With the 50th edition of the Toronto International Film Festival just over a week away, we’re deep into planning our schedules. While we have the privilege and honour of seeing some films in advance of the festival, there are many others where we patiently wait to see them alongside some of the best moviegoing audiences in the world. There’s so much to see that we can’t possibly fit it all into such a short period of time, but there’s obviously some that we’re excited to try and carve out some space for. And in the lead up to the festival, we’re excited to share some of our most anticipated films taking part in TIFF’s 50th birthday.
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Here are ten films that I’m most eager to see at this year’s festival, and stay tuned for our Editor-in-Chief’s thoughts, coming soon! (And also, even though I don’t list Frankenstein or Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery, just throw those in as numbers eleven and twelve. I feel like those are are super anticipated to a point where I almost don’t need to mention them. But I do plan on trying to see them.)
Ugo Bienvenu’s animated tale of a time travelling ten year old who ends up in a world on the verge of collapse looks vibrant, original, and unlike anything else at the festival this year. Produced in part by Natalie Portman (who also provides her voice to the project) and winner of best picture at this year’s prestigious Annecy Animation Festival, Arco is one of a number of fascinating animated films to hit the festival this year, but colour me particularly hyped for this one.
Director Jonatan Etzler’s dark comedy Bad Apples sounds right up my alley. Frequent TIFF attendee Saoirse Ronan stars as a private school teacher whose run-in with a particularly disruptive student causes an unintended ripple effect. The kind of project that sounds destined to go to some very dark comedic places, Bad Apples sounds exactly like the kind of balance between thoughtfulness and laughs I secretly crave.
Having admired her short films for the past several years, I’m excited to see the first feature from Hungarian-Canadian filmmaker Sophy Romvari, Blue Heron. A look at a family during a time of transition and crisis in the 1990s as told through the eyes of its youngest member, Blue Heron sounds like a perfect extension of the types of movies Romvari has been making in short form for years now. Hopefully the feature length will make the unaware take notice, too, and provide Romvari with equally large canvases to come.
It was a toss up on which Midnight Madness title was going to make my most anticipated list this year. It was either going to be this Chinese produced tale of a father trying to save his daughter from a human trafficking ring, or filmmaker Ben Wheatley and John Wick creator Derek Kolstad’s Normal, which casts Bob Odenkirk (again in action mode) as a small town sheriff on the run from his own constituents. Both sound awesome, but The Furious boasts direction from renowned fight choreographer Kenji Tanigaki and an all star cast of martial arts heavyweights (including Joe Taslim and Yayan Ruhian from Midnight Madness all-timer The Raid). So close between the two, but if forced to choose, I’m going to go with The Furious. (Or both. Probably both. Hopefully both.)
No one understands the toll catastrophe takes on human beings quite like filmmaker Paul Greengrass. In films like Captain Philips, United 93, and 22 July, Greengrass has empathetically and harrowingly placed viewers into the direct like of hardship, tragedy, and fights for survival. The Lost Bus, written by Greengrass and Mare of Easttown creator Brad Ingelsby, tells the story of a bus driver (played by Matthew McConaughey) answering a rescue call to save 23 children stranded at their elementary school amid the devastating 2018 Camp Fire in California. This is precisely the kind of film where Greengrass excels; bringing the viewer straight into hell and watching everyday people trying their best to navigate deadly situations. I hope to have a lump in my throat almost the entire time.
Writer-director Chandler Levack (last at the festival with her hilarious and heartfelt examination of cinephile culture, I Like Movies) has a unique voice, and her latest feature, Mile End Kicks, looks like a further attempt to connect her present work to her past work as a critic. Barbie Ferreira stars as a 23-year old music writers who decamps to Montreal to write a volume about one of the greatest albums of the 90s (Alanis Morisette’s Jagged Little Pill), but ends up getting romantically involved with two members of the same band. Levack has a knack for cultivating sticky personal relationships in her films, and this sounds like a nice addition to her growing body of work.
Put Your Soul on Your Hand and Walk
My most anticipated documentary at this year’s festival has to be Sepideh Farsi’s Put Your Soul on Your Hand and Walk, which is built around a series of video calls between the Iranian filmmaker (currently living in exile in France) and Palestinian photographer Fatma Hassouna, who’s witnessing Israel’s bombing of Gaza and the blocking of international aid to the region as it happens. Although a full generation separates the filmmaker from her subject, Farsi and Hassouna sound like kindred spirits. It’s a timely and important subject made even more tragic and poignant by the fact that Hassouna was killed in a missile attack one day after it was announced that Farsi’s film would be premiering at Cannes.
After thrilling audiences with genre films like 2016’s Train to Busan and 2018’s Psychokinesis, and the unnerving limited series Hellbound (which also premiered at TIFF), Korean filmmaker and author Yeon Sang-ho has decided to go quite a bit smaller, but no less darker with his latest, The Ugly, an adaption of his own graphic novel, Face. The story of a young man searching for insight into his mother’s mysterious past, The Ugly marks a change of pace for Sang-ho, who shot this film on a vastly smaller budget and with a minimal amount of crew members. Let’s see if the results are on par with some of his bigger efforts.
No one blinks an eye anymore when someone makes the leap from comedy to thrillers (thanks Jordan Peele!), but few jumps have felt as interesting and purposeful as the one about to be made by Mae Martin with the Canadian produced series Wayward, screening as part of TIFF’s Primetime section. This examination into the insidious heart of the “troubled teen” reformation industry, features series creator Martin as a detective, and Toni Collette as the headmistress of a creepy correctional school. I had a chance to glimpse just a small taste of what Wayward has to offer earlier in the year, and we can’t wait for more.
Youngblood has its work cut out for it. Not only is director Hubert Davis’ film a remake of one of the biggest cult sports movies of the 1980s, but it’s also a case of a director picking up the reigns of someone else’s passion project. Youngblood was a dream project for late filmmaker Charles Officer, who’s still credited as a writer here, and it was one that I always hoped I would get to see in my lifetime. This story of an up and coming hockey player trying to navigate the ins and outs of the sport on a professional level shifts to a black perspective instead of the white one featured in the original. But even though Officer wasn’t able to see Youngblood to completion, David knows a thing or two about black perspectives on the sport after having made the award winning documentary Black Ice. It probably won’t be nearly as meat-headed as the original, but that’s probably a good thing.
