TIFF 2026 | Movie Review: "Masc" is a Real and Honest Character Experiment

8/12 ForReel Score | 3/5 Stars

Navigating daily life can often be difficult and stressful. It’s difficult to know how to act around people and you may constantly feel the need to change yourself in order to better fit into whatever your situation may be at the time. I often find myself changing in an attempt to fit in better, and life this way can just get exhausting. Bertil Nilsson’s Masc is a trip into the mind of a young, autistic, queer man named Robin who’s constantly changing who he is in order to discover the kind of person he believes he should be. It’s a sensitive and careful look into Robin’s mind, how he operates in the world he lives in, and how he tries to change himself to better fit it. It’s a very beautiful film about conformity and finding your place in the world, that’s wonderfully edited with an ending that I personally found to slightly fumble the film’s core ideas. Nonetheless, it’s a necessary work that is a must see for anyone living in Robin’s world.

Masc starts with Robin in a simulated job interview, trying to learn how to better come off as presentable in that kind of professional situation. He struggles to form complete sentences and is constantly cutting himself off and stuttering. He’s talking about something that he understands, but the idea seems absurd to everyone else in the room. He’s given pointers from the exercise, and the film then cuts to him working a job in a nursing home. He’s a complex character. He doesn’t let people walk all over him, but it’s easy to tell when he really wants someone to like him. He’ll do whatever he can for them to like him. From here, we jump forward in time with Robin every so often. He works different jobs, meets different people, and navigates different relationships over this span of time.

Right off the bat, I’d like to acknowledge Joshua Griffin as the phenomenal actor that he is. Every moment he’s on screen he just draws you in. Unlike his character, he has a commanding and engaging presence and it just makes it so hard to look away from him. He really excels in making use of his physicality and in his choreographed scenes he’s graceful and careful in his movements, it’s very interesting to watch. It’s a short film, coming in at around 80 minutes, and Griffin has a strong grip on your attention for the majority of it. You truly believe these internal struggles of his and how the world around him doesn’t fully understand him. Griffin is credited as a collaborator on the story as well, so you have to imagine every scene he’s in was looked over by him in order to make sure it really worked and fit him. He does great work.

I’d like to get my main grievance with the film out of the way here. It’s tough to explain as it is more a problem with the turn the story takes in the final act of the film, but it’s something that I felt just didn’t sit right. The film spends most of its time depicting Robin in these different situations and careers, trying to find something that truly fits him. It’s not a movie about him learning to function in society. It’s really a story about him already understanding society and trying to adapt to it so as to not come off as weird or odd. Rather than giving you a proper climax to this journey, the film sort of cuts itself short and pivots to this more surreal take on Robin’s psyche as opposed to the enticing naturalistic approach the film had already seemed to master. It just felt like an unnecessary and ultimately dissatisfying swap to what was otherwise a fairly interesting journey with a finish line in sight.

Bertil Nilsson’s Masc is a beautiful and natural approach to examining the world of this autistic young man trying to fit into a world that doesn’t seem to have a role for him. It’s tragic, funny, and heartwarming, and despite being as short as it is, it paces itself well and juggles all of these concepts with ease and a professionalism that shows a deep understanding of the topics discussed. It’s raw, emotional, sentimental, and so much more fit into this tight 80 minutes. You follow Robin through his daily life every few months and it’s so sad to see the situations he finds himself in, and how the world around him seems suited to accommodate him, but really isn’t. You can’t predict and analyze human relationships. Masc is a story adamant on telling you that you must discover who you are in a world that has already seemed to figure itself out, and once you do, you will find yourself much happier.