You know that the second half of the movie year is well underway when the autumn (or “fall” as its known across the pond) festivals start to drip feed through their line-ups. The Toronto International Film Festival are first out of the traps and have dropped their initial raft of announcements – and there are some crackers in the mix.
The big, big, big guns include The Shape of Water by Guillermo del Toro, for which we’ve already been treated to an enchanting trailer, and Darren Aronofsky’s Mother!, which stars Jennifer Lawrence and looks like a return to his psychodrama roots. Martin McDonagh drafts in Frances McDormand to head up his Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, and we’re very excited for Alexander Payne’s Downsizing, starring Matt Damon.
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Elsewhere, Joe Wright represents the UK with 2017’s other Winston Churchill biopic, Darkest Hour, this time with Gary Oldman donning the thick prosthetics and chomping on a giant stogie. We liked Norwegian director Joachim Trier’s strange family disintegration saga, Louder Than Bombs, so we’re keen to see what he has up his sleeve next with Thelma. Deniz Gamze Ergüven’s Mustang was one of our favourite films of 2015, and she’s now back with a bigger cast and budget for her follow-up, Kings, starring Halle Berry and Daniel Craig.
After a short break, David Gordon Green returns with a true-life melodrama – Stronger – with Jake Gyllenhaal as a man who lost both legs as a result of the Boston Bombing. And then tennis season returns with Battle of the Sexes, starring Emma Stone as Billie Jean King and Steve Carell as self-styled misogynist, Bobby Riggs. Last but certainly not least, Greta Gerwig presents her directorial debut, Lady Bird, starring Saoirse Ronan.
The Toronto International Film Festival runs 7 – 17 September. Check out the line-up so far at tiff.net
