A festival like Toronto is the place to take the pulse of the state of film, where artists of the filmed medium put their hearts on display, share what’s on their minds. From what I can tell their minds are in turmoil and their hearts are breaking.
As for women, whose voices and performances are sometimes second thoughts, they are angry and unafraid to show it, whether in Marielle Heller’s “Nightbitch” starring a feral Amy Adams battling her own resentment over caring for her adorable toddler; to “The Assessment” starring Elizabeth Olson and Alicia Vikander by director Fleur Fortune, whose bleak view of maternity in an authoritarian future reflects fears over continuity of the human race.