So far, 2016 has been one of most disappointing years for movies we can remember, and the fall film-festival season couldn’t come fast enough. And already, Venice opener “La La Land,” has made the cinematic landscape seem much rosier (read Jess’s rave review here if you haven’t already). The premieres will come thick and fast over the next few days, with Telluride getting in the mix on Friday, but we’re still a week away from one of the biggest events of them all, the Toronto International Film Festival.
READ MORE: The 20 Most Anticipated Films Of The 2016 Venice Film Festival
With literally hundreds of films, including the best from Sundance, Cannes and Venice, it can be a bit overwhelming to peruse the Toronto program. But fortunately, we’ve done it for you, and picked out 30 of the best movies that we (mostly) won’t have already checked out elsewhere (hence no “La La Land,” “Arrival” and similar). Take a look at our picks below, and stay tuned for our verdicts on them all and more.
“ABACUS: Small Enough To Jail”
He might not be as prolific as The Alex Gibney Factory, but Steve James makes a pretty good case for being the greatest living American documentary filmmaker, with stone-cold classics like “Hoop Dreams” and “The Interrupters” under his belt, and his latest is bound to be one of the non-fiction highlights of the festival. It sees James turn his attention for the first time to the financial crisis, and taking an intriguing spin on it, as you might expect. The film focuses on Thomas Sung and his Chinatown bank Abacus Federal Savings Bank, the only financial institution to face criminal charges after the recent mortgage crisis, a bank seen as “small enough to jail,” as the subtitle puts it. It’s a story that promises to touch on the immigrant experience, the American dream and the institutional failure to hold those responsible for the disaster to account. Assuming James lives up to his usual standards, it will be pretty much a must-see.
“American Pastoral”
Every TIFF brings at least one directorial debut by a major movie star, and all too often they’re essentially vanity projects that tend to disappear without a trace. Every so often, though, you get a real gem, and we’re very hopeful that Ewan McGregor’s “American Pastoral” might be one of them. The actor was attached to star in this adaptation of one of Philip Roth’s best-known novels for a while now, but after the original helmer dropped out, McGregor stepped up to take over, while still headlining as Seymour Levov, a high-school sports star turned businessman whose daughter becomes involved in political terrorism in the 1960s. He’s assembled a very fine cast — Jennifer Connelly, Dakota Fanning, David Strathairn, Uzo Aduba — and some serious behind-the-scenes talent including composer Alexandre Desplat, and the trailer suggests that he’s assembled some striking images too. It’s an ambitious endeavor and Roth’s work has undone far more experienced filmmakers, but if the buzz is correct, McGregor might just have pulled this off…
“The Belko Experiment”
Of all the blood-strewn movies in the Midnight Madness strand this year, few come with better genre bona-fides than “The Belko Experiment.” The film marks a return to his B-movie roots for “Guardians Of The Galaxy” mastermind James Gunn, who penned the script, while “Wolf Creek” director Greg McLean is at the helm for a lightly satirical horror thriller that sees the staff of an American non-profit in Colombia sealed into their office building and forced to kill each other. Likeable “10 Cloverfield Lane” star John Gallagher Jr. has the lead role, while ever-watchable character-actor types like Tony Goldwyn, Melonie Diaz, John C. McGinley, Brent Sexton, David Dastmalchian and Gunn pals Michael Rooker and Gregg Henry are among the potential killers and victims. It could turn out to be a damp squib, but from a distance, this looks like it could be a genre breakout with something to say as well.
“Birth Of The Dragon”
Well over 40 years after his death at the age of 32, Bruce Lee still casts an impressively large shadow on pop culture: He’s still arguably the most iconic martial-arts star in history, even to those who’ve never seen a single one of his films. Rob Cohen’s early-’90s biopic “Dragon” wasn’t the ideal tribute despite starring Lee’s ill-fated son Brandon, so there’s room for a more grounded take on the man’s life, and that’s what “Birth Of The Dragon” could provide. Penned by “Ali” writers Stephen J. Rivele and Christopher Wilkinson, and directed by “The Adjustment Bureau” helmer George Nolfi, it follows Lee (Philip Wan-Lung Ng) in 1960s Oakland, before he became a big name, as his teaching of martial arts to Caucasians attracts the animosity of other practitioners, and sets up a battle with Chinese martial-arts master Wong Jack Man (Xia Yu). The blend of action and biopic should be an intriguing one, and if nothing else, with major stars Philip Ng and Xia Yu in the lead roles, it’s the rare indie movie that could prove to be massive at the Chinese box office.