A PERFECT 10
Our critic looks at the top movies to be shown at the Toronto festival
The Toronto International Film Festival may be less than half its usual size, but that doesn't mean there aren't some fine-looking movies in the lineup. Here are 10 that look promising — one for every day the festival runs.
Dune: Having caught this at a pre-festival screening, I can vouch for the latest big-budget sci-fi from Denis Villeneuve (Arrival, Blade Runner 2049). Dune is big, brash, bold, beautiful — and only half a story, ending with Timothée Chalamet's ducal character joining the desert-dwelling Firemen on the planet Arrakis. Fans of Frank Herbert's novel should eat it up, and eagerly await Part 2.
The Worst Person in the World: I've also been lucky enough to see Joachim Trier's latest, though I remain stymied trying to describe its plot. The best I can come up with is: “A woman ... is.” Which didn't stop Norway's Renate Reinsve from winning the best actress prize at Cannes for her portrayal of a young woman navigating life, love and career.
All My Puny Sorrows: A new film from Michael McGowan (Saint Ralph, One Week, Still Mine) is reason enough to celebrate. So too is news of an adaptation of a book by fellow Canadian Miriam Toews, whose 2018 novel Women Talking is being made into a film by Sarah Polley. This one checks both boxes.
Spencer: Kristen Stewart has been getting rave reviews out of Venice, where this Princess Diana biopic premièred last week. And Pablo Larraín has directed an actress to an Oscar nomination before, when he cast Natalie Portman as Jackie Kennedy in Jackie. Plus, between this, Netflix's filmed Diana musical and another season of The Crown due in 2022, people can't get enough of their princess.
The Middle Man: I've been a fan of quirky Norwegian director Bent Hamer since I saw his comedy Kitchen Stories at TIFF in 2003. It's been seven years since his last film, 1001 Grams, but his newest is a German-Danish-Canadian co-production, filmed in Sault Ste. Marie and featuring Don McKellar. Count me in.
Last Night in Soho: The trailers for this time-travel psychological thriller would be tempting enough, even if I didn't know that it's directed by Edgar Wright (Baby Driver), co-written by Krysty Wilson-Cairns (1917) and stars two of the most intriguing actresses working today, Thomasin McKenzie and Anya Taylor-Joy. But it is, and it does!
Out of Sync: I'm a sucker for high-concept fiction, and this one from Spanish director Juanjo Giménez Peña fits the bill. A sound editor and foley artist at a post-production studio learns that her hearing is “falling behind” her visual perception, to the point where she can enter a room and hear what happened there the day before. The film's IMDb page lists nine people in the sound department, whom I'm guessing were vital.
Silent Night: I'm also a sucker for end-of-the-world movies. This one stars Keira Knightley (Seeking a Friend for the End of the World) and Matthew Goode (The Sense of an Ending) as a couple hosting a Christmas party in the English countryside amid news that a poisonous cloud is about to wipe out life as we know it.
Compartment No. 6: Winner of the Grand Prix at Cannes this year, Finnish director Juho Kuosmanen delivers a story of two strangers on a train whose long journey across Russia allows them to get to know each other better. TIFF's program notes say it's like Richard Linklater's Before Sunrise but also not, which is an intriguing description right there.
One Second: Yimou Zhang 's closing-night film has an odd history. It was originally slated to screen at the Berlin festival in 2019, but was pulled for “technical difficulties” that many suspected were in fact political censorship out of China. It has since opened there, and looks to be a love letter to cinema — and what better way to wrap a film fest?
The Toronto International Film Festival runs through
Sept. 18. Tickets and more information at tiff.net.