A few weeks ago, we came to you with a list of the movies we were most excited to see this fall. Since then, GQ’s gone to the Toronto International Film Festival, where we had the chance to see some actual contenders. Here are our biggest takeaways.
Parasite
If there’s one movie this year you should go into as cold as possible, it’s Bong Joon-ho’s Parasite. The latest from the Snowpiercer and Okja filmmaker follows two families: the affluent Parks, who live in a luxurious home encased in glass walls, and the Kims, an unemployed clan who fold pizza boxes for money inside a cramped basement apartment. Another wickedly clever tale from the director about class and survival, Parasite is a brilliant tonal juggling act that defies easy genre categorization. It fuses dark satire, suspense, and tragedy with incisive social commentary. It’s an exhilarating rollercoaster ride that keeps you guessing at every sharp turn, and by the end, leaves you a bit paralyzed by its magnificence.
Hustlers
Simply calling the hit movie Hustlers the female Magic Mike or a gender-swapped Scorsese gangster pic would be wildly dismissive. Lorene Scafaria’s film may be another New York crime tale—based on the true story of a group of exotic dancers and sex workers who conned Wall Street men for mind-boggling amounts of money—but what makes Hustlers such a dynamic standout is the way in which women, their perspectives, and stories are valued and centered. Hustlers follows strip club newcomer Destiny (an excellent Constance Wu) and club veteran Ramona (Jennifer Lopez in an incredible and, yes, Oscar-worthy turn) as they devise an outrageously risky and illegal plan to make a living after the clubs run dry following the 2008 recession. Scafaria’s film is at once smart and energized, told with visual panache and a rousing story about women—particularly low-income women of color—going to any lengths necessary to survive.
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