The Life of Chuck Review TIFF 2024

The Plot

Inspired by a Stephen King novella and told in three distinct chapters, The Life of Chuck weaves a carefully interconnected and mysterious tale of humanity facing the apocalyptic end of the world and an intimate exploration of the life of a seemingly ordinary accountant named Charles Krantz.

The Good

The Life of Chuck adapts one of Stephen King’s more uncharacteristically optimistic tales, flavoured with his usual brand of supernatural tension but without the sense of nightmarish dread that typically defines his celebrated horror classics. Starkly juxtaposing a kind natured portrait of one man’s life with mankind’s final cosmic curtain call could easily have been an exercise in cruel irony, but instead the film gradually reveals itself to be something far more therapeutic and thankful.

The film’s compartmentalised three act non-linear storytelling structure is also massively effective in preserving the stories’ many central mysteries while also allowing audiences to explore different emotional tones and sometimes complex recurrent philosophical themes in easily digestible ways.

All of this is only possible because of a truly gifted ensemble cast with Chiwetel Ejiofor, Karen Gillan, Mark Hamill and Tom Hiddleston all on equally sensational form. Hiddleston’s fleet footed and kind faced turn as Charles Krantz, the mysterious titular Chuck, serves as a symbolic through line for the entire film. However in reality the film only functions and manages to weave its meticulously interconnected tale thanks to constantly superb performances from the entire cast. Hiddleston’s presence may loom both literally and metaphorically large across the screen but it’s ultimately a grand story of multitudes not just one man.

That said Hiddleston’s famously talented dancing prowess does create one of the film’s most instantly memorable and joyous sequences. It’s an eye catching and shamelessly crowd pleasing moment alongside a steady string of more subtle yet equally uplifting moments.

Overall the film’s ability to find life affirming comfort in the face of seemingly dire disaster and doomed hopelessness feels like a welcome and much needed gift in the increasingly troubled world we now inhabit.

The Bad

As with all grand mysteries this film begins by posing a myriad of unapologetically profound questions for audiences. All of the films mystique is tied to the promise of the grand reveal of eventual answers. Though the film does indeed ultimately deliver on that promise, naturally it won’t entirely satisfy everyone. The boundless ambiguity of metaphysical and supernatural questions allows audiences a little too much room to imagine their own wildly varied explanations. Meaning that when the film does eventually provide a single definitive concrete outcome it will naturally differ from what some people may have hoped for or expected.

That’s not an indictment of the film’s genuinely clever and largely satisfying narrative, just an acknowledgement that mysteries are perhaps always at their most potent when unsolved. In reality most audiences will be pleased that at least the film does deliver firm choices and resolution rather than simply getting hopelessly lost in its own premise or attempting to fudge some kind of deliberately open ended climax.

The Ugly Truth

A brilliant ensemble cast breathe compelling life into a story which is both cosmically grand and touchingly intimate in equal measure. A patient script and earnest performances keep audiences compelled and captures a great deal of Stephen King’s celebrated brilliance. It’s a complex yet simple tale that guides audiences through daunting supernatural mysteries towards satisfying and deeply life affirming conclusions.

Angelina Jolie Honoured At TIFF 2024

Award winning actor, producer, writer, director, and humanitarian Angelina Jolie set to attend the TIFF Tribute Awards Gala on September 8

Cameron Bailey, CEO, TIFF is honoured to present Angelina Jolie, the multi-hyphenate Academy Award–winning actor, Tony Award–winning producer, writer, director, and humanitarian with the TIFF Tribute Award in Impact Media. Previously bestowed upon such luminaries as Pedro Almodóvar, Mira Nair, and Alanis Obomsawin, the TIFF Tribute Award in Impact Media is presented by Anne-Marie Canning and recognizes leadership in creating a union between social impact and cinema. Jolie will be honoured at the 2024 TIFF Tribute Awards on Sunday, September 8, at Fairmont Royal York Hotel and marks the final honouree announcement. She will be honoured alongside Amy Adams, Cate Blanchett, Durga Chew-Bose, David Cronenberg, Clément Ducol and Camille, Jharrel Jerome, Mike Leigh, and Zhao Tao, with Sandra Oh serving as the inaugural Honorary Chair of the fundraising gala. “Angelina Jolie is a multifaceted talent who has entertained audiences for decades while consistently using her platform to champion important causes,” said Bailey. “We’re honoured to present her with the 2024 TIFF Tribute Award in Impact Media. This award recognizes her exceptional achievements in filmmaking, and her unwavering commitment for positive change, solidifying her status as a veritable humanitarian and global force to be reckoned with.” Jolie returns to the 49th edition of the Toronto International Film Festival, presented by Rogers, following the success of her TIFF 2017 features, First They Killed My Father, which she wrote and directed; and The Breadwinner, which she executive produced. Her dedication to social justice is evident through her films Unbroken (2014), In the Land of Blood and Honey (2011), and her latest project Without Blood, which will have its World Premiere on September 8. Without Blood, written, directed, and produced by Jolie, is based on the acclaimed bestselling novel by renowned Italian writer Alessandro Baricco, and stars Salma Hayek Pinault and Demián Bichir. It’s an unforgettable saga set in the aftermath of an unidentified conflict that explores universal truths about war, trauma, memory, and healing. With more than 20 years of humanitarian work focusing on refugees and human rights, Jolie also champions local leadership in environmental conservation, and has funded schools, health, and education initiatives globally. Additionally, she is President of the Maddox Foundation, an integrated development program headquartered in Cambodia, with a focus on conservation, agriculture, education, and economic development projects in the area. Now in its sixth year, the Tribute Awards is TIFF’s largest fundraiser. Proceeds from the gala fundraiser will go towards TIFF’s Every Story Fund, which champions diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging in film. The Tribute Awards has served as an awards-season bellwether, honouring the film industry’s outstanding contributors and their achievements. Past honourees Colman Domingo, Michelle Yeoh, Brendan Fraser, Jessica Chastain, Roger Deakins, Sir Anthony Hopkins, Joaquin Phoenix, Taika Waititi, and Chloé Zhao, have gone on to win awards on the international stage.

 

TIFF 2024 Awards Categories Revealed

TIFF is pleased to announce its renowned 2024 award categories, distinguished jury members, and prizes to celebrate and honour the outstanding works in this year’s Festival lineup. Back this year after a five-year hiatus and with a new name and criteria, the Best Canadian Discovery Award salutes the best of emerging Canadian filmmakers in Official Selection. The juries, featuring distinguished film critics and filmmakers, include three jurors for the two Canadian feature film awards; five members for FIPRESCI, the International Federation of Film Critics; three jurors for NETPAC, the Network for the Promotion of Asian Pacific Cinema; and three jurors each for Platform and Short Cuts (both previously announced). All awards will be announced on September 15 at TIFF Lightbox. “TIFF’s annual Festival awards for films in Official Selection are integral to recognizing the excellence and artistry within our industry,” said Anita Lee, Chief Programming Officer, TIFF. “Every year, we gather to celebrate the wide spectrum of cinematic talent with the collaboration and endorsement of our distinguished global juries and peers, and we look forward to continuing this tradition again in just a few weeks.” Awards descriptions including eligibility can be found here: tiff.net/awards

BEST CANADIAN DISCOVERY AWARD Back this year after being on hiatus since 2019, and with a new name and new criteria, the Best Canadian Discovery Award celebrates works of emerging filmmakers who contribute to enriching the Canadian film landscape. All first or second feature films in Official Selection by Canadian filmmakers are eligible for this award. The winner will receive a cash prize of $10,000. BEST CANADIAN FEATURE FILM AWARD PRESENTED BY CANADA GOOSE Canada Goose has always played a supporting role in the magic of filmmaking. TIFF continues to celebrate the unique craft and storytelling within Canadian cinema with the Best Canadian Feature Film Award. All Canadian feature films in Official Selection — excluding first or second features — will be considered for the award. The winning filmmaker will receive a $10,000 cash prize. The 2024 Best Canadian Feature Film Award is presented by Canada Goose. The 2024 Jury for the Best Canadian Feature Film and for the Best Canadian Discovery Award: Estrella Araiza is the General Director of the Guadalajara International Film Festival and Cineteca FICG. Her work has focused on Mexican and Latin American cinema. Her career includes experience as the director of Industry and Market at the FICG, a sales agent, an academic, and a cinema distributor. She has served on juries for international film festivals and has collaborated with international film markets. Chelsea McMullan is a director and producer based in Toronto. Their work in documentary, experimental narrative, and hybrid films often explore the work of leading international artists through the cinematic frame. McMullan directed Swan Song (CBC/Dogwoof), a vérité-driven feature documentary that premiered at TIFF ’23 and four-part limited series that follows the National Ballet of Canada as the company mounts a new production of Swan Lake. Their other films include Ever Deadly, Crystal Pite: Angels’ Atlas, and My Prairie Home. Randall Okita is a Japanese Canadian artist and filmmaker known for innovative storytelling and rich visual language. His work, which spans film, VR, and sculpture, has earned more than 20 international awards, including two Canadian Screen Awards, a Webby, and a Japan Prize.

FIPRESCI JURY

The FIPRESCI Prize is presented by an international jury selected by the International Federation of Film Critics. Founded in 1925, the Federation is an organization of professional film critics and film journalists for the promotion and development of film culture and the safeguarding of professional interests. The Federation awards the prize at international film festivals and film festivals of particular importance to promote film art and to encourage new and young cinema. The FIPRESCI Jury will award the Prize of International Critics, dedicated to emerging filmmakers, to a debut feature film having its World Premiere in TIFF’s Discovery programme. Last year’s winner was Meredith Hama-Brown’s Seagrass. Li Cheuk-to is Curator at Large of Hong Kong Film and Media for M+ Museum, and is also the current Board Chairman of Hong Kong Film Critics Society after serving as its founding President from 1995 to 1999. He has been the Artistic Director of Hong Kong International Film Festival Society from 2004 to 2018. Pierre-Simon Gutman is deputy editor of the movie review L’Avant Scene Cinema. After studying literature at La Sorbonne, he wrote his PHD thesis on the American filmmaker Michael Cimino. He has written for 3 Couleurs, Les Fiches du Cinéma, and Eclipse(s). He teaches cinema at l’ESRA in Paris and Brussels, after having previously taught at the universities Paris VII and Nancy 2. He has also directed several short features and was for many years a programmer for the Critics’ Week of the Cannes Film Festival, on both the short and feature-film committees. He currently sits on the administration board of the Critics’ Week. He also was a member of the official jury for the Camera d’Or at the 2021 edition of the Cannes Film Festival. Azadeh Jafari is a film critic, writer, and translator based in Tehran. She contributes regularly to different film magazines in Iran. Her English writing on world cinema has appeared in Cinema Scope, Film Comment, Reverse Shot, LOLA, and on the TIFF website. She has translated Berenice Reynaud’s book A City of Sadness on Hou Hsiao-hsien’s masterpiece into Persian and has also contributed to the book Luminous Void – Twenty Years of Experimental Film Society. Saffron Maeve is a Toronto-based critic and film programmer. Her writing has appeared in Film Comment, The Globe & Mail, MUBI Notebook, Cinema Scope, Toronto Star, and Screen Slate. She is an active member of the Toronto Film Critics Association and GALECA, the Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics. Wilfred Okiche is a Rotten Tomatoes–certified culture critic and film programmer. He has attended critic programs and reported from film and theatre festivals in Locarno, Rotterdam, Stockholm, and Sundance. Wilfred has worked on the programming team for Film Africa in London and Encounters in South Africa. He has mentored fast rising film critics at Talents Durban and served on the selection committee of Berlinale Talents. His writing has appeared in Variety, IndieWire, The Continent, and Senses of Cinema among other publications. He is a member of FIPRESCI and has participated in juries at the Berlinale, Palm Springs, and Carthage film festivals. He is in graduate school studying film and media at the University of Southern California.

NETPAC JURY

Presented by the Network for the Promotion of Asian Pacific Cinema, the NETPAC Award recognizes films specifically from the Asian and Pacific regions. The jury consists of three international community members selected by TIFF and NETPAC, who award the prize to the best Asian film by a first or second-time feature director. In 2023, the NETPAC Award went to Jayant Digambar Somalkar’s A Match. Hannah Fisher has spent many years working in the international industry as a festival director, a festival artistic director, and, most recently, as an international consultant and programmer. She has particularly loved working in events abroad as with festivals such as Dubai (UAE), Kolkata, Kerala Ladakh (India), Bangkok, (Thailand), Krakow (Poland), San Diego, Heartland Festival (USA), and Montreal, and as Director of the Vancouver International Film Festival. Dr. Vilsoni Hereniko, this year’s jury chairperson, had his first narrative feature film, The Land Has Eyes, premiere at the Sundance Film Festival in 2004 and was Fiji’s submission to the Academy Awards in 2005. It also won Best Dramatic Feature at the Toronto ImagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival in 2004. His animated short film won the Berlin Independent Film Festival in 2022 as well as the Los Angeles International Film Festival the same year. He is also the current President of NETPAC/USA and a professor at the School of Cinematic Arts at the University of Hawaiʻi. Kerri Sakamoto is an award-winning Japanese Canadian author whose books have been translated into numerous languages and published internationally. She has worked with acclaimed filmmakers as a screenwriter and story editor.

PEOPLE’S CHOICE AWARDS PRESENTED BY ROGERS

A longstanding TIFF tradition, the People’s Choice Awards are marking their 47th year. The People’s Choice Award is an Oscars bellwether with a rich history; past winners include Chariots of Fire, The Princess Bride, Slumdog Millionaire, and the 2023 debut feature from Cord Jefferson, American Fiction. All feature films and Primetime series in TIFF’s Official Selection are eligible. The winners of the People’s Choice Awards will be announced on Sunday, September 15, 2024. The three audience-voted awards are the People’s Choice Award, the People’s Choice Documentary Award, and the People’s Choice Midnight Madness Award. The 2023 winners were American Fiction, Mr. Dressup: The Magic of Make-Believe, and Dicks: The Musical. The 2024 People’s Choice Awards are presented by Rogers. The 2024 Jury for TIFF’s competitive programme, Platform, was announced earlier this year and includes Atom Egoyan, Hur Jin-ho, and Jane Schoenbrun.

Borderlands Review

The Plot

A mismatched team of outlaws and fugitives are forced to search together for a mythical alien treasure on the most dangerous planet in the Galaxy. They have to battle through all manner of monsters, private armies and hordes of barbaric psychos in order to survive and unlock the true mysteries of Pandora.

The Good

Fans of the bestselling video game series will be relieved that this long in development big screen outing finally made it to cinemas. As whatever its flaws this film is likely to be the only crossover media experience gamers get to enjoy for the franchise. To that end it at least manages to introduce the series to some new fans and pay knowing homage to some of the familiar and clearly beloved characters. Hopefully this also helps push the games series forward and encourages renewed efforts to ensure further instalments in the now long running series are crowd pleasing hits.

While it’s impossible to ignore the film’s obvious flaws it is fair to say that certain characters from the game series survive the transfer to the big screen better than others. Comedic robot sidekick Claptrap, voiced enthusiastically by Jack Black, is one such highlight. His antics provide the film with rare moments approaching genuine humour, standing out amidst an otherwise drab sea of miscasting and failed flat delivery.

The Bad

The biggest mystery of Borderlands is not what hidden alien treasures lie buried in the mythical vault, but why Oscar winner Cate Blanchett ever accepted the thankless task of playing the lead role in such an obviously ill-fated video game adaptation.

The 55 year old screen icon looks instantly badly misplaced in neon red hair and a costume seemingly borrowed from a low budget 90s kid’s Saturday morning sci-fi show. Perhaps director Eli Roth and the producers mistakenly hoped that shoehorning an A list dramatic actress into the role of gun toting intergalactic bounty hunter Lilith would lend the production some much needed credibility and distinguish it from other lacklustre big screen video game adaptations.

Unfortunately in reality this decision tragically backfires on the film as luring in household name stars like Blanchett and Kevin Hart only serves to emphasise their obvious miscasting and the missed opportunity to allow fresh faces to provide these popular video characters with more authentic personality.

Audiences are growing more adept at quickly sensing cash grab insincerity and sadly for Borderlands it felt painfully obvious from the first look trailer that this was a film awkwardly assembled by a marketing committee with the embarrassing goal of luring audiences into a disappointing experience. Plagiarising very obviously from James Gunn’s Guardians of The Galaxy, Borderlands tries to recreate the appealing intergalactic magic of catchy classic rock songs and wry wisecracks, but it just feels instantly inferior and joyless.

Almost every aspect of Borderlands feels borrowed and unoriginal, simply a shameless regurgitation of supposedly popular genre tropes wrapped in bad costumes and disappointing CGI. The film somehow manages to look both obviously ill-advisedly expensive and awkwardly ‘cheap’ at the same time. The planet of Pandora is a desert like wilderness strewn with literal trash piles and quite clearly cobbled together through a tragic mix of sound stages and horribly ineffective CGI.

Set against this drab backdrop of failed production value it’s impossible for even household name stars like Blanchett, Hart and Jamie Lee Curtis to invest audiences in proceedings. A threadbare script lacking in ideas, laughs or subtle plot twists also dooms the cast to total failure.

A special mention sadly also must go to young Disney starlet Arianna Greenblatt, her performance as brattish bunny ears wearing bomb enthusiast Tiny Tina is painfully obnoxious and helps push the film even closer to the brink of being truly unwatchable. The fact the much of the film’s plot requires her to be the damsel in distress the misfit band of space antiheroes must rally around to protect makes her chronic unlikability even more unfortunate.

The Ugly Truth

Borderlands is destined to be one of this year’s biggest box office misfires but deservedly so. Miscast star names an awful script and low quality production value throughout makes this a truly joyless space romp that squanders any potential the genuinely fun video game franchise might have had. It feels tragic that studios are still making these sort of embarrassingly costly mistakes in 2024. This feels like the kind of paint by numbers atrocious video game adaptations that would have been greeted with dismay decades ago. It’s a badge of shame for all involved that this film exists as such a disappointing reminder that sometimes Hollywood truly never learns.

Cate Blanchett Receives TIFF 2024 Award