TIFF 2026: Everytime
2026 Toronto International Film Festival
One of the most haunting films of this year waltzed directly into Toronto International Film Festival, carrying months of praise and other festival runs in tow. Directed and written by Sandra Wollner, Everytime brings to life a family of three living in a small apartment, just taking their lives day to day. The eldest daughter, Jessie, played beautifully by Carla Hütterman, is initially framed as our protagonist before tragedy strikes and our frame switches to Ella, played unforgettably by Birgit Minichmayr, and her youngest daughter Melli, played by Lotte Shirin Keiling.
This film plays with grief and motherhood in a way that truly can't be touched by many other films handling similar themes. The opening act of the film captures one of the most shocking moments in its runtime, and it's handled in the most striking way that it possibly could be. It's not. We witness a tragedy, only for it to be immediately followed by silence, nature, and a skip through time. Everytime features an esoteric relationship between the creative mode roaming of games such as Minecraft, and its many copycats, and the surreal reality of the film. There are many moments where Wollner takes the audience from the world of our protagonists and drops them into the world of video games, one where there's freedom to float and glide through the air. These moments are handled wonderfully and tie deeply into the film's final act, which is not one worth spoiling here. There's plenty to discuss on it, but that's on the audience.
The film's raw handheld look from Director of Photography Gregory Oke, hot off of Aftersun, which won multiple awards following its own initial run, is truly mesmerizing. The way Oke works with Wollner to bring the audience as close to these characters as possible, while also not being afraid to separate us from them when necessary, is astounding. There's a dream-like efficiency to everything on screen, and it leaves the audience wondering what exactly is real and what is not. This is an obvious intention from Wollner, as she makes it fairly obvious from the start that she is less interested in answering questions than she is in presenting ideas and themes worth grappling with.
The beautiful nature in which Wollner handles parental grief is worth every second of this film’s runtime, and the dreamlike atmosphere she shepherds for 121 minutes is done with so much ease. There are some beautiful themes here debating the relationships of those closest to the deceased, and the harsh reality of forgiveness that make it easy to imagine that Everytime will end up being one of the most impressive works to come out of 2026. This could easily land as one of the most important works to come out of this decade, and it's well deserved.