Costa Rican Thriller 'Love Is the Monster' Premiering at TIFF—Grandma vs. The System

Costa Rican director Neto Villalobos Brenes is bringing his debut thriller Love Is the Monster to the Toronto International Film Festival this year as the Centerpiece selection—and it's the kind of high-concept premise that sticks with you.

The film stars Paulina García (best known from Gloria and Ema) as a grandmother caught in a nightmare scenario: her granddaughter gets snatched for ransom, and García's character has to navigate an impossible system just to survive it. It's set in a dystopian world, which means Villalobos Brenes is using the kidnapping plot as a window into something bigger—power, survival, what families will do when the ground shifts beneath them.

This is García's kind of role. She doesn't do smaller dramas; she finds the weight in situations where ordinary people get pressed hard by forces outside their control. Paired with a fresh directorial voice out of Costa Rica, Love Is the Monster sounds like it could be the type of film that lingers after the credits roll.

Toronto's Centerpiece films usually signal something the festival believes in—something with teeth. We'll know more when it screens.

Read the full story at The Hollywood Reporter → https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/tiff-2026-love-is-the-monster-film-trailer-paulina-garcia-1236682391/