| Welcome to a special daily edition of the Envelope at TIFF, a newsletter collecting the latest developments out of Canada's annual film showcase. Sign up here to get it in your inbox. |
| Christina House, our staff photojournalist, continues to kill it with her portraits out of the Toronto International Film Festival. In the last day alone, she's seen Angelina Jolie, Jacob Elordi and the cast of "Frankenstein," Jodie Foster and more. |
| Or maybe you'd rather watch a video interview with Angelina Jolie and the cast and director of the inspiring fashion film "Couture?" Follow us on Instagram for all of our daily posts. |
'Blood will be shed. Possibly even a tear': Our critic on Rian Johnson's new 'Knives Out' mystery |
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| Josh O'Connor, left, and Daniel Craig in Rian Johnson's "Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery." (Netflix) |
| Amy Nicholson had fun with "Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery." |
| She's also noticing a fair amount of Canadian pride at her screenings. It's been an unusually loaded moment for foreign relations with our neighbors to the north. |
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| Amy weighs in on the scene from the first four days, her favorite (and less-than-favorite) movies at TIFF and a few surprises. |
The day's buzziest premieres |
'The Smashing Machine' |
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| Emily Blunt and Dwayne Johnson in the movie "The Smashing Machine." (Ken Hirama / A24) |
| Sunday saw the TIFF schedule loosen up its restrictions regarding films that premiered at other festivals and audiences started to see more major titles from competing fests. |
| Take for example the Monday night premiere of "The Smashing Machine," which just won the directing prize at Venice for Benny Safdie. |
| Making his solo debut apart from brother Josh — their most recent collaboration was "Uncut Gems" — Benny turns in a surprisingly heartfelt sports story based on mixed marital arts fighter Mark Kerr. |
| Taking the leading role is none other than wrestler-turned-actor Dwayne Johnson, in a part seemingly tailor-made to play off his own career arc and give him a prestige boost he has never had before. |
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| Add Emily Blunt to the mix, as Kerr's supportive partner, along with boutique studio A24 and the film seems like it should land the right combinations. — Mark Olsen |
'Exit 8' |
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| A scene from the movie "Exit 8." (TIFF) |
| Ever fear that you're racing around but going nowhere — that you're in such a rush to make your way through the world that you're barely seeing it? |
| Japan turned that feeling into a best-selling video game in which commuters are condemned to roam an underground subway station until they learn to pay attention to their surroundings. |
| Now Genki Kawamura has transformed that game into a movie. In Kawamura's emboldened adaptation, our main player, the Lost Man (Kazunari Ninomiya of the pop band Arashi) is an aimless young slacker who is stuck both physically and emotionally. |
| If he ever wises up and escapes, he's got to make better choices. |
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| I've got a few quibbles with the film's mechanics, but "Exit 8" is a moving metaphor for the art of giving things a close, appreciative watch. On day five of a film festival, we could all use a reminder to look sharp. — Amy Nicholson |
