That Shelf's Most Anticipated Films of TIFF 2023

There’s no reason to think the sky is falling for TIFF just yet. Sure, a presumed reduction in stars on the red carpet due to the actors’ strikes in response to studio greed means a comparably subdued affair in a year when many of us hoped the festival would come out swinging. But let’s be real: It’s not a normal TIFF with all the Hollywood fanfare. However, it’s also refreshing to think that critics and audiences are in for lots of discoveries. Sure, Steven Spielberg movies are buzz-worthy fun, but how many films were overlooked last year because everyone was chasing The Fabelmans?

Many writers in the That Shelf crew, moreover, have been busy perusing screening links and attending press screenings, which shall henceforth be known as “avant premières,” and can attest that there’s no reason to downplay one’s excitement this year. We polled all the Shelfers attending TIFF to submit their picks for their most-anticipated films at this year’s festival. Here are the answers we received to help guide readers with their last-minute TIFFr Tetris leading up to the festival.

That Shelf’s Most Anticipated Films of TIFF 2023

Emma Badame

The End We Start From

Programme: Galas

With wildfires raging throughout the world and extreme weather the new (depressing) norm, it’s possible there’s no better time for a cinematic adaptation of Megan Hunter’s impressive debut novel. Set in an unspecified future where a climate crisis sees London submerged in dangerous floodwaters, The End We Start From follows a young family torn apart in the chaos and one young mother’s quest for survival alongside her newborn baby. With Jodie Comer as the lead, Mahalia Belo directing, and a host of talented Brits in supporting roles, it sounds like this big-screen version has everything it needs to do justice to Hunter’s superb story. The drama may not sound like the most upbeat of tales but if TIFF is good at anything, it’s about bringing out emotion through cinema. The End We Start From seems guaranteed to do just that.

Lee

Programme: Galas

Although many people may be familiar with the careers of war correspondents Martha Gellhorn and Margaret Bourke-White, their contemporary Lee Miller has largely flown under the radar. Luzia Schmid paid tribute to all three trailblazers earlier this year in her riveting documentary Three Women and the War, which played a host of festivals including Hot Docs. But Ellen Kuras’ drama Lee, starring Kate Winslet, is set to focus solely on the fascinating–and sometime tragic–life of New York-born photographer Miller. After a childhood that saw both joy and anguish, she persisted and became one of Vogue’s key correspondents during World War II, covering the Blitz, the liberation of Paris, and the horrors of Buchenwald and Dachau. Post-war, Miller suffered from clinical depression and what would now be termed PTSD, turning to the bottle to cope. It’s not surprising that filmmakers have decided her life story is one worth telling, but perhaps the better question is what took them so long? Based on a book by Miller’s son, Anthony Penrose, Lee will finally shine a light on a woman who’s long deserved the recognition.

The Movie Teller

Program: Special Presentations

Let’s be honest. Any new film from the great Danish director Lone Scherfig (An Education) is worth anticipating, especially one that pays tribute to the magic of movies. The film follows a poor young Chilean girl and her mother, who both find escapism and magic in the movies at their local cinema. The daughter becomes a star in her own right when she uses her talents to re-tell the movies she sees at her local theatres to the members of her community who can’t afford the tickets to experience the films themselves. Add to that delightful story a cast that includes scene-stealers like Bérénice Bejo and Daniel Brühl, and you’ve got the making of TIFF magic.

I’m also excited for: A Difficult Year, Chuck Chuck Baby, Widow Clicquot, Wicked Little Letters, The Promised Land

Pat Mullen

Solo

Programme: Galas

Is it time to call Sophie Dupuis and Théodore Pellerin one of Canada’s best actor-director combos? The Quebecois duo reunites for their third collaboration after Family First (2018) and Underground (2020). This time, they’re hitting the drag scene with Pellerin playing the vivacious Simon, who turns heads on the stage as Glory Gore. But when a hot new queen (Félix Maritaud) rolls in from France, Simon finds himself with a new partner on and off stage in a toxic relationship that sends him into a tailspin. Anyone worried that TIFF will be lacking glamour best head on over to Solo. This drama promises to be one of the most exciting Canadian films of the year with a lead performance that commands attention.

Menus-Plaisirs Les Troisgros

Programme: TIFF Docs

At 93 years old, Frederick Wiseman has nothing left to prove and is in no hurry while telling stories. His latest documentary, Menus-Plaisirs Les Troisgros, clocks in at 240 minutes. It’s actually over half-an-hour shorter than his last TIFF doc, City Hall. (Doc-averse folks might have caught his performance as the gynecologist in last year’s Other People’s Children.) Few subjects merit such a butt-numbing experience and yet as Wiseman takes his camera into France’s La Maison Troisgros restaurant that holds three Michelin stars, he’s likely to have audiences asking for a doggie bag. Expect far more than elevated food porn here. Wiseman’s immersive observational style ensures that audiences will see the intricate culinary skills entailed with preparing, plating, and savouring the restaurant’s famed small plates that fuse international flavours with local ingredients. Menus-Plaisirs promises to be your best four-hour brunch friend at TIFF.

Pictures of Ghosts

Programme: Wavelengths

Bacurau and Neighbouring Sounds director Kleber Mendonça Filho gets back into the documentary game with this film-on-film consideration of his hometown of Recife, Brazil. Drawing upon old images and ghosts from the past, Filho examines cinema’s role in histories both personal and collective. People often get excited when documentary filmmakers “grow up” and “graduate” by making “a real movie” with a drama, but I’m glad to see one of the world’s finest auteurs demonstrate that it’s really the other way around.

I’m also excited for: The Beast, The Contestant, Days of Happiness, The Holdovers, Irena’s Vow, Mountain Queen, The Pigeon Tunnel, Rustin, Stamped from the Beginning

Shane Slater

Les Indésirables

Programme: Special Presentations

In Ladj Ly had a breakout year with his Oscar-nominated debut feature Les Misérables. Since then, I’ve been looking forward to what he does next and now we have that answer in the world premiere of Les Indésirables. Promising another intense social thriller set in the streets of Paris, Les Indésirables should further cement his place as a vital, Black voice in French cinema.

Kill

Programme: Midnight Madness

If you know anything about Indian genre fare, then you’ll know they’re famous for their maximalist approach. Indeed, I’m still on a high from last year’s global hit RRR. Nikhil Nagesh Bhat will hope to garner the same attention with his martial arts thriller Kill, and I can’t wait to experience it on the big screen.

American Fiction

Programme: Special Presentations

I didn’t know anything about American Fiction until I stumbled upon it in the TIFF lineup, but the talent involved immediately shot it to the top of my must-see list. This racial satire marks the directorial debut of Emmy winner Cord Jefferson, whose writing credits include Watchmen, Succession, The Good Place and Master of None. The cast is equally formidable, with Jeffrey Wright starring alongside Tracee Ellis Ross, Issa Rae, and Sterling K. Brown.

Courtney Small

Expats

Programme: Primetime

TIFF’s Primetime section does not always get the love it deserves. If there is one director who can change, that it is Lulu Wang. Presenting the feature-length penultimate episode of her six-part limited series Expats, which stars Nicole Kidman, the show examines a family tragedy from multiple perspectives. Considering how well Wang tackled family drama in her stunning and moving film, The Farewell, this show is destined to be one of the year’s must-see works.

I Do Not Come to You by Chance

Programme: Centrepiece

The films of Nigerian director Ishaya Bako tend to explore the complexity of human connections. Whether exploring memory through an estranged marriage and memory, the drama Road to Yesterday, or the ups and downs that come with finding love, The Royal Hibiscus Hotel, Bako’s films always offer some intriguing nuggets to chew on. In his new dramedy I Do Not Come to You by Chance, he examines the ways financial strife can cause people to make decisions that blur the lines between right and wrong. Hopefully this will be the film that makes Bako a household name internationally.

Rachel West

The Promised Land

Programme: Special Presentations

Mads Mikkelsen reteams with his A Royal Affair director Nikolaj Arcel for an 18th-century Danish drama. What more could you ask for?

Swan Song

Programme: Galas

Go behind the scenes of Karen Kain’s swan song for the National Ballet of Canada as she balances presenting a classical ballet for a modern audience and her 50-year legacy with the company. Director Chelsea McMullan’s intimate portrait of the performers, Kain, and company is nothing short of riveting.

Memory

Programme: Special Presentations

Michel Franco’s past TIFF selections Sundown and New Order have yet to steer me wrong, so his latest is firmly at the top of my list. Jessica Chastain and Peter Sarsgaard star in what’s being billed as a touching and profound drama that comes after a surprise encounter following a high school reunion.

I’m also excited for: Mother, Couch; When Evil Lurks; NAGA; Backspot; Chuck Chuck Baby