We’re now headlong into festival season, and buzz has already started to grow out of Venice, Telluride, and more. This week, another massive film festival will kick off in Toronto.
This year’s Toronto International Film Festival, one of the most high-profile festivals, will feature all sorts of new releases looking to gain acclaim. The festival showcases films from all over the globe, whether big or small, serious or silly, fiction or nonfiction, you name it. It’s likely at TIFF.
TIFF has always been a key time for the awards season, as well. Many films at the festival will effectively start their awards campaign here, looking to generate excitement and good word-of-mouth early. This year, films from big names like Pedro Almodóvar, Luca Guadagnino, Marielle Heller, and Jason Reitman (just to name a few) may headline the conversation. Still, there are always a few surprises to keep an eye on.
Our very own Danny Jarabek, Bryan Sudfield, and Matt Minton — who will be attending this year’s TIFF — outline their most anticipated titles for the festival.
The Brutalist
At just over three and a half hours, Brady Corbet’s The Brutalist is certainly not for the faint of heart. With a 12-minute standing ovation at Venice already in the books, however, the Adrien Brody and Felicity Jones-led epic is poised to stake its claim as one of the most ambitious and staggering feats of filmmaking this year has to offer.
The film follows a Jewish Hungarian architect (Brody) who flees Europe at the end of the Second World War to rebuild his life while taking on a project from a mysterious client (Guy Pearce). It’s impossible to ignore the appeal of what has “major event film” written all over it, and, as an architect myself, there’s an unshakeable aura that this is the film Megalopolis wishes it was. With a 70mm screening presentation and a 15-minute intermission, Corbet’s third feature might as well take the place of two slots in the dense TIFF schedule, but I’m banking on Corbet and crew that the time will be worth its weight in gold. – Danny Jarabek
Saturday Night
There is something special about crafting a film set in real-time, so the decision from Jason Reitman to portray the 90 minutes leading up to the first taping of Saturday Night Live is going to make for a joyous romp.
With an exciting ensemble of young actors led by Gabriel LaBelle as SNL leader Lorne Michaels, Saturday Night looks to spark Aaron Sorkin-vibes by combining rapid-fire dialogue with high-octane thrills. That might be the last thing one would anticipate with a film about the beginning of the long-running sketch comedy series (wisely releasing on the brink of its 50th anniversary), but, as a person who grew up watching a ton of SNL, there’s a lot of excitement riding on what Reitman and his team bring to the plate. – Bryan Sudfield
The Room Next Door
Pedro Almodóvar marks his English-language debut with Julianne Moore and Tilda Swinton in the lead roles. Need I say more?
Although the trailer doesn’t feature a single spoken word, it promises the same emotional melodrama and striking use of color that Almodóvar has become known for throughout his career. Based on a book by Sigrid Nunez, Moore and Swinton play two former friends who reunite under strange circumstances years later. Sony Pictures Classic reteams with Almodóvar after Parallel Mothers (2021) scored Penélope Cruz a Best Actress nod.
The main poster also nods to Persona and May December, which only gives further reason to secure tickets and see what this master director has in store. The Room Next Door is also competing at Venice and is part of the New York Film Festival centerpiece. – Matt Minton
The Assessment
Not everybody’s directorial debut features stars with the magnitude of Alicia Vikander or Elizabeth Olsen. However, Fleur Fortuné’s debut feature The Assessment features both. If that elevator pitch isn’t already compelling enough, Fortuné’s dystopian sci-fi thriller grapples with themes of climate change, overpopulation, and governmental authoritarianism, setting the stage for top-of-mind thematic storytelling.
The story follows a near future where climate change has ravaged the planet, and the government maintains strict control of resources, including reproduction. With an Ex Machina-esque setup (this time Alicia Vikander is administering the questions), ethical propositions on the future of humanity are sure to arise. Dystopian films are a common theme at this year’s festival, but with no distributor attached to the project yet, it is a title worth seeing that may stand out from the crowd. – Danny Jarabek
Anora
The Palme d’Or winner is destined to be one of the hottest tickets at TIFF, and you can bet a lot of money that, like Cannes, Sean Baker’s latest outing, Anora, is bound to be a favorite amongst attendees.
Mikey Madison delivers a star-is-born turn as the titular New York City-based stripper, who strikes up an unlikely romance with the son of a Russian oligarch. Baker always finds a beautiful way to capture misunderstood, marginalized communities and helps their stories feel universal. He has produced some of the best outings of the past decade, and if Anora is on that same level, we are in for another reminder that Baker is one of the great auteurs in the business today. It’s also long overdue to label him as an Oscar nominee (and possibly winner?). – Bryan Sudfield
Viktor
While most of the awards films coming out of TIFF tend to be fiction films, that doesn’t mean we should overlook the many documentaries in contention. One in particular that deserves to be talked about more is director Olivier Sarbil’s Viktor, which should be watched out for in the Best Documentary category at this year’s Oscars.
The documentary tracks Russia’s invasion of Ukraine but from the perspective of a deaf photographer who struggles to find work. Sarbil’s film is a personal one, as he himself suffered hearing loss. Captured in black-and-white with the same sound team that worked on the Oscar-winning Sound of Metal, Viktor looks to provide a unique, vital cinematic perspective on war.
After Sound of Metal and CODA broke out at the Oscars and encouraged conversations about the deaf community, there’s hope for a documentary like Viktor to possibly break out as well. All showings of the film will feature closed captions. – Matt Minton
Cloud
Already selected as Japan’s International Feature submission to the Academy Awards, Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s Cloud is sure to resonate for that reason alone. Additionally, it’s worth noting that the Japanese auteur is having a prolific year by any standard with the third entry to his filmography this year alone.
Cloud takes aim at the effects of social media and digitalism while following Ryosuke Yoshii (Masaki Suda), an internet reseller whose digital and physical lives become intertwined in dangerous ways. Kurosawa generates unsettling atmospheres and striking images with the best of modern filmmakers. The combination of an auteur who has made the likes of Pulse, Cure, and Tokyo Sonata with topical threats that arise from our digital connectivity has the potential to sear audiences with striking accuracy. – Danny Jarabek
Daniela Forever
Back in 2017, NEON released their first acquisition in director Nacho Vigalondo’s underrated gem Colossal, and since then, it’s been quite a wait for his follow-up. Nearly eight years after its TIFF premiere, he returns with the sci-fi romance Daniela Forever.
Following the death of his lover Daniela (Beatrice Granno), Nick (Henry Golding) is enrolled in a clinical trial for a drug that gives its participants lucid dreams. The experience takes a sharp turn, though, when Nick finds he can control his dreams and reattempts to build a relationship with Daniela. Described as a blend of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and Inception, it’s going to be fascinating to see Vigalondo showcase another genre exercise that’s destined to stay with you after initial viewing. – Bryan Sudfield
Nightbitch
Ever since it was announced that Amy Adams would be playing the role of a mother who whole-heartedly believes she is turning into a dog, all eyes have been on Searchlight Pictures’ Nightbitch to see what Marielle Heller would do with the conversation-turning source material — and if the overdue Adams has finally landed her Oscar-winning role.
Rachel Yoder’s novel of the same name is a darkly funny and smartly written dive into the expectations placed on motherhood. And it’s safe to say that Adams, who is receiving a TIFF Tribute Award, has a lot to play with here. It’ll be interesting to see what tone Heller ultimately strikes here after the questionable trailer. Whether it leans more into campiness or the dramatic — here’s hoping the final product lives up to the pitch-perfect tagline: “Motherhood is a bitch.” – Matt Minton
Harvest
While dystopian futures may be a common theme amongst a handful of narrative features at this year’s festival, Athina Rachel Tsangari looks to comment on xenophobic tendencies and capitalistic greed in a period setting–the pre-industrial English countryside in Harvest. The Greek director gathers an ensemble including Frank Dillane, Harry Melling, and Caleb Landry Jones, and, as their interests collide over seven tension-packed days, the behavior of the village gives way to calamity and paranoia.
In a remote village where traditional ways of life are disrupted by the privatization of land, the adaptation of Jim Crace’s novel presents a thoughtful allegory from a two-time previous TIFF-selected director. Thanks to stunning 16mm cinematography from Sean Price Williams and a small glimpse into the promotional imagery, it’s sure to look as impressive as its premise sounds. – Danny Jarabek
Sketch
Stumbling across a directorial debut at a film festival is bound to be a feast, as you’re about to be given a new talent’s lens. Hopefully, they take you by surprise. From how it’s described, Sketch could come off as one of the more charming, wholesome debuts seeing its world premiere at TIFF.
The film follows a young girl as her bizarre, twisted sketches come to life after accidentally getting plunged into a magical pond. Loosely taking elements from Jumanji and The Goonies, Sketch appears to be a hilarious yet heartfelt study of how a person, especially a child, handles loss and the methods they use to feel whole in the midst of a tragedy. With a wonderful cast of newcomers and established comic talents like Tony Hale and D’Arcy Carden, there’s no doubt that Sketch could be a hidden gem of the festival. – Bryan Sudfield
No Other Land
After winning the jury and audience documentary prizes at the Berlin Film Festival, No Other Land is coming to TIFF — and it’s tackling one of the most topical subjects of any documentary at the entire fest.
Set during Israeli military occupation, the film follows the complex friendship that forms between Basel Adra, a Palestinian activist, and Yuval Abraham, an Israeli journalist. The film aims to show the realities of life in the West Bank and the destructive forces that have ended so many innocent lives. This documentary was made by a Palestinian-Israeli collective and aims to show the importance of building community and bridging cultural gaps in society.
While TIFF will surely feature plenty of red-carpet moments, films like No Other Land should remind us of the innocent Palestinian lives that continue to be lost. – Matt Minton
List Courtesy of Danny Jarabek, Matt Minton, and Bryan Sudfield, with an introduction by Carson Burton
Feature Image Credit to TIFF.net