Alright, if you weren’t impressed before, you probably won’t be now, but you also might just be impossible to please. The Toronto International Film Festival finalized its complete line-up today adding 45 more titles. However, if you were wishing and hoping and holding hope for pictures like “Shutter Island,” “Where The Wild Things Are” or “Fantastic Mr. Fox,” you’re not going to get them. However our TIFF 2009 predictions piece was pretty spot-on for the most part (granted some things like, “Green Zone,” were just completely bumped out of 2009).
The final additions to the line-up are very Cannes-heavy, which isn’t a total surprise, because you were just waiting for some of these films to be announced. Highlights of the final line-up include.
– Lars Von Trier’s controversial and scabrous “Antichrist” starring Willem Dafoe, Charlotte Gainsbourg, some talking foxes and some lovely moments of genital mutilation. It’s fun for the whole family.
– Michael Haneke’s austere, Palme d’Or winning morality tale, “The White Ribbon.”
– Marco Bellocchio’s “Vincere,” which is a fictionalized portrait of Mussolini starring an impressive turn by Giovanna Mezzogiorno.
– Claire Denis’ “White Material,” a chronicle of French ex-patriots in Africa.
– Cannes picture, Yorgos Lanthimos’ “Dogtooth.”
– Jaco Van Dormael’s “Mr. Nobody,” a sci-fi fantasy love story starring Jared Leto and Diane Kruger.
So yes, the final additions to the line-up are very Cannes and foreign-film heavy. If you’re looking for more U.S. name-brand heavyweights there are none and the bulk of those kinds of films — “The Informant!,” “Jennifer’s Body,” the Coen Bros. “A Serious Man,” “The Imaginarium Of Doctor Parnassus,” “The Road,” etc. — have already been announced.
More films announced can be found at Variety, but unless your taste is for the artiest of the foreign arthouse films, you might not find what you’re looking for. Still, TIFF has a stellar line-up this year. Even if they didn’t invite us. Oh well.
