When you're dealing with a film festival with hundreds of movies, the law of averages makes it inevitable that not all of them will be masterpieces. Some will ultimately turn out to be at the bottom of your TIFF-going heap.
Here are the five worst films I've seen at TIFF 2016.
All Governments Lie: Truth, Deception, and the Spirit of I.F. Stone
The problem with All Governments Lie is that it makes a classic documentary mistake: it's all subject, no story. The result is a film that hopscotches all over the place -- the history of journalism, the state of modern media, the life of I.F. Stone -- without ever coming together as a compelling whole that isn't just saying the same thing for 90 minutes.
American Honey
For a while American Honey is a fascinating look at a different side of America, and offers a welcome realism around its world and people. But after a while, it dips a little too much into romanticizing poverty. Plus, the more it goes on, its unlikeable main character, its on-the-nose soundtrack, and its endless scenes of van rides makes you feel every second of its 158 minute running time.
It's Only the End of the World
You have to wonder what it was Cannes saw exactly in It's Only the End of the World to award it the Grand Prix earlier this year. Xavier Dolan's latest is full of unbearable (or boring) characters, over-written dialogue, and a misplaced confidence in its own dramatic profoundness. That's all before you get to the groaner of a final shot.
The Limehouse Golem
The prospect of Bill Nighy playing a detective hunting down a brutal Jack the Ripper-like killer in grimey old 1880s London should be a crime film delight. Unfortunately, The Limehouse Golem is gratuitously violent, badly structured, and utterly predictable.
A Quiet Passion
Director Terence Davies is usually pretty dependable, but from the earliest moments of his Emily Dickinson biopic, A Quiet Passion is marred by creaky performances, exhausting Oscar Wilde-like dialogue, and far too many scenes of sniping, yelling, and growling. It doesn't help that it's message -- that Dickinson was an unhappy person -- is one it hits again and again till you're wiped out.
What are the worst films you saw at TIFF this year?
Film still from The Limehouse Golem
by Alexander Huls via blogTO
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