The TIFF51 Experience: Day Nine | Letting the Day Unfold

By Ross

By the ninth day of TIFF, I have started to just breathe, to understand that the festival has its own rhythm, and sometimes the smartest thing I can do is stop trying to conduct the orchestra. On this morning, I gave my agenda over to the gods, took my time getting out of bed, paused in my thoughts for a minute, and paid some attention to the parts of my life that had nothing to do with what was happening at a screening venue. The press screenings were essentially over, and the films still waiting for me were public showings, many of which I thankfully had been given press tickets for, so there was no reason to treat the morning like a race. I could write, listen to my body, and eventually make my way down to TIFF at my own pace. That little act of surrender turned out to be exactly what I needed, because the three films waiting for me would take me through some very strange, funny, uncomfortable, and ultimately tender places. And I loved the journey.

Misty Green

Chris Rock – WORLD PREMIERE – United States of America | 2026 | 103m | English

Featuring a career-making performance from Slow Horses’ Rosalind Eleazar and supporting turns from Daniel Kaluuya, Adam Driver, and Anna Kendrick, Chris Rock’s latest as writer-director brilliantly satirizes the bigotry and hustle at the heart of Hollywood.

Superstar comic Chris Rock’s latest as writer-director is a hilarious, scathing satire of the institutional bigotry and soul-draining hustle that dominate the movie industry. Featuring a career-making lead performance from Rosalind Eleazar (TIFF ’19’s The Personal History of David Copperfield) and supporting turns from Oscar winner Daniel Kaluuya plus Oscar nominees Adam Driver and Anna Kendrick (also at this year’s Festival in Babies), Misty Green chronicles the extremes one Black actor goes to to keep both her career and brother alive.

Misty (Eleazar) is on the verge of a comeback, if only she could curb her worst habits. In a narcotic-fuelled mania, she went from winning an Emmy to losing a big project helmed by ace director Jordan (Rock). Jordan, however, is ready to give Misty another chance with his forthcoming remake of Dreamgirls. It’s a coveted opportunity, but Misty has competing concerns, such as her looming eviction and her brother (Kaluuya), navigating life with bipolar disorder, who gets into serious trouble. As pressure to procure funds mounts, Misty finds herself considering an offer by her former flame (Driver) that’s simultaneously heinous and lucrative beyond her wildest dreams.

In the tradition of such Black cinema milestones as Robert Townsend’s Hollywood Shuffle and Spike Lee’s TIFF ’00 feature Bamboozled, Rock’s searing portrait of Tinseltown exposes just how deeply racism, classism, and misogyny contaminate the motion picture ecosystem. Misty Green is one of the best LA movies in years — and its best jokes sting with the insight only a veteran wit like Rock could deliver.

Up Against It

Trudie Styler – WORLD PREMIERE – United Kingdom | 2026 | 122m | English

Post-marital acrimony and parental devotion make strange bedfellows in Trudie Styler’s wicked comedy, starring Oscar nominee Antonio Banderas (TIFF ’19’s Pain and Glory) and Eva Birthistle (TIFF ’05’s Imagine Me & You) as co-parenting divorcees faced with an indecent proposal.

Post-marital acrimony and parental devotion make strange bedfellows in this wickedly clever comedy from director Trudie Styler (Posso entrare? An ode to Naples). Centred around the perfect pairing of Oscar nominee Antonio Banderas (TIFF ’19’s Pain and Glory) and Eva Birthistle (TIFF ’05’s Imagine Me & You), Up Against It slyly considers whether a long-dormant sexual companionship can be revived for the sake of a child’s well-being.

Álvaro (Banderas) and Saffron (Birthistle) are very divorced. Their marriage was a disaster from which the only good thing to emerge was their beloved daughter Rose (Eden Hamilton). Their mutual abhorrence is such that they can barely endure the minimal communication required to share custody, so they’re thrown for a serious loop when it’s discovered that, not only does Rose have a rare form of leukemia, but that, given the nature of Rose’s genetic disorder, their best bet at keeping the child healthy and alive is to for Álvaro and Saffron to produce a second child who could provide a transfusion. The ex-spouses balk at the idea — and their new partners don’t fancy it either — but they may have no choice but to bury the hatchet (in bed).

Written by Chloe King (B. Monkey) and Camille Griffin (TIFF ‘21’s Silent Night), Up Against It is an inventive spin on the screwball comedy. Co-starring Oscar nominee Richard E. Grant (TIFF ’18’s Can You Ever Forgive Me?) and Oscar winner Forest Whitaker (TIFF ’06’s The Last King of Scotland), the film is also a winsome showcase for Styler’s ferociously talented ensemble.  

Club Kid

Jordan Firstman – CANADIAN PREMIERE – United States of America | 2026 | 122m | English

In his exuberant debut feature, writer-director Jordan Firstman stars as a carousing New York City club promoter whose lifestyle is upended by the unexpected responsibility of raising a 10-year-old son he never knew he had.

For Peter Green (Jordan Firstman), a promoter and purveyor of… shall we say… stimulating party favours in the queer New York club scene, the party never stops. Each revelry blurs into the next, with restraint and responsibility perpetually foisted upon others, especially his fed-up business partner Sophie (Cara Delevingne). But on the precipice of losing another decade to the rhythm of the night, reality bites in the form of his surprise parentage to 10-year-old Arlo (Reggie Absolom), the result of a half-remembered hookup. When his mother unexpectedly dies, the boy is thrust straight into Peter’s carousing care.

Firstman’s spirited debut feature as writer and director bops to familiar beats as his affably incorrigible Peter tackles fatherdom, first with trepidation, and soon with enthusiasm as his precocious child’s propensity for DJ mixing becomes a springboard to endearing if precarious father-son bonding, though this is later threatened by encroaching custodial factors.

What distinguishes this trajectory from mere stock sentimentality is the care taken in depicting Peter’s queer community as they accept and invite Arlo into their world. Supported by Adam Newport-Berra’s intimate cinematography, Firstman authentically renders the lives of his characters with an effervescence that is both subtle and captivating. Special shout out to the excellent Diego Calva who portrays both Arlo’s therapist and Peter’s romantic foil with an affectionate calm.

A sensation at Cannes, where comparisons were drawn to TIFF ’24’s Anora (the films share producer Alex Coco), Club Kid boldly brings its affecting story home with sobering shifts, but an emotional catharsis that makes it a consummate crowd pleaser. – PETER KUPLOWSKY

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I started the morning by giving my agenda over to the gods, and somewhere between Hollywood desperation, a very peculiar family crisis in England, and a New York club kid discovering himself through a shocking revelation, I realized that I had been given exactly the kind of day I needed. “Misty Green” left me thinking about the machinery and desperation surrounding the people who want to be seen on a screen, “Up Against It” wandered into the messy territory of family, illness, and forgiveness, and finally, as the day came to a close, “Club Kid” brought me back most beautifully to something deeply human about responsibility, connection, and learning to embrace self through the love of another. I had taken my time, paid attention to my body, done some writing, and eventually let the festival take over. By Day Nine, that felt like a pretty good way to be at TIFF.