by Ashley Jane Davis and Jaime Davis, Staff Writers

Another year, another TIFF! While the 2020 fest was significantly pared down due to COVID, this year’s event is slightly more enhanced, featuring a mix of in-theatre, outdoor, and digital screenings. While we’re both returning to TIFF again this year, the 2021 fest is special for us both as it’s our first as a married couple living in Toronto. We’re getting ready for a number of celebrities to descend upon Toronto and keeping a daily eye out for Deuxmoi celebrity spotteds in our city beyond the typical Drake and Shawn Mendes (both Toronto natives). While TIFF always brings the glamour to an already energizing experience, we expect this year to feel a bit more chill, even with many star-studded films on the schedule including Last Night In Soho, Dune, Spencer, The Eyes of Tammy Faye, and The Power of the Dog. While we’re looking forward to all the buzzy titles, here are some of the other films we’re looking forward to this year.

TIFF runs from September 9 through September 18. Tickets and more.

Ashley’s Picks

1. Petite Maman (dir. Céline Sciamma)

Some of my favourite kinds of movies are the ones about kids, while not being for kids (okay I like movies for kids too). I view childhood as an incredibly magical existence - the years before we inherit, learn, and sometimes choose the hate, prejudices, and beliefs that soak into our adult lives. So Céline Sciamma’s latest film about an 8-year-old girl dealing with the death of her grandmother while connecting with a girl her age who she, well, kinda already knows, is SO me. I definitely cried watching the trailer. I’m prepared. I’m ready to sit in my emotions and be swept up in a wave of grief. Calgon, take me away!

2. The Guilty (dir. Antoine Fuqua)

When I began to read the premise and saw the photo of Jake Gyllenhaal, I thought, “hmm, this is all very familiar.” Yep, it is. I was able to catch Gustav Mӧller’s film of the same name at Cinéfest in 2018 and it was a real standout to me. It never let up! I am exactly the kind of film fan who wants to essentially watch a phone call (albeit, an extremely tense phone call) between an emergency responder and a highly distressed caller. I have no doubts that Jakey can take this role on, but I am very curious to see what the atmosphere will be like. I’d call the original a nordic noir, and a damn good one at that. We shall see how American director Antoine Fuqua puts his own spin on the idea.

3. Titane (dir. Julia Ducournau)

This is what I am most excited to see. But I’m also kinda nervous? I have to keep stopping myself from reading about it, because I feel like I already know too much. Will “knowing” take away any of the shock? I frankly doubt it. Julia Ducourneau’s Raw was my favourite film of 2017. That film managed to speak so deeply to me while also offering some of the most truly unforgettable and gross scenes my dainty lil eyes have ever seen! Ducourneau is a director who is bold - both in her choices of visuals and stories she wants to tell.

Oh yeah, it won the Palme d’Or - no biggie!

Jaime’s Picks!

4. Bergman Island (dir. Mia Hansen Løve)

I’m in awe of Mia Hansen Løve’s immense talents as a filmmaker and her latest looks to be another distinct addition to her body of work. Bergman Island features a talented cast of actors cavorting on the Swedish island of Fårö where the great director Ingmar Bergman spent his final years. We follow filmmaker Chris (Phantom Thread’s Vicky Krieps) and her filmmaker husband Tony (Tim Roth) as they navigate the unique nature of their work that threatens the relative placidity of their relationship. As the two reconcile their romantic and artistically-bound partnership, the film features a story within a story, as the screenplay Chris is writing comes to life on the same island (featuring Mia Wasikowska and Anders Danielsen). I wonder if Hansen Løve’s real-life marriage to director Olivier Assayas inspired any semi-autobiographical moments in the film? I hope I find out.

5. The Falls (dir. Chung Mong-Hong)

Alyssa Chia and Gingle Wang star as mother and daughter enduring the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic in acclaimed director Chung Mong-Hong’s latest feature. As the two quarantine together, their once typical relationship turns fraught and disturbing as they manage loss of income, crippling debts, mental illness, and daily instability. While it’s a little soon for some to watch COVID-related fare, I’m fascinated by complex character studies such as this, and the film is already garnering early buzz for amazing performances from its two leads. The Falls is a nightmare I’m looking forward to watching unfold.

6. Learn to Swim (dir. Thyrone Tommy)

From Toronto director Thyrone Tommy comes his feature debut profiling Dezi, a young jazz musician grieving a traumatic event. Featuring surrealist elements while traveling between two different time periods to highlight Dezi’s loss and subsequent self-isolation, Learn to Swim explores the melancholia of remembrance that accompanies grief. The story, cinematography, and original jazz score already got me, and there isn’t even a trailer yet.

7. The Humans (dir. Stephen Karam)

You had me at Steven Yeun. I will watch anything with Steven Yeun! My favorite living actor, Yeun is gifted in his ability to brilliantly step into the roles of diverse characters all while remaining accessible. And so damn likable, even when he’s playing a disturbed rich kid in Burning. So of course I’m looking forward to The Humans for that reason alone, but I also can’t wait to immerse myself in director Stephen Karam’s directorial debut based on his Tony-award winning play. The rest of the cast is equally exciting: Richard Jenkins, June Squibb, Beanie Feldstein, and Amy Schumer round out the ensemble in this family-driven dramedy.