for people around her, dead and alive.”

“It is rewarding to watch a film in which good prevails, especially watching the Teochew clan abroad and away from their families help each other.  One man in Nanyang claims that he is unable to find work while others give him money to send home, thus helping him out,” says Gilbert Seah at Afro Toronto. “Considering the rare subject of searching for one’s ancestry and the discovery of one’s roots, the blend of drama and romance also works well in a film shot mainly in Teochew, in fact one of the only films shot in that dialect.”

Hope (dir. Na Hong-Jin; Sept. 9)

“The film can be divided into two different parts – the first working as a mystery suspense of the carcasses and the second, a madcap, fast-paced action thriller of alien monsters vs. humans,” says Gilbert Seah at Afro Toronto. “But there is no boredom in this long 2-hour-and-40-minute action flick, which is also South Korea’s most expensive budget production.  The most impressive and exciting action scene combines horseback riding beside a fast-driven car, both under pursuit at top speed by the alien monster.”

Mayday (dir. Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daley)

“The end result is still mostly simple and surface; an Olympus Has Fallen type of movie for the Reagan years. And, as mentioned, the heartening theme at its core only works if the idea of “people in Russia are people, too” wasn’t so laughably self-evident that it feels offensive,” says Jackson Weaver at CBC. “But it’s far from the first piece of pop culture to mine that moral. Not too long ago, Netflix’s Stranger Things doubled up on the trope, reflecting ’80s trends seen in everything from heartrending Moscow on the Hudson to brain-numbing Russkies.”

Onslaught (dir. Adam Wingard)

“Arjona carries the film in full-on Sarah Connor mode. Tough as nails and brimming with rage, she keeps her unprocessed trauma buried beneath her simmering anger,” says Victor Stiff at Exclaim!. “The performance hits the right register for a film about undead super soldiers, but compared to her unhinged co-stars, Arjona’s a church mouse. The rest of the cast dial things up to a minimum of 11. Dan Stevens plays Dr. Hans Kammler, a cartoonishly fiendish Nazi mad scientist, while Drew Starkey’s molly-dropping government operative could have stepped out of an episode of Twin Peaks.”

“Onslaught is a combination of several genres, the most notable being the slasher genre,” says Gilbert Seah at Afro Toronto. “Others include sci-fi, family drama, and Nazi war crimes, with a bit of satire for the hell it.  Style over substance, but it works!”

Parasomia (dir. James Ross II)

“The film is not only about the horror but also about grief. The monster, The Seer, could also be a metaphor for what Riley is going through.  The film attempts a bit too much in the story that it can handle, but credit should be given to the cinematography. As a horror film, it has too many jump scares and too many segments that make little sense,” writes Gilbert Seah at Afro Toronto.

The Sun Never Sets (dir. Joe Swanberg)

“This is a thoughtful, heartfelt story about finding the right person for the right reasons at the right time, and anyone who’s ever been young (or even middle-aged) and in love can tell you that’s serious subject matter,” notes Chris Knight at Original Cin. “Johnson plays Jack, divorced with two young kids and a lovely new girlfriend named Wendy, played by Dakota Fanning. She’s actually the one we see first in the movie, checking out a boat she hopes to buy, and then learning that her best friend is pregnant. It’s not that she reacts poorly to the news; more that she doesn’t react at all.”

Teenage Wasteland (dir. Jesse Moss, Amanda McBaine)

“The important message in the doc is that though the students did not change the world, their effort made a difference,” notes Gilbert Seah at Afro Toronto. “Their every effort and use of the energy for something useful is the important message this doc brings forth.  Overall, an inspirational documentary!”

Turning Point: Generation 9/11 (dir. Brian Knappenberger)

“Director Knappenberger tries his best to cover the immense amount of material connected to 9/11,” writes Gilbert Seah at Afro Toronto. “Mostly successful, as it is a formidable task to cover key issues connected to the 9/11 attacks; one can say that this doc, because of its subject, has nary a dull moment.”

A Festival of Festival Coverage: Chasing the TIFF Buzz

At the Toronto Star, Peter Howell surveys local cinephiles for his annual poll to see which films have the most buzz heading into the Toronto International Film Festival. Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother leads the pack. The votes in the survey include picks from several TFCA members: Thom Ernst (Ken Russell’s The Devil’s), Jason Gorber (The Stunt Driver), Karen Gordon (Fjord), Pat Mullen (Union Town), Alice Shih (The Age of Goodbye), Jim Slotek (Ink), Victor Stiff (Julián), and Rachel West (Everybody Wants to F**k Me).

At Classical FM, Marc Glassman previews the non-film festivities happening during TIFF: “Whether it’s music, art, food, cinema or just walking that draws you, I highly recommend going to Yorkville this weekend and King Street at the end of the following week. From food to Fellini, TIFF’s festival walks are worth taking.”

At Range, Prabhjot Bains previews what could pop in Toronto, including Werner Herzog’s Bucking Fastard: “Telling the tale of sisters — played by real-life siblings Rooney and Kate Mara — who speak, dress, and dream alike and consequently fall in love with the same man, Herzog’s zany, idiosyncratic film frenetically traces the bloody fallout of their shared obsession as it descends into the uncanny. Like much of Herzog’s lauded canon, be prepared for one of the weirdest and boldest films of the fest.”

File Under Miscellaneous

At the Toronto Star, Peter Howell forecasts what to expect this fall, including The Social Reckoning, the follow-up to the 2010 Oscar winner. Jesse Eisenberg refused to reprise his role as Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, but “Aaron Sorkin found the perfect substitute in Jeremy Strong, whose Kendall Roy character from Succession was quite Zuckerbergian,” says Howell.

At POV Magazine, Pat Mullen reports on the leadership change at Hot Docs and speaks with Diana Sanchez and newcomer Mara Gourd-Mercado about their roles with the organization and their plans ahead. “We are the biggest Canadian and international documentary festival. We should be a meeting place for all Canadian documentary filmmakers,” says Sanchez. “We want to have these conversations. This is our identity and documentary is such an intrinsically Canadian genre. If we’re going to be the biggest documentary festival in Canada, we have to extend that welcome across the country.”