TOP 5 FILMS TO SEE @TIFF 2020

Frances McDormand in Nomadland

It’s that time of the year but things are a lot more different in the city of Toronto and the rest of the world.  The film industry has taken a big hit as well delaying many films since the global lockdown and outbreak of COVID-19.  Film festivals have resorted to going virtual and the Toronto International Film Festival edition has followed suit with limited theatres and drive-ins and film selections.  TIFF has been known to be a huge social gathering event with so many of the parties, meet and greet and red carpet gala which have been sadly taken away from this year’s edition.  Despite these limitations and everyone’s need for some sort of normalcy during this pandemic, FERNTV will still list our top films to see this year at TIFF 2020.

We start with the film Nomadland directed by Chloé Zhao which focuses on a woman named Fern played by Frances McDormand.  She lives in an RV who takes on seasonal jobs and finds nomad-like friends on her journey to survive.  She is reluctant to form major bonds with these people as she stands a stone’s throw away against the desert and sky.   Nomadland is a clear depiction of the state of America and its inhabitant today in the COVID-19 world.

Obama and Pete Souza in The Way I See It

Pete Souza became’s President Obama‘s photographer during his tenure at the Oval Office.  He set to make him the most and best photographed President of all time.  Little did he know that he would become Instafamous as he began to post many of these photos and further developing his opinion once Donald Trump came into power.  He would then put these photos in contrast with Trump’s stance on issues such as race, climate change, gun control, health care and LGBTQ +equality.  He would then go on to put together a book that would include these pictures called Shade:  A Tale of Two Presidents.  Now this film The Way I See It is put together by Dawn Porter who is no stranger when it comes to the power of images in which she has already exemplified in her past film such as Bobby Kennedy for President and John Lewis:  Good Trouble.  This film will give us an idea of how life was once before we all got into this hot mess.

As much of us would like to forget, much of us need to understand the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic that has shaken the world.  Directors Hao Wu and Weixi Chen have put together this genre film looking documentary called 76 Days which focuses on the first COVID-19 outbreak in the city of Wuhan which inhabits 11 million people. The city went on lockdown on January 23rd and the directors give you an up-close and personal perspective that is also raw and intimate at the same time.  One of the main focus of the film is the frontline workers and their willingness and sacrifice to help those infected to survive the deadly disease.  76 Days is a film that shows how the primary city of the outbreak pulled no stops into stopping this disease.  Wuhan was almost a training ground to the horror that would come to many cities across the world this year.  The documentary will be an important piece for many generations to come.

Madeline Sims-Fewer in Violation

It’s a shame that Midnight Madness this year will not be seen at the iconic Ryerson Theatre with a lot of cinephiles yelling, screaming and cheering at the top of their lungs.  Especially with this film which has already made a buzz on the Twitterverse and the film circuit as well.  Toronto based directors Madeline Sims-Fewer and Dusty Mancinelli‘s bring this deeply disturbing film Violation about a woman named Miriam, played by Madeline herself, who is seeking solace at a cottage getaway weekend with her husband and sister and her husband.  Things start to get a little crazy when the truth starts to come out and there is an act of sexual violence that happens to Miriam which changes her forever.  Violation is of Lars Von Trier and Irreversible disturbing level and if that is coming from this side of the border then the whole world needs to start watching.

Matthew Modine as Private Joker

Of all the years that we have compiled you a list of films to have your sights on at TIFF, this year we decided to pick one of our favourite classics.  Stanley Kubrick’s Full Metal Jacket will go down as being one of the best Vietnam war films of all time.  Working in the shadows of Oliver Stone’s Platoon, Full Metal Jacket gives you two stories compiled into one.    The first half focuses on the training of American soldiers preparing to go to the Vietnam War and the second half are those soldiers fighting in the Vietnam war.  There so much that you can get out of this film and that is why TIFF has chosen it to be one of its TIFF Reunion films.  What better way to watch a film that is set during those times that in a drive-in in Toronto.  It’s the Kubrick way.