Our TIFF 2017 preview series continues after yesterday's tour of previous fest faves with today's quick look at some of the movies that may be vying for awards glory this coming winter. Toronto is always a launch pad for awards season action and it's pretty difficult to say what will and won't make the cut from studios' awards budgeteers. Let this be an educated guess at a few of those titles, though inevitably there will be some that fizzle and others we don't cover that soar.
Hostiles
Scott Cooper's fourth feature (Crazy Heart, Out of the Furnace, Black Mass) is this Christian Bale Western about an army captain in 1892 escorting a Cheyenne chief across dangerous territory.
Special Presentation
Darkest Hour
Focus is all set for another big awards season and front and center is Joe Wright's (Pride & Prejudice, Atonement, Hanna, Anna Karenina) latest. The film stars Gary Oldman as Winston Churchill at the dawn of World War 2. Lily James, Ben Mendelsohn, Stephen Dillane, and Kristin Scott Thomas co-star.
Gala
The Current War
Alfonso Gomez-Rejon follows up his much loved Me and Earl and the Dying Girl with this Weinstein Co contender about the race to commercialize electricity. With a fantastic cast that includes Benedict Cumberbatch as Edison, Michael Shannon as Westinghouse, and Nicholas Hoult as Tesla, this one is at the top of our list.
Special Presentation
Mary Shelley
Haifaa Al-Mansour burst onto the scene a few years back with her film Wadjda, the first ever Saudi film by a female director. Her follow-up is this period love story surrounding Mary Shelley's creation of her Frankenstein character. It stars Elle Fanning alongside Maisie Williams, Douglas Booth, Stephen Dillane. Tom Sturridge, and Ben Hardy.
Gala
Suburbicon
George Clooney + Coens usually ends well and this marks the first time the actor/director (Monuments Men, Good Night, and Good Luck) has helmed a film penned by the Bros. Surprisingly enough, Clooney isn't starring in this one. Instead Matt Damon toplines the home invasion story alongside Julianne Moore and Oscar Isaac. Paramount will unleash it soon.
Special Presentation
Death of Stalin
This sendup of Stalin's last days in power is directed by Armando Iannucci and has a stellar cast that includes Steve Buscemi, Rupert Friend, Jeffrey Tambor, Jason Isaacs, and Olga Kurylenko. Iannucci's hit show Veep has won a whole truckload of Emmys and the writer/director was also nominated for an Oscar for writing In the Loop. IFC is at the helm.
Platform
The Rider
Zhao Chloe's story of a rodeo rider had audiences gushing at Cannes and looks primed for an outside run from Sony Pictures Classics. This is only Zhao's second feature after Songs My Brother Taught Me, which was nominated for three Indie Spirits.
Special Presentation
Stronger
Jake Gyllenhaal stars as Jeff Bauman in this inspirational true story of the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing. David Gordon Green directs and Tatiana Maslany, Clancy Brown, and Miranda Richardson co-star in this awards-baity flick to be released by Lionsgate/Roadside.
Gala
Outside In
Lynn Shelton's (Laggies, Your Sister's Sister, Humpday) latest has indie awards written all over it. It stars Jay Duplass as an ex-con struggling to readjust to life outside and falling for a former teacher played by Edie Falco. Kaitlyn Dever and Ben Schwartz co-star in this film to be released by The Orchard.
Special Presentation
Molly's Game
Aaron Sorkin's much anticipated directorial debut is this true story of former Olympian and a high stakes poker game. It stars Jessica Chastain, Idris Elba, Kevin Costner, Michael Cera, and Chris O'Dowd and will be released by STX.
Special Presentation
The Mountain Between Us
Hany Abu-Assad has had few hits as big as his Oscar-nominated 2005 film Paradise Now. Fox will look to take him back to the show with this Kate Winslet and Idris Elba starrer about a surgeon and journalist who survive a mountaintop plane crash.
Gala
I Love You, Daddy
Well this one might be a stretch for awards but there was nowhere else to put what is essentially the directorial debut by Louis C.K., so here it is. Shot on 35mm B&W, the film stars Louis C.K., Chloë Grace Moretz, John Malkovich, Rose Byrne, Charlie Day, Helen Hunt, Pamela Adlon, Ebonee Noel, and Edie Falco. Regardless, it's sure to be great.
Special Presentation