Edgy works dealing with chaos at TIFF

TORONTO On the heels of a major summer box-office slump caused by flopping franchise sequels and under-performing tentpoles, the Toronto International Film Festival is offering up an alternative: Edgy stories that have big names but don’t quite fit into the mainstream.

From George Clooney’s disturbing look at a home invasion in “Suburbicon,” to Darren Aronofsky's enigmatic psychological thriller “mother!” and Alexander Payne’s human-shrinking satire “Downsizing,” the lineup kicking off Thursday features adventurous work by major filmmakers at a time when the instinct is to not take risks, say organizers.

“It’s terrific to see these very strong, very individualistic, challenging pieces of work still being done,” said Piers Handling, director and CEO of TIFF.

“People talk about the death of independent cinema and how everything is a franchise or a comic book or that kind of thing — it’s not really true,” added Cameron Bailey, artistic director of TIFF.

“Some of the best filmmakers are still getting the chance to tell adventurous stories, to be bold with the ideas in their movies and to still work with big budgets.”

Overall, the lineup reflects an uncertainty and instability in the world, with films dealing with the notion of chaos and survival.

“It’s a strange moment, let’s face it, I think for everyone,” said Handling. “Everyone feels this sense of disruption, it’s very unsettled, a sense of really what is the future going to hold in store?”

About 340 films will screen at this year’s fest, which runs Sept. 7 to 17. It’s a smaller number than in recent years — a result of a TIFF mandate to trim the overall number of titles by 20 per cent. Organizers said they made the changes in response to feedback from audiences, the industry and the media.

The fest is typically seen as a springboard to the Oscars, with many titles going on to win the golden statuette, and this year's edition has a wealth of awards bait.