While Rami Malek has rightfully earned incredible buzz for his lead performance on the critically acclaimed USA Network series “Mr. Robot,” for those who have been paying attention, his talent has been quite apparent for a while now. The actor has already logged time with some terrific directors including Paul Thomas Anderson (“The Master“), David Lowery (“Ain’t Them Bodies Saints“), Spike Lee (“Oldboy,” “Da Sweet Blood Of Jesus“), and Destin Daniel Cretton (“Short Term 12“), and at the upcoming Toronto International Film Festival, Malek will have another opportunity to shine in “Buster’s Mal Heart,” which will be making its World Premiere.
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Directed by Sarah Adina Smith (“The Midnight Swim“), this twisty thriller takes on Y2K anxiety in the story of Jonah, who crosses paths with a conspiracy obsessed drifter, as the film pieces together the events that leave him on the run. Here’s the synopsis from TIFF:
An eccentric mountain man is on the run from the authorities, surviving the winter by breaking into empty vacation homes in a remote community. Regularly calling into radio talk shows — where he has acquired the nickname “Buster” — to rant about the impending dangers of Y2K, he is haunted by visions of being lost at sea, and memories of his former life as a family man.
Buster (Rami Malek) was once Jonah, a hard-working husband and father whose job as the night-shift concierge at a hotel took its toll on his mood and, consequently, his marriage to the sensitive and long-suffering Marty (Kate Lyn Sheil) — until a chance encounter with a conspiracy-obsessed drifter (DJ Qualls) changed the course of their lives forever. As the sad and solitary present-day Buster drifts from house to house and eludes the local sheriff at every turn, we gradually piece together the events that fractured his life and left him alone on top of a snowy mountain, or perhaps in a small rowboat in the middle of a vast ocean — or both.
Co-starring DJ Qualls and Kate Lyn Sheil, “Buster’s Mal Heart” will have its World Premiere at TIFF on Sunday, September 11th. Check out the poster below.
