“Wormwood”
(World Premiere)
Director: Errol Morris
Cast: Peter Sarsgaard, Christian Camargo, Scott Shepherd,
Lowdown: Jumping into the world of the Netflix mini-series much like everyone else, Errol Morris crafts the rare, non-documentary effort: a six-part series exploring the lengths we’ll go in our search for the truth. The movie centers on one man’s sixty-year quest to identify the circumstances of his father’s mysterious death. A quest which brings him face-to-face with some of the darkest secrets of the United States.
“A Fantastic Woman”
(North American Premiere)
Director: Sebastián Lelio
Cast: Daniela Vega, Francisco Reyes, Luis Gnecco
Lowdown: Expected to be Chile’s Oscar submission for Foreign Language Film, Lelio’s latest centers on a transgender woman (Daniela Vega) who has to battle suspicions from all sides after her older boyfriend dies. Lelio’s last film was the somehow underrated “Gloria” and like his countryman Pablo Larrain last year, he has two films at Toronto the following week. The second is the romantic gay drama “Disobedience” starring Rachel McAdams and Rachel Weisz.
“Battle of The Sexes”
(World Premiere)
Director: Jonathan Dayton, Valerie Faris
Cast: Emma Stone, Steve Carell, Elisabeth Shue, Andrea Riseborough, Alan Cumming, Sarah Silverman
Lowdown: The trailer may make it seem that “Battle of the Sexes” primarily focuses on the “historic” tennis match between Billie Jean King (Stone) and Bobby Riggs (Carell) — and that’s a big part of it — but it also is said to explore King’s battle with accepting her sexuality after getting married at a very young age. Stone is coming off an Oscar, Carell has almost completely moved on from R-rated studio comedies and Dayton and Faris have been way too quiet with just one other film since “Little Miss Sunshine” burst on the scene over 10 years ago.
“Hostiles”
(North American Premiere)
Director: Scott Cooper
Cast: Christian Bale, Rosamund Pike, Ben Foster, Jesse Plemmons, Stephen Lang, Timothée Chalamet
Lowdown: After mostly positive reviews for “Black Mass” and “Out of the Furnace” but underwhelming box office success, Cooper has returned to his indie roots with a period drama that finds festival Silver Medallion honoree Christian Bale as a real life military officer who escorts a Native American chief through enemy territory. The film does not have distribution yet so many studios will be looking to see how it plays in the states after a Venice debut.