May 9, 2025

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

ICYMI: Earlier this week, we welcomed two new members and set out 2025 voting dates for the TFCA Awards.

In Release this Week

Britain and the Blitz (dir. Ella Wright)

“What makes this doc is the British insights,” says Gilbert Seah at Afro Toronto. “The children were to be looked after by the Welsh, but when the children came, they were London kids and fought with the local kids. It was another war.  Also, the Welsh were not welcoming to the Londoners when the coal miners were on strike at the time.”

Caught by the Tides (dir. Jia Zhang-ke)

“With its elliptical, patched-together structure and multi-year duration, Caught By the Tides can be a challenging film to follow but, by the end, it achieves something both original and rewarding. Countless films have indicated the past through flashbacks, period soundtracks, fashion, and digital de-aging,” notes Liam Lacey at Original Cin. “None of those techniques can match a drama where the actors actually age and the world changes with them, including architecture, the landscape and even the methods of recording reality. Because the footage was shot over two decades in different formats, from videotape to digital video to 35mm film, the image changes remind us of the different frames of memory in which we hold on to the past.”

“Caught by the Tides is an unusual film even for Zhang-ke. It does have a conventional plot, but the storyline mainly serves as a skeleton for the director’s main interest, which is looking at the changes in China since the beginning of the 21st century,” says Marc Glassman at Classical FM. “Though the film deliberately meanders quite a bit, there is a central tale of young love splitting apart with the two lovers growing older unhappily. It’s romantic and would be tragic if the story wasn’t so enigmatic. There’s never an explanation why Bin (often the name of men in Zhang-ke’s films) leaves Qiao Qiao (Zhao Tao) in the remote city of Datong to seek his fortune in other metropolises. What’s clear is that he’s unsuccessful and gradually declines as his life spins out. As for Qiao Qiao, she loses her spectacular looks as she ages but is still attractive—if somewhat dour—by the film’s downbeat conclusion.”

“For Caught by the Tides, Zhang-ke combs through his career and cobbles together a story that speaks to the nature of change, both in people and the world around them. As such, the through-line often plays a bit like a clip show until the final third, where most of the new footage lies,” writes Andrew Parker at The Gate. “Zhang-ke began assembling Caught by the Tides during the pandemic, and the whole project feels at times like a creative person doing their best to stay sharp under unprecedented conditions. On a narrative level, this doesn’t work as well as any of Zhang-ke’s other films, but the plot isn’t the point here.”

“What is so amazing is that Caught by the Tides is assembled from 22 years of footage, including many of Jia’s previous characters and locations. As a result, the actors naturally age,” says Gilbert Seah at Afro Toronto.

Clown in a Cornfield (dir. Eli Craig)

“Filmed in Manitoba with an all-Canadian cast, Clown in a Cornfield delivers exactly what it promises and so much more,” says Rachel West at That Shelf, with an interview with director Eli Craig that touches upon the film’s splat-n-chuckle humour: “Well, it’s so funny because most of my movies are comedies. And this was the one time I felt free to not be funny all the time; I didn’t need to close every scene with a button. I wasn’t looking for jokes all the way through it but I was trying to bring a sense of levity to it,” says Craig.

“Without spoiling things, director Eli Craig, adapting the novel by Adam Cesare, attempts to pull a The Cabin in the Woods-esque switcheroo on the familiar slasher formula,” notes Barry Hertz at The Globe and Mail. “Except unlike Drew Goddard’s 2011 cult classic, Clown in a Cornfield takes far too long to reveal its big conceit, which is itself neither especially clever nor subversive. The whole idea represents a spurt of fresh blood when it should be a gushing geyser.”

“A low-budget well-made comedy horror with Canadian talent that will leave audiences both laughing and scared with a few gory, violent scenes at the same time – a scary mix as well does as the Scream franchise,” adds Gilbert Seah at Afro Toronto.

“Clown in a Cornfield is derivative, but that doesn’t come at the expense of entertainment value,” admits Andrew Parker at The Gate. “Craig and company know when to lean into clichés and when to subvert them, offering some novel wrinkles in the slasher movie template while delivering the goods with the requisite number of jump scares, near misses, and shock reveals.”

A Deadly American Marriage (dir. Jenny Popplewell and Jessica Burgess)

“The doc plays like a solid whodunit with lots of twists and turns,” notes Gilbert Seah at Afro Toronto. “Though the title, A Deadly American Marriage, implies that the husband/father could have been murdered, directors Jenny Popplewell and Jessica Burgess always keep ahead of their audience and keep them guessing as to what is going to happen next.

Fight or Flight (dir. James Madigan)

“Instead of approaching a story that audiences have seen before with a sort of sour faced seriousness, first time director James Madigan approaches things with a light heart, buckets of blood, over-the-top antics, and sugar rush sensibilities,” writes Andrew Parker at The Gate. “Fight or Flight is absolute nonsense where logic should never enter into one’s mind, and the stakes are ‘whatever,’ but it has so much madcap energy that its sheer gusto pushes things in a consistently entertaining direction.”

At The Globe and Mail, Barry Hertz chats with heartthrob John Hartnett about his new act. “‘It‘s a challenge, but also a recipe for ingenuity. Because it was a smaller budget, we were allowed to just go for it,’ recalls the 46-year-old Hartnett. ‘When you put a lot of money into something, there are a lot of expectations, which can stifle creativity. But we had a fantastic group of stunt guys and girls, and we took a leap of faith…I had boxed a lot when I was younger, but I was 45 when we shot this, and I hadn‘t made an action movie since I was 28. We had to start from scratch.’”

Jimmy in Saigon (dir. Peter McDowell; May 13)

“The search for information about Jimmy takes Peter on several international trips to Paris, France, to meet a journalist who is Jimmy’s acquaintance in Vietnam and then to Saigon itself,” notes Gilbert Seah at Afro Toronto. “The search for the truth in the doc and the inclusion of Jimmy’s family make the doc more interesting than many biopics.”

Marcella (dir. Peter Miller)

“Marcella’s recipes are prepared on camera by various personalities who explain her seemingly straightforward techniques and highlight the layering of flavours in her dishes,” observes Rachel West at the Alliance of Women Film Journalists. “This approach adds a unique depth to the documentary, exemplified by April Bloomfield’s preparation of a tomato sauce. Her three-ingredient recipe emphasizes the importance of ingredient selection for optimal results, making successful cooking accessible and affordable to all.”

Please, After You (dir. Rob Michaels; May 11)

“The movie, from first-time feature director Rob Michaels, claims to be ‘inspired by true stories (mostly),’ and I’ve no doubt that the writer, himself an Iranian Canadian, dug deep into his personal store of knowledge, while sanding off some of the rougher and more depressing elements that bedevil every life,” says Chris Knight at Original Cin. “But I would have welcomed a little more sourness and grit in the mix, and one fewer speech about how Canada is an amazing democracy in which to live. Then again, perhaps the film is a casualty of our times.”

Rust (dir. Joel Souza)

“Trying to separate real events from reel in writing about Rust is almost impossible, given the film’s stunning cinematography — a constant reminder of Hutchins’ skill and her death,” says Liz Braun at Original Cin. “Rust unfolds wrapped in sweeping vistas of the old west, monumental landscapes and an endless sky; visually it is often ghostly and haunting and it’s beautiful to look at. The film is long and slow, but never boring. There is, however, a sense that the various storylines are not woven together completely.”

“Frankly, I’m surprised Rust was ever released; the scene in which a seated Baldwin reaches for his gun cuts there,” writes Anne Brodie at What She Said. “However, the resulting film, released all these years later, is very good, with excellent performances by Baldwin as Rust, and Patrick Scott McDermott who plays Rust’s grandson Lucas…Hutchins’ legacy cinematography is sensationally supple, evocative, nature based and creative but never takes us out of the story. Maybe that’s why they released it.”

The Sexiest Man in Winnipeg (dir. Charlie Siskel, Ben Daughtry)

“But deprived of the incredible complexity of [Vivian] Maier [the subject of Siskel’s previous film], and perhaps wary of criticism he received for the combative tone of American Anarchist, any interest The Sexiest Man in Winnipeg might offer expires about 20 minutes in,” admits Jackson Weaver at CBC. “This was years after his journalism career — during which he was a hyper-local sort of celebrity, cannibalized by an industry shrinking fast enough you’d be harder pressed to find people therein without financial problems than with them.  This is why the premise of the documentary — that Vogelsang is somehow an absurdly odd ‘type’ of bank robber — soon falls flat. He was an aging, out-of-work man whose talents lay in a dying field. Any assumption about what the typical criminal looks like, and Vogelsang’s apparent distance from it, springs from potentially harmful stereotypes.”

“Entertaining but deeply strange,” notes Anne Brodie at What She Said. “Talk about calm, cool and collected – Steve Vogelsang, an extremely popular Winnipeg TV sportscaster, the life of the party at CTV Manitoba’s CKY NewsHour, and its number one personality, brings hilarity, surreal and whimsical elements to his sportscast and to life in Winnipeg. That was 1990. The overweight, homely anchor who dubbed himself ‘The Sexiest Man in Winnipeg’ had a certain je ne sais quoi and worked it every day, whether cracking up the anchors onset, while being followed by enormous crowds at golf matches, or fundraising. His ex-wife called him “the smartest person you’ll ever meet.”

Shadow Force (dir. Joe Carnahan)

“Never mind the outrageous plot,” advises Gilbert Seah at Afro Toronto. “The audience is supposed to believe the G20 guys have assembled a clandestine action force that will kill and destroy obstacles in their way.  The most important things in action flicks are the action set pieces and often tongue-in-cheek humour, both of which the film exceeds successfully.”

Sharp Corner (dir. Jason Buxton)

“There are some absorbing, uncomfortable ideas at play in Nova Scotia writer-director Jason Buxton’s Sharp Corner, which mines ethical ambiguities in its characters without feeling bound to resolve them. It’s conceptually unsettling and bold, but there are some hiccups with the execution,” writes Kim Hughes at Original Cin. “Foster and Smulders are good actors and are palpably committed to the roles here. Foster exudes a convincing mix of forlorn, creepy, and confused, until he finally descends into… illness? Delusion? Evil? Revenge on an unforgiving world?”

“Jason Buxton’s Sharp Corner is based on a brilliant, unique concept – hell on earth because of an improper road curve,” explains Anne Brodie at What She Said. “Sharp Corner puts us in a peculiar state of mind, watching this guy implode, suspecting from the beginning he was already imploded. Sharp Corner’s a unique take on the thriller; an ordinary family unhinged by a one in a million circumstance.”

“American Ben Foster inhabits the title role of the father, Josh, slowly sinking into a psychological madness in which his family and personally both fall apart,” writes Gilbert Seah at Afro Toronto. “A solid family, well-made Canadian psychological drama that is definitely worth a look.”

“Canadian writer-director Jason Buxton’s Sharp Corner is a rarity these days: a wholly original film that occupies its own space in terms of tone and content,” observes Andrew Parker at The Gate. “A moody character piece with flashes of coal black comedy and unnerving thriller elements, Sharp Corner (based on a short story by Russell Wangersky) defies easy categorization, but invites plenty of rich interpretation. Not only does Buxton want the viewer to engage with some dark material and themes, but the filmmaker also refuses to put words directly into the audience’s mouth. It’s a big leap of faith on the part of Buxton, but for those willing to parse the small details, Sharp Corner is as rewarding as it is chilling.”

“Sharp Corner‘s script can neither match the intensity of the environment surrounding it nor the performers seeking to wrest deeper connection to it,” admits Barry Hertz at The Globe and Mail. “Foster, who has patiently developed a reputation for playing anxious men lashing out at the world that they feel is boxing them in, appears to commit his entire being to Josh. This is a character ripe for explosion, yet Foster’s voice only oscillates between room-temperature line readings and a gentle whisper that is sinister in its softness. It is a commanding performance that requires a richer world to inhabit.” Hertz also chats with Buxton about sculpting the film’s dangerous curves.

File Under Miscellaneous: Trump & Tariffs

At The Globe and Mail, Barry Hertz digs into why Trump’s 100% tariffs threat on the movies may be more of the President’s signature lunacy: “For starters, films and any other ‘informational sources’ produced abroad are constitutionally protected from any sanctions thanks to the Berman Amendment, which was passed in 1988 to protect the free flow of culture internationally, even from ‘adversarial’ states. (The obscure measure was rescued from the margins of Cold War history in 2023 after Washington tried to ban TikTok.)” writes Hertz. “Second, Hollywood’s major studios – which are controlled by some of the largest corporations in the United States – would simply implode were they forced to add tariffs to, say, this summer’s new Fantastic Four movie (filmed in London) or James Cameron’s upcoming Avatar sequel (New Zealand) or the latest Mission: Impossible instalment (filmed absolutely everywhere).” Hertz also dives into a new biography about Sopranos star James Gandolfini, tariff-free.

A Festival of Festival Coverage: Hot Docs Is in the Cannes

At POV Magazine, Pat Mullen recaps this year’s Hot Docs documentary, which had a confident return. “Hot Docs ended its 2025 festival on a high note. This did not feel like a festival that faced an uncertain future exactly one year ago. The 2025 event defined itself with optimism and energy. Full screenings, engaged audiences, and an overall positive vibe marked a confident riposte to last year’s mix of chaos of awkwardness,” says Mullen. “In terms of the films, Hot Docs was especially great as an opportunity for the Canadian audience to catch some much buzzed-about Sundance documentaries. Or, in my case, see them again. My pick for Best of the Festival was, again, Come See Me in the Good Light, Ryan White’s life-affirming portrait of poets Andrea Gibson and Megan Falley as they hold strong in the wake of the former’s terminal cancer diagnosis. The doc was my favourite during Sundance for its cathartic tribute to life and love, but seeing the film with a full house at Hot Docs Ted Rogers Cinema raised it to another level.”

At The Globe and Mail, Barry Hertz previews the Cannes Film Festival and picks five potential breakouts, including The History of Sound: “South Africa’s Oliver Hermanus snags two of the film world’s hottest leading men, Paul Mescal (Gladiator II) and Josh O’Connor (Challengers), for this First World War-era queer love story. Given that Hermanus’s 2011 film Beauty won the Queer Palm, and in 2022 delivered the Bill Nighy drama Living, a shockingly good remake of Akira Kurosawa’s Ikiru, expectations are high.”

TV Talk/Series Stuff

At What She Said, Anne Brodie advises that Octopus could teach us a thing or two: “The Japanese eroticised them, fishers in Greece say the population is diminishing and one woman, a marine scientist and octopus fan has a body octopus tattoo. This slimy documentary is one of the most captivating I’ve seen in a while.”