One can surely do more than 10-15 picks for the Toronto International Film Festival each year and there are surely about 35-40 films on our radar, but we only have so much time and can only be in so many places at once. So we thought we’d whittle this down to the core of what we’re really anticipating in 2009. You’ll have to note things that we’ve already seen this year, at the Cannes Film Festival or otherwise are not on this list, but pictures like, Jane Campion’s “Bright Star,” Bong Joon-Ho’s “Mother,” Pedro Almodovar’s “Broken Embraces,” and to a slightly-lesser extent Lars Von Trier’s “Antichrist” — plus non-Cannes pic Lone Scherfig’s “An Education” — are all still must-see pictures (even if all of them aren’t front-to-back perfect). We might not get to all of the list below, but we’ll sure as hell try.
“Valhalla Rising”
Few directors can pull off the Soderberg-ian hat trick of creating two of the year’s most compelling movies, but Danish director Nicolas Winding Refn (the “Pusher” trilogy), looks like he may just do it. Earlier this year, he unleashed the brutal, thought-provoking “Bronson,” about England’s most violent prisoner (played by one-time “Star Trek” bad guy Tom Hardy), out in America in October, and he will bring “Valhalla Rising,” a Viking epic starring the always-captivating Mads Mikkelsen to TIFF in September. While the trailer has plenty of axe-swinging bad-assery, it also points to a more layered storyline, which examines Mikkelsen’s character as he goes from slave to warrior to man of god (as the Vikings travel to Jerusalem). It looks like a stunning combination of character study and rough-and-tumble action. Refn seems to be making movies that delve into the psychological complexities of men, through a variety of prisms (gangsters, thieves, Vikings), in other words the movies that Andrew Dominik (“The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford”) would be making if he wasn’t in director jail. Let’s hope this one isn’t esoteric enough that no one puts it out in the U.S.
“The Road” – Nearly a year after it was originally scheduled for release, the Weinstein Company’s adaptation of the Cormac McCarthy novel sees its official debut. Most are anxious over whether the film works, and with good reason, since the cut screened in New York last fall was a maudlin mess, and the misbegotten trailer focused on very cheap thrills not found in the movie. Presumably the film has been recut and, we presume, artfully scored by Nick Cave and Warren Ellis, but John Hillcoat, essayist of “The Proposition,” is by no means infallible, nor are the threatening scissors of the Weinsteins. The source material and talent involved remain encouraging, and currently this has the scent of a curious misfire, but we’re still holding out and expectations are high. Hits theaters October 16.
“Life During Wartime” – Fuck Marvel. Todd Solondz already has his own established universe of characters bouncing from one film to the next, and Dawn Weiner is way more interesting than Tony Stark. Here, he echoes his previous material in a big way by providing a straight sequel to 1998’s scabrous suburban comedy “Happiness.” Similar to his last film “Palindromes,” Solondz is toying with identity, as all new actors have been cast as the returning characters, none at all bearing a significant resemblance. Solondz’ skill and misanthropy aside, we do have to say we’re bummed he’s recast actors like Dylan Baker and Philip Seymour Hoffman, who were unforgettable in the original film. We also expect Solondz to have some fun with cameos, as an appearance from Paris Hilton is, we hope, in the same vein as the great bit involving Conan O’Brien in “Storytelling.” No distributor… yet.
“Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans”
It’s Nicolas Cage playing a drug and sex addicted out-of-control police officer in a Werner Herzog film. Do we really need to explain? A sort-of/not-really remake of Abel Ferrara’s “Bad Lieutenant” with Harvey Keitel (a dirtbag classic), the producers of this project own the title so were free to do whatever they wanted with it. What they did was take a similar character — the off-the-rails coke addict cop — set it in New Orleans, post-Katrina and basically let her rip. The picture also stars Val Kilmer, Eva Mendes, rapper Xzibit, Fairuza Balk and Jennifer Coolidge. It’s either going to be a masterpiece, a total trainwreck disaster, or the greatest B-movie ever made, but we’ll have to be there to find out regardless. It’s waited months to find distribution and apparently the picture comes out November 20.
“My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done”
Yet another Werner Herzog film because the German auteur is apparently having a super prolific year. Michael Shannon crackled (and stole every scene) in “Revolutionary Road,” as a schizophrenic neighbor who told only ecstatic truths, so as a serial killer in a Herzog film produced by David Lynch and seemingly full of odd, dead-pan Lynch-ian like zingers? Sign us the fuck up. The cast also features Chloe Sevigny, Udo Kier, Michael Pena and Willem Dafoe as a cop trying to solve the local murders. Trailers for this one have whiff of good and bad dementia, but the “Twin Peaks”-like bizarre tone could provide an experience with uncomfortable laughs and awesome freaky moments. We’re certainly curious enough to check in and see what it’s all about. No distribution for this one yet, but presumably right after TIFF, the pic will have a buyer.
“Capitalism: A Love Story”
Why? Because it’s Michael Moore of course and even though he can be hit and miss (though really since “Bowling For Columbine” he’s been on-point, at least artistically), we’re always curious where Moore is going to go and what tone he might strike. “Capitalism” looks a little less angry and more flippant than say, “Fahrenheit 9/11,” but well, that’s a given really. We’re not sure if a film about those that pilfered from our wallets should be handled (or at least sold) with such facetious joviality, but maybe we should just trust in Moore to know what he’s doing. Truthfully though, we’re hoping this doc makes Americans lift out of their apathy comfort zone and yell, “I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take it anymore.”
“The Men Who Stare At Goats”
Yes, we’re aware the trailer for Grant Heslov’s paranormal military black comedy hasn’t been totally well-recieved and yes, even on a second glance, it looks iffy (too slapsticky? too Coen-esque?), but still, we can’t help but be curious here considering the talents of George Clooney, Ewan McGregor (about time this guy found himself a decent role in good company), Jeff Bridges and Kevin Spacey. Essentially its about a group of soldiers involved in an experimental and secret program that allegedly gives them unparalleled psychic powers to read the enemy’s thoughts, pass through solid walls, and even kill a goat simply by staring at it. Or by the trailer, maybe not so much (they seem to bungle all these psychic attempts). McGregor plays the journalist who uncovers the story and its actually based on a true non-fiction book. The last Heslov/Clooney collaboration was the football misfire, “Leatherheads” (which Heslov produced), so let’s hope as a director we get something more of the quality of “Good Night And Good Luck” (which Heslov wrote).
“Up In The Air”
September 12th sees the debut of Jason Reitman’s “Up In The Air”. An adaptation of the novel by Walter Kirn (“Thumbsucker”) about a corporate frequent flier who travels the country firing people on behalf of corporations, the script is, on the page, damn good – timely, funny, humane and heartbreaking. George Clooney and Vera Farmiga are perfectly cast, the poster nails the script’s tone, and the early buzz is very strong indeed. But the real reason to be excited about “Up In The Air” is the director. Having made a very strong debut with the brilliantly mean-spirited “Thank You For Smoking,” Reitman hit the A-list with the near-perfect “Juno” (his contribution to that film is often overlooked, but he balances the tone perfectly, in almost any other hands, it could have been a disaster). Assuming Reitman makes it three-for-three, and all the evidence so far suggests he has, we may be looking at the closest thing the 21st century has to Billy Wilder. “Up In The Air” is showing September 12th, 13th and 19th in Toronto, and is set for release nationwide on December 4th (or at least that’s the recent rumor).
“The Informant!”
Steven Soderbergh’s “The Informant!” looks flat out hilarious. The black comedy stars a pudgy – 30 lbs. extra pudgy to be precise – Matt Damon as a whistleblower in the agricultural business world who manages to pull one over on the government while also taking down the company he works for. Damon’s character seems to be a bumbling fool who thinks far too highly of himself and especially of his spy skills or lack thereof. This dialogue speaks for itself, “’I’m agent 0014.’ ‘Why 0014?’ ‘Because I’m twice as good as 007.’” Need we say more? Also, we recently realized how many comedians are in this movie which makes us all the more excited to see how Soderbergh uses them within his dry comedic style. Some of the comedic actors include; Tony “Buster Bluth” Hale, (“Arrested Development”), Patton Oswalt (“Big Fan”), Joel McHale (“The Soup”), and Scott Bakula (“Chuck” and the hilarious “Quantum Leap”). Even the score looks superb. This one shouldn’t disappoint.
“Trash Humpers”
There’s not much but a couple of stills and a brief description out there for Harmony Korine’s “Trash Humpers” the latest in his short line of dirty, crude but undeniably beautiful films. His debut, the handheld “Gummo,” seemed to get the same reaction out of most critics who called it immature, unnecessary and disgusting to say the least. But it also got him praise from German filmmaker, Werner Herzog. “Humpers” is described as another lo-fi affair with interwoven “song-and-dance numbers” the film sounds like it could be the most remarkable thing at this year’s fest at least where originality is concerned. With a serious lack of filmmakers nowadays interested in studying the dirt as much as the beauty (and with such closeness), Korine is the go-to one-to-look-out-for kind of guy, even though he’s been on the scene for more than a decade now and after the beautiful but somewhat estranged “Mister Lonely,” the back-to-roots “Trash Humpers” could bring the passion back into the trailer park because if there’s one thing Korine knows best it’s Trash.
“Whip It”
TIFF 09 seems to be shaping up into a women’s picture kind of festival — in addition to Jane Campion’s “Bright Star,” and Diablo Cody-written, Karyn Kusama-helmed “Jennifer’s Body” — the fest also brings us the premiere of “Whip It!” , chock full of gals us ladies love to girlcrush on. Drew Barrymore’s directorial debut stars Ellen Page as a Southern tomboy pushed into pageants, who finds her way into the ass kicking, rock and rolling, bone rattling world of roller derby. Juliette Lewis, Kristen Wiig, Ari Graynor, Zoe Bell, Eve, and Barrymore herself are featured as some of the badass derby babes with hilarious monikers such as Smashlee Simpson and Bloody Holly. Arrested Development fans will be excited for Alia Shawkat (where has she been?!) as Page’s best friend. Page plays the quirky girl YET again, but at least she doesn’t seem to be doing her trademark deadpan delivery a la “Juno.” Barrymore’s been trained in the art of movie making since the age of six by the likes of Steven Spielberg, so some of that expertise has to have rubbed off on her. Hopefully it doesn’t skew too tween cliche, but it’s a great cast and should at least be a fun ride.
“Like You Know it All”
Last year’s absolutely brilliant “Woman on the Beach” received nary a mention on any year-end lists, and its follow-up, “Night and Day,” is getting only an NYC-exclusive theatrical run (in October) after a year or so of languishing in release limbo. But we have another chance to catch up with one of our greatest Cannes regrets in Toronto, where the film is playing as one of their ‘Contemporary World Cinema’ selections. Like Quentin Tarantino, though in a much less bombastic and obvious way, Sang-Soo makes his love of film known, here making his melancholy male lead an amateur filmmaker struggling to communicate with the opposite sex. It’s been said before and will surely be said again, but only because it’s true: Hong Sang-Soo is the Korean Eric Rohmer, an erudite filmmaker whose incredibly sharp dialogue gets at the complex relationship between men and women better than nearly anyone making films today. As such, each new film he releases should not be ignored but looked at as an event.
“Enter The Void”
Gaspar Noé, the French-Argentine provocateur behind the controversial and hard-t0-watch “Irreversible” and “I Stand Alone, and his third full-length feature is — depending on who you believe, or where your taste lies — either the worst, self-indulgent piece of garbage to hit Cannes in several years, or a masterpiece of experimental cinema. Truthfully, it sounds amazing, even some of criticisms in the bad reviews sound like pluses in our book. The divisive film centers on young Oscar (Nathaniel Brown), a small time drug dealer who promises to protect his little sister, a nightclub stripper (Paz de la Huerta, the very-naked temptress of “The Limits of Control”), after the brutal death of their parents. One night, Oscar is caught up in a police bust and shot. Left for dead and remembering his pact to his sibling, he refuses to exit the world of the living. His spirit then wanders the city and begins to grow a distorted, nightmarish vision of a past, present and future milieu that create a hallucinatory and violent pandemonium. One thing’s for certain: it’s visually stunning. What concerns us is the claim that some of the actors (Brown and a few others) are wooden and stiff. Still, it sounds like an ambitious piece of art and we’re certainly intrigued.
You could also look at the most highly anticipated films at the Cannes Film Festival that we didn’t see as most of them are playing at TIFF and many of them are still on our wishlist (“Enter The Void” comes from this list).
Other pictures we look forward to (among many others) include, Michael Haneke’s “White Ribbon,” Clarie Denis’ “White Material,” Serge Bromberg and Ruxandra Medrea’s documentary, “Henri George’s Clouzot’s Inferno,” Bruno Dumont’s “Hadewijch” and “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire,” but those are also all playing at the upcoming New York Film Festival, so we’ll probably be patient and wait to see them there (plus, NYFF starts basically right after TIFF anyhow, it’s going to be a fun, but hellish September/October). Got your own picks? Think we’re missing something? — Gabe Toro, Oliver Lyttelton, Katie Walsh, Drew Taylor, Frank Rutledge, Sam Mac