The time has almost come. After months of planning, I jet off to the United States and Canada in 2 weeks time. I’ll run through my full itinerary in more detail soon but in this week’s blog, I thought I’d talk about some of the amazing film that will be featured at the Toronto Film Festival.
I wrote about a month ago about the ticketing process in Toronto and you can check it out here. The great news is that I’ve been selected for the online ticket courier service which means I can submit my movie preferences online as opposed to couriering them to the ticket office (which was always going to be tough time-wise from here in Australia). At this point, I’m still waiting to hear word about my media accreditation. Keeping the fingers crossed.
The full program with times will be released on August 23 but many of the galas and special presentations have been announced. Having sifted through many of the films, I’ve come up with a quick list of just some of the films I’m hoping to see. I have to admit that I’m pretty damn excited. Hopefully I’ll be able to secure tickets to many of these.
In a pitiful effort to make you jealous, here’s a look at what the 2011 Toronto Film Festival will have to offer…
The top 10 films on my early list…
The Ides Of March
Director: George Clooney (Good Night, And Good Luck)
Plot: George Clooney is back in the director’s chair for this edgy political drama set in the days leading up to a fictional presidential primary. Clooney also stars as a Democratic candidate who schools his idealistic campaign press secretary (Ryan Gosling) in the dubious machinations of modern politics.
The Descendants
Director: Alexander Payne (Election, Sideways)
Plot: George Clooney plays the leader of a storied Hawaiian family as they are forced to decide what to do with their last, vast parcel of land. At the same time he learns a secret about his critically ill wife.
A Dangerous Method
Director: David Cronenberg (A History Of Violence, eXistenZ, Crash)
Plot: For his third consecutive collaboration with Viggo Mortensen, David Cronenberg adapts Christopher Hampton's 2002 stage play concerning the turbulent relationship between Carl Jung (Michael Fassbender) and his mentor Sigmund Freud (Mortensen) as they struggle to treat a troubled patient (Keira Knightley).
Moneyball
Director: Bennett Miller (Capote)
Plot: Bennett Miller’s follow-up to 2005’s Capote stars Brad Pitt as Billy Beane, the Oakland Athletics’ general manager whose unorthodox approach to fielding a team had a major impact on the game. Jonah Hill and Phillip Seymour Hoffman co-star in this clever and compelling work of sports realism.
50/50
Director: Jonathan Lavine (The Wackness)
Plot: As far as movie formulas go, cancer and comedy shouldn't mix. But 50/50 defies these odds by finding the perfect balance of humour and honesty. Joseph Gordon-Levitt stars as a 27-year old nice guy who's been diagnosed with a rare form of cancer. Luckily, he doesn't have to face this dark journey alone: by his side are his best friend (Seth Rogen), his doctor (Philip Baker Hall) and a therapist-in-training (Anna Kendrick).
360
Director: Fernando Meirelles (City Of God, The Constant Gardener)
Plot: Director Fernando Meirelles reunites with his Constant Gardener star Rachel Weisz, who stars opposite Jude Law, Anthony Hopkins, and Ben Foster in this uncompromising dramatic thriller fuelled by the notion of how sexual relationships can transgress social boundaries.
We Need To Talk About Kevin
Director: Lynne Ramsay (Morvern Callar)
Plot: Based on the best-selling novel, Tilda Swinton gives a strong performance as a mother who always knew her son was different, angry and perhaps evil.
Albert Nobbs
Director: Rodrigo Garcia (Six Feet Under, In Treatment)
Plot: Glenn Close co-wrote and stars in this adaptation of the play about a nineteenth-century Irishwoman who disguises herself as a man and works as a butler for twenty years. Mia Wasikowska, Jonathan Rhys Meyers and Aaron Johnson co-star in this intelligent and often surprising period drama.
Shame
Director: Steve McQueen (Hunger)
Plot: Michael Fassbender plays a New York man confronting his sexual compulsions and the self-destructive acts of his sister (Carey Mulligan).
Like Crazy
Director: Drake Doremus
Plot: Anna (Felicity Jones) notices Jacob (Anton Yelchin) in one of her college classes in Los Angeles. In a move worthy only of her youth, she scribbles a love poem and leaves it on his car. The pair soon catapults into that most potent brand of romance: naïve, pure and possibly fleeting.
A whole bunch of others I’m keen to see…
Butter
Director: Jim Field Smith (She’s Out Of My League)
Plot: Olivia Wilde and Hugh Jackman star in this deliciously unlikely comedy about a Midwestern misfit thrown into the hostile, high-stakes world of competitive butter carving. Also starring Jennifer Garner, Ashley Greene, Alicia Silverstone and cult-comedy favourites Rob Corddry and Kristen Schaal.
Coriolanus
Director: Fernando Meirelles (City Of God, The Constant Gardener)
Plot: Director Fernando Meirelles reunites with his Constant Gardener star Rachel Weisz, who stars opposite Jude Law, Anthony Hopkins, and Ben Foster in this uncompromising dramatic thriller fuelled by the notion of how sexual relationships can transgress social boundaries.
Dark Horse
Director: Todd Solondz (Happiness, Storytelling)
Plot: Todd Solondz creates an intimate dark comedy about a manchild whose desire for a romantic relationship runs smack into reality.
Drive
Director: Nicolas Winding Refn (Valhalla Rising)
Plot: Ryan Gosling plays a stunt driver by day, getaway driver by night in this lean and mean crime thriller by the director of Valhalla Rising that won Best Direction in Cannes.
Friends With Kids
Director: Jennifer Westfeldt
Plot: When a few members of a close group of married and single friends start to have children, it has a big impact on everyone. Stars Kristen Wiig, Megan Fox, Jon Hamm, Maya Rudolph and Edward Burns.
Hick
Director: Derick Martini
Plot: A Nebraska teen gets much more than she bargained for when she sets out for the bright lights of the big city. Stars Blake Lively, Chloe Moretz, Alec Baldwin, Juliette Lewis, Eddie Redmayne and Rory Culkin.
Killer Joe
Director: William Friedkin (Rules Of Engagement, The Exorcist)
Plot: Emile Hirsch plays a desperate Texas debtor who plots to kill his mother, with help of his family (Thomas Haden Church, Gina Gershon). They hire a crooked cop (Matthew McConaughey) to do the job, but Killer Joe asks for their teenage daughter (Juno Temple) as a "retainer."
Machine Gun Preacher
Director: Marc Foster (Monster’s Ball, Finding Neverland)
Plot: The true story of Sam Childers, an American drug dealing biker who turned his life around and became a crusader for hundreds of Sudanese child soldiers. Gerard Butler (300) delivers a searing performance as Childers in Golden Globe®-nominated director Marc Forster's moving story of violence and redemption.
Peace, Love & Misunderstanding
Director: Bruce Beresford (Mao’s Last Dancer, Paradise Road, Driving Miss Daisy)
Plot: Australian film veteran Bruce Beresford delivers a heartfelt comedy that centres on a conservative lawyer (Catherine Keener) who, after splitting with her husband, takes her two teenage children to meet their estranged, eccentric grandmother (Jane Fonda).
The Skin I Live In
Director: Pedro Almodovar (Talk To Her, All About My Mother)
Plot: Pedro Almodóvar’s disturbing and gripping new thriller sees the director reteaming with star Antonio Banderas after 21 years. Banderas plays an accomplished plastic surgeon who creates a new kind of synthetic skin and uses his worst enemy as a guinea pig.
Take Shelter
Director: Jeff Nichols
Plot: Overwhelmed by visions of an impending apocalypse, a young father and husband (Michael Shannon) channels his anxieties into obsessively constructing a storm shelter in the family’s backyard. As he does this, the entire community begins to lash out against his erratic behaviour.
Take This Waltz
Director: Sarah Polley (Away We Go)
Plot: Sarah Polley makes a welcome return to directing with her first feature since 2006 Festival favourite Away from Her. Luke Kirby, Seth Rogen, Sarah Silverman and two-time Oscar®-nominee Michelle Williams star in this bittersweet story about a married woman struggling to choose between her husband and a man she's just met.
Ten Year
Director: Jamie Linden
Plot: A group of high school friends meet again at their high school reunion and discover that the passing of time changes some things--and others not at all. It stars a large ensemble cast that includes Channing Tatum, Rosario Dawson, Justin Long, Kate Mara, Anthony Mackie and Chris Pratt.
Twixt
Director: Francis Ford Coppola (The Godfather, The Rainmaker)
Plot: Inspired by the gothic horror of Edgar Allen Poe, Coppola's latest tells the tale of a burnt-out mystery writer (Val Kilmer) who gets mixed up in murder and evil in a California town.