6 movies at TIFF 2017 that make us excited for fall
By Amy Woolsey
The prestigious Toronto International Film Festival – aka TIFF – has announced its initial line-up. Here are six movies to keep an eye on.
We technically still have more than a month of summer left. But with most of the season’s blockbusters either in or gone from theaters, it feels like an appropriate time to look ahead. The organizers of TIFF certainly think so. On Tuesday morning, CEO Piers Handling and artistic director Cameron Bailey unveiled the distinguished film festival’s Gala and Special Presentation entries. The line-up is predictably crowded with stars, from Jessica Chastain (Woman Walks Ahead) to Idris Elba (The Mountain Between Us).
Industry insiders and observers value TIFF most as a launching pad for Oscar season. As fans, though, we’re just excited to watch the movies. If they win awards, that’s just a bonus. Here are six titles that catch our attention (plot synopses courtesy of the official TIFF website):
Kings (dir. Deniz Gamze Ergüven)
What it’s about:
A recluse (Daniel Craig) helps a woman (Halle Berry) and her foster children during the 1992 Los Angeles riots that followed the beating of Rodney King.
Why we’re excited:
Based on the plot description, you might dismiss Kings as a standard white savior narrative. And maybe it will be. Ergüven’s presence at the helm gives us hope, though. The Turkish-French filmmaker earned acclaim, including an Oscar nomination, for her 2015 film Mustang about five sisters growing up in a conservative, isolated village. So, she has experience exploring oppression, and it sounds like her English-language debut will similarly use politics as a backdrop for an intimate tale. Plus, Halle Berry is long overdue for a win.
Mary Shelley (dir. Haifaa Al Mansour)
What it’s about:
Elle Fanning plays the title role in this biopic of the Frankenstein author that explores her marriage to poet Percy Bysshe Shelley, and “the fateful night at a Swiss chateau that inspired her most famous creation.”
Why we’re excited:
As far as 19th century British writers go, Mary Shelley was a badass. Yet, Hollywood has largely erased her from the Frankenstein narrative, ignoring her parable about misfits in favor of escapist monster movies. The use of words like “tempestuous” and “fateful” in TIFF’s official synopsis suggest that Mary Shelley will honor the story’s Romantic origins, and Al Mansour’s previous feature, Wadjda, demonstrates a knack for young, rebellious heroines. We almost wish she pulled a Hamilton and cast that film’s star Waad Mohammed in the title role. But Elle Fanning is a wonderful actress, so all is forgiven.
Mudbound (dir. Dee Rees)
What it’s about:
Carey Mulligan, Mary J. Blige, Garrett Hedlund, and Jason Clarke star in this adaptation of Hillary Jordan’s novel about racial tensions in the 1940s Jim Crow South.
Why we’re excited:
Pariah, Rees’s 2011 coming-of-age film, is a masterpiece. We would watch anything she does, even if her HBO Bessie Smith biopic was somewhat staid. For her return to the big screen, she has assembled a motley cast (not mentioned in the synopsis are Straight Outta Compton’s Jason Mitchell, Breaking Bad’s Jonathan Banks, and It Comes at Night’s Kelvin Harrison Jr.) and broadened her scope, weaving individual, family, and community struggles into history. Mudbound premiered at Sundance earlier this year to positive reviews and got snatched up by Netflix, but it currently has no set release date.
Professor Marston & the Wonder Women (dir. Angela Robinson)
What it’s about:
“Luke Evans, Rebecca Hall, and Bella Heathcote star in this biopic of William Moulton Marston, the American psychologist who put his progressive ideals about female liberation into practice by creating the DC superhero Wonder Woman and living in an ‘extended relationship’ with his wife and another woman.”
Why we’re excited:
Sometimes, it seems as though Hollywood will give white men the biopic treatment simply for having lived. Marston is a genuinely interesting figure, though, not least because his ideas don’t fit into a neat package—modern by the standards of his era yet outmoded by the standards of ours. With Robinson, a lesbian black woman, directing, Professor Marston & the Wonder Women will hopefully avoid the traditional “great man” narrative and approach its subject with nuance. But really, Patty Jenkins’s contribution to the canon has us craving anything Wonder Woman.
The Shape of Water (dir. Guillermo del Toro)
What it’s about:
Two workers in a US government laboratory (Sally Hawkins and Oscar winner Octavia Spencer) at the height of the Cold War in 1962 discover a secret experiment, in this “otherworldly fairytale” from the man behind Pan’s Labyrinth.
Why we’re excited:
No working filmmaker understands fairytales better than del Toro. With Pan’s Labyrinth and Crimson Peak, he restored horror to the oft-derided genre while preserving a real sense of wonder and magic. Judging by the trailer, The Shape of Water will continue his streak. From the whimsical music to the sea-tinted lighting, the clip brims with imagination; we already want to live in this world. And if you somehow aren’t already enchanted, just look at James Jean’s gorgeous poster design. If that artwork in any way reflects the mood of the movie, or the effort put into it, we are in for a treat.
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (dir. Martin McDonagh)
What it’s about:
Frances McDormand plays a grieving mother who butts heads with her local police force (including Woody Harrelson and Sam Rockwell) in an effort to reinvigorate the search for her daughter’s killer.
Why we’re excited:
To be honest, we’re just as nervous for this as we are excited. A satire about police violence and corruption from a storyteller known for his gleeful political incorrectness has potential fiasco written all over it. Yet, In Bruges is one of the great modern comedies, and Seven Psychopaths has a kind of anarchic cleverness, so we’ll take a leap of faith. The cast alone makes it irresistible.
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TIFF kicks off September 7 with Greta Gerwig’s Lady Bird.