October 06, 2023

WIFF’S WEEKEND WATCH LIST — 10/6

Check out our recommendations of what to watch this weekend.

if you want the hottest new film

fair play

Vincent Georgie: Chloe Domont’s debut film is very impressive. It premiered back in January at Sundance and it has remained top of mind with critics and festival audiences all year long because it’s an incredibly entertaining, thoughtful and well-made film. Don’t miss this one. It’s been worth the wait.

Synopsis: An unexpected promotion at a cutthroat hedge fund pushes a newly engaged couple’s relationship to the brink.

Available on Netflix.

if you want a twisty procedural

reptile

Vincent Georgie: Fresh off its World Premiere at TIFF, what the film struggles with in pacing at times, is more than made up for thanks to an interesting story and a dependably engaging Benicio Del Toro.

Synopsis: Following the brutal murder of a young real estate agent, a hardened detective attempts to uncover the truth in a case where nothing is as it seems, and, by doing so, dismantles the illusions in his own life.

Available on Netflix.

if you want something lighthearted

theatre camp

Vincent Georgie: This film quietly racked up $4M at the Summer box office thanks to the film ultimately being made by theatre geeks for other theatre geeks. The film is light, funny and most enjoyable.

Synopsis: Eccentric staff members of an upstate New York theatre camp must band together when their beloved founder falls into a coma.

Available on Disney+, iTunes and YouTube.

DOUBLE FEATURE

don’t sleep on those 9 am screenings

Great films play at all hours during WIFF. Some of the best films of the year are hiding in off-hour time slots just as much as prime time slots. In 2015, a crowd on Weds 9am completely fell in love with the first film, while the second film earned rave reviews from a Mon 9am audience (including Dan MacDonald, who said it was his favourite film of 2022).

testament of youth

During World War I, a young English woman named Vera Brittain postpones her studies at Oxford University to serve as a Voluntary Aid Detachment nurse in London and abroad. After the war, she returns to Oxford to read history and later becomes a writer, feminist and pacifist.