“Black Mirror” & “Transparent”
Many festivals have adapted to the rise of quality television by setting up sidebars and strands to showcase some of the best of the work there, and Toronto is no exception, beginning a new strand called Primetime last year with the premiere of Jason Reitman’s Hulu show “Casual.” This year, it’s a much more high-profile line-up, including the first glimpse of the third season of the best show on TV, “Transparent,” which will screen the first three episodes of the new run, a few weeks ahead of its debut on Amazon. Even more exciting to many, though, will be the premiere of two new episodes of “Black Mirror,” Charlie Brooker’s tech-themed anthology series, which soon debuts a new run on Netflix. “San Junipero,” directed by “Kill Your Friends” helmer Owen Harris, toplines the can’t-miss pairing of Mackenzie Davis and Gugu Mbatha-Raw, while “Nosedive” (penned by “Parks & Recreation” veterans Rashida Jones and Michael Schur) stars Bryce Dallas Howard and Alice Eve, and is directed by Joe Wright, trying to bounce back after the unmitigated disaster of “Pan” last year.
“Bleed For This”
We can’t be the only ones to feel that the boxing movie feels increasingly played out — it’s all too easy for the genre to recycle the same old beats, and weak box office and notices for films like “Southpaw” and “Hands Of Stone” back that up. But then, just when we’re about to give up, a film like “Creed” comes along and reinvigorates our love of watching two people hit each other in the ring. Could “Bleed For This” do the same this year? Executive produced by Martin Scorsese, a man who knows a thing or two about great boxing movies, it tells the true story of Vinny Paz (Miles Teller), whose prodigious career was nearly stopped dead by a car accident that broke his neck, until a comeback seen as one of the greatest in boxing history. Underrated director Ben Younger (“Boiler Room”) looks to have given the film a touch of boisterous David O. Russell-style energy, and the cast is strong, with Ciarán Hinds, Katey Sagal and a near-unrecognizable Aaron Eckhart backing up Teller.
“Carrie Pilby”
A year on, and we’re still getting over the greatness of “Diary Of A Teenage Girl,” and especially its breakout star Bel Powley. The brilliant young British actress followed it up with a winning comic performance in “A Royal Night Out,” but her true follow-up comes with this comedy, which brings her to more contemporary settings. Based on a best-selling novel by Caren Lissner, it sees Powley play the title character, a genius who graduated Harvard aged 19, but is struggling to get a foothold in a city where she thinks she’s smarter than everyone else, until her therapist (Nathan Lane) gives her a five-point plan. It’s a role that seems tailor-made for Powley, and director Susan Johnson (producer of films like “Mean Creek” and “God Help The Girl,” making her directorial debut here) has assembled a winning cast to back her up, including Gabriel Byrne, Vanessa Bayer and Jason Ritter. Could this be the festival’s big coming-of-age surprise?
“City Of Tiny Lights”
British actor Riz Ahmed should have broken through years ago: He’s been delivering electrifying performances for nearly a decade in films like Michael Winterbottom’s “The Road To Guantánamo” and Chris Morris’s “Four Lions,” but major stardom eluded him for the most part. But after an acclaimed supporting turn in “Nightcrawler” a few years back, he’s suddenly exploded in the last months, with a much-praised performance in HBO’s ‘The Night Of” backing up supporting turns in blockbusters “Jason Bourne” and the upcoming “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.” Which means that the timing couldn’t be better for his lead role in “City Of Tiny Lights,” which bows at TIFF. Based on Patrick Neate’s novel, and directed by “Dredd” helmer Pete Travis, it sees Ahmed play a London private eye hired for a case that delves him deep into the London underworld. We love a good bit of neo-noir, especially in an atypical setting, and with a strong cast including Cush Jumbo, James Floyd and Billie Piper, this could see Ahmed’s star rise even higher.
“Colossal”
We have to say, on premise alone, “Colossal” might be the most intriguing film playing in Toronto. It sees a hard-partying, hard-drinking young woman who, after being dumped by her boyfriend, returns to her hometown, reuniting with a childhood friend. Oh, and she also might have a strange connection to a giant monster currently stomping over Seoul. We’d turn up for that even if we knew nothing else, but with the film starring Anne Hathaway in the lead role, and being directed by Nacho Vigalondo, who was behind the tremendous “Timecrimes,” it only becomes more intriguing by the minute. A very fine cast has been assembled — Dan Stevens, Jason Sudeikis, Tim Blake Nelson — and Vigalondo’s a serious talent, even if his subsequent films haven’t yet lived up to his debut. It could be a misfire, but even if that’s the case, we bet it’ll be more interesting than most films in the line-up.
“Deepwater Horizon”
One of the bigger Hollywood studio efforts in the festival this year, “Deepwater Horizon” sees director Peter Berg reunite with his “Lone Survivor” star Mark Wahlberg (for the first time of two due this fall: Boston Marathon bombing drama “Patriots Day” hits at Christmas) to tell the story of the disaster on the titular oil-drilling platform in 2010, which led to the worst environmental disaster in U.S. history. Berg can be hit-or-miss (as anyone who suffered through “Battleship” will attest to), but this kind of no-nonsense red-meat melodrama should play to the best of his “Friday Night Lights” strengths, especially with a good cast including Gina Rodriguez, Kurt Russell, John Malkovich, Kate Hudson and Dylan O’Brien in place. It’s unlikely to be the most enriching experience you’ll have at the festival, but if Berg can pull it off, it could be one of the most gripping.