The leaves are turning, pumpkin spice is once again spilling from the Dunkin’ taps, and all of the arteries on Storrow Drive are clogged up with the rotting corpses of U-Haul trucks. Yep, it’s time for this year’s Toronto International Film Festival, which runs from September 7 to 17, and our boots are on the ground, ready to report back on what you should check out this fall. Every TIFF line-up is great in its own way, full of plenty of expected hits, little surprises, and hilarious disappointments, but this one is extra-special; somehow, with all of the chaos that’s happening in Hollywood, the festival program is as varied and exciting as it is any year, which is no small programming feat! We’re going to be seeing a ton of movies at the fest this year, but here are five that we’re exceptionally hyped for.
Aggro Dr1ft
As soon as we read the words “Harmony Korine to premiere new film at TIFF” in whatever trade was writing about it, we knew that whatever he’s cooked up would be the must-see event of the festival. It’s certainly the Midnight Madness title we’re most excited for. A Korine written-and-directed action film? From the guy who brought us Gummo and The Beach Bum? Just like John Wick: yeah, we’re thinking he’s back.
The Boy and the Heron
Yeah, we’re basically required by law to mention this one. TIFF is home to the North American Premiere of Hayao Miyazaki’s latest (and probably last) film, about which nobody outside of Japan — where the film was virtually stealth-dropped into cinemas accompanied only by a single poster — and it is understandably a BIG event. The film is about a boy and, you guessed it, a heron, and sounds essentially like a fusion of concepts Miyazaki has explored in films like The Wind Rises and Spirited Away. If any film in the lineup deserves the pomp and circumstance of a film festival premiere, it is this one, and we cannot wait.
Dream Scenario
It sounds like the kind of thing that every single hipster auto-right-swipe on your preferred dating site would hold a coven-wide ritual to actuate: Nic Cage, showing up in your dreams. But this Ari Aster-produced horror-comedy asks: What if this was a bad thing? Controversial, we know, but the premise — which sounds like a Charlie Kaufman-penned reboot of the Elm Street franchise — sounds like a swell time. We’ve dreamed of a raging Cage, and they’ve brought it to life.
Poolman
It seems the answer that the fall festivals have found to the ongoing problem posed by the dueling industry strikes — how do you get red-carpet talent to attend without crossing a picket line — is to accept as many actor-directed projects as possible into the line-up. The strangest of these is Chris Pine’s directorial debut, which is basically a conspiracy neo-noir in the vein of Under the Silver Lake about an LA pool guy who finds himself in deep trouble. It sounds slightly unhinged, much like Best Chris’ most interesting work on screen, so we’re eager to give this one a shot. If nothing else, it’ll be memorable as fuck.
Wildcat
Contrary to what we said above, Ethan Hawke doesn’t fit into that category, having proven his behind-the-camera bona fides with Blaze a few years ago. This project sees him take on another legend of the American South, though this time, he’s oriented himself eastward and teamed up with his daughter Maya to bring the life of Flannery O’Connor, one of the patron saints of American Literature, to the big screen. Hawke the Younger plays O’Connor, and the film follows her through her writing career and her isolation from illness. There is no word on whether there will be dancing chickens, which is a weird but true fact about O’Connor: As a kid, she was famed for having a chicken who could, in fact, cut a rug.