 | In just over a week, Guy Lavallee will be back in Toronto, taking in the sights and sounds of another edition of the Toronto International Film Festival.
With literally hundreds of movies to choose from, the Movie Guy has selected these ten as must-see films. | |
Edmonton - August 29, 2012 - In just over a week, I will be back in beautiful Toronto, taking in the sights and sounds of another edition of the Toronto International Film Festival...
...and with literally HUNDREDS of films to choose from, selecting which 3 (or 4…or 5…or 6…) films per day to see can be an extremely daunting task. With that in mind, here are 10 films I’ve identified as ‘must-see’ (that is, until I actually get there and all my well-thought out planning and scheduling goes completely out the window)...
1. The ABC’s of Death (Midnight Madness): Now here’s an ambitious idea - 26 of the world’s leading and up-and-coming genre film directors were assigned a letter of the alphabet, resulting in a 26-chapter anthology of death…with a ‘method’ of death for each letter. Anthology films rarely work, and this one is even wilder and more ambitious than most. For that reason alone, it lands on my must-see list. http://tiff.net/filmsandschedules/tiff/2012/abcsofdeath
2. The Master (Special Presentation): even though I wasn’t the world’s biggest fan of There Will Be Blood, fact is, Paul Thomas Anderson is still responsible for 2 of my all-time favorite movies, Boogie Nights and Magnolia. This (allegedly) Scientology-inspired period piece stars acting heavyweights Joaquin Phoenix, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Amy Adams, and has garnered raves from those who already been lucky enough to see it. Apparently Anderson has screened the film for his Magnolia Tom Cruise, and Mr. Cruise is said to have had - ahem - ‘issues’ with it. Sounds good to me!http://tiff.net/filmsandschedules/tiff/2012/master
3. West of Memphis (Mavericks): I have been obsessed with the story of the West Memphis 3 ever since I first saw the incredible documentary Paradise Lost 16 (!) years ago. I’ve followed the case through both ‘sequels’, right through to the shocking release of the WM3 last year. Now, producer Peter Jackson presents an in-depth look at the case from a different angle, promising to shed even more light on this case that compelled so many people to become involved.http://tiff.net/filmsandschedules/tiff/2012/westofmemphis
4. A Liar’s Autobiography: The Untrue Story of Monty Python’s Graham Chapman (Special Presentation): from the official TIFF program page: John Cleese, Michael Palin, Terry Jones and Terry Gilliam pay tribute to their late Monty Python colleague Graham Chapman in this hilarious, 3-D animated adaptation of Chapman's brazenly fictionalized life story. Umm - SOLD!http://tiff.net/filmsandschedules/tiff/2012/liarsautobiographyth
5. Argo (Galas): As a director, Ben Affleck has already gone ‘2 for 2’, with the excellent Gone, Baby, Gone, and the even better The Town. Expectations for his new fact-based thriller are at a fever-pitch, with this irresistible, ‘it must be true’ premise: in 1979, a CIA ‘extraction expert’ devised an outlandish plan to smuggle 6 Americans out of the Canadian Embassy in Tehran, by posing as a Hollywood film crew. This one looks like an absolute must-see. http://tiff.net/filmsandschedules/tiff/2012/argo
6. Antiviral (Special Presentation): I’m really curious about this one simply because it’s the debut feature from Brandon Cronenberg - son of legendary Canadian filmmaker David Cronenberg. Most excitingly, it sounds like just the type of film David used to make, before moving on to more mainstream dramatic films. The premise is timely and brilliant: the Lucas Clinic specializes in harvesting diseases from sick celebrities, and implanting them in regular ‘fans’- providing a biological communion between star and fan. Chilling premise, can’t wait to see what he’s done with it. http://tiff.net/filmsandschedules/tiff/2012/antiviral
7. Room 237 (Vanguard): perhaps the film I’m most anticipating at this year’s TIFF, this doc delves into the conspiracy theories and secret messages that obsessive cinephiles have ‘found’ in Stanley Kubrick’s landmark 1980 horror film, The Shining. That’s all I know, and it’s all I need to know - for a film beloved by so many…and reviled by just as many - the conspiracies on display here promise to be nothing less than spellbinding. http://tiff.net/filmsandschedules/tiff/2012/room237
8. The Act of Killing (TIFF Docs): from executive producers Errol Morris AND Werner Herzog (!), this sure-to-be-controversial doc asks several unrepentant former members of Indonesian death squads to “re-enact” some of their many murders in the style of the American movies they love. I can’t remember the last time I heard of a premise this chilling, and according to TIFF’s own programmer’s note: “This is a film people will be talking about for years to come”.http://tiff.net/filmsandschedules/tiff/2012/actofkilling
9. Disconnect (Special Presentation): with a stellar cast that includes Jason Bateman, Hope Davis, Michael Nykvist, Paula Patton, and Alexander Skarsgard, this intricately-plotted dramatic thriller explores the impact of the internet on our daily lives through a series of interconnected, parallel storylines. This is the debut feature from Henry Alex Rubin, director of one of the best docs of the last few years, Murderball, and I can’t wait to watch this one unfold. http://tiff.net/filmsandschedules/tiff/2012/disconnect
10. The Central Park Five (TIFF Docs): one of the great developments in motion pictures over the last 15 years has been the increased love affair with the documentary format, allowing more and more stories like this one to finally come to light. From Ken Burns comes the devastating story of the infamous "Central Park Jogger" case, and how a rush to judgment by police, media and an outraged public led to five black and Latino teenagers being convicted for a heinous crime that they did not commit. http://tiff.net/filmsandschedules/tiff/2012/centralparkfive
Like I said at the outset, this is by no means a ‘comprehensive’ list, but these are definitely the 10 films that have made it to the very top of my ‘gotta see it’ list. I’ll be back with a full report on these - and many other - films when the festival is over! Follow me on Twitter for live reports from TIFF: @TheRealMovieGuy.
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