Yesterday I was fortunate enough to attend the world premiere of Anderson Paak’s directorial debut, K-Pops! This film is exclusively screening at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) and is currently looking for buyers (studios) to distribute it in cinemas (which I am sure it will). In this blog post, I will share my thoughts about the movie (including cameos), tips if you go, and what activations and freebies, you can expect (location included). I hyperlinked clips from the Q&A along with related content you might be interested in. Please note there are some spoilers/easter eggs discussed in this blog post. Before you continue to don’t forget to support by following on follow me on TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook to see more Toronto as well as Film & TV content! For a visual preview of what to expect below see the video below!
TIFF
TIFF is where the biggest stars in the world of cinema and entertainment come down to my home of Toronto, Canada to premiere special screenings of upcoming films and other projects. The stars walk down the red carpet so there is a fan zone where you can line up and get close to the barricade area if you are interested in that. I believe this is the 49th TIFF but it is my first TIFF since 2018 and it was an interesting experience given the weather, the various activations, and of course, the film I saw. For the most part, I would say the film was my highlight and I will get into that below when I share my review of the film.
The movie I saw was being screened at Princess of Wales, which is where I saw Wicked, earlier this year. TIP: Going early is your best option since you are pretty much lining up everywhere here and they advise you to attend your screening at least 30 minutes before it starts because they sent an email stating that “Your seat is only guaranteed until 15 minutes prior to the scheduled start time, even with a ticket. After this time, unoccupied seats will be assigned to customers in the Rush line.” which is a bit unfair in my opinion given the costs of these tickets.
Nonetheless, it was still cool to grab some freebies, check out some interesting brand activations and get coupons. Due to the cold weather, I checked out only a few spots. TIP: If you are attending a screening the Visa Infinite lounge is open 90 minutes before (which seems different from the last time I was there) the evening screenings so make sure to try to get there sooner than later since it was closed when I arrived to my screening and it was at capacity afterward. Also, the food inside the theatres and outside via the food trucks is costly.
K-Pops! Film Review
I can genuinely say I loved this film and is a movie I am going to watch again with my family, especially my dad. K-pops! is the directorial debut of Anderson Paak who made this movie for his son, Soul Rasheed, who also stars in the film. Soul is a huge BTS Army (BTS fan) and he even mentioned that what helped convince Anderson to get into the genre and help inspire the thought of making this movie was when they attended PTD LA (I was at the same exact concert) which he talked about during the Q&A portion yesterday. That same day there was a video of one of the members, V (Taehyung), hugging Soul because I believe that is his bias in the group and if you pay attention to the film, his character’s name, Tae Young, seems to be an homage to V (aka BTS easter egg). I remember being in my seat at So-Fi Stadium and seeing clips of Anderson with his family meeting BTS which would eventually lead to him collaborating with BTS’ leader, RM, on his solo album and being their drummer (he even sold t-shirts saying he’s BTS drummer) in their performance video of their song “Yet To Come” (which was said in this film as a possible reference to that).
If you’re not aware of who Anderson Paak is, he is a Grammy award winning artist from Oxnard, California who is an incredibly talented singer, drummer, producer, rapper, and all-around creative. I’ve been a fan of his for a while now (even wore his sneaker collaboration with Vans to the premiere) because I love his soulful music, clever rhymes, and radiating positivity he brings to hip-hop and anything he does, overall. I believe he got more popular with the general public because of his duo project, Silk Sonic, with Bruno Mars (there is a Silk Sonic easter egg line in the movie as well). In the movie, his character BJ, is a drummer who has been passionate about his music yet struggling to really take it to the next level as he gets comfortable in his own environment. It isn’t until his best friend (played by Dumbfounded) and mom (played by Yvette Nicole Brown) encourage him to get into the world of K-Pop by being a drummer in a South Korean survival show where contestants compete to debut as an idol (K-pop star). Funny enough, one of the contestants is played by a 2nd gen K-pop idol, Kevin Woo, a member of U-KISS. What I loved about this movie is that it felt authentic as Dumbfounded himself said the movie is very similar to Anderson’s real-life of constantly working hard to get his shot but also being with the people he considers family. The movie also shows the character being hilarious but selfish, however, as the story progresses he is still able to pursue his passion and do what he loves thanks to his son which Anderson said is something true in his actual life. I do want to note that Jee Young Han and Cathy Shim were also great in the film as you can see their characters grow in this movie.
I genuinely did love this movie because it was so wholesome and funny throughout. Yes, there were times at the beginning when I felt that maybe the comedic timing was a bit forced but as the movie progressed you noticed that everything was much more smooth and natural. I felt that Anderson had a lot of improvised jokes and so did Dumbfound which hit so well. He knows how to make fun of himself and it really brought out the laughs in the audience. I also liked how authentic it felt in terms of the family dynamic, the struggle to prioritize your goals and responsibilities as a creative, and how competitive the K-pop industry can be. Personally, I would give this movie an eight out of ten just based on my initial viewing of this film but I think it might be higher the more I watch it because it genuinely felt so wholesome and hilarious with the jokes written and executed by the cast. Anderson definitely knocked it out of the park with his directorial debut but this wouldn’t be possible without Soul who also shined (pun intended) bright in this film. I also thought the extensive amount of cameos in the film also added a fun aspect to it and I included it via the section below if interested but all I can say as an ARMYCARAT, I was thrilled!
Spoilers/Cameos (Click to reveal)
In case you wanted to avoid spoilers/cameos you can skip this section but I wanted to talk about the massive amount of cameos in this movie. I couldn’t take notes so this is what I remember from the top of my head. I already mentioned the BTS nods above but what I thought was cool was that my bias from my other favourite K-pop group, Seventeen, Vernon, was in the movie and had a few lines. There was speculation that he was either in this movie or Netflix’s XO Kitty. Other notable cameos include Diplo, Jaden Smith, Earth Wind & Fire, Sawatee, and IShowSpeed. I also watch a lot of REACT videos on YouTube and one of the reactors (I think her name is Jeannie) was in this film as well. The other notable cameos that were also relevant to the film given the K-pop industry and might be because of Dumbfounded’s personal relationships were Jay Park, Jessi, Psick Show, as well as a rock band I really enjoy based out of South Korea, The Rose.
TIFF Village Activations
As mentioned before, with TIFF there are a lot of freebies and activations available for you to check out if you are walking by or attending a screening. TIP: You should try to go early because a few spots I wanted to check out (e.g., Ferrero Rocher) ran out of the chocolates they were giving out while in line, and the same with Lavazza coffee.
- For Lavazza coffee (located across Royal Alexandre Theatre), I eventually walked by and told the person I had waited for a while before but they ran out and eventually took the picture (despite the photobooth taking a long time) but never got the coffee so the staff did give it to me and I didn’t have to wait in the long line again. The Lavazza photo booth setup was pretty cool as it had a Kaleidoscope set up which you can see in the featured image of the blog post and my personal Instagram account. I would suggest the staff working there to be more communicative with the line because they weren’t even telling people to fill out the waiver before the picture and only one staff had to deal with difficult people, which was unfair for that one staff.
- I did get a sample of the Beyond Meat (King and John) steak bites as well as coupons for it which tasted great and useful since I do buy the Beyond steak bites to cook at home. The staff working here were friendly and efficient (make sure you ask for the coupon if interested since most people just wanted the sample).
- The other toss-up for my favourite activation was Pizza Nova (King and Simcoe) since I got a free cheese square pizza slice and what I liked about them is that I saw that they were actively refilling their supply and asking each person if they wanted a vegetarian or meat slice.
- Intrepid Travel (Roy Thompson Hall) also had an interesting booth where you could scan a QR code to enter for a chance to win a trip to two to four different countries I believe, including Japan and you get a voucher (which was the best part). The setup looked cool but it was a bit awkward to take photos with since some of the staff were just standing in the middle and not advising of any sort of line to take photos. I also saw later on someone’s Instagram story that they were giving away tote bags.
- The Canada Film Day activation (King and Simcoe) was fun and the staff were nice. You can sign up for a big prize and be alerted of their Canadian film screenings for Canada Film Day (April 16, 2025) but in the meantime, you roll inflated dice and then answer a multiple-choice question to name the Canadian film. The questions are really easy and I answered mine within seconds (Anne of Green Gables).
- The 1 Love TO x OVO truck (Roy Thompson Hall) is hard to miss with its gold exterior and music blasting. I remember the 1 Love TO t-shirt when I was in middle school or high school and it was led by T-Rexx better known as Tyronne Edwards aka Mr. 1LoveTO who is part of the OVO (Drake) crew. He was selling his exclusive collaborative t-shirts (classic white and red or OVO black and gold) which featured his design mixed with the signature OVO owl branding. Although T-Rexx was trying to get me to buy the t-shirt before I took a pic with him the reason why I got the $58 tee (which is pricey) the reason why I got them was that it is from the OVO brand where the quality is pretty decent and you get them in a special OVO gift bag along with a nice sticker. However, the main reason that convinced me to buy it was because proceeds go towards supporting the TIFF non-profit, Every Story Fund.
Overall
All in all, I am grateful I was able to attend TIFF this year and maybe one day I will go in as part of the media to do some interviews. I was really happy that I decided to watch Kpops! not only as a big K-pop fan and Anderson Paak fan, but because this movie was the best way to express how much Anderson Paak loves his son. The movie was great and getting freebies and exclusives in Toronto is never really a bad thing so I hope this review does help if you plan on attending the festival this year or future years. Let me know if you go and if you end up watching the movie on social media by following on Tiktok, Instagram, and Facebook!