TIFF: My TIFF experience for 2026 is now complete. Yesterday I saw three consecutive movies, and thankfully all three were memorable, fun and engaging. My process in selecting films was as in the past, where I will review the films listed (294 total titles this year) along with reviewers writing about what they are excited about. I will then have a list of desired films and see when my window opens for purchase what might be available. So when the opportunity arose, I was most interested in seeing Andrew Scott in Elsinore. Then the other movies fell into place. Sadly all the movies were available on the same day but spread out. I would have preferred other days earlier. I also was not prepared to pay over $100 for a movie.
As I have said before, TIFF is a terrific time in the city, and there is just a buzz on the street. King Street is packed with people with prime venues like Roy Thompson Hall and Princess of Wales theatre across the street with lots of people around. The line ups are a time to talk with new people and hear about movies that they have seen or are about to see. Movie people generally are happy to share about what they are doing. So the atmosphere is alive and fun. Just walking around among the people is a good time.
Elsinore: This movie stars Andrew Scott with yet another tie-in to the play Hamlet by Shakespeare. Set in the late 1980s, Andrew Scott plays the Scottish actor Ian Charleson who was best known for an early role for him in Chariots of Fire as Scottish runner Eric Liddell who was known for his faith, and his unwillingness to run an Olympic race on the Sabbath Sunday. The joke early in Elsinore is people talking more about the music within Chariots of Fire by Vangelis than the movie itself (reviewed by me March 31 2025).
Scott looks very much like Charleson, certainly facially, and was the first choice for the writer and director. The story is at a time when Charleson was an active working actor, presently working on a horror movie. He lives in London and has some close friends. He is troubled, and is checking himself for lesions. We learn that he is gay, and that he has AIDS, at a time when AIDS was often a death sentence. At the same time, there is news that Daniel Day-Lewis, I believe today’s greatest living actor, had just walked off the stage at London’s National Theatre playing Hamlet. The producers are looking for a replacement. About the same time, Charleson hears of the producer’s interest in him as a replacement, he sees his first lesion and sees the doctor. A theatre contact suggests that he seek out a specialist doctor Dr Margaret Johnson who sees many HIV/AIDS patients.
Andrew Scott is marvelous in this role playing a character for whom he obviously has a tremendous fondness. There is such depth in the performance as he addresses deep feelings and his impending unknown date demise. He is offered this part of a lifetime, yet he is advised by medical teams that he must save his strength for healing himself and prolonging his life. For Charleson he wants to live, and wants to undertake this exhausting part. The part is for a play that is often four hours long, with eight soliloquies and a choreographed sword fight three hours into it. It is a daunting task for any actor. Olivia Colman as his doctor is focused on keeping him alive and feelings that this desire to play this part is ridiculous and reckless. She does not support it. Charleson’s friends love and support him in whatever he decides that he wants to do. Charleson’s passion is infectious. We witness the physical toll of this role with the rehearsals and reciting of complex lines. All the while there is the human drama that Charleson has with those around him, including an outwardly gay director who presses him to let people know that he suffers from AIDS. Charleson disagrees and wants his performance to stand on its own. There are lines within the play which are deeply emotional, as well as discussions with loved ones past and present. This is a powerful performance and I walked away from it that I had just seen a Best Actor nominee for multiple awards. This movie then was announced Sunday to be the People’s Choice International Film Award winner. This is quite an honour and bodes well for future awards. This was an excellent movie. Worth checking out when it gets into wider theatrical release.
Villenueve: The Rise of a Legend: This is a French Canadian movie, directed by Yan Lanouette Turgeon, and outlines the early life of Canadian race car driver, Gilles Villeneuve. Villeneuve is played by Remi Goulet, and his wife Joann by Rosalie Bonenfant. The movie chronicles the life of Villeneuve in a small Quebec town, where he seems to have a penchant for driving fast, getting into trouble and being tremendously gifted mechanically, in addition to being an excellent trumpet player. His father, despite his Mom’s protests, is a softie and finds a way to support his son no matter what. They are not rich. Far from it, in a world where people who race are in a very costly hobby, Gilles’ parent have very modest means.
Before Villeneuve was a race car driver, unbeknownst to me, he was a world class Ski-doo driver. His dad had purchased a Ski-Doo and Gilles took it out and found that he was good at racing. Not only did he race the machine, he designed a new outer shell, like a race car, to make it more aerodynamic and faster. Add to this his ability to work on engines themselves and improve them. He was a multi-talented threat in racing, knowing how to race quickly, but also working on cars to improve them. The movie shows his daily struggle with a very patient and supportive wife for him to realize his dream of racing. He doesn’t have money so he sells his house to provide sponsorship money and secure a seat in Formula Atlantic racing. The dream and goal is Formula One. Winning is the only option as it puts a roof over his head, food on the table and gas in the tank. In order to gain sponsorship and pay for his rides, he also has cold calls with “rich Quebecois” business people, and he is confident and cocky enough to talk about winning races. People see something special in him. Surprisingly this movie doesn’t get into the successful career of Villeneuve within F1. Instead it takes it up to that point in his life when he meets Enzo Ferrari and does some test driving for him.
This movie has some stiff recent competition within the car racing genre. Most recently there was Brad Pitt in F1 The Movie and before that Ford V Ferrari. Both are excellent films technically and bringing the audience to feel what racing is like. The sound for both is incredible! The CGI for the racing in this movie is not at the same level as the above noted films. Of course finding and racing on a track vintage race cars would be a difficult, if not impossible task. But CGI can get you close. The mostly French-speaking movie with subtitles will likely prove to be a distraction for a broader audience, especially in the US or even France that can be more snobby towards the Quebecois version of French. Goulet is very good at convincing us of the Villeneuve confidence, and together with his wife they show commitment to their collective dream. The audience cheers for them and wants for them to succeed, even when they don’t. The couple are shown to be loving and supportive of one another, even while living a meagre existence with two young children. Those familiar with the real Villeneuve story will note that he died in his Ferrari at qualifying in the Belgian Grand Prix in 1982 at age 32. This is not addressed at all. The movie also does not make mention of his son Jacques being an F1 World Champion in 1997 driving for the Williams team, along with winning 11 races over 11 seasons. Add in Indy 500 and he himself has a storied racing career worthy of a movie. But this movie was good and I am glad that I saw it. I certainly learned a few new things about Gilles Villeneuve and why he is so revered.
Neal Peart: No One’s Disciple: As I was about to see this Sunday with my high school Rush fan Walter, he texted me asking whether this is the same movie that is on CBC this upcoming Wednesday Setpember 23rd for free?! And why did I pay for a movie that was going to be free a couple days later. This was a secondary question from him since earlier in the week on the previous Wednesday he heard on the radio about the premiere and he had thought WE were seeing the premiere. We weren’t!! So two surprises within one week. Those who are reading this in Canada, I would encourage you to watch this on CBC when it is on.
This is a CBC documentary about the life Neal Peart, who was the drummer for the Canadian rock band Rush. Peart is regarded as one of the best rock dummers of all time. Not bad for a guy from St Catharines Ontario. He came from humble beginnings, and then decided to become a working drummer by movie to London England. He passed away January 2020 and the band had retired without him. But the remaining two members Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson felt that there was unfinished business in celebrating the life of their friend and collaborator. COVID hit a few months after his death, and that stopped any plans. Rather than doing a tribute concert, the remaining members decided to reach out to drumming friends of Neal and perform their songs with this guys participating and film it.
Drummers who came to play and were good friends of Neal included Stewart Copeland (The Police), Chad Smith (Red Hot Chili Peppers), Danny Carey (Tool), and Gavin Harrison (King Crimson/Porcupine Tree). Together they play some classic Rush songs as well as others that I was not as familiar, including 2112, Limelight, New World Man and Tom Sawyer. There is present day footage with these well-known drummers, where the audience sees how physical playing these songs can be, along with previous interviews and performances by Peart himself. The audience sees how committed that Peart was to his craft. Peart was a well-read man, as well as being schooled in music, and in his early days with the band, we realize that the band wanted to focus on the music and didn’t care as much about the lyrics. They asked Neal to step in, and his classic fashion he did exactly that. The movie is a good mix of present with past, with memories and past footage. In addition to music, Neal was also a writer of books. I had read one of his books entitled Traveling Music: The Soundtrack of My Life and Times, where I gained some further insight into this man. He wrote eight books in total on his own. He loved being on his own. He loved being on bicycles and out in the wilderness as well as motorcycles later on.
I enjoy seeing the skill of these fabulous drummers perform technically difficult tunes. There is some good humour among the players and we get some insight into a very private person, including that he struggled with the whole fame thing. He didn’t like people approaching him. All this to say that I feel that this is a fitting tribute for a private man, who sadly passed away way too young from brain cancer at the age of 67. He obviously made a very powerful impression on many people around him. He suffered tragedy with the death of his 19yo daughter Serena in a single car accident, followed shortly thereafter by his wife Jackie from cancer at the age of 44 back in the late 1990s. Tragic events in his life. In the Epilogue we see that Rush decides to get back on the road and perform their songs once more with a new drummer in German Anika Nilles who had never met Peart. From all accounts she has been doing an incredible job! Even though I don’t consider myself a big Rush fan, I do appreciate the creative process and skillful musicians. I love to perform a good air drums in the car, and in the film we see Stewart Copeland wonder how Neal was able to have so many air drummers in the crowd! He says “I want that!”. Rush songs and Neal’s work is prefect for the air drumming community. Check this movie out if you can.
Mondays With Robbie 