Ryan McNeilThe most wonderful time of year for local filmgoers is fast approaching. The time of little sleep, poor eating habits, copious alcohol, and more films that any one person can possibly consume…even though many have tried.
The 42nd Annual Toronto International Film Festival is happening from September 7th to 17th, and for the seventeenth year in a row, yours truly is spending time in its joyous midst.
However, like last year, I am trying to achieve a little bit more film/life balance, and have dialled my slate back a bit. Most of those first fifteen years, I took in twenty-something films each year. Last year though, in an effort to hold on to some vacation time for a European adventure, I dialled the whole thing back to about ten films.
This year, thanks to a planned Broadway adventure, that’s the approach again. Know what though? I’m quite alright with that. Gives me a rather healthy sampler while allowing me not to completely drain the reserves.
There are a lot of sexy titles coming this year, including works by Darren Aronofsky, Alexander Payne, and Guillermo del Toro to name but a few.
Like last year though, I’m choosing to focus my selections on women in film (which I highly recommend, by the way).
So with my selections made and tickets confirmed, take a look at what I’ll be seeing this September…
AVA
A 16-year-old girl’s relationship with her family is challenged after her mother takes her to a gynaecologist in order to ensure she’s still a virgin (Directed by Sadaf Foroughi)
I’VE HEARD THE MERMAIDS SINGING
TIFF Cinematheque screening of Patricia Rozema’s internationally acclaimed debut feature, which was a watershed moment in Canadian film
WARU
Comprised of eight vignettes that document the funeral of a young Maori boy, Waru is a formally complex reflection on tragedy, responsibility, and the intimate grain of a community united in the face of grief (Directed by Briar Grace-Smith, Ainsley Gardiner, Renae Maihi, Casey Kaa, Awanui Simich-Pene, Chelsea Cohen, Katie Wolfe, and Paula Jones)
UNICORN STORE
Brie Larson stars in her directorial debut about a dreamer reluctant to abandon her childish wonder who is offered the most magical gift she can imagine, with Samuel L. Jackson, Joan Cusack, and Bradley Whitford
IF YOU SAW HIS HEART
Cast out of his insular community, a damaged and down-on-his-luck man (Gael García Bernal) teeters between a life of crime and the path to redemption (Directed by Joan Chemla)
LET THE CORPSES TAN
Absconding with a truckload of stolen gold, a gang of thieves engages in a day-long firefight with pursuing cops through the ruins of a remote Mediterranean hamlet, in this deliriously stylish thriller from Hélène Cattet and Bruno Forzani (The Strange Color of Your Body’s Tears)
THE HUNGRY
Writer-director Bornila Chatterjee relocates Shakespeare’s bloody tragedy Titus Andronicus to modern-day India, where corruption, greed, and revenge run rampant at an extravagant wedding.
PLONGER
A restless photographer leaves her family to “find herself” and takes up deep-sea diving, in this emotional drama from Mélanie Laurent
ALANIS
A young Buenos Aires mother and sex worker suffers the hypocrisy of the laws that are supposed to protect her, in this compelling, profoundly political drama about the dismal choices foisted upon vulnerable women (Directed by Anahí Berneri)
MY DAYS OF MERCY
The daughter (Ellen Page) of a man on death row falls in love with a woman (Kate Mara) on the opposing side of her family’s political cause (Directed by Tali Shalom-Ezer)
KINGS
In the English-language debut from writer-director Deniz Gamze Ergüven (Mustang), a recluse (Daniel Craig) helps a woman (Halle Berry) and her multiple children when riots erupt in Los Angeles following the 1992 acquittal of the policemen charged with assaulting Rodney King
If anyone interested in just where and when I’m attending each film, my schedule is here
I’ll see you at Kings