TIFF 2026 Full Festival Analysis (ft. Nathaniel Ahart) | ANTICIPATION BLVD.

Uh, Nathaniel, what, where do you wanna start in terms of highlights, best of the fest in terms of films we saw while attending TIFF 2026, what would you say?

Well, one movie we, we didn't see it together, but we were at the same screening, I know.

Uh, my number one movie of the festival is probably Jesse Eisenberg's The Debut.

Yes.

Uh, as soon as I watched this, I, I knew I was gonna love it.

Mm-hmm.

But I did not expect it to be, like, one of my favorite festival experiences of all time-

Mm-hmm

... uh, when it comes to the movies.

And I really just felt like while I was watching this, I'm like, "This is a, a movie that I'm gonna be watching the rest of my life." I think it's an all-time great comedy classic.

The performances here from Julianne Moore and Paul Giamatti are so, so Oscar-worthy.

But Julianne Moore, to say that this is her greatest performance in her entire career is, like, I don't even know what that says.

That automatically means-

[laughs]

... she's winning the Oscar, we'll put it that way.

Yeah.

[laughs]

But this is such a live wire act, and she's doing so many things comedically, dramatically, and everything in between.

Giamatti, it's one of his best performances, I would say.

I hope he finally gets the gold statue because-

[laughs]

...

I mean, if anyone is overdue, it's certainly the great Paul Giamatti.

Yeah.

And I just think that, you know, this movie's a lot wackier than I expected in all the best ways.