Joey’s TIFF 2023 Diary Part II: Roaring Kitty, Fishy Crime, and Sisterly Strife

A tricky part about navigating TIFF is making up your schedule. There are so many great films across so many venues that you have to plan ahead and sometimes you miss something you are really looking forward to. I originally had planned to see Hayao Miyazaki’s The Boy and the Heron on Friday morning at a press and industry screening, but I opted to see it the previous day with a few friends at the world premiere. I missed out on Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s Evil Does Not Exist since that was my only chance to attend was on Thursday, and, trust me, I was kicking myself when I heard the reactions coming from the Venice Film Festival awards ceremony.

You are surrounded by filmmaking at TIFF, so you really have no excuse to not see something. Since I had an opening on Friday morning, I checked out what press and industry screenings I could attend, and I selected the directorial debut from Kristin Scott Thomas.

North Star
Sisterly strife is at the center of this film (and another later if you keep reading) in Scott Thomas’ first film. We are introduced to three sisters as they come together to celebrate their mother’s third marriage. Scarlett Johansson plays Katherine who is poised to become the first female aircraft carrier captain in the history of the UK. Sienna Miller is Victoria, a Hollywood actress who is caught between marrying a man for his money or finding something more meaningful. Emily Beecham rounds out the trio as Georgina, a physician who feels that she lives in the shadow of her older sisters.

Victoria and Katherine have a different father than Georgina, but, strangely, both men served in the Navy and died far too young. Katherine is especially fraught, and Scott Thomas illustrates this with charcoal animated sequences showing how Katherine fears what could have been with her dad. Georgina, however, has been paranoid that her husband has been cheating on her, so she hires a private detective to track her husband.

Unfortunately, North Star spends so much time with the sisters and how their lives don’t live up to their own expectations, that we lose sight of why we are there. I wish North Star included Scott Thomas more since the daughters are there to attend her wedding, and the best moments come towards the end when her character, Diana, explains a lot of history. Scott Thomas co-wrote this film with John Micklethwait and based it partly on her life, and her earnestness shines through. It just feels like it needs to identify what kind of movie it wants to be. It’s charming without being entirely funny and the drama should resonate more.

Finestkind
I scurried over to my next screening and sat in the front row. Brian Helgeland’s Finestkind stars Toby Wallace, Ben Foster, Jenna Ortega, and Tommy Lee Jones, and the crime drama is set in the fishing capitol of New Bedford. To be entirely honest, I didn’t know what Helgeland’s film was about before I sat down–I went in entirely blind. I was courted by the cast, and I had no problem with staring at Jones’ gnarled, scruffy face from so close to the screen.

Wallace plays Charlie, a recent graduate with a guaranteed spot for Boston University’s law program, but he would rather work on a fishing boat with his brother, Tom (an equally scruffy and tough Foster). The film opens with an accident that causes a shipwreck, so you might imagine that would deter some from getting back on the water, but Charlie thinks it’s exciting and that it will give his life more meaning. Even with the persistent fishy smell.

I actually rather enjoyed the first hour of the film, because it felt like a day-in-the-life kind of drama. The second hour transforms the film into a crime thriller, though, when debts pile up and a drug deal goes horribly wrong. Helgeland’s film (like North Star) is said to be deeply personal, and the scenes exploring Charlie’s want and desperation to fit in and make his own way are engaging. Wallace, with his easy smile and eager manner, makes Charlie someone you want to root for.

Dumb Money
I was nervous to watch Craig Gillespie’s Wall Street takedown. Even though I am approaching the age of forty, I don’t know how the stock market works, I generally stay away from stories about it. Yeah, The Big Short made me feel stupid, and I have come to terms with that. I am happy to report that Gillespie’s film is furiously funny with a fantastic ensemble.

The world premiere of Gillespie’s film screened at Roy Thomson Hall, a venue visited by Queen Elizabeth II in the early ’80s when she attended a Royal Gala performance of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra. Sitting in the balcony, I joked to myself that I felt like I stumbled into the Galactic Republic. In my two years attending TIFF, I had never seen anything there (I would return just a day later for the world premiere of Lee, starring Kate Winslet–come back for my final diary entry!), and I loved finding my way through the venue’s labyrinthine lobby and hallways.

Paul Dano plays Keith Gill, a regular guy who puts all of his money into GameStop and charts its rise through videos on his YouTube channel (a page, mind you, that still exists if you care to check). As his videos begin to nab more attention, more people invest their money, and GameStop’s stock begins to rise our of control.

While the trailers show Seth Rogen, Nick Offerman, and Sebastian Stan as fellows with all the money in the world, the screenplay from Lauren Schuker Blum and Rebecca Angelo wisely hones in on those who invest everything into GameStop’s stock. America Ferrera plays a Pittsburgh-based nurse (I see your Sheetz coffee tumbler!) who just needs some cash for a vacation. Anthony Ramos plays an employee for a GameStop store with an insufferable boss (Dane DeHaan), and Myha’la Jael Herrold and Talia Ryder play college students (and girlfriends) who invest in stocks because they know their college debt is going to come after them. Pete Davidson plays Keith’s brother, Kevin, a stoner Door Dash driver who will make you second guess if your online order is fresh once it hits your doorstep. Because we are given characters to root for, we want the suits in power to go down even harder.

Gillespie has typically employed dark humor in films like I, Tonya and the Emmy-nominated Pam & Tommy, but it takes on a broader efficiency here. We can laugh at Davidson stealing his brother’s car or when we think about how stupidly rich some people are in this country, but Gillespie never laughs at the people who risk everything and feel a sense of community with their fellow investors–even if they never meet face-to-face. Dumb Money is deftly written and acted with gusto.

We are just getting started! Keep checking back for more coverage of TIFF!