The 10 films we can't wait to see at TIFF 2021
From Kristen Stewart as Diana to a woman who gets impregnated by her car (yes, you read that right)
It might not quite feel the same, but the Toronto International Film Festival is gearing up for its second pandemic edition, running September 9–19. With considerably more films and in-person events than last year's subdued but impressively executed edition, there are many reasons to be excited this year. So the team at CBC Arts put together a list of 10 films in particular they can't wait to see — even if they have to wear a mask to see it.
All My Puny Sorrows
At the centre of All My Puny Sorrows, Miriam Toews's 2014 novel, is a pair of adult sisters, Elfrieda and Yolandi Von Riesen, who've each left their small Mennonite town for a life in art. The two are magnetic poles, opposites inescapably drawn to one another: Elfi a renowned concert pianist, beautiful, brilliant and suicidal; and Yolandi, a YA writer and frustrated literary novelist who would do anything to save her sister. The book — based in part on Toews's own tragic family story — is heartbreaking and warm and wise. But it's also much funnier than it has any right to be, especially about death (I will never forget the toddler who climbs on stage during a Mennonite memorial service and casually sifts through the departed's ashes).
In Michael McGowan's adaptation, which premieres this Friday at TIFF, Sarah Gadon and Alison Pill play Elfi and Yoli, respectively. If they manage to capture a small part of the riotous, maddening and fiercely loyal bond between these two sisters, it will be a sight to behold. — Andrew D'Cruz, managing editor
Arthur Rambo
After the release of his debut novel, Karim D. became France's hottest young literary celebrity and a rare brown face in the otherwise overwhelmingly white Parisian literary scene. That success is quickly threatened, though, when it's revealed that as a teenager, he was a prolific, mindlessly offensive, flagrantly homophobic and anti-semetic internet troll who went by the name Arthur Rambo.
Here's what has me interested in this film:
1) As Millennials and Gen Z get deeper and deeper into adulthood, we're going to keep confronting this question: how hard should we come down on adults who were shitty, or outright hateful, online as teenagers five or 10 or 15 years ago? I don't have the answer and I'm going to guess Arthur Rambo won't either, but it's good to keep pushing the discussion forward.
2) Director Lauret Cantet — who you may remember from the brilliant Entre les murs (The Class), as well as his lone English film, a crucially underrated adaptation of Joyce Carol Oates's novel Foxfire — has a great talent for telling the stories of outsiders. I expect the story of Karim, a guy from the banlieues suddenly having to find his feet in the insular world of French celebrity intellectuals, to be told with empathy and nuance.
3) It's just under 90 minutes. Being excited because a movie is short sounds like some philistinic nonsense, but the idea that long-winded=profound and important is trash and tiresome, and the idea of someone telling an important story at a pace that moves is exciting. — Chris Dart, producer
Belfast
If there are two things I love, at least when it comes to film and television, it's a good coming-of-age story and any depiction of The Troubles in Northern Ireland. So Belfast, the story of one working class family in late '60s Belfast as told through the eyes of their young son, feels like it will be right up my street. Add in the fact that Jamie Dornan and Caitríona Balfe — who play the protagonists parents — are consistently great, and Belfast looks like a winner. Sure, there is the caveat that Sir Kenneth Branagh is wildly inconsistent as a director, but the movie is semi-autobiographical, so hopefully he won't mess up his own story like he did Thor. — Chris Dart, producer
Dune
Do you know the history of Dune's relationship to cinema? Dune, the famed science fiction novel from 1965, has had two adaptation attempts in the cinematic world. The first attempt is a remarkable one that was transformed into a documentary called Jodorowsky's Dune. Cult filmmaker Alejandro Jodorowsky was set to make an adaptation of the novel in the 1970s that was going to star Orson Welles, Mick Jagger and Salvador Dalí — but despite a lengthy and laborious pre-production process, the film never made it to production! I highly recommend the doc, which will likely convince you that Jodorwsky's version was the greatest movie never made.
Then cut to 1984. Applauded director David Lynch made a trainwreck of an adaptation which critics absolutely hated. No shade for David Lynch though. He can't win them all.
Cut to 2021 where heavyweight director Denis Villeneuve has the reins ... and an immense amount of pressure considering the history. I am here for it regardless of the outcome. — March Mercanti, video producer
The Electrical Life of Louis Wain
With an impressive cast teeming with talent, Will Sharpe's The Electrical Life of Louis Wain tells the whimsical story of artist Louis Wain, played by Benedict Cumberbatch, whose artistic achievements largely featured illustrations of anthropomorphic cats and kittens. So basically, meme fuel for the Internet.
Joining Cumberbatch are both of The Crown's Queen Elizabeths, Claire Foy and Olivia Colman, as well as Toby Jones (Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, Captain America: The First Avenger).
And why is Wain's story worth seeing? He was a man who was believed to have had schizophrenia and channeled the stages of his battle with mental illness through his artwork. Did I mention it involves cats and kittens? — Michelle Villagracia, producer
Last Night in Soho
There's a funny sort of nostalgia going on whenever you lose yourself in a period picture: a longing for a time and place you've never been, and barring some revolutionary inroads in the area of time travel, the premise of living like some Regency era duchess or whatever is an experience that'll forever remain out of reach. But is there something dangerous about romanticizing the past? Going off the trailer for Last Night in Soho, I'd hazard there's an argument to be made, especially if you hold a particular fondness for the aesthetics of swinging (and sleazy) '60s London. It's the favourite era of Eloise (JoJo Rabbit's Thomasin McKenzie), a Gen Z naif who arrives in the city to study fashion, but the mod capital of her daydreams has disappeared like so many bottles of dexies. Through some mysterious intervention, however, Eloise finds herself connected to the London of the past, and her life twins with a cabaret starlet named Sandie (Anya Taylor-Joy). But the sizzle of Soho's neon lights is covering up a sinister reality — perhaps something ripped from an old-school horror movie.
Director Edgar Wright (Shaun of the Dead) co-wrote the picture with Krysty Wilson-Cairns (1917). For devotees of Wright's stylish stuff, every flick is a must-see, but anticipation for this one has got to be particularly high — COVID-19 has bumped its theatrical release from fall 2020 to this year's Halloween season. It comes to TIFF after a world premiere at the Venice International Film Festival last week. — Leah Collins, senior writer
The Power of the Dog
One of our greatest living filmmakers, Jane Campion, makes what we should only assume will a triumphant return to the big screen with The Power of the Dog, her first film since 2009's wonderful Bright Star (though she did direct two seasons of Top of the Lake in between). An adaptation of the 1967 novel of the same name by Thomas Savage, the film follows a charismatic rancher in 1920s Montana (Benedict Cumberbatch) whose life is interrupted by the arrival of his brother and his new wife (real-life couple Jesse Plemons and Kirsten Dunst).
The initial reviews out of its premiere last week in Venice are outstanding, suggesting Campion could very well become the first woman to ever receive two Oscar nominations for best director (she became only the second to receive just one with 1993's The Piano). They also rave about the performance of Dunst in particular, who has never quite received the accolades and attention she has deserved over her career. Perhaps The Power of the Dog will finally change that. — Peter Knegt, producer
Scarborough
Amidst all the starry Hollywood fare at TIFF, there's a hometown success story waiting in the wings. Local writer Catherine Hernandez's wonderful 2017 novel Scarborough has been given the cinematic treatment by first-time directors Shasha Nakhai and Rich Williamson, and Toronto audiences are ready to root it on. Taking place over the course of a school year, Scarborough follows three low-income families struggling against a system that is working against them. And if it's anything like the book (which seems likely, given Hernandez wrote the screenplay herself), expect a vibrant testament to the power of community — something many of us yearn for now more than ever. — Peter Knegt, producer
Spencer
When it was announced that American actor Kristen Stewart had been cast to star as Princess Diana in Spencer, I, along with the rest of the movie-going world, was intrigued. Stewart herself is so recognizable and has such recognizable mannerisms, so I'm excited to see what she brings to this larger-than-life role — and what she leaves behind. Performances aside, I want to see how Chilean director Pablo Larraín imagines Diana's story. I was a big fan of his film Jackie for its beautiful and unconventional portrayal of Jacqueline Kennedy in the aftermath of her husband's assassination. The evocative soundtrack, the period costumes, the excellent performances and the raw emotion (I will never forget that one scene set to Richard Burton's "Camelot") ... Jackie really moved me. I can't wait to watch Larraín and Stewart bring all the tools of cinema to Spencer. — Mercedes Grundy, producer
Titane
Coming out of the gate with a Palm D'or win at the prestigious Cannes Film Festival, Titane already has significant hype. Director Julia Ducournau was the second female in history to win the coveted award, and the film itself was the only winner to ever feature a character who gets impregnated by a car. Yes, you read that right: the lead character's sexual exploration stems from the repercussions of a horrific car accident. Titane is part of the Midnight Madness program and is certainly not for the faint of heart as it is fuelled by violence and disturbing imagery. I normally don't gravitate to such vulgar filmmaking, but if you have been feeling numb lately like me and want to be shaken awake with this high-octane film, then Titane is probably for you. — March Mercanti, video producer
To buy tickets to both in-person and virtual screenings at this year's Toronto International Film Festival, click here.
