I Saw 15 Movies at TIFF, Here Are My Top 5
Personal highlights from an actual movie marathon
Ten days, fifteen movies, four talks, one red carpet, and a forgotten amount of popcorn and sodas. TIFF truly is a marathon, not a sprint, but despite the overstimulation, lack of sleep, excessive commuting—and immediate post-TIFF flu—I had the time of my life. Spending a total of 38 hours and 51 minutes in a dark room watching movies may not be everyone’s idea of ten days well spent, but it certainly is mine. Having said that, certain cinematic experiences within that span definitely outshone others.
There were definitely some disappointments, some almost-good-but-didn’t-stick-the-landings, and some downright stinkers. But nobody wants to hear about/see those. Five movies in particular stuck out to me as above and beyond, and ones I think are definitely worth checking out upon their wide release.
My credentials? A BA in film studies, an MFA in screenwriting, and a Letterboxd review of The Twilight Saga: New Moon with 15 whole likes.
So, without further ado, here are my top five films of TIFF 2026.
5. Club Kid (dir. Jordan Firstmann)
Canadian release: Nov 13th
It almost feels unfair when someone’s directorial debut is as good as this. Especially when said director is also the writer and star. Jordan Firstman’s Club Kid, the story of a gay New York City club promoter who finds out that he has a ten-year-old son when he appears at his doorstep, exceeds all “first feature” expectations.
Somehow the least and most kid-friendly movie in existence, it is hilarious throughout, which makes the moments of emotional rawness and tenderness even more piercing.
The transformation Firstman’s character Peter undergoes after meeting his son Arlo is unbelievably touching, even though finding out you have a kid doesn’t even seem that bad when he already listens to the Cocteau Twins and Elliott Smith. Firstman’s compelling performance does not detract from a lovable supporting cast, however, with an incredible entourage of supporting characters representative of the types in the New York underground, and a hilarious roommate played by Eldar Isgandarov, who, between this and The Debut, I hope remains A24’s comic relief forever.
Fusing an homage to the gritty club scene of New York with a touching story about the love and grief of both chosen and real family may not seem like an orthodox pairing, but Firstman executes it to perfection.
4. The Assassin(s) (dir. Hur Jin-Ho)
Canadian release: TBA
Perhaps the most memorable part of this screening was the man introducing it saying that director Hur Jin-Ho was “no longer with us,” pausing long enough for us to gasp, and then clarifying that he just meant he’d gone back to Korea.
Which is a huge relief in general, because I need ten more movies like this ASAP.
Based on the real attempted assassination of President Park Chung-Hee in 1974 that resulted in the death of the first lady and a high school girl, The Assassin(s) follows a police detective, a newspaper editor, and a rookie reporter, all with different personal stakes in the assassination attempt, who attempt to uncover conspiratorial inconsistencies in the shooting, such as missing and extra bullets, an anonymous second party, and potential KCIA involvement. Whether based on true events or something only a lunatic like Bong Joon-Ho could concoct, like a fish monster terrorizing Seoul in The Host, New Korean Cinema is one of the most politically prolific national cinemas to emerge in the 21st century.
This film is the former, and despite its historical context representing a period of military rule in South Korea, the film highlights how media censorship and a lack of transparency have carried into its democratic era. While the history represented is unique to South Korea, the film’s themes about journalistic resilience and a ubiquitous desire for political transparency could not be more relevant to the rest of the world right now, especially in the United States.
There’s also nothing better than when a masterful indictment of political censorship includes hot people, and having 2000s K-drama heartthrob Lee Min-Ho, who is arguably even better-looking now, play a rookie journalist determined to bring justice to a young girl killed in the crossfire of a political assassination was a directorial choice I wholeheartedly support.
There’s nothing sexier than boots-on-the-ground journalism.
3. Ha-Chan, Shake Your Booty! (dir. Josef Kubota Wladyka)
Canadian Release: Sept. 25th
When I exited the theatre and immediately pulled this up on Letterboxd to write my review and look at others—as one does—I saw one that really grinded my gears. It said that the use of fantasies to convey the protagonist’s emotions was too obvious and on the nose.
Well, yes! That’s how subjectivity and point of view work when you don’t confine yourself to the creativity-killing plague that is an obsession with realism.
Haru’s journey back into ballroom dance after her husband and partner passes away, Ha-Chan, Shake Your Booty! is a whimsical and heartfelt exploration of one woman’s grief, desire, and self-rediscovery, through her creatively imagined subjectivity that includes hallucinating dance numbers and a giant stuffed penguin. And that’s ok! Better than ok, actually; it’s a fun and exciting way of rendering something as difficult and interior as grief colourful, animated, and musical.
The film includes three languages–Spanish, English, and Japanese–but treats dance and music as an extra one; the characters use a mixture of languages to communicate with each other, but Haru communicates to the audience how she’s feeling through dance. The dedication to director Josef Kubota Wladyka’s mother at the end of the film seals it as a true work from the heart, and it is as good a meditation on grief as it is an excuse to dance in your seat with your girlfriends.
2. The Debut (dir. Jesse Eisenberg)
Canadian release: December 18th
Because I’m a writer, that’s usually what I hyperfixate on or notice in a film if it’s truly exceptional, or the opposite.
But in The Debut, Julianne Moore’s performance was so unbelievable and engaging that I couldn’t stop thinking about it both during and after I watched it. Her performance as Mona, a timid housewife who is completely transformed and consumed by her role in a community theatre production, was so balls-to-the-wall insane that after one particularly rousing scene, the entire theatre started applauding. In the middle of the movie.
If there is a God, she’ll get a second, much more deserved, Best Actress Oscar for this (I’m still upset about Rosamund Pike not winning for Gone Girl).
Mona is the epitome of the fine line between commitment and total insanity, and watching her tread that line with exceptional physical comedy and dialogue was a riot. And how refreshing it was to see something that, tonally, sees itself so clearly as a comedy receiving the same kind of hype and acclaim as the dramas of the festival.
Hilarious and absurd, The Debut is a sweet homage to theatre kids and a fat fuck you to method actors.
1. Wild Horse Nine (dir. Martin McDonagh)
Canadian release: November 6th
Between this and The Assassin(s), it was a great year for historical counternarratives.
Martin McDonagh is the master of the subversive buddy comedy, where one mate is carrying something personally and politically sinister that impacts his relationship with the other, and Wild Horse Nine may just be his magnum opus.
Chris and Lee are two CIA agents in Chile in the months leading up to the military coup and assassination of President Salvador Allende in 1973, which led to a brutal period of political suppression and human rights violations. Against this heavy political backdrop, Lee’s boss is also suspicious of Chris being a loose cannon, while Chris himself is coping with his imminent death from cancer.
Despite these layers of conflict, the story does not feel incomplete or busy, as Chris’ reflection on his life and relationship with Lee in the face of his death is the throughline that ties every theme and storyline together. McDonagh’s dialogue is also an absolute masterclass, and the film derives comedy from having seemingly innocuous but hysterical exchanges played out against a backdrop that would ordinarily be handled with seriousness and melodrama. McDonagh knew exactly who he needed to play two CIA weirdos in the 1970s, and John Malkovich and Sam Rockwell delivered Chris and Lee, respectively, to perfection.
I’ve already enlisted my dad to see this with me again when it’s released theatrically so I can listen again to the moment where Chris explains that good democracy leads to gay people, which leads to good cheese.
