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Richard Linklater returned to the fest circuit this year with one of his best films, the wonderfully entertaining “Hit Man,” a movie that straddles comedy, noir, and even true crime thriller to even become a meta-commentary on the playful form of acting in the first place. Most of all, it’s a revelation for star/writer Glen…

Several films at this year’s festival featured women—real and fictional—who push back against expectations of what women should be while also pushing their minds and bodies to the limit. In D.W. Waterson’s “Backspot” a young woman pushes herself to the extreme after joining an elite cheer squad. Similarly, Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin’s “Nyad”…

Alexander Payne has been accused of looking down on his characters in films like “Election,” “Citizen Ruth,” and “Nebraska.” I’ve often found this criticism a little shallow but understandable, given the goofy personalities dominating those films and the line between finding people entertaining and mocking them. I bring this up because his latest, “The Holdovers,”…

There are several good starting points but little imaginative execution in “Satanic Hispanics,” a generic horror anthology whose title promises more than its individual creators deliver. Four Latinx-themed horror segments of variable quality are sandwiched between a modestly amusing wrap-around story about a haunted traveler, simply called “The Traveler.” It’s not enough, despite some amusing…

Colman Domingo was the center of attention at this year’s festivities. His performances in “If Beale Street Could Talk,” “Candyman,” “Zola,” “Euphoria,” “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom”—along with his illustrious stage career—garnered him the TIFF Tribute Award for performance. And the actor had two new films screened. One he hopes will finally be his Oscar nomination,…