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It’s that time of year again! We’re back with a big team at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival, which starts tomorrow with one of the biggest programs in the festival’s history. Like every other year, TIFF is a mix of North American, International, Canadian, and World Premieres. It will give many people their first chance to see films from Cannes like “Fjord” and “Clarissa,” along with several Venice and Telluride options like “Wild Horse Nine” and “Ink.” While we plan to hit several films in Canada that other outlets have covered from Venice and Telluride (including highly anticipated titles like “Elsinore” and “Possible Love”), we always focus our annual preview on 20 movies playing nowhere but TIFF.
Come back for coverage of all 20 of these, plus about two dozen more, from yours truly, Marya E. Gates, Cortlyn Kelly, and Zachary Lee.
Note: All of the synopses below are from the official TIFF site.
“Babies”
Anchored by a pair of hugely appealing lead performances from Seth Rogen (TIFF ’25’s Good Fortune) and Oscar nominee Anna Kendrick (TIFF ’09’s Up In the Air), the second feature from writer-director Lauren Miller Rogen (Like Father) digs deep into the dilemma that comes for every couple: to parent or not to parent? Bolstered by an all-star ensemble that includes Issa Rae (TIFF ’23’s American Fiction), Dan Stevens (TIFF ’25’s Swiped), and Oscar nominees Sharon Stone (Casino) and David Strathairn (Good Night, and Good Luck), Babies is relatable, hilarious, and wise in equal measure.
“Bad Lieutenant: Tokyo”
A dizzyingly prolific auteur who never fails to imprint his signature on every project he undertakes, Japanese maestro Takashi Miike (TIFF ’01’s Ichi the Killer) returns to the Festival with this thrilling contribution to a one-of-a-kind cinema legacy. Like Abel Ferrara’s cult masterpiece Bad Lieutenant (TIFF ’92) and Werner Herzog’s gonzo Southern neo-noir Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call — New Orleans (TIFF ’09), Bad Lieutenant: Tokyo is very much its own entity, not so much a sequel to its predecessors as a mood, a variation on shared themes, and a rollercoaster ride through the darkest crevasses of the Tokyo underworld.
“Being Heumann”
Every bit as moving as her Best Picture Oscar winner, CODA, Siân Heder’s Being Heumann tells the remarkable true story of the woman who led a world-changing campaign for accessibility. Judy Heumann rallied a handful, then dozens, then hundreds of ordinary Americans with disabilities to push the US government to live up to its commitments.
The year is 1977. Raised in Brooklyn by German Jewish immigrants, and using a wheelchair since a childhood case of polio, Judy Heumann (Ruth Madeley) knows it takes grit and tenacity to get things done. So when Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare Joseph Califano (Mark Ruffalo) refuses to sign meaningful regulations for Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, the first national civil rights legislation designed to provide protections for people with disabilities, Judy devises a plan to force his hand, beginning with the occupation of a federal building in San Francisco, before going all the way to DC — and Califano’s front door — with a diverse team of self-described “radical crips,” creating solidarity through coalitions of marginalized groups.
“Closing Night”
Actor Cody Fern (American Horror Story, The Great Darkened Days, TIFF ’18) makes a sensational directorial debut with this sharp, emotionally astute story about family bonds and buried truths. When an internationally renowned movie star (Sarah Paulson) invites her estranged family to the opening night of her Broadway play after decades of silence, old wounds resurface almost as quickly as old habits. Her emotionally fragile sister (Naomi Watts, The Friend, TIFF ’24) remains determined to hold onto a lifetime of resentment, while her nephew (Toby Wallace, Finestkind, TIFF ’23) sees an opportunity to forge a relationship with his famous aunt.
“Diary of a Mad Old Man”
This captivating chamber drama from versatile auteur Wayne Wang (last at the Festival with 2019’s Coming Home Again) draws us into the troubled psyche of an aging widower whose sudden onset of disability coincides with the development of an unnervingly intimate relationship. Featuring a brilliantly graded performance by veteran actor Lily Franky (familiar to TIFF audiences from Hirokazu Kore-eda’s Shoplifters and Chie Hayakawa’s Renoir), this adaptation of revered Japanese author Jun’ichirō Tanizaki’s eponymous novel ushers us into a realm of beguiling signals and unruly desire.
“Everybody Wants to F*ck Me”
Taron Egerton gives a gleefully committed performance as Adam in Jonathan Schey’s darkly comedic debut, riffing on the dating scene and the self-proclaimed “nice guys” who litter it. Adam has mastered all the trappings of enlightened masculinity: listening more than speaking in meetings with women coworkers, reading feminist literature, practicing yoga, and offering a soupçon of self-deprecation when chatting up women at bars or on dating apps. Adam’s longtime friend who once provided cover for his behaviour is growing up and growing weary of being an accomplice.
Adam has had a lifetime of f*ck around, but his find out is just around the corner when he meets Jessica Henwick’s Sofia. Intriguing and sharp, she proves to be a challenge calling out his behaviour. The encounter shakes Adam and, stranger still, everybody (but mostly women) start responding to his carefully studied charms, first with mild interest, then flat-out stalking, then vigorous pursuit — even when he’s appropriately dressed.
“Evil Genius”
Chilling, fascinating, and darkly hilarious, Courteney Cox’s second feature as director boldly dramatizes the bizarre web of stories behind the infamous “pizza bomber” incident. Featuring lived-in lead performances from David Harbour (Stranger Things) and Oscar winner Patricia Arquette (Boyhood), Evil Genius is an astonishing true-crime story brimming with bloodshed, betrayals, and a hopeless case of amour fou.
Erie, Pennsylvania, 2003. From a phone booth outside a waffle joint, Bill Rothstein (Harbour) calls the police to report the corpse of a murdered man stashed in a freezer in the garage of Bill’s former paramour, Marjorie Diehl-Armstrong (Arquette). But who is this murdered man? And exactly how did his body wind up in that freezer?
“Faith”
For single mother Gina (Erin Doherty, The Crown), every day is a balancing act. Raising her young son Jamie (Smylie Bradwell) while working shifts at a local factory, she does everything she can to build a comfortable home from modest means. When Gina meets the enigmatic and charming Michael (James McAvoy, California Schemin’, TIFF ’25) — a volunteer at the local food bank — his easy companionship offers the possibility of something she has long denied herself: the chance to envision a brighter future.
Then, in an instant, everything changes.
“God Bless You, Mr. Kopu”
“Unhappy? Need a change?” It’s a question, a sales pitch, and perhaps a warning. When charismatic American salesman Marco (Simon Rex, Red Rocket) arrives in New Zealand touting a revolutionary new cleaning product, he’s looking for ambitious recruits to build an army of door-to-door salespeople. Struggling to make ends meet, Mafu Kopu (TIFF 2021 Rising Star Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi, Predator: Badlands) sees an offer too good to refuse. Drawn in by Marco’s effortless charm and uncanny powers of persuasion, he quickly becomes his star protégé. As the money starts to roll in, Mafu feels a growing distance from his Tongan family, his community, and the cultural values that have long defined him.
“I Play Rocky”
There is no greater movie about beating the odds through sheer determination than Rocky. But the story behind that box-office smash — which turned its unknown writer-star Sylvester Stallone into a phenomenon — is just as unlikely and inspiring. Helmed by Oscar winner Peter Farrelly (TIFF ’18 People’s Choice Award winner Green Book) and featuring a career-making performance from Anthony Ippolito, I Play Rocky vividly recreates a paradigm-shifting moment in Hollywood history and chronicles the meteoric rise of one of cinema’s preeminent multihyphenates.
“The Julia Set”
For Julia (Chase Infiniti, One Battle After Another), mathematics has always come naturally. But growing up, she learned to downplay her abilities to draw attention away from her high-needs sibling and perhaps not disrupt the expectations of others. Before long though, her intellectual talents are recognized by a teaching assistant, Pascal (Christopher Briney, The Summer I Turned Pretty), who recruits her into an elite group of student prodigies training for a highly prestigious undergraduate mathematics competition, The Putnam Exam.
Julia is thrown into the deep end, training with an infamously tough professor (Nina Hoss) who has already picked her favourites. Among them is Pascal, whose father (Jason Isaacs) is a giant in the field of mathematics. Unfortunately, his way of passing the baton is through intimidation. As the competition nears, tensions rise, sending Pascal spiralling but bringing out the best in slow and steady Julia.
“Lemonade”
After years in Ireland’s foster care system, Danny is required by law to leave the home that has been his world. On the day he turns 18, he finds himself alone in a tiny Dublin studio apartment, working an entry-level factory job, and navigating the bewildering freedoms and responsibilities of adulthood. As he struggles to find his footing — and a way back to the younger brother he was forced to leave behind — the reappearance of his former social worker Josh (Barry Keoghan, TIFF ’24’s Bring Them Down and Bird) offers both an unexpected lifeline and a painful reminder that trust, once broken, is never easily rebuilt.
“Love of Your Life”
By turns soulful, heartbreaking, and wise, this complex character study from director Rachel Morrison (TIFF ’24’s The Fire Inside) and screenwriter Julia Cox (TIFF ’23’s Nyad) provides the perfect showcase for the talented Margaret Qualley (TIFF ’24’s The Substance). Following a young woman’s romantic adventures and relationships over several years and continents, Love of Your Life is a contemporary portrait of love, loss, and letting go.
“Misty Green”
Superstar comic Chris Rock’s latest as writer-director is a hilarious, scathing satire of the institutional bigotry and soul-draining hustle that dominate the movie industry. Featuring a career-making lead performance from Rosalind Eleazar (TIFF ’19’s The Personal History of David Copperfield) and supporting turns from Oscar winner Daniel Kaluuya plus Oscar nominees Adam Driver and Anna Kendrick (also at this year’s Festival in Babies), Misty Green chronicles the extremes one Black actor goes to to keep both her career and brother alive.
“Onwards and Sideways”
With heartache, laughter, and hard-won connection, the latest from Oscar-nominated director John Madden (Shakespeare in Love, TIFF ’05’s Proof) stars Oscar nominee Laura Linney (TIFF ’08’s The Savages) and Rhys Ifans (TIFF ’23’s Mother Couch) as strangers whose lives become gradually entwined when both are diagnosed with Parkinson disease at the same clinic, on the same day.
“Prima Facie”
Anchored by a powerhouse performance from Cynthia Erivo, the Oscar-nominated star of Wicked and TIFF ’19’s Harriet, this piercing legal drama examines what happens when an ambitious barrister who primarily defends those accused of sex crimes unexpectedly becomes the accuser. Adapted by Australian playwright Suzie Miller from her globally acclaimed one-woman show, and directed by Susanna White (Our Kind of Traitor, TIFF ’17’s Woman Walks Ahead), Prima Facie exposes the pitfalls of a legal system that places the burden of proof on the victim.
“The Stunt Driver”
Even when compared with his fellow mavericks, misfits, and adrenaline junkies who wowed audiences with their high-speed stunts during the 1970s golden age of daredevils, Ken Carter was one of a kind. Known as “The Mad Canadian” and immortalized in Robert Fortier’s 1981 NFB documentary The Devil At Your Heels — a film whose creation is very much woven into this successor’s gonzo tapestry — Carter repeatedly risked his life for a series of car stunts that culminated in the most ambitious project of all: a historic jump in a rocket-powered Lincoln Continental across a mile-wide expanse of the St. Lawrence River. What could go wrong? In short: everything.
Powered by Jay Baruchel’s all-out performance as the man behind the wheel, Michael Dowse’s endearingly scrappy comedy honours its inspiration by portraying all the steps and missteps over the course of Carter’s years-long quest. The fact that The Stunt Driver frequently matches the anarchic energy of Baruchel and Dowse’s previous teaming on Goon (TIFF ’11) is no surprise. What’s more unexpected is the poignancy that the actor brings to his take on a man whose displays of bravado conceal a welter of fears and insecurities. It’s easy to see why he relies on steadfast allies like his wife Gloria (Laurence Leboeuf) and his car designer and technician Dick Keller (Ed Helms) — and why he’s so easily undermined by the machinations of his American nemesis, the legendary Evel Knievel (Ben Foster).
“A Talent for Murder”
This smouldering chamber thriller from director Anton Corbijn (TIFF ’07’s Control) imagines a strange confrontation between a literary agent and legendary author Patricia Highsmith, whose acclaimed, icily intelligent crime novels were the source material for such classic films as Hitchcock’s Strangers on a Train and The Talented Mr. Ripley. Adapted by Joanna Murray-Smith from her play Switzerland and starring Alden Ehrenreich (TIFF ’23’s Fair Play), Olivia Cooke (TIFF ’19’s Sound of Metal; also at this year’s Festival in Slow Horses) and Oscar winner Helen Mirren, A Talent For Murder pits ruthless careerism against dark genius in a slippery battle of wills.
“Trash Mountain”
A dead hoarder’s houseful of holdings yields hope for a young man’s self-reckoning in this funny, wise film from director Kris Rey (It Was Great, But I Was Ready to Come Home). Featuring winsome performances from Caleb Hearon (The Devil Wears Prada 2), Zooey Deschanel (500 Days of Summer), and Oscar nominee Jackie Weaver (TIFF ’12’s Silver Linings Playbook), Trash Mountain is a homecoming story for anyone who dreads coming home.
“Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother”
A showcase for the immense range and singular magnetism of Oscar winner Mahershala Ali (TIFF ’18 People’s Choice Award winner Green Book), the latest from writer-director Bassam Tariq (Mogul Mowgli) is an audaciously inventive Texas-set action thriller in which the line that separates religious devotion from righteous bloodshed evaporates in a cloud of mayhem.
Latif (Ali) is a devout Muslim and a loving family man who also happens to be a contract killer. He has a strict code: he never uses guns and he only accepts targets the world would be better off without.
from Roger Ebert https://ift.tt/g5hpM3O
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