Passport? Check. Pants? Check. Camera, laptop, and voice recorder? Check, check,
and check. The Toronto International Film Festival (September 6 – 15)
may still be a few weeks away, but we’re already planning out our itinerary.
Below are a few films we’ll be lining up for in Canada.
With the minor controversy
surrounding
Across the
Universe (director
Julie Taymor
reportedly had final cut taken away from her), we’re curious to see how the
Beatles-inspired epic turned out. Universe is among numerous major films
world premiering at Toronto, including
Eastern Promises
(which reunites
History of Violence‘s
David
Cronenberg and
Viggo
Mortensen) and
Lars
and the Real Girl, whose trailer suggests a delicately twisted time
with Ryan
Gosling and a blow-up doll.
While this only recently
registered on our radars, we’re already intrigued with the comedy-drama,
Juno. It stars
Ellen Page and
Michael Cera,
as two soon-to-be teenage parents reassessing their lives, and
Jason Bateman.
Arrested Development fans, rejoice!
After squandering his
Match Point cred
on Scoop, can
Woody Allen
make another late-career recovery? We’ll see with his new drama,
Cassandra’s Dream,
about two warring brothers (Ewan
McGregor,
Colin Ferrel). In addition, both rising heavyweights — like
Noah Baumbach
(Margot
at the Wedding) and
Garth Jennings
(Son of Rambow) — and contemporary masters — such as the
Coen Brothers (No
Country For Old Men) and
Ang Lee (Lust,
Caution) — will be hosting their North American premieres.
While we enjoy the festival
night parties as much as anyone else, we may have to cut the nocturnal
revelries short: this year’s Midnight Madness program looks impossibly
awesome. It’s going to be a marathon of premiering cult cinema, like
Sukiyaki Western Django (directed by
Takashi Miike),
Stuck (Stuart
Gordon), The Mother of Tears (Dario
Argento), and
George A.
Romero’s
The Diary of
the Dead. Toronto Film Fest: come for the art, stay for the gore!
Click here for the full TIFF program list. And remember to keep an eye out for our
coverage once the festival starts September 6!
