Toronto, ON – When one atom first meets another, the precise nature of that interaction can determine much about what kinds of physical properties and behaviours will emerge. In a paper published today in Nature Physics, a team led by U of T physicist Joseph Thywissen reported their discovery of a new set of rules […]

Professor R J Dwayne Miller is the Royal Society of Chemistry Centenary Prize winner for 2016. Dwayne is Director of the Atomically Resolved Dynamics Department of the Max Planck Institute for the Structure and Dynamics of Matter (MPSD) in Hamburg, Germany, with a secondary appointment as Professor of Chemistry and Physics at the University of […]

University of Toronto Engineering, Google and Actua partner on Innovate U, a day-long STEM event for children in grades 3–8, featuring hands-on coding, circuitry and moreToronto, ON – More than 1,400 students from Grades 3–8 will descend on the University of Toronto on Friday, May 13 for Innovate U, a massive day of hands-on activities […]

Toronto, ON – University of Toronto Professor Giovanni Grasselli, of the Department of Civil Engineering, has been named the inaugural holder of the Foundation CMG Industrial Research Chair in Fundamental Petroleum Rock Physics and Rock Mechanics. Professor Grasselli is joining 12 chairs at 12 universities, including Penn State and the University of Texas in Austin, […]

Toronto, ON – Super-computer modelling of Earth’s crust and upper-mantle suggests that ancient geologic events may have left deep ‘scars’ that can come to life to play a role in earthquakes, mountain formation, and other ongoing processes on our planet. This changes the widespread view that only interactions at the boundaries between continent-sized tectonic plates […]

Likely due to high temperatures and uncoordinated treatmentToronto, ON – High ocean temperatures and poor timing of parasite management likely led to an epidemic of sea lice in 2015 throughout salmon farms in British Columbia’s Queen Charlotte Strait, a University of Toronto-led study has found. The sea lice spread to migrating juvenile wild salmon, resulting in […]

Saving the planet from climate change with a grain of sandToronto, ON – Every year, humans advance climate change and global warming – and quite likely our own eventual extinction – by injecting about 30 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO₂) into the atmosphere. A team of scientists from the University of Toronto (U of T) […]

Universities announce their 2016 Schulich Leader Scholarship winners Toronto, ON – Kevin Han, Jun Ran Xu, Haleema Khan and Sabrina Cruz have been named University of Toronto’s recipients of the prestigious Schulich Leader Scholarships. Created in 2011 by Canadian business leader and philanthropist Seymour Schulich, this annual scholarship program encourages promising high school graduates to embrace […]

Toronto, ON – At the Japan-Canada Summit Meeting in May 2016, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe noted that Japan wished to support Japanese studies at Canadian universities in order to promote mutual understanding between the two countries. Today, based upon this commitment, the Government of Japan is conferring US$5 million on the University of Toronto to […]

Compositions provide a soundtrack for the Cassini probe’s final plunge into planetToronto, ON –After centuries of looking with awe and wonder at the beauty of Saturn and its rings, we can now listen to them, thanks to the efforts of astrophysicists at the University of Toronto (U of T). “To celebrate the Grand Finale of […]

The following is a list of University of Toronto experts who can comment on the Toronto police task force report and TAVIS. Rinaldo Walcott, Associate Professor of Sociology Expertise: Race, Black politics, Community criticism of TAVIS Tel: (416) 978‑0400 Email: rinaldo.walcott@utoronto.ca (email is best) Akwasi Owusu-Bempah, Ph.D. Candidate in Centre of Criminology Expertise: Policing challenges, Criminal Justice, […]

TORONTO, ON – The University of Toronto is very pleased that Toronto city councillors re-affirmed the city’s commitment to renewed fields on the university’s historic back campus. City council voted in favour of the University’s plan to proceed with the project, which will involve creating two artificial turf fields. The fields will provide a venue […]

Chemical appears to have highest global-warming impact of any compound to dateTORONTO, ON - Scientists from U of T’s Department of Chemistry have discovered a novel chemical lurking in the atmosphere that appears to be a long-lived greenhouse gas (LLGHG).  The chemical – perfluorotributylamine (PFTBA) – is the most radiatively efficient chemical found to date, […]

University of Toronto among extensive list of global collaboratorsTORONTO, ON – International high-energy physics research project IceCube has been named the 2013 Breakthrough of the Year by British magazine Physics World. The Antarctic observatory has been selected for making the first observation of cosmic neutrinos, but also for overcoming the many challenges of creating and […]

TORONTO, ON – Scientists have long known that air pollution caused by cars and trucks, solvent use and even plants, is reduced when broken down by naturally occurring compounds that act like detergents of the atmosphere. What has not been well understood until now are the relative contributions of all the processes producing such compounds. […]

TORONTO, ON – The government of the Indian State of Punjab is sending 50 of its teachers to the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE) of the University of Toronto for an intensive four-week teacher development program from July 28 to August 22, 2014. At OISE, the teachers, will be led by top OISE […]

TORONTO, ON — The University of Toronto is the top university in Canada and one of the best in the world, reports the Shanghai Jiao Tong University’s Academic Ranking of World Universities 2014. This year, the prestigious ranking – which analyzes the top universities worldwide on research output, the quality of faculty and the quality […]

TORONTO, ON – The University of Toronto’s Global City Indicators Facility (GCIF) is welcoming cities from around the world to the inaugural Global Cities Summit in Toronto, where the World Council on City Data (WCCD) will be launched on May 15th at 12:30 pm. This new global entity will build an international platform for open, […]

TORONTO, ON – The University of Edinburgh is bringing a number of high profile academic experts to Toronto from 17–21 June, as part of its General Council Meeting this year. Two academics in particular will be available to speak to reporters about the September 18th Independence Referendum in Scotland and how this event compares to […]

TORONTO, ON — Media are invited to take photos on Tuesday, November 18, of Irina Bokova, Director-General of UNESCO, as Christina Cameron, President of the Canadian Commission for UNESCO, presents to her the University of Toronto’s Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library’s Discovery of Insulin Collections. Last year the Library’s collections—only one of four in Canada […]

Meric Gertler announces climate change challenge, new investing strategy Toronto, ON — University of Toronto President Meric Gertler today unveiled a 14-point plan of specific, targeted actions that aim to make a difference on climate change now. Gertler outlined U of T’s plan to battle climate change in a bold report, Beyond Divestment: Taking Decisive […]

Backing research into billion-year-old water, evolution of plants, faster disease diagnosis, microbial energy Toronto, ON — Five University of Toronto scholars have been awarded prizes in 2016 by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) – the largest tally of winners at any university in Canada. “Our exceptional performance in the NSERC awards […]

Toronto, ON — Public health researchers created a first-of-its-kind peer education project targeting black women to improve breast and cervical cancer awareness and screening for black women living in Toronto’s Malvern community. “There is a lot of silence in the black community. People think that cancer is not a black issue and many survivors are […]

Toronto, ON — University of Toronto researcher Rachel Harding will be the first known biomedical researcher to welcome the world to review her lab notes in real time. The post-doctoral fellow with U of T’s Structural Genomics Consortium (SGC) is also explaining her findings to the general public through her blog. She hopes her open […]

Toronto, ON — Professor Graham Collingridge has been awarded the world’s most valuable prize for brain research. Prof. Collingridge, Chair of the Department of Physiology, was one of three recipients of the Brain Prize, awarded by the Grete Lundbeck European Brain Research Foundation in Denmark, for his research into the mechanisms of memory. The Brain […]

Four of the six new inductees have U of T rootsToronto, ON – Members of University of Toronto’s faculty and alumni will be inducted into the Canadian Medical Hall of Fame at a ceremony taking place today at McMaster University, taking four of this year’s six spots. “This is something in which we can all […]

The future of Toronto’s economy, transportation and environmentIn the third episode of this miniseries, U of T Cities features University of Toronto experts working to build more sustainable cities in the realms of environment, infrastructure and economy. Learn more http://bit.ly/ZMDJK4 Landscape architecture professor Liat Margolis describes her work on green roofs and its implications for emergency management, energy […]

Fujitsu Laboratories establishes new research center in Toronto to accelerate Quantum-Inspired ComputingToronto, ON – Kawasaki, Japan and Toronto, Canada, September 20, 2017 Fujitsu Laboratories Ltd. and the University of Toronto have entered into a new partnership, with Fujitsu Laboratories establishing a new research center in Toronto focused on bolstering R&D into breakthrough quantum computing technologies. In […]

Toronto, ON – For the second year, a Joseph L. Rotman Scholarship has been awarded to an incoming student in the Full-Time MBA program at the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management. Heather Beatty is the recipient of the full tuition scholarship, which she received, based on the strength of her overall application to […]

Toronto, ON – Fare evaders are a problem faced by public transit systems in cities across the world. Evaders are willing to break the law and risk a significant penalty for the free ride. In Toronto, fare evasion is estimated to cost around $20 million a year in lost revenue. An event at the University […]

Toronto, ON – Organizations and researchers whose work has had an impact on Canadian competitiveness in the areas of science, technology and commerce have been honoured with the third annual awards presented by the Creative Destruction Lab (CDL) at the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management. The awards are designed around the primary ingredients in […]

Toronto, ON – A new chair has been established in honour of William Downe, a graduate of the MBA program at the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management. The chair was announced at the Rotman Alumni Awards Dinner on October 18 where Downe received a Lifetime Achievement Award. Downe is the former Chief Executive Officer […]

Toronto, ON – A new partnership has been launched at the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management to promote and develop initiatives for students and faculty in the area of financial innovation across all of the school’s programs. The Rotman Financial Innovation Hub in Advanced Analytics (Rotman FinHub) will create new classes and learning […]

TORONTO, ON –  Professor Kent Roach, Wilson-Prichard Chair in Law and Public Policy at the University of Toronto Faculty of Law, was awarded an esteemed Trudeau Foundation Fellowship today, worth $225,000, in recognition of his outstanding scholarly and pro bono contributions in constitutional, human rights and anti-terrorism issues. The Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation is an […]

Toronto Community Foundation award recognizes leaders in community-buildingTORONTO, ON — Sarah Pole, director of the groundbreaking Law in Action Within Schools (LAWS) program, received a Vital People Award from the Toronto Community Foundation. These awards, announced today, offer grants in recognition of valued community leaders who are making outstanding contributions at not-for-profit organizations. Grants are […]

TORONTO, ON – The University of Toronto today announced the appointment of Professor Edward Iacobucci as dean of the Faculty of Law at the University of Toronto for a five-year term, beginning January 1, 2015, and ending December 31, 2019. “The Faculty of Law at the University of Toronto is a great Canadian institution, and […]

This is 1Password’s first deal with a major distributor, and they plan to use it to expand their reseller base globally through TD SYNNEX’s broad reach.

Toronto based researcher works to preserve ancient Syriac inscriptions

The non-profit I work for uses Google Workspace, and we could really use somebody with strong Workspace skills to help us optimize some planning spreadsheets. Our particular challenges are around having information cross-populate inside worksheets and across different ones, and ideally finding ways to create templated emails (also in Google Workspace) that pulls info directly from the sheets and sends it to instructors. If this works well we may have other use cases and needs!

Hiya! I'll be in Toronto from Wednesday, November 27th through Saturday, November 30th and would love to say hello to some MeFites. I got to walk the St. Lawrence Market with Mandolin Conspiracy on a previous trip and chat and eat nice things. I'd be amenable to meeting up there, or maybe somewhere else. I'm flexible.

FWIW, we have cousins in Toronto and I have been many, many times. So I don't need any tourism assists, I just wanted to meet and spend a little time with MeFites, as you're the best, folks.

Toronto/Los Angeles-based indie pop artist Julian Daniel is making waves with his infectious new single, “do you feel me?,” a track he hopes will stir listeners' emotions through its seductive…

When the Nuggets are right, they play a beautiful game. They cut to the hoop, make deft passes, play tenacious defense, and hit the open shot.

Members of the Bermuda Pacers Track Club began competing in the 2024 Flying Angels International Track and Field Championships at the Toronto Track and Field Center, making an excellent showing to win four medals on the first day. Ronan Davidge won the under 13 boys 2000 meter run clocking a time of 6:42.02. Riana Robinson finished […]

[Written by Stephen Wright] OpenMat Bermuda will return to the island with 11 medals from the Grappling Industries Toronto Gi & No Gi Round Robin Tournament. The island’s Brazilian jiu-jitsu academy won four gold, three silver, and four bronze medals at the competition at the weekend. It was a marked improvement on their medal haul […]

COVID has put the kibosh on much this year, but it can’t stop the capsule TIFF reviews. From the plague-ready, off-model edition of the Toronto International Film Festival, here’s my annual collection of mini-reviews.

The greatly cut-down slate included only slivers of the festival I’d program for myself in a regular year: four to five from international auteurs and a couple examples of global genre cinema. The missing items either are waiting in limbo as sales agents the world over hope that theatrical exhibition will return, or didn’t even get shot.

This list features more Canadian films and documentaries than I’d see at the fest (as opposed to catching them later.) Festivals tend toward the dour and downbeat but that was doubly true this time out. If we’re still trapped in our homes next year, I’ll likely be more vigilant about sorting through the slim pickings, supplementing our streaming experience with titles already available on other platforms.

That said, the overall hit rate was probably as strong as any other recent year. The average score on my numerical ratings would be higher, actually. It’s just that I saw the same festival everyone else did, starting with the film that garnered nearly universal acclaim, nabbed the People’s Choice Award, and will surely be part of the Oscars race—whatever the heck that will look like.

Films are listed in order of preference. Within categories that doesn’t mean much and entails a lot of apples-to-oranges comparisons. A festival near you, or not so near you but within your territory for geolocking purposes, may be virtually screening some of these soon.

The Pinnacle

Nomadland [US, Chloé Zhao, 5] When her town closes down in the wake of its gypsum mine’s closure, a self-reliant widow (Frances McDormand) moves into her van and joins the ranks of the nomad subculture, people who rove the US, taking whatever hard work they can get and living out of their vehicles. Rooted in social realist cinema, marked by a triad of transcendent qualities: poetic visual beauty, an indelible central performance and a deep love for the characters from the writer/director.

Recommended

Another Round [Denmark, Thomas Vinterberg, 4.5] Burned out high school teacher (Mads Mikkelsen) embarks with three colleagues on an experiment to enhance their performance by maintaining a blood alcohol level of 0.5% throughout their days at work. Not only an original booze movie, but a big one, full of turns and ambiguities, and an utterly masterful performance from Mikkelsen.

City Hall [US, Frederick Wiseman, 4] The latest of Wiseman’s distinctive epic-length observational documentaries studies the quotidian, procedural and human moments of human life as seen through the processes of municipal government in Boston, as held together by the thoughtful charisma of Mayor Martin Walsh. Improbably absorbing as always, this institutional cross-section offers a beguiling vision of an oasis of good government in the USA.

True Mothers [Japan, Naomi Kawase, 4.5] Parents of a kindergartner react with dismay when a woman contacts them claiming to be his birth mother. Luminous, delicate drama of shifting perspectives.

Fireball: Visitors from Darker Worlds [US, Werner Herzog & Clive Oppenheimer] Documentary explores the science and mythology of meteor, from Chicxulub to ʻOumuamua. The intersection between scientific discovery and religious awe, central to all of Herzog’s beautiful and delightful nature docs, rises from subtext to text through the intercession of traditional elders, joyful researchers, and the Jesuit scholar of the Vatican’s heaven stone collection.

David Byrne’s American Utopia [US, Spike Lee, 4] Filmed version of the Broadway version of David Byrne’s recent tour features joyous choreography, simple but arresting stagecraft, and songs from his Talking Heads and solo eras. When you shoot a concert film featuring David Byrne, you have to bring it, and Lee does that ably, finding countlesss different ways to shoot within a proscenium.

The Father [UK, Florian Zeller, 4] Retired engineer (Anthony Hopkins) struggles to piece together the confusing reality of his living circumstances as his daughter (Olivia Colman) copes with his progressing dementia. Impeccably performed stage play adaptation puts the viewer inside the contradictory shifts of the protagonist’s subjective viewpoint.

Night of the Kings [Côte d'Ivoire/France , Philippe Lacôte, 4] When the red moon rises over MACA, the Ivory Coast’s toughest prison, its inmate boss appoints the new arrival as storyteller—a post that results in death if the tale ends before sundown. Prison drama with compelling narrative hook widens out to encompass ancient warfare, contemporary politics, and even a wizard duel.

Summer of 85 [France, Francois Ozon, 4] Love between two young men in a French beach town leads to a bizarre crime. Teen emotions run high in a sunlit melodrama of Eros and Thanatos.

Spring Blossom [France, Suzanne Lindon, 4] Bored with her classmates, an awkward 16 year old (played by the writer-director) pursues her attraction for a ruggedly handsome stage actor (Arnaud Valois.) Character drama sets aside the sexual aspect of this staple French cinema situation to focus on the emotion, periodically breaking from naturalism to have its characters express their feelings through dance.

Get the Hell Out [Taiwan, I-Fan Wang, 4] Taiwan’s notoriously pugilistic parliament tips into arterial spray when the effluent of a controversial chemical plant triggers a zombie epidemic. Zombie comedy features an eye-searing palette and an onslaught of optical overlays, and is paced like a quarter kilo of crushed Adderall.

Preparations to Be Together For an Unknown Period of Time [Hungary, Lili Horvát, 4] Top neurologist questions the accuracy of her recollections when she moves back home from the US to Budapest for a romantic rendezvous, only to find that the object of her affections professes not to remember her. Quietly suspenseful drama of psychological uncertainty.

Shiva Baby [US, Emma Seligman, 4] The ambient social pressures of a post-funeral gathering skyrocket for a directionless college student (Rachel Sennott) when attendees include not only the expected ex-girlfriend (Molly Gordon) but also the sex work client she’s caught feelings for. Knife-edge comedy of emotional suffocation uses a plucky suspense score for that extra frisson of social anxiety.

Under the Open Sky [Japan, Miwa Nishikawa, 4] Out of prison after a long sentence, an aging yakuza (Koji Yakusho) struggles with his volcanic temper as he attempts to go straight. Bittersweet drama anchored by a lead performance from Yakusho, a mainstay of contemporary Japanese cinema.

New Order [Mexico, Michel Franco, 4] A wedding thrown by a wealthy family during a growing insurrection suffers a murderous attack by protestors and the kidnapping of the bride. Wildly disturbing vision of political violence and degradation takes its time unreeling its allegorical purpose.

Limbo [UK, Ben Sharrock, 4] Syrian oud player grapples with guilt over family left behind as he cools his heels with other refugee claimants at a center in the bleak and isolated Outer Hebrides. Moments of deadpan humor and stark landscapes layer this exploration of displacement.

Violation [Canada, Madeleine Sims-Fewer & Dusty Mancinelli, 4] Woman (Madeleine Sims-Fewer) exacts meticulous revenge after her brother-in-law rapes her. Although this jarring, meditative drama includes gruesome imagery and horror-exploitation motifs, it’s closer in spirit to Michael Haneke than Dario Argento or Wes Craven.

Shadow in the Cloud [New Zealand, Roseanne Liang, 4] When an WWII RAF Flight Officer (Chloe Grace Moretz) boards a Samoa-bound cargo plane bearing a mysterious package, a monstrous gremlin on board is just one of the surprises. Enclosed space horror-action thriller tips an 80s-style hat to Carpenter and Cameron.

Beans [Canada, Tracey Deer, 4] As the 1990 Oka standoff envelops her Mohawk community, a shy tween achiever (Kiawentiio) decides to toughen up by ingratiating herself to the tough kids. Mixing the docudrama and coming-of-age structures offsets the inherent trickiness of both, but it wouldn’t work without an appealing and touching performance from its charismatic young lead.

Akilla’s Escape [Canada, Charles Officer, 4] Weed dealer hoping to leave the business (Saul Wiliiams) tries to recover his boss’ ripped-off cash and product without sacrificing a young gang member who reminds him of his younger self. Moody, laconic crime drama contextualized by the political history of Jamaican gangsterism.

Enemies of the State [US, Sonia Kennebeck] Documentary pulls apart a labyrinth of contradictory evidence around Matthew DeHart, an Indiana man who was framed for child pornography by the FBI as part of a Wikleaks espionage case, or created a story of secret files to shield himself either cooked up a Wikileaks-related espionage smokescreen to mask his sex crimes. Invites the viewer to join a filmmaking team as it goes ever deeper down a rabbit hole.

The Inconvenient Indian [Canada, Michelle Latimer, 4] Essay-format documentary examines the Indigenous struggle for sovereignty and cultural reclamation in North America, as hosted by novelist Thomas King and inspired by his nonfiction book of the same name. Makes its case through cinematic language, pushing the archival footage and talking heads format to the background.

Beginning [Georgia, Dea Kulumbegashvili, 4] Depressed wife of a pastor bears the brunt of a persecution campaign from a local man hostile to their minority Baptist faith. The camera acts as a pitiless eye in this harsh, austere drama of pervasive male oppression.

The Truffle Hunters [Italy, Michael Dweck & Gregory Kershaw, 4] An aging generation of Piedmontese truffle hunters carries on the search for the elusive delicacy, fearing the poison bait left for their beloved dogs by ruthless newcomers to the trade. A documentary balm for lovers of food and canines luxuriates in the presence of sumptuously photographed forest eccentrics and their very, very good dogs.

Lift Like a Girl [Egypt, Mayye Zayed, 4] From ages 13 to 18, under the tutelage of a volcanic, motormouth coach, with a rubble-strewn lot on a busy Alexandria street, weightlifter Zebiba trains to be a champion. Fly-on-the-wall documentary inhabits a hardscrabble community powered by loving verbal abuse.

The New Corporation: The Unfortunately Necessary Sequel [Canada, Joel Bakan & Jennifer Abbott, 4] Polemical documentary deploys narration, stock footage and talking heads (some appearing via lockdown video conference) to survey corporate capitalism and the struggle against it from Reaganomics to COVID and the George Floyd protests. Comprehensive primer for the prospective young progressives includes a call to continued electoral action.

40 Years a Prisoner [US, Tommy Oliver, 4] Documentary recounts the 1978 standoff between members of radical Black back-to-nature organization MOVE and Philadelphia police through the efforts of the son of two of the group members to secure their parole. A strong emotional hook greatly assists in telling a tenaciously complicated story.

Good

Pieces of a Woman [US, Kornél Mundruczó, 3.5] Grief tears a couple (Vanessa KIrby, Shia LaBeouf) apart after the death of their baby in childbirth, abetted by the insistence of her domineering mother (Ellen Burstyn) that they pursue legal action against their midwife (Molly Parker.) Wrenching drama marked by deep performances and key long take scenes. An otherwise masterful script reaches for the conventional when it hits its climax.

Wildfire [UK/Ireland, Cathy Brady, 3.5] After going missing for a year, a bipolar woman (Nika McGuigan) drops in on her sister (Nora-Jane Noone), opening the wounds of shared tragedy. Raw, unsubtle family drama against the backdrop of Northern Irish politics as Brexit threatens a fragile peace.

Fauna [Mexico/Canada, Nicolás Pereda, 3.5] Narratives nest within narratives when an actor visits his girlfriend’s family in a sleepy small town. Comic misunderstandings, naturalistic locations and twisting meta-story may remind seasoned festival-goers of the works of Hong Sang-soo, with Coronas instead of soju.

The Water Man [US, David Oyelowo, 3.5] Imaginative kid (Lonnie Chavis) heads into the Northwestern forest in search of a legendary immortal, thinking he holds the secret to curing his mom (Rosario Dawson) of leukemia. One of the more successful of a recent wave of films that put a somber sin on 80s kids adventure, thanks to a well-constructed script and Oyelowo’s sure control of tone.

The Way I See It [US, Dawn Porter, 3.5] Documentary profile of Obama-era Official White House photographer traces his arc from work for the Reagan administration to anti-Trump social media firebrand. Whether American viewers consider this slickly fashioned film heartfelt or sentimental will depend on party registration. It’s certainly explicitly designed to fire up Ds to get out there to de-elect the current president.

Okay

Bandar Band [Iran/Germany, Manijeh Hekmat, 3] A pregnant singer, her husband and their guitarist try to get their van through a floodstruck region to attend a contest gig in Tehran. Neorealist drama where the obstacles in the characters’ path are literal.

Penguin Bloom [Australia, Glendyn Ivin, 3] A former surfer left paralyzed from the chest down by a freak accident reluctantly bonds with a magpie chick named Penguin, which one of her young sons has rescued. Sun-dappled animal-related family drama about the depression and anger that can accompany a life-changing injury.

Falling [US, Viggo Mortensen, 3] Pathologically forbearing airline pilot (Mortensen) attempts to find a new situation for his lifelong miserable prick of a father (Lance Henriksen) as his dementia worsens. With one character incapable of change and another not needing to change, almost all of the scenes repeat the same dynamic.

Gaza Mon Amor [Palestine/France, Tarzan & Arab Nasser, 3] Middle-aged fisherman discovers a Greek statue and courts a wary dress shop clerk. Deliberately paced dramedy of life under oppression.

Concrete Cowboy [US, Ricky Staub, 3] After yet another expulsion from school, a troubled teen (Caleb McLaughlin) gets dumped for the summer with his father (Idris Elba), who belongs to Philadelphia’s threatened culture of inner city horse owners. A rich social milieu is the star of the show in this affirming drama, which could do with a stronger drive to activate its protagonist.

I Care a Lot [UK, J Blakeson, 3] Corrupt legal guardian (Rosamund Pike) who slaps unsuspecting seniors into care facilities to bleed them dry triggers a cat-and-mouse game when her latest prey (Dianne Wiest) turns out to be the mother of a wealthy gangster (Peter Dinklage.) Engaging thriller— until it betrays the contract it has established with the audience.

Not Recommended

Memory House [Brazil, João Paulo Miranda Maria, 1] Racist harassment from German co-workers drives dairy worker to vengeance. Blunts the political anger of its subject matter with enervating pacing.

For years TIFF has been intentionally or otherwise making it incrementally more difficult to do the event diehard style, as we have always done. Often it announces changes that blindside longtime loyalists—sometimes, as this year, after they’ve purchased their expensive memberships and ticket packages. This time around they surprised us by taking a tier of titles that any other year would be available through the package we purchased and moving them into a premium package previously reserved for the most publicized Gala films. For good measure, they threw in a couple of other medium-sized irritants.

To recreate something closer to our usual experience, we programmed another 25 titles already available on streaming platforms. Some actually played TIFF in the past; others were the types of movies that could have played the fest but didn’t.

I’m glad that we did, because the TIFF titles we were allowed to choose from included all of the duds of a normal year and none of the surprise masterpieces. Granted, it was a miracle that any films got made this year, and those that did tended toward the sorts of modest chamber pieces that could be produced under COVID protocol conditions.

This year crystallized a gradually growing realization we’ve been trying to suppress. So much has changed in the world of international cinema, from the festival’s position in their life cycle, to their subsequent availability, and even the style of the movies themselves, has completely changed since we started doing this in the mid 80s.

We have always gone to the fest for great films that we could otherwise never see, and started doing it in the VHS era. We don’t care about seeing things before anyone else does, or seeing the stars wave at us from the stage beforehand, or hearing audience members ask directors rambling questions afterwards. Even the virtues of a big screen experience are blunted by a dirty secret — a packed TIFF venue is not actually an ideal place to see a movie. Talkers and smartphone screens abound in every screening, and the bigger venues they convert into movie theaters for ten days are universally terrible.

You’d think that programming films from existing streaming platforms eliminates the other key part of fest-going, the surprise from out of nowhere. Except we got more of those with our alternate schedule than we did with the official titles this year.

In other words, after 36 years we are retiring from our vacation. Next year we’ll be doing a fully alternate replica of TIFF as we think of it from the past. The old rodeo is dead. Long live the new rodeo.

Here then is my final set of Toronto International Film Festival capsule reviews.

(Capsules for the 2021 Robin and Valerie International Film Festival will drop over time in Ken and Robin Consume Media.)

Recommended

Murina (Croatia, Antoneta Alamat Kusijanović) Teen (Gracija Filipovic) chafes at the agitated authority of her command-barking father (Leon Lucev) as he hosts a rich, glamorous old friend (Cliff Curtis) to try to sell him on a resort proposal. Taut, superbly acted family drama set against the stunning yet slightly sinister beauty of the rocky Croatian coastline.

Saloum (Senegal, Jean Luc Herbulot) Three gunslingers—the mastermind, the hard case, and the magic user—take an unscheduled pit stop at an eccentric communal resort, which harbors horrible secrets of both the man-made and supernatural varieties. Gorgeously shot, tightly edited contemporary horror western with political resonance and cool monster design.

Compartment No. 6 (Finland, Juho Kuosmanen) Traveling alone on a trip she was supposed to take with her Muscovite professor girlfriend, a Finnish archaeology student finds herself sharing a compartment on the train to Murmansk with a loutish miner. Naturalistic light romantic drama of human connection overcoming barriers of class and personality.

OUT OF SYNC (Spain, Juanjo Giménez Peña) Isolated sound mixer (Marta Nieto) is unnerved to suffer a strange delay in her hearing, which becomes all the more inexplicable as it worsens. Realist weird tale makes smart use of cinema’s relationship between sight and sound. 

Zalava (Iran, Arsalan Amiri) In pre-Revolutionary Iranian Kurdistan, a pig-headed police sergeant interferes with a djinn exorcism, sparking village hysteria. Tale of communal terror and its hazards generates suspense by skillfully modulating its pace.

Vengeance is Mine, All Others Pay Cash (Indonesia, Edwin) After meeting cute by beating the crap out of each other at a construction site, two lovers navigate the vicissitudes of fidelity, vengeance, and impotence. A martial arts flick that isn’t an action movie, but rather an allegorical romantic drama with elements of satire and magic realism to go with its bruising 70s style fights.

Hold Your Fire (US, Stefan Forbes) Documentary recreates the 1973 robbery-turned-hostage incident in which a group of young black Sunni men hoped to steal guns from a sporting goods shop to protect themselves from the Nation of Islam, in which the beginnings of hostage negotiation techniques were created and implemented on the fly. Archival footage and compelling retrospective interviews illuminate a complicated narrative with resonances into the present day.

A Banquet (UK, Ruth Paxton) After her husband’s death, a brittle woman (Sienna Guillory) struggles with her eldest daughter’s (Jessica Alexander) visionary transformation, which has taken away her need to eat. Slow burn realist cosmic horror filters eating disorders, emotional control and female rage.

Kicking Blood (Canada, Blaine Thurier) Vampire (Alanna Bale) connects with a detoxing alcoholic, prompting her to reconsider preying on humans. Frosty supernatural indie drama extends the vampire-as-addiction metaphor.

Yuni (Indonesia, Kamila Andini) High schooler with a yen for purple chafes at the narrow expectations her religious school, family and village have for her.  Observational social drama enlivened by a vivid color palette.

Good

The Daughter (Spain, Manuel Martín Cuenca) Teacher at a juvenile detention center helps a pregnant 14-year old escape so she can live secretly with him and his wife at their mountain home and give them the baby when it is born. Ultra-restrained domestic thriller could stand a notch or two less restraint.

Dug Dug (India, Ritwik Pareek)  A local saint cult springs up when a motorbike keeps mysteriously returning to the site of its owner’s death. Gentle satire of faith and religious merchandising shows the sort of color and verve that raises hopes for a fresh wave of Indian art cinema.

Tug of War (Tanzania, Amil Shivji) A callow Marxist subversive falls for an Indian girl who has escaped her arranged marriage in British-controlled 1950s Zanzibar. Political romantic drama adopts the language of classic Hollywood glamor, albeit without the magnetic movie star performances the style depends on. Based on a classic Tanzanian novel.

Okay

Earwig (France, Lucile Hadžihalilović) In a creepy manor, an anxious loner (Paul Hilton) looks after a girl with teeth made of ice, at the behest of mysterious masters. The director’s first English language film pushes her dream narratives of childhood transformation into the far fringes of austerity.

Not Recommended

You Are Not My Mother (Ireland, Kate Dolan) A withdrawn teen’s depressed mother briefly disappears, prefiguring the revelation of a supernatural family secret. Contemporary folk horror with stronger direction than script, with extensive foreshadowing genre fans will be well ahead of and an inactive menace that doesn’t do enough to propel the story.

Snakehead (US, Evan Jackson Leong) Smuggled immigrant (Shuya Chang) works off her debt by acting as the right hand to the matriarch (Jade Wu) of an NYC Chinatown crime family. Socially conscious gangland drama features the bane of longtime documentarians turning their hand to fiction:  awkward, exposition-heavy scripting.

Arthur Rambo (France, Laurent Cantet) Rising literary star (Rabah Nait Oufella) plummets when the hate-filled tweets of his old alter ego resurface. Refined, uncinematic debate film presents thesis, antithesis, and credits.

Medusa (Brazil, Anita Rocha da Silveira) Member of AN ultra-right Christian school’s violent, pallid-masked theocratic girl gang  goes undercover at a coma ward in search of a disfigured model. Overlong, unfocused political allegory references the horror genre, chiefly by adopting Dario Argento’s color palette.

After Blue (Dirty Paradise) (France, Bertrand Mandico) On a psychedelic alien world, a young outcast (Paula Luna) frees the statuesque, wish-granting death-dealer Kate Bush and she must accompany her hairdresser mother (Elina Löwensohn) on a quest to hunt her down. Invokes the spirits of Jodorowsky and Barbarella for a sleepwalk trudge through an arbitrary sequence of dream-logic events. Like its influences it is perhaps intended for a chemically altered audience.

La Soga 2 (US, Manny Perez) Dominican hitman (Perez) has gotten out and is living with a devoted new girlfriend, until a corrupt CIA officer pulls him back in. Scrappy microbudget crime flick is Dominican. 

30-year-old was acquired in a trade for Timothy Liljegren, was pointless in seven games with San Jose this season

Families are grappling with the consequences of growing gun violence in Hamilton and across the Greater Toronto Area this year. Several of the region's police forces have warned of an alarming rise in shootings since January.

The Winnipeg Jets' reign as the only unbeaten NHL team ended with a 6-4 Toronto Maple Leafs' victory handed by John Tavares who scored three goals at the game Monday night at Canada Life Centre.

Toronto's redesigned vacant home tax rollout has begun, with over 59,000 people filing their paperwork in the first week. Some councillors say they were left responding to complaints about the rollout, after the city's online declaration portal experienced technical problems shortly after launch.