It's time once again for the lead-up to the 11-day celebration of non-stop, high-quality cinema that is the Toronto International Film Fest! ScreenAnarchy will have our normal array of reviewers spread out across the city bringing you the what's what on this year's crop of films. But first, we set out on our regular preview series - and we start that today with a look at just a few of the movies dubbed Galas and Special Presentations.
Beasts of No Nation
Cary Fukunaga has kept plenty busy since Jane Eyre, directing every episode of the first season of True Detective. His follow-up to that series is this African child soldier drama starring Idris Elba. Bleeker Street and Netflix have teamed up to distribute the film, which was produced by Participant. - Ryland Aldrich
Special Presentations
The Martian
What does Ridley Scott know about space?? His latest big budget science-fiction epic being distributed by Fox is this story of an astronaut mistakenly left on the Red Planet. The impressive cast looks like this: Matt Damon, Jessica Chastain, Kristen Wiig, Jeff Daniels, Michael Pena, Kate Mara, and Chiwetel Ejiofor. - Ryland Aldrich
Galas
Anomalisa
This TIFF's mandatory viewing sees the return of Charlie Kaufman, who last graced Toronto with his presence at the North American premiere of Synecdoche, New York seven years ago. This time Kaufman hashes out his existential mind-fuckdom via stop-motion animation. Duke Johnson co-directs. - Zach Gayne
Special Presentations
Room
Lenny Abrahamson's follow-up to the impressive Frank is an intriguing-sounding story of a woman raising a child in a 10' x 10' cell without the child knowing a world exists outside the walls. Brie Larsen stars. - Ryland Aldrich
Special Presentations
Talvar (Guilty)
The great Irrfan Khan stars in this retelling of the infamous murder case from India that was botched on all sides: police, media, and justice system. Director Meghna Gulzar offers a meticulous account of the famous 2008 incident in the form of a Hollywood procedural thriller. David Fincher’s Zodiac and Bong Joon-Ho’s Memories of Murder are the high watermarks to compare. - Kurt Halfyard
Special Presentations
The Program
Stephen Frears directs Ben Foster as one of modern sports' most notorious liars in this much anticipated Lance Armstrong biopic. Dustin Hoffman, Chris O’Dowd, and Guillaume Canet co-star. - Ryland Aldrich
Galas
Eye in the Sky
Since he took the world by storm with Tsotsi, Gavin Hood hasn't exactly impressed with his major studio fare like Rendition, X-Men Origins: Wolverine, and Ender's Game. We're all anxious to see if this changes with his drone strike thriller starring Helen Mirren, Aaron Paul, Alan Rickman, and Barkhad Abdi. - Ryland Aldrich
Galas
Len And Company
Rhys Ifans and Juno Temple re-unite (nobody saw the quantum physics romance Mr. Nobody) in this character-driven rock ’n roll dramedy from Tim Godsall. Cantankerous sniping from Ifans and petulant posturing from Temple are expected along the path to learning a life lesson or two. Hopefully, no lessons are learned. - Kurt Halfyard
Special Presentations
Trumbo
Bryan Cranston and Helen Mirren star in Jay Roach's story set in the tumultuous world of the 1940s Hollywood blacklist era. - Ryland Aldrich
Special Presentations
Legend
Not one but TWO Tom Hardy roles can be enjoyed in this 1960s set London mobster drama. Hardy plays both brothers in this film directed by Knight's Tale, Payback, and 42 director Brian Helgeland. - Ryland Aldrich
Galas
Black Mass
Crazy Heart director Scott Cooper follows-up his sophomore effort Out of the Furnace with this decade-spanning Whitey Bulger drama starring Johnny Depp, Joel Edgerton, Benedict Cumberbatch, Rory Cochrane, Jesse Plemons, and Kevin Bacon. - Ryland Aldrich
Special Presentations
Youth
Paolo Sorrentino follows up The Great Beauty with a geriatric meditation on life and beauty, as expressed through a My Dinner With Andre-like conversation between Harvey Keitel and Michael Caine - two old-timers on vacation. Hopefully the film takes a cue from Michael Winterbottom's The Trip and features Michael Caine doing his best Steve Coogan impression. - Zach Gayne
Special Presentations
Our Brand is Crisis
David Gordon Green directs Sandra Bullock, Billy Bob Thornton, Anthony Mackie, Ann Dowd, Scoot McNairy, and Zoe Kazan in this Manglehorn follow-up about American political consultants and a Bolivian election. - Ryland Aldrich
Special Presentations
The Family Fang
Jason Bateman impressed just about everyone with his debut directorial feature Bad Words. He returns to the chair for this familial comedy about siblings dealing with their famous parents. Nicole Kidman and Christopher Walken co-star with Bateman. - Ryland Aldrich
Special Presentations
Septembers of Shiraz
Wayne Blair follows-up his much lauded debut The Sapphires with this true story of a secular Jewish family caught in the 1979 Iranian revolution with Salma Hayek and Adrien Brody. - Ryland Aldrich
Galas
Equals
Drake Doremus's (Like Crazy) latest is a sci-fi-ish sounding romance about love in a loveless society. It stars Kristen Stewart, Nicholas Hoult, Guy Pearce, and Jacki Weaver. - Ryland Aldrich
Special Presentations
Brooklyn
Saoirse Ronan and Domhnall Gleeson star in John Crowley's 1950s Irish immigration romance written by Nick Hornby and being released by Fox Searchlight. - Ryland Aldrich
Special Presentations