By Jake Skubish and Peter Coutu

JS: Greetings from Toronto! Peter and I have made our way up north for the 2022 Toronto International Film Festival. TIFF is host to many big-name movies this awards season, from Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery to Steven Spielberg’s The Fabelmans. Follow along as we bring you the highlights from this year’s festival.

PC: Excited to be here! My first trip to the Motherland since I got citizenship last year. It’s good to be back. I was greeted by a large and extravagant parade, of course.

*Peter housing some bibimbap at Korean Village Restaurant*

JS: Before heading down to the festival, Peter and I kicked off our time in Toronto right by getting some top-notch coffee at Bà Nội and some Korean food at Korean Village Restaurant. Peter claims bibimbap is a top-three dish in all of food, which seems a little high if you ask me. Still, the food was excellent.

PC: Hot stone bibimbap, specifically. I can’t get enough of the crispy rice! Jake hates all things pickled and refused to try the restaurant’s kimchi. More than a bit disrespectful if you ask me. I’m also a huge fan of banchan in general. I think all restaurants should adopt a similar principle.

JS: After Koreatown we walked back to the Airbnb. A driver started turning into the crosswalk as we crossed a street, so I told him to chill out, not realizing his window was down. He yelled out the window “Fuck you, Harry Potter!” I thought Canadians were supposed to be nice. Anyway, I got a quick nap at the Airbnb, but Peter did not nap because he is bizarrely anti-napping.

PC: Though I am friends with Jake, I was definitely on the driver’s side in this spat. 1. Jake was too rude in his demand that the driver “chill out.” The driver, presumably Canadian, is very likely already chill, like all of my Canadian brethren. 2. Jake got absolutely boomed. Not even a moment of hesitation from the driver. World-class retort. To correct Jake again, I am only anti-napping for myself personally! I just wake up more sleepy after the fact. It just doesn’t work.

*Jake in front of the Royal Alexandra Theatre*

JS: Finally we went down to the festival grounds in the evening. The first night featured some smaller film debuts, but there was still a great energy downtown. Peter and I walked around trying to figure out if anyone we saw on the street was famous. We did unexpectedly see Canadian rapper Kardinal Offishall give a speech at an outdoor stage about how Toronto is the best city in the world. Questionable, but we are enjoying it.

PC: Downtown Toronto was buzzing. I dominated Jake in a game of guessing city populations. I was spot-on for both small-town Chicago and huge metropolis Toronto. I believe we also saw Charli D’Amelio taking some TikToks, but Jake was unconvinced. Editor’s note: We did not see Charli D’Amelio.

*Elegance Bratton introduces the cast of ‘The Inspection’*

JS: At 8 p.m. it was time to head inside the Royal Alexandra Theatre for our first movie of the festival, The Inspection. The film is based on director Elegance Bratton’s own experience as a gay man enlisting in the U.S. Marines. Even though the film draws from Bratton’s own life, The Inspection plays as a melodrama with some cliché writing. The training sequences become repetitive, and the film is flat. I liked Raúl Castillo’s warm performance as a Marine instructor looking out for Ellis French (Jeremy Pope), the protagonist. Gabrielle Union was not great.

PC: This was probably the film I was least excited to see ahead of time, just because I didn’t know much about it. But I knew my Movie Star Draft pick Jeremy Pope wouldn’t let me down. And what a performance he turned in. I can’t lie and say I loved the flick as a whole, but Pope, my god, what a performance. He hit all the right notes. Oscar buzz was growing before the credits rolled. We heard some industry leaders near us talk about how they were going to vote for him this season and it would be a crime if he didn’t win. I must say I agree!

JS: After the film we grabbed some pizza before running into a crowd gathered outside the Royal Alexandra Theatre for the premiere of Weird: The Al Yankovic Story. Peter and I weaved our way through the crowd like a couple of expert paparazzo to get a good look at our first big celebrity sightings of the night: Daniel Radcliffe, Evan Rachel Wood, and Mr. Yankovic himself on the red carpet for the premiere. Exciting!

PC: I snapped a couple picks of Daniel Radcliffe where he looks downright furious. A really great time.

JS: A flash mob of people dressed as Weird Al also performed a coordinated dance routine outside of the theater. What a blast! We couldn’t get tickets to this one (Peter also called Weird Al a “hack,” a bad take, so we were split on seeing this one anyway), but it got very good reviews at the premiere. Can’t wait to see it.

PC: I’ve got no interest in Weird Al! I don’t like his music and I don’t care for him. I’m glad a fellow Canadian is succeeding though. Hard to root against that.

JS: Well, that’s a wrap on day one. Some good celebrity sightings, but a disappointing movie. Hopefully tomorrow’s flicks turn out better.

TIFF 2022 Day 1: ‘The Inspection,’ Koreatown, and Weird Al