Features

I’m looking through you: The common denominator in Ryūsuke Hamaguchi’s Drive My Car and Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy is an acceptance of transience in all things

Family vacation: In Mia Hansen-Løve’s latest, Bergman Island, the Swedish master’s influence offers less inspiration than a strategy for moving through life as an artist

Hands of God: Paul Verhoeven’s latest is an oddly buoyant film that treats its subject—the only nun on record to have a detailed account of sapphic exploits—with sincerity, even reverence

In the garden: some of the most heartening discoveries at TIFF make for an encouraging prognosis for cinema’s future

Collective experience: TIFF’s experimental section remains vigorous 2021, with some films firmly rooted in rigorous visuality, and others more intensely personal

Speed kills: there was much to recommend from the under-the-radar sections this year, including Shen Kong, El gran movimiento, and more

Gotta be the shoes: while the first Space Jam was a slick product designed to sell merchandise, the sequel starring LeBron James is somehow even less compelling

In free fall: Kazik Radwanski’s Anne at 13000 ft lays bare the elusive plight of a woman on the verge

At sea: Matías Piñeiro’s Isabella is a puzzle-like meditation on entering middle-age, admitting defeat, and beginning anew

Get weird: Leos Carax’s Annette is a deep dive into the irreducible strangeness of the musical form