Toronto Must-Sees

Nancy Kriparos will be covering Toronto for Awards Daily in the coming weeks. She asked me which films I was most interested in seeing and/or having her cover. Toronto can be an unwieldy beast. I think it’s important to always remind you, and myself, that it is not the one-stop shopping for Oscar that many people wrongly assume it is. In fact, a film can get better traction at fests like Telluride, Venice and even Sundance. Toronto, unlike those other festivals, is crammed full of critics, journalists and bloggers and each of them bring their own moods, personal tastes, and whatever else is clouding their day to their early take on a film.

Sometimes the “group-think” is worth paying attention to, as it was when Elizabeth The Golden Age tanked first at Toronto and then later when it opened here (and the same goes for Creation last year, unfortunately). But there have been films to do extremely well in the context of Toronto but then not quite play as strongly in the Oscar race as predicted. Walk the Line comes to mind (even if Reese Witherspoon did go on to win). To that end, the Toronto gamble can sometimes be a big one.

The truth is that a really good film will get a great response no matter where it plays, no matter how much early buzz there is, no matter how many people see it early: No Country for Old Men, There Will Be Blood, Slumdog Millionaire. These films are bigger than the chatter that often suffocates this early season.

This is what we’re keeping our eye out for when we read the reports (made worse now because they’ll likely come in 140 characters or less). We’re looking for that one movie that is chatter-proof. We’ll also be looking for the movie that has high expectations but fails spectacularly for whatever reason.

Following are the films I personally would seek out. I’d be interested to hear what you all are most looking forward to.

The full list of films can be found at TIFF’s site.

The Big Ones

Amigo
Directed by John Sayles
The US occupation of the Philippines in 1900 provides the backdrop to this story of squad of American soldiers who occupy a village and learn how to live and negotiate with the natives. They focus on the local head man who finds himself torn between loyalty to his family and the Americans.

Barney’s Version:
Directed by Richard J. Lewis
From producer Robert Lantos, Barney‚Äôs Version is a film based on Mordecai Richler’s prize-winning comic novel. Barney Panofsky (Paul Giamatti) is a seemingly ordinary man who lives an extraordinary life. Barney‚Äôs candid confessional spans four decades and two continents, and includes three wives (Rosamund Pike, Minnie Driver and Rachelle Lefevre), one outrageous father (Dustin Hoffman) and a charmingly dissolute best friend (Scott Speedman).

Another Year:
Written and directed by Mike Leigh

A happily married, middle-aged couple are visited by a number of unhappy and lonely friends who use them as confidantes. When an unmarried friend falls for their young son, they watch as events unfold. The film stars Jim Broadbent, Lesley Manville, Ruth Sheen, Peter Wight, Oliver Maltman, David Bradley, Karina Fernandez and Martin Savage.

Beautiful Boy:
Directed by Shawn Ku
A married couple on the verge of separation are leveled by the news their 18-year-old son committed a mass shooting at his college, then took his own life. Stars Michael Sheen and Maria Bello.

Black Swan:
Directed by Darren Aronofsky
A psychological thriller set in the world of New York City ballet, Black Swan stars Natalie Portman as Nina, a featured dancer who finds herself locked in a web of competitive intrigue with a new rival at the company. Black Swan takes a thrilling and at times terrifying journey through the psyche of a young ballerina whose starring role as the duplicitous swan queen turns out to be a part for which she becomes frighteningly perfect. Black Swan also stars Vincent Cassel, Mila Kunis, Barbara Hershey and Winona Ryder.

Blue Valentine:
Written and directed by Derek Cianfrance
Blue Valentine is the story of love found and love lost, told in past and present moments in time. Flooded with romantic memories of their courtship, Dean and Cindy use one night to try and save their failing marriage. Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams star in this honest portrait of a relationship on the rocks.

The Conspirator:
Directed by Robert Redford
While an angry nation seeks vengeance, a young union war hero must defend a mother accused of aiding her son in the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln. Directed by Robert Redford, the film stars James McAvoy, Robin Wright, Kevin Kline, Evan Rachel Wood and Tom Wilkinson.

Conviction:
Conviction is the inspirational true story of a sister’s unwavering devotion to her brother. When Betty Anne Waters’ (two-time Academy® Award winner Hilary Swank) older brother Kenny (Sam Rockwell) is arrested for murder and sentenced to life in 1983, Betty Anne, a Massachusetts wife and mother of two, dedicates her life to overturning the murder conviction.

Hereafter:
Directed by Clint Eastwood
Written by PeterMorgan
The story of three people haunted by mortality in different ways, Hereafter stars Matt Damon as a blue-collar American who has a special connection to the afterlife. On the other side of the world, a French journalist (Cécile De France), has a near-death experience that shakes her reality. And when London schoolboy Marcus (Frankie/George McLaren) loses the person closest to him, he needs answers. Each in search of the truth, their lives will intersect, forever changed by what might – or must – exist in the hereafter. The film also stars Jay Mohr, Bryce Dallas Howard, Marthe Keller, Thierry Neuvic and Derek Jacobi.

The King’s Speech
Directed by Tom Hooper
The King’s Speech tells the story of the man who would become King George VI, the father of the current Queen, Elizabeth II. After his brother abdicates, George ‚ÄòBertie‚Äô VI (Colin Firth) reluctantly assumes the throne. Plagued by a dreaded nervous stammer and considered unfit to be King, Bertie engages the help of an unorthodox speech therapist named Lionel Logue (Geoffrey Rush). Through a set of unexpected techniques, and as a result of an unlikely friendship, Bertie is able to find his voice and boldly lead the country into war.

Jack Goes Boating
Directed by Philip Seymour Hoffman
Adapted from Bob Glaudini’s acclaimed Off Broadway play, Jack Goes Boating is a tale of love, betrayal, friendship and grace centered around two working-class New York City couples. The film stars John Ortiz, Daphne Rubin-Vega, Amy Ryan and Philip Seymour Hoffman, with Hoffman making his feature directorial debut.

Made in Dagenham
Directed by Nigel Cole
Sally Hawkins stars as Rita O’Grady, the catalyst for the 1968 Ford Dagenham strike by 187 sewing machinists which led to the advent of the Equal Party Act. Working in extremely impoverished conditions for long, arduous hours, the women at the Ford Dagenham plant finally lose their patience when they are reclassified as “unskilled.” With humour, common sense and courage, they take on their corporate paymasters, an increasingly belligerent local community, and finally the government itself. The film also stars Bob Hoskins, Miranda Richardson, Geraldine James and Rosamund Pike.

Never Let Me Go
Directed by Mark Romanek
Kathy (Carey Mulligan), Tommy (Andrew Garfield) and Ruth (Keira Knightley) spent their childhood at a seemingly idyllic boarding school. When they leave the shelter of the school, the terrible truth of their fate is revealed and they must confront the deep feelings of love, jealousy and betrayal that threaten to pull them apart.

Rabbit Hole
Directed by John Cameron Mitchell
A family navigates the deepest form of loss in John Cameron Mitchell’s screen adaptation of the Pulitzer Prize winning play by David Lindsay-Abaire. Nicole Kidman and Aaron Eckhart deliver captivating performances as a husband and wife who fight to save their marriage in the life that begins again after tragedy.

The Town
Directed by Ben Affleck
The Town is a dramatic thriller about robbers and cops, friendship and betrayal, love and hope, and escaping a past that has no future. In the Boston neighbourhood of Charlestown, Doug MacCray is the leader of a crew of ruthless bank robbers. But everything changed on the gang’s last job when they took bank manager Claire Keesey hostage. Questioning what she saw, Doug seeks out Claire. As their relationship deepens, Doug wants out of this life and the town, but now he must choose whether to betray his friends or lose the woman he loves.

You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger
Directed by Woody Allen
Woody Allen’s latest comic ensemble piece follows a group of Londoners struggling with failing marriages, restless libidos, the perils of aging and desires that drive a series of decisions with unforeseen consequences. The film stars Antonio Banderas, Josh Brolin, Anthony Hopkins, Gemma Jones, Lucy Punch and Naomi Watts.

More obscure titles of interest:

Beginners:
Directed by Mike Mills
When his seventy-one-year-old father (Christopher Plummer) comes out of the closet, Oliver (Ewan McGregor) must explore the honesty of his own relationships. From the director of Thumbsucker.

The Way
Directed by Emilio Estevez
Martin Sheen plays Tom, an American doctor who comes to St. Jean Pied de Port, France to collect the remains of his adult son, killed in the Pyrenees in a storm while walking The Camino de Santiago. Driven by his profound sadness and desire to understand his son better, Tom decides to embark on the historical pilgrimage. Along the way he learns what it means to be a citizen of the world again and discovers the difference between “The life we live and the life we choose.”

Three
Directed by Tom Twyker
Returning to the rule-breaking freedom of early films like Run Lola Run, Tykwer introduces a sophisticated Berlin couple who both start affairs with the same man, putting them on a collision course.

What’s Wrong with Virginia
Directed by Dustin Lance Black
Jennifer Connelly stars as Virginia, a charming yet mentally ill mother whose greatest love is her protector and illegitimate son, Emmett (Harrison Gilbertson). Richard Tipton (Ed Harris), the local married Mormon sheriff, who is running for public office, might very well be Emmett’s father. This boardwalk town’s peculiar secrets are threatened when Virginia’s son begins a romantic relationship with Tipton’s daughter (Emma Roberts) sending mother and son on a mad dash to seize their own brand of the American Dream – guns blazing.

Key Documentaries:

Waiting for Superman
Directed by Davis Guggenheim
From An Inconvenient Truth director Davis Guggenheim comes Waiting for “Superman”, a provocative and cogent examination of the crisis of public education in the United States told through multiple interlocking stories ‚Äì from a handful of students and their families whose futures hang in the balance, to the educators and reformers trying to find real and lasting solutions within a dysfunctional system. Guggenheim reveals the invisible forces that have held back true education reform for decades. Following the Mavericks screening, audiences will be treated to an on-stage panel discussion with Guggenheim, producer Lesley Chilcott, educator Geoffrey Canada, and philanthropist and Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates.

Tabloid
Directed by Errol Morris
The director of The Thin Blue Line and the Academy Award®-winning The Fog of War tells the story of a former Miss Wyoming whose quest for one true love led her across the globe and onto the pages of tabloid newspapers.

Tears of Gaza
Disturbing, powerful and emotionally devastating, Tears of Gaza is less a conventional documentary than a record – presented with minimal gloss – of the 2008 to 2009 bombing of Gaza by the Israeli military. Photographed by several Palestinian cameramen both during and after the offensive, this powerful film by director Vibeke Løkkeberg focuses on the impact of the attacks on the civilian population.

The Promise: The Making of the Darkness on the Edge of Town
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The Promise: The Making of Darkness on the Edge of Town takes us into the studio with Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band for the recording of their fourth album. Grammy and Emmy Award-winning filmmaker Thom Zimny has collaborated with Springsteen on this documentary, gaining access to never before seen footage shot between 1976-1978, capturing home rehearsals and recording sessions that allow us to see Springsteen’s creative process at work.

Inside Job
Directed by Charles Ferguson
An in-depth exploration of what caused the financial crisis from the Oscar-nominated director of No End in Sight, highlighting failures in business, government and academia.

Some other titles from Cannes you might find of interest:

The Housemaid
Heartbeats
Kaboom