Ron: Welcome to a bonus Stereo Geeks episode from Toronto International Film Festival 2026. I’m Ron and today, I’m reviewing Drifter, which had its world premiere at TIFF.
Mon: Before we start our episode, we would like to acknowledge that the land we are recording on is the traditional territory of many nations, including the Mississaugas of the Credit, the Anishnabeg, the Chippewa, the Haudenosaunee and the Wendat peoples. It is now home to many diverse First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples. We also acknowledge that Toronto is covered by Treaty 13 with the Mississaugas of the Credit.
Ron: While we are making this land acknowledgement, we understand that this is not enough and that positive action is required by the people of Canada to make substantive change for the Indigenous nations and communities whose lands we now reside on.
What is the film about?
Ron: Written, directed, and starring Sung Kang, Drifter follows Tree, who works maintenance on a racetrack during the day, dreaming of one day taking to the tracks himself with Lola, his parents’ Toyota Corolla AE86. At night, he uses his driving skills for less savoury purposes, towards a debt he may never be able to pay off.
Tree is a solitary fellow — his interactions are limited. He gets his tires from his friends Burdy (Grant Sullivan) and Rosie (Tamara Braun). And he makes silent pleas to Bennett (Michael Nehring) to give him a chance to drive.
When a surprising accident puts Bennett’s son, and lead driver for his team, out of commission, Tree gets the unexpected opportunity to show off his skills. He subsequently ends up scoring an invite to a big race. But is Tree ready to make the connections that will help him to the finish line?
What did the film do well?
Ron: I really wanted to watch Drifter at TIFF 2026. I’ve enjoyed Sung Kang’s role in The Fast and the Furious films. I still don’t quite understand how his character survived in that franchise, but I was very happy to see him back.
That said, Drifter is not the Fast franchise. In fact, it’s a languid film that takes its time to tell the story. It knows we’re familiar with these kinds of stories, so it relishes in building out the relationships. We get lots of scenes of Tree finding his way to his people, to Burdy, and especially Rosie, both of whom believe Tree can do better than the small town of Barstow. We see Tree and Bennett connect not just through their love of cars but their shared losses.
Before the screening I attended, Kang spoke to the audience about his love for the car community, his voice breaking as he spoke of the sense of belonging the community has given him. He also thanked the film-loving community for their support for all things cinema. Drifter is a clear ode to the car community, and it reiterates several times that there are no lone wolves. Anything to do with cars, racing or drifting, it all takes a group of dedicated people.
While this is a fairly typical underdog story, I did like how Drifter subverted some tropes. One of the things that drives me up the wall is when characters don’t communicate with each other and that becomes a huge plot point. This film does not do that. Things that have to be said are said, and the characters have to deal with the consequences.
I also like one of the techniques that Tree ends up using to help his drifting. What starts off as a simple romantic gesture from Rosie is actually critical to Tree learning a driving skill. That was unexpected!
Bennett and Tree’s relationship is an interesting one. I was initially intrigued by Bennett’s hostility towards Tree. Does he hate maintenance workers? Is he racist? What’s his deal? But the explanation turns out to be justified. Tree may be an honourable man but he’s been forced into doing dishonourable things.
Sung Kang puts in an exceedingly quiet performance. His Tree is a man who is used to going unnoticed, so much so that he rarely speaks unless he absolutely has to. It’s only as the film progresses, and he becomes closer to the people in his life, that we hear Tree’s voice more often.
Of course, the drifting scenes are thrilling. The entire third act, my hands were clenched from the tension. I particularly loved how the camera was stationed inside the cars for the drifting scenes. It gave us a real sense of how dangerously close the cars have to get without hitting each other.
What could have been improved?
Ron: But as much as I wanted to love Drifter, I’m afraid this wasn’t the best entry into the auto-cinema canon. While I understand Kang’s vision, the film was much too slow. Several scenes could have been cut short, and the film could have used more montages.
The romantic subplot was overlong and relied too heavily on dialogue rather than chemistry. Which is a shame because I like a good sports romance.
There’s also a subplot that should have been the engine of the film but ends up being a drag. It pops up at convenient, and inconvenient, times as the story demands, but it meandered till the end. The conclusion to that plot was so frustratingly abrupt, it rendered it meaningless. It should have either been integrated into the primary story or Tree should have taken a more active role in the conclusion.
While Kang was extremely emotive and got me teary, the rest of the cast was left in the dust. Their performances weren’t bad, it was just obvious they were in a film.
I’m also not a huge fan of shaky-cam. And this movie was almost entirely shaky-cam. It was at times too much.
Ron: I thought being sat in the front row of an IMAX screening of Drifter would be terrible but honestly, it didn’t bother me as much as I thought it would. However, what was annoying was seeing empty seats when I was sat right in front.
Final thoughts
Ron: Sung Kang’s performance was good but Drifter needed better editing. It should have been 30 minutes shorter. The car scenes were great, but the subplots were underdeveloped. The film lacked creativity and propulsion, and it felt formulaic.
Ron: That’s it for this bonus review episode of Drifter. Tune in next time for another TIFF 2026 review.
Ron: You can listen to Stereo Geeks on stereogeeks.ca, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Don’t forget to rate us, and leave us a review; it helps other listeners find us.
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Mon: See you next time.