March 15, 2025

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

In Release this Week

Black Bag (dir. Steven Soderbergh)

“Blanchett, as always, is flawless as the seductive and secretive Kathryn, but it’s Fassbender who reveals a different side of himself,” notes Barry Hertz at The Globe and Mail. “Just a year or so removed from playing a fastidious and rather sympathetic assassin in David Fincher’s The Killer, the actor flips his statuesque features inward to play a rather meek and distrustful nuisance – everyone’s least favourite workplace colleague. It is a performance that feels constructed with as much attention and space for ambiguity as the film’s own just-twisty-enough story. Keep your friends close, but keep your duplicitous movie stars closer.”

“Black Bag is a small film but boasts an impressive cast, shot entirely in London,” says Gilbert Seah at Afro Toronto. “It is brilliantly written and executed, with touches of humour amidst thrills and almost perfectly performed by its apt cast.”

“But mainly, it’s a plunge into the nature of George and Kathryn’s marriage. To quote the Bee Gees, how deep is their love? Fassbender and Blanchett do a terrific job of playing coy, straight-facedly. Are they, indeed, lying to each other, despite their frequent vows that they never will? Are either of them actually connected to the smuggling of a certain device?” asks Jim Slotek at Original Cin. “There are not many films on the release schedule with good writing and plotting, wit and solid acting. That’s an exceptional combination in a quick bite of the spy movie genre.”

“Yeah it’s a sexy spy thriller but it’s still a spy thriller as Soderbergh effortlessly weaves through the halls of power in London and any other good looking location he can think of.  In a movie that is so driven by Koepp’s words, we never get a moment that skimps on the style of it all and it all adds up a deliciously adult piece of cinema,” adds Dave Voigt at In the Seats. “It actually all plays more like a relationship drama then a spy thriller because the stakes are weighted appropriately and never over blown.  In the spirit of many classic spy thrillers that have come before it; Black Bag is more than anything a film about fragility and human weakness which is why he needed such brilliant work from his leads.”

At the Toronto Star, Peter Howell speaks with Steven Soderbergh about reuniting with Michael Fassbender and Cate Blanchett in style. “I’m happy to say I tend to have good experiences with actors because I like actors, and those two were obviously on my list,” Soderbergh tells Howell. “ It felt like a really interesting pairing. David Koepp and I talked about how there are two different ways to go with this kind of material. You could go grittier, harder, more eye level, and then you could go Hollywood glam fest. We decided we wanted to do the Hollywood glam fest version because that would be more fun. Cate glams up really well. She looks great in clothes. She’s got amazing bone structure. I told her, ‘I want you to have a real mane. Your hair should be a real thing.’ And Michael really looks good when you dress him up in a suit and a turtleneck.”

“The thrilling and stylish escapism offers a cover for what ultimately serves as perceptive commentary,” says Pat Mullen at That Shelf. “Black Bag is less a game of spy versus spy than a battle of human intellect versus artificial intelligence. Severus joins a list of doomsday doo-hickeys in Hollywood movies that connect the threat of artificial intelligence with the end of humanity. However, as Black Bag weaves newfangled technology with old-school espionage, it proves that there’s no match for the human mind. All the smarts of the hottest gizmos and gadgets can’t match the senses of loyalty, empathy, pity, and jealously that exist outside codes and keystrokes. It’s a smart caper that feels refreshingly old-fashioned, yet decidedly contemporary with its take on the value of emotional intelligence.”

Can I Get a Witness? (dir. Ann Marie Fleming 🇨🇦)

“Filmmaker Ann Marie Fleming avoids grim darkness such a story suggests focusing on Earth’s benefits and the ability for humans live on Earth without laying waste to it, as the previous generations did (us!),” remarks Anne Brodie at What She Said.  “We feel the confusion, horror, sadness, the mundane things that are suddenly urgent and extraordinary. I did not expect to like the film, but found it to be rewarding and full of heart.”

“I remember walking out after a screening of Can I Get a Witness? at the Toronto International Film Festival last autumn, unsure what it wanted me to think about its central concept. After a second viewing last week, I was still up in the air,” writes Chris Knight at Original Cin. “That’s an odd feeling for a film to engender. Most movies set in some kind of dystopian future are pretty clear where their sympathies lie. In Children of Men, humanity’s lack of offspring is not good. In 28 Days Later or 12 Monkeys, the death of almost everyone is a downer. And in Logan’s Run, we’re meant to identify with Logan 5 and Jessica 6, sexy young people fleeing a society where everyone is killed off at 30…It’s one helluva conversation starter, from one very thought-provoking story.”

“Can I Get a Witness? is intriguing enough though it suffers from a monotonous pacing that assumes the audience will keep getting more and more mesmerized as the story unfolds,” admits Gilbert Seah at Afro Toronto.

The Electric State (dir. Anthony and Joe Russo)

“What’s ultimately so frustrating about The Electric State is that is mimicking so many beats and set pieces from a myriad of other films (Star Wars, Back To The Future to name just a few) that it is actually devoid of both originality and any reason for us to care while were watching it.  It’s a playlist of other movies that got shuffled into this new deck of a film, and it’s not pretty,” says Dave Voigt at In the Seats. “The Electric State doesn’t deserve to be called an actual film and the reality that more people will see this then the bulk of the Academy Award films that were nominated this year just makes me upset.”

“The Electric State plunders older and better films about robot rebellions, such as Blade Runner, Terminator 2, and Ex Machina, while being bereft of the narrative and philosophical complexity that make them so compelling,” observes Peter Howell at the Toronto Star. “What does it mean to be alive? Can robots experience emotions? Do they deserve rights? The Electric State doesn’t care one jolt about these questions, instead spending most of its runtime on Spielbergian action rip-offs — big, gleaming scenes stripped of all danger and drama by the constant Marvelesque banter of the heroes. At just over two hours, the movie feels both too short to properly tell its story and interminably long.”

“The Electric State lacks spark and credibility and a story that will connect the audience to the characters or its events,” sighs Gilbert Seah at Afro Toronto. “The result is a huge mess of special effects and high production costs in a film no one really cares for.”

Novocaine (dir. Dan Berk, Robert Olsen)

“While Novocaine might be passed off as one-note especially as it runs out of steam in the third act, the sheer gameness of Quaid makes up for it. He has solid chemistry with co-star Midthunder even if they spend most of the movie apart. Proving to be bolder than just a helpless victim, Sherry has spunk and feels like she’s almost entirely a fully-formed character. Though cliches abound, Betty Gabriel, as the San Diego detective in charge, is commanding, striking a delicate balance with Matt Walsh, her exasperated partner who is always quick with a quip,” says Rachel West at the Alliance of Women Film Journalists. “The next John Wick franchise, Novocaine is not. But settle in for an amusing timewaster and just enjoy the ride.”

“Stealing originality from past successful thrillers, Novocaine appears original but takes cheap shots at entertaining audiences with the result of only impressing15-year olds,” notes Gilbert Seah at Afro Toronto.

“It’s a consistently ridiculous, but consistently committed formula that knows how to keep upping the ante while still delivering the goods. Quaid’s surefooted straight-man timing keeps the plot both grounded and ridiculous enough to make you forgive the many, many implausibilities of a movie that doesn’t want you to take it too seriously,” says Jackson Weaver at CBC. “And the inventively grotesque body-horror slowly growing under his increasingly destroyed suit works surprisingly well, despite being little more than a gimmick. That’s because, from a script standpoint, it’s tied so firmly to both the plot and to Caine’s character evolution. It’s done so efficiently in fact, it’s hard to complain that Novocaine is essentially just a combination of two of this year’s worst movies (The Monkey and Love Hurts), except that it’s good.”

“It’s hard to criticize a film that, in a single moment, can both repulse and amuse; a film where you laugh while averting your eyes,” says Thom Ernst at Original Cin. “Novocaine is that film—a raucous, non-stop, full-throttle slapstick comedy that makes an episode of The Three Stooges seem like a production of Swan Lake. It’s torture porn with a laugh track from the director team, Dan Berk and Robert Olsen. Berk and Olsen have made four films together. Novocaine might be the film that gains them name recognition.”

“At the end of the day, though, this is Quaid’s film,” writes Joe Lipsett at Queer Horror Movies. “The star is definitely playing in a familiar sand box, but he’s also doing exactly what the film needs him to do. The action is solid, the laughs are plentiful, and the cast has good chemistry. Novocaine isn’t revolutionary, but audiences looking for a safe bet will find that the action comedy is a good time at the movies.”

“After breaking through in 2022’s Prey; Amber Midthunder is carving out some space for herself as a viable romantic lead who also manages to have enough comedic chops to keep up with Jack Quaid’s Nate,” notes Dave Voigt at In the Seats. “All she really has to do is sell all the insanity, which she does surprisingly well riding the roller coaster of this story.  Ray Nicholson, Jacob Batalon, Betty Gabriel and Matt Walsh round out the ensemble to sell the general insanity of it all, which is truly anchored by Quaid simply because the film doesn’t forget the cold hard truth that if we’re going to follow a guy for 110 minutes as he gets the crap beat out of him, we actually have to have an emotional investment in him as a person.”

Opus (dir. Mark Anthony Green)

“In the puppet show, horribly disfigured and diseased-looking rats play a horde of olde-timey reporters, fedoras and notepads included. The celebrity they are interviewing is Billie Holliday, and they pepper her with dozens of inappropriate questions about rehab, drug use, her weight, her love life, her career downturns, etc. etc. It’s way too close to what celebrity ‘interviews’ look like now in the age of clicks, and it’s hugely uncomfortable to witness,” says Liz Braun at Original Cin. “Malkovich’s performance is one reason to see Opus. Decked out in outlandish costumes, spouting contemporary lifestyle gibberish and performing his own singing, Malkovich is as fully Malkovich-y in the role as you would hope.”

“Opus benefits from the zany, crazed performance from John Malkovich as the musician with a secret mission,” says Gilbert Seah at Afro Toronto. “The film is writer/director Mark Anthony Green’s film debut and it is a worthy one, despite a few rough edges.  One thing the film has is that it is a compulsive watch.”

The World Will Tremble (dir. Lior Geller)

“As the subject implies, the film is a dead serious and often depressing affair – as observed from the mistreatment of the Jews, the abuse of power, the suffering to the suspenseful escape,” writes Gilbert Seah at Afro Toronto. “Not a comfortable watch, this story that needs tone told is revealed in an equally authentic and depressing tone.”

File Under Miscellaneous

At the Toronto Star, Peter Howell offers a spring movie preview that includes new films by David Cronenberg and Celine Song, plus a remake of Ang Lee’s The Wedding Banquet: “Ang Lee’s original 1993 rom-com about the perils of a green card marriage remains a fun and thoughtful classic, but leave it to Fire Island filmmaker Andrew Ahn to give the story modern zing with two queer couples. Bowen Yang (Wicked), Lily Gladstone (Killers of the Flower Moon) help walk this update down the aisle.”

At The Globe and Mail, Barry Hertz speaks with Vancouver native Samantha Quan about her big Oscar night with Anora: “We were like Dorothy swept up in a tornado,” days Quan. “After the ceremony we did press and went to the Governors Ball to get our statuettes engraved, and I mentioned to Sean that I was hungry and then I felt a tap on my shoulder and a voice said, ‘Do you want some food?’ I turned around and looked at a kind and recognizable face that said to me, ‘Hello! I’m Wolfgang Puck!’ He offered to take our team and all the Oscars to the kitchen to eat dinner with his talented crew of chefs and it was so delicious (we hadn’t eaten since the morning) and surreal.”

At The Globe and Mail, Barry Hertz reports on Canadian content at SXSW, including Boxcutter: “‘Despite the cultural tensions, it’s a big deal to be here,’ Reza Dahya, director of the Toronto-set hip-hop thriller Boxcutter, [tells Hertz] after the international premiere of his film Saturday. ‘In the process of pitching this movie, we got a lot of cliched responses from the powers-that-be that our film is ‘too Toronto’ or ‘too Canadian.’ So when we got into SXSW, it was yeah, someone from outside the country likes this, and they can now see Toronto in a different way.’” Hertz also speaks with Emma Higgins (Sweetness) and the team behind Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie.

At POV Magazine, Pat Mullen speaks with the Documentary Organization of Canada’s outgoing director Sarah Spring and lawyer Remy Khouzam about the organization’s new filmmaker toolkit for legal guidance: “For contracts, think in the long term because a lot of these things are questions you don’t necessarily think of when you’re starting out, and they might come back and haunt you later,” says Khouzam. “There’s the actual moving forward of what the project demands, but years later, you might find out that there are things missing that you didn’t consider. If someone wants to pick it up again and you don’t necessarily have the proper rights, there might be barriers. This is one of the purposes of these contracts.”

TV Talk/Series Stuff

At What She Said, Anne Brodie recommends a compelling edition of The Fifth Estate hosted by Connie Walker: “Walker follows a thirty-year-old case gone cold, the murder of Sonya Cywink of the Whitefish First Nation…Powerful important history of an ongoing crisis.” She also calls Lost Boys & Fairies “a superior three-parter” that is “witty, funny, kind of exotic given the Welsh and queer nightclub métier.” Meanwhile, in Less than Kosher, “Silver Baird shines brightly,” while Get Hooked follows “four queer Brits heading to Ontario’s outback to fish.”

At Original Cin, Liam Lacey reports on the mini-series Boiling Point, adapted from the 2021 feature film: “The series is set six months after the end of the movie, as Andy is still recovering from his cocaine-induced heart attack. The focus is now a new restaurant called Point North, run by Carly, specializing in ‘northern cuisine,’ a kind of elevated comfort food, involving fish, stews, baked goods and meat wrapped in pastry. In the opening episode, the co-owner brings in a group of potential investors who, not surprisingly, say the idea does ‘not inspire.’”

At Original Cin, Kim Hughes chats with Megan Wennberg about her Nature of Things doc Dances with Cranes: “During the pandemic, I was reading Elizabeth Kolbert’s book The Sixth Extinction, which is brilliant but also very depressing,” Wennberg tells Hughes. “I started to wonder if there were any species where humans had turned things around from the brink of extinction. I researched that and whopping cranes were one of the first cases that showed up where humans had intervened for good. Quite quickly, I came across a story about this man named George Archibald who was dancing with an imprinted crane named Tex. I was fascinated. I knew I wanted to try and track George down. Funny enough, when I reached out to the Crane Foundation in Wisconsin, I discovered that George was originally from Nova Scotia. He first heard about the plight of cranes when he was just a little boy in a one-room schoolhouse in rural Nova Scotia.”