Giving them a PLATFORM
Deglamourized, globe-spanning TIFF program gets glitz of Nicole Kidman, Elisabeth Moss and others
An almost unrecognizable Nicole Kidman in Destroyer, as a Skid Row cop seeking vengeance.
Elisabeth Moss as a punk rocker on the downslide in Her Smell. Jamie Bell as a desperate fighter in Donnybrook, taking a beating in a bare-knuckle brawl for cash.
The stars are out in these and other films in the Platform program of the Toronto International Film Festival (Sept. 6-16), but you may have trouble spotting them.
This highly curated international showcase, which announced its 12 selections Wednesday, seeks to get as far away as possible from Hollywood’s glamorous norms.
The press and festival goers tend to focus on “the big red-carpet films,” says Piers Handling, TIFF’s director and CEO. Platform is designed to be the alternative to the hoopla.
“It’s really important that we counterbalance that with a program that focuses on the filmmaker as auteur, risk-taker and creative innovator,” Handling said in an interview. “And that’s absolutely what this program is designed to do.”
It’s the fourth edition of Platform, a competitive program that screens before a blue-chip jury of directors and film scholars.
PLATFORM from E1 The films were chosen by TIFF execs Piers Handling and Michael Lerman with an eye for discovery and social currency
Two of the names confirmed for this year’s panel are Hungarian master minimalist Bela Tarr ( The Turin Horse) and South Korean director Lee Chang-dong, whose new movie Burning lit a fire under Cannes 2018 (it will also be at TIFF).
Films were chosen by Handling and Michael Lerman, TIFF’s senior manager of programming, with an eye for discovery and social currency but also for giving a leg up to established directors who want to get to the next stage of their career. Just one of the 12 films this year is a first feature — the program closer Jessica Forever by Caroline Poggi and Jonathan Vinel. (Tim Sutton’s Donnybrook opens this year’s Platform.)
The strategy is succeeding. Previous Platform competitors have launched the Oscar sensations Moonlight and Jackie, and also the hit satire The Death of Stalin. Platform has been slowly building as a TIFF attraction, Handling said, “but I think it’s now arrived at a point where filmmakers, producers and sales agents around the world are starting to become more curious about it.”
They’ll have plenty to ponder in this year’s lineup, with all but Destroyer and The River a world premiere, presented here alphabetically with Handling’s edited comments.
Angelo (Markus Schleinzer, Austria/Luxembourg): “This deals with a young Black boy, set back in the time of AustroHungarian empire, trying to incorporate himself into Western society. It’s very relevant to everything that’s going on right now with the immigration crisis and notions of race.”
Cities of Last Things (Ho Wi Ding, Taiwan/China/USA/ France): “The film tells its story backwards ... and I like backwards storytelling. It starts out in the future then goes back into the past. It’s a very twisting interior tale of a man trying to exorcise his demons.”
Destroyer (Karyn Kusama, U.S.): “Nicole Kidman is superb as a beaten-up Skid Row cop near the end of her career who is trying to exact her own kind of revenge.”
Donnybrook (Tim Sutton, U.S.): “A very forceful film that is kind of a modern day Fight Club.”
The Good Girls (Alejandra Marquez Abella, Mexico): “A very smart, sophisticated look at female ‘haute bourgeois,’ high-middle-class society in Mexico.”
Her Smell (Alex Ross Perry, U.S.): “Kind of punk rock, starring Elisabeth Moss, based a little bit on Courtney Love’s life ... a punk rock female star going crazy. Has a John Cassavetes feel to it.”
The Innocent (Simon Jaquemet, Switzerland/Germany): “A very, very odd Swiss film ... there’s a lab worker who is dealing with experiments on monkeys. It’s hard to actually pinpoint this film. It’s mysterious, spiritual, religious. There’s a whole bunch of things that come into this film.”
Jessica Forever (Caroline Poggi, Jonathan Vinel, France): “A sci-fi film, low budget, extremely imaginative, very surprising. Focuses on an extremely strong female central character who runs a cult where she’s trying to rehabilitate orphans who are running roughshod through the world, killing people.”
Mademoiselle de Joncquières (Emmanuel Mouret, France): “Kind of a modern updating of the Dangerous Liaisons tale ... It’s a highly sophisticated French history piece about a woman.”
Out of Blue (Carol Morley, U.K.): “Another cop film, with female cop Patrica Clarkson investigating a murder. As she gets deeper into it, she begins to question herself. It’s very philosophical. Can you ever ultimately discover the truth?”
The River (Emir Baigazin, Kazakhstan/Poland/Norway): “A Kazakh film, set in Kazakhstan, about a father and his young son. The tension in the relationship plays out very, very beautifully. This is extremely lyrical.”
Rojo ( Benjamin Naishtat, Argentina/Brazil/France/Netherlands/Germany): “An Argentinian film that deals with the Dirty War (state terrorism). So smart, so surprising, you have no idea where this film is going to go from moment to moment. It kept me guessing the entire way through.”
For more details, go to tiff.net.