Sidney (2022 | USA | 111 minutes | Reginald Hudlin)

The greatest asset that this reverent Poitier documentary has is the undeniably magnetic storytelling ability of the towering figure himself. Reginald Hudlin uses these direct-to-camera narrations filmed before the actor’s 2022 death to tremendous effect. He narrates his biography — from eye-opening arrival in Nassau from Cat Island, to first encounters with caustic systemic racism in Miami, and finding his way to an artistic and cultural awakening in Harlem in the afterglow of its renaissance — and communicates the guiding principles he took from his parents with his trademark sparkle and gravitas. The story of his life, decades of achievement in acting, directing, producing, and diplomacy unfold alongside testimony from his family and every imaginary contemporary and admirer, including the film’s producer Oprah Winfrey. Clips from his films accentuate his role in bringing Hollywood to the cause of the Civil Rights Movement; a painful divorce, brief relationship with Dihann Caroll, and second marriage are glossed over in the long view of family history; while his rocky lifelong friendship with Harry Belafonte provides a spine as one of his most important adult relationships. The presence of his entire family, reunited for the first time since the pandemic and a tearful introduction from Oprah made for an a pretty special TIFF premiere. The film, to be released later this year by AppleTV is sure to be an enduring encapsulation of his rich legacy.

The Woman King (2022 | USA | 135 minutes | Gina Prince-Blythewood)

Gina Prince-Blythewood follows up her unconventional superhero epic The Old Guard with a historical drama set in 19th century West Africa. As the general of an all-female elite fighting squad, Viola Davis might as well be a part of the MCU. A credible action star, muscled and serious, she holds her own in cinematic and brutally balletic fight sequences leading her troops to liberate captives and defend her kingdom from the advances of their rival slave-trading nemeses. She’s an imposing figure who gets some moments of vulnerability, but no amount of artfully executed cinematic battles can overcome the film’s unfortunately uneven and cliche-laden script, delivered in unfortunately self-serious “Africanese” patois. I recognize that the aim was an adventure film and the production elevates a strong and diverse cast, but I wish that it had found space to illuminate the historical origins of this unusual arrangement and the nuance to make them seem less like comic book heroes and more like real people.

Butcher’s Crossing (2022 | USA | 105 minutes | Gabe Polsky)

The premiere of the movie starring Nicolas Cage and the horse that wanted to kill him! After seeing this Western, about a wide-eyed Harvard dropout (Fred Hechinger, in a slight departure from the White Lotus) heading to the frontier to see more of the world and the Bison-killer who takes him into hell, I’m sorry to say I’m team Rain Man the Horse. Hastily filmed by Gabe Polsky — making a transition from documentary to feature — over a tight eighteen days, this adaptation of John Williams’s tale of four men trapped in the snowy wilds on a hunt gone wrong, the constraints shows its seams. As the bald bearded frontiersman, Cage doesn’t even get to ham up the badness enough to be good while on a doomed buffalo killing spree.