The Toronto International Film Festival has long been a predictor of Oscar glory – films such as Slumdog Millionaire, American Beauty, No Country for Old Men, Argo and many more played TIFF before going on to collect a handful of golden statuettes.
So which flicks are getting the biggest buzz this year? Here are ten titles you’ll likely hear more about come awards season:
12 Years a Slave: Director Steve McQueen has never been afraid to tackle extremes of human behaviour, as his films Hunger and Shame readily prove. 12 Years a Slave is his third feature, and it tells the true story of a free man sold into slavery in 19th-century America. The immensely talented Chiwetel Ejiofor is already garnering Oscar buzz for his portrayal of Solomon Northup, a New York musician who’s kidnapped and transported to the Deep South in 1841. The rest of the cast is equally impressive, from McQueen regular Michael Fassbender, to Benedict Cumberbatch (in three, count ‘em three, films at this year’s TIFF), to Brad Pitt who plays a bit part as a Canadian abolitionist.
August: Osage County: If there’s one movie that rivals 12 Years a Slave in terms of star-studded cast, it’s August: Osage County, which stars Meryl Streep, Julia Roberts, Ewan McGregor, Sam Shepherd, Chris Cooper, Juliette Lewis, and the aforementioned Cumberbatch. Streep and Roberts are being touted as early Oscar contenders for their performances as a mother and daughter unhappily reunited following the disappearance of the family’s patriarch (Shepherd). The film is based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning play by Tracy Letts, and is directed by John Wells (The Company Men).
Blue is the Warmest Color: Winner of the Palme d’Or at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, Blue Is the Warmest Color centers on a young woman’s sexual awakening, and the complicated relationship that follows. High school student Adele (Adele Exarchopoulos) finds herself drawn not to the boys at her school, but to art student Emma (Lea Seydoux). Abdellatif Kechiche’s film is a tender portrait of first love, but also a bold look at the maturation of a relationship.
Dallas Buyers Club: Matthew McConaughey follows up last year’s impressive supporting turn in Magic Mike with a lead role that already has people talking about both his performance and the 40 pounds he lost for the part. He plays Ron Woodroof, a homophobic Texas man who becomes an unlikely AIDS activist after being diagnosed with HIV in the 1980s. After reacting badly to the experimental drug AZT, Woodroof goes to Mexico for alternative treatments, then begins smuggling those unapproved treatments back over the border in order to sell them to patients in the U.S. The film also features Jared Leto, unrecognizable as a drag queen named Rayon.
The Fifth Estate: The film festival’s opening night selection, The Fifth Estate stars Benedict Cumberbatch as Wikileaks founder Julian Assange in a story about the site’s rise to international prominence as well as the deteriorating friendship between Assange and his right-hand man Daniel Domscheit-Berg (Daniel Bruhl). This is one of the biggest releases playing the festival this year, and Cumberbatch is being talked about as a possible Oscar nominee for his portrayal of Assange.
Gravity: This is Alfonso Cuaron’s first feature film since 2006’s brilliant Children of Men, and given that the director, according to IMDb, once dreamt of being an astronaut, it’s interesting that his two lifelong dreams intersect in this set-in-space thriller with Sandra Bullock and George Clooney. Bullock plays first-time astronaut Ryan Stone to Clooney’s seasoned NASA veteran Matt Kowalsky, and all is going well until an unthinkable catastrophe threatens both the mission and their lives. Director Cuaron uses the latest 3D technology to immerse the audience in outer space in what promises to be one of the most daring and impactful films of the year.
Labor Day: Festival darling Jason Reitman (he’s been here before with Thank You for Smoking, Juno, and Up in the Air) returns with Labor Day, about a 13-year-old boy (Gattlin Griffith) and his reclusive mother (Kate Winslet), and the relationship both form with an escaped convict (Josh Brolin) who holds them hostage. Among the Canadian director’s many strengths is the way he portrays complex relationships on screen, and the same is true here. Rounding out the strong supporting cast are Tobey Maguire, James Van Der Beek, and Clark Gregg, and JK Simmons.
Mandela: Long Walk To Freedom: Idris Elba looks like a shoo-in for an Oscar nomination for his portrayal of Nelson Mandela in this long-awaited biopic. Based on Mandela’s autobiography, director Justin Chadwick’s film follows the South African freedom fighter’s life from amateur boxer, to anti-apartheid revolutionary, to prisoner, to president. Co-starring in the film as Winnie Mandela is the talented Naomie Harris.
Only Lovers Left Alive: For those fatigued of the vampire genre, take note – Twilight, this isn’t. American indie stalwart Jim Jarmusch writes and directs this dark tale of vampire rock star Adam (Tom Hiddleston), who wants to be left alone with his music, but is interrupted by fans, his girlfriend Eve (Tilda Swinton), and Eve’s grumpy sister (Mia Wasikowska). Jarmusch’s films are nothing if not original, and the casting of Hiddleston and Swinton is particularly intriguing.
Prisoners: If you’ve seen Denis Villeneuve’s immensely disturbing Polytechnique, based on the 1989 Montreal Massacre, you know that the Canadian director is adept at building tension on film. Here, he turns his lens on two families dealing with the disappearance of their daughters, two friends who go missing on Thanksgiving. Hugh Jackman plays one of the girls’ fathers, and when the police investigation slows, he takes matters into his own hands. The suspenseful film features a stellar cast including Jake Gyllenhaal as the lead detective, Paul Dano as a mysterious suspect in the case, and Terrence Howard, Viola Davis and Maria Bello as the other affected parents of the missing girls.
Are you seeing these or any films at TIFF this year? Let us know in the comments below!
Still from 12 Years a Slave