Hello CAC on Film readers and fellow TIFF goers. It's that
time of year yet again in which Torontonians, industry-types and movie fanatics
from around the world begin their descent into Hogtown for arguably the biggest
publicly accessible film festival on the planet. So amidst the general feelings
of overwhelming excitement, anxiety and anticipation for the Toronto
International Film Festival and the massive amounts of data we have to sift
through to plan our respective festival schedules, I give you my personal top
10 picks of TIFF 2012.
As usual, this year is jam packed with highly anticipated
prestige studio films, small, challenging indies and passionate, provocative
pictures from the world over, so hopefully you'll find a flick or two from this
list that might poke at the part of your brain that contains your inner
film buff.
Special
Presentation
Dir.
Terrence Malick
Monday September 10 Princess of Wales 7:00 PM (Premium)
Tuesday September 11 Princess of Wales 3:00 PM
Sunday September 16 TIFF Bell Lightbox 1 9:45 PM
Master American director Terrence Malick’s second completed
picture in the last few years has been shrouded in secrecy since news broke
of its production after the release of 2011’s Palme D’or winning, Oscar
nominated Tree of Life. What we know about To the Wonder is that it is a romantic drama starring Ben Affleck, Olga
Kurylenko and Rachel McAdams. Not much else is known plot-wise, but one thing
we know we can count on is a visually arresting, challenging and provocative
experience. Tops of my personal picks for this year’s TIFF because Tree of
Life made me cry. It was the first film to do so since 1996’s Jack.
Special
Presentation
Dir. Paul
Thomas Anderson
Friday
September 7 Princess of Wales - 9:00 PM (Premium)
Saturday
September 8 Lightbox 1 - 3:15 PM
Sunday September 16 Lightbox 1 - 6:00 PM
Sunday September 16 Lightbox 1 - 6:00 PM
A film that has been engulfed in a sort of curious
controversy since it was branded as cinema wunderkind P.T Anderson’s
“Scientology film”, for me, this could potentially be one of the most
revelatory experiences at TIFF 2012. Presented in 70mm, early buzz has been
intensifying, centered mostly around the raves for Joaquin Phoenix’s comeback
performance and the gorgeous cinematography.
Midnight
Madness
Dir. Martin
McDonagh
Friday September 7 Ryerson Theatre 11:59 PM (Premium)
Saturday September 8 Scotiabank 1 3:30 PM
I love Colin Farrell, but he brings me down sometimes.
Tigerland cemented his place in my book of extremely talented acting people,
but Colin: Alexander, Miami Vice, now Total Recall? Come on man. Well back in
2009 he layed down his best performance in years, starring in In Bruges, Irish
playwright-turned-filmmaker Martin McDonagh’s first feature film. Here he
reunites with McDonagh, along with Christopher Walken, Woody Harrelson, Tom
Waits and other badasses which, playing in Colin Geddes’ Midnight Madness program,
should be another rollicking, vulgar and violent ride.
TIFF Docs
Dir. Ken
Burns, Sarah Burns, David
McMahon
Sunday September 9 TIFF Bell Lightbox 1 11:45 AM
Thursday September 13 Cineplex Yonge & Dundas 7 9:30 PM
Saturday September 15 TIFF Bell Lightbox 1 9:15 AM
Legendary Documentary filmmaker Ken Burns’ return to more
concise fare from his lengthy, multi-part PBS mega-specials, The Central Park
Five looks to represent the best of Burns’ oeuvre: incisive, provocative, and
heavily concerned with the evolution of American race relations. Chronicling
the “Central Park Jogger” rape case of the late eighties, this saga of
litigation and an outraged public garnered very positive word out of Cannes. My
top TIFF Doc pick this year
Special
Presentation
Dir. Derek
Cianfrance
Friday September 7 Princess of Wales 6:00 PM (Premium)
Saturday September 8 Ryerson Theatre 11:00 AM
Blue Valentine director Derek Cianfrance’s sophomore
feature The Place Beyond the Pines boasts a stunning cast in the form of
Bradley Cooper, Eva Mendes, Rose Byrne and lead Ryan Gosling, and promises to
be a taut, unforgiving drama. Gosling plays Luke, a motorcycle stunt rider from
Schenectady, NY (his second stuntman/criminal role TIFF premiere in two years
with last year’s Drive) who falls into some criminal business and
attracts the ire of Bradley Cooper’s cop-turned-politician. Said to be
something of a cross between Godfather and The Deer Hunter, if
all the elements work well here, we could see potential awards buzz and a nice
push for a strong box office take.
Special
Presentation
Dir. Pablo
Larrain
Monday September 10 TIFF Bell Lightbox 1 6:00 PM
Tuesday September 11 The Bloor Hot Docs Cinema 3:00 PM
Chilean director Pablo Larrain returns to TIFF to complete
his trilogy of films chronicling life, death and hardship in dictator Augusto
Pinochet’s reign of Chile. The first film of the cycle, Tony Manero, was
a relentlessly intense, downbeat and horrifically violent look at the dreams of
Pinochet’s poor amidst military dictatorship. This film, led by the always
interesting Gael Garcia Bernal (Y Tu Mama Tambien, Bad Education, Babel)
explores the downfall of Pinochet and the political atmosphere that toppled his
government. Early buzz says the film, shot on analog videotape to mimic the
visual aesthetic of late 1980s television, is a suspenseful, thought-provoking
winner.
Special
Presentation
Dir. Thomas
Vinterberg
Monday September 10 TIFF Bell Lightbox 1 9:15 PM
Wednesday September 12 TIFF Bell Lightbox 2 3:00 PM
Mads Mikkelsen (Casino Royale, Valhalla Rising) won
the best actor award at this year’s Cannes Film Festival for his portrait of an
innocent man accused of child molestation in Thomas Vinterberg’s (The
Celebration) return to the festival circuit. The film comes to TIFF with a
fair amount of hype given reviewers’ raves for Vinterberg’s “powerful” and
“controversial” direction. Sure to be a conversation starter, this looks to be
one of the stronger contenders for breakout foreign-arthouse pic at this year’s
festival.
Gala
Presentation
Dir. Ben
Affleck
Friday September 7 Roy Thomson Hall 6:30 PM (Premium)
Saturday September 8 Visa Screening Room (Elgin) 11:00 AM
Saturday September 15 Visa Screening Room (Elgin) 3:00 PM
Ben Affleck continues his creative ascent in the second
stage of his career, stepping behind the camera for the third time for his
first period film, a historical thriller that recreates the mostly untold, but
generally known tale of the Iran Hostage Crisis of 1979. Affleck takes the lead
role as CIA “exfiltration” expert Tony Mendez, top-lining a stellar cast that
includes Breaking Bad’s Bryan Cranston, John Goodman, Kyle Chandler and Alan
Arkin. Affleck took The Town to TIFF 2011 and received nearly
unanimous critical praise, giving a substantial boost to that film’s awards buzz and
box office take. Surely Warner Brothers hopes this film continues that
tradition.
Contemporary
World Cinema
Dir.
Marc-Henri Wajnberg
Thursday September 6 TIFF Bell Lightbox 3 7:15 PM
Friday September 7 Cineplex Yonge & Dundas 9 3:00 PM
Sunday September 16 Cineplex Yonge & Dundas 3 6:00 PM
A pick by TIFF artistic director Cameron Bailey, this is one
of those films that swims deep under the radar of the mainstream festival
populace, but has the potential to be one of the most joyous, entertaining
films screened this year. Kinshasa Kids is a verite-styled tale about a
group of Congolese street kids that discover music as a means of escaping the
violent paranoia of Kinshasians obsessed with purging the “child witches” from
their city. The trailer (http://bit.ly/P4KsqO) paints a startlingly real, gritty
and kind of funky picture of these kids’ lives in Kinshasa. Certainly one of
the more intriguing films screening at TIFF 2012.
Contemporary
World Cinema
Dir. Dror
Sabo
Sunday September 9 Scotiabank 3 9:30 PM
Tuesday September 11 Jackman Hall (AGO) 4:00 PM
Sunday September 16 Scotiabank 4 9:30 PM
This year TIFF has joined up with the University of
Toronto’s Munk Centre for Global Affairs to offer extended Q&A sessions for
five films in the Contemporary World Cinema program with world renowned
speakers and experts. Dror Sabo’s Eagles is the story of two elderly, formerly
elite Israeli army soldiers who decide to take the law into their own hands
after becoming increasingly alienated by the state of affairs on the crime
ridden streets of Tel Aviv. Ron Levi, an expert on global justice and human
rights will lead the extended Q&A after the film, which promises to be a
poignant, hard-edged look at elderly war veterans in an increasingly
youth-focused world.
