41st Toronto International Film Festival Update
The 41st Toronto International Film Festival is not just underway, it’s become the bigger film news stories of the last week. We’ve seen lots of premieres, lots of showings of Oscar contending films, and I thought I’d give out some reflections of what has shown so far and what else is coming up.
The festival opened with a screening of the remake of The Magnificent Seven. The film will open next weekend, and so far critics has been pretty split down the middle. I don’t think too many were ready to call it a leading Oscar contender, but it looks to be an entertaining western. It currently sits at 62% on Rotten Tomatoes with an average rating of 6/10. Now for the films that have already shown at other festivals. Arrival with Amy Adams from Sicario (2015) and Prisoners (2013) director Denis Villeneuve continues to impress with great reviews and now Adams looking like this year’s Sandra Bullock getting nominated for a sci-fi film like Gravity (2013). It still sits at 100% on Rotten Tomatoes with an average rating of 8.5/10. Very impressive. Loving, written and directed by Jeff Nichols, which showed at Cannes this spring, had a lot of fans at both festivals, and it sits at 92% on Rotten Tomatoes with an average rating of 7.4/10. A lot of credit went to the cast and the writing. In particular, Joel Edgerton, Ruth Negga, and Nick Kroll are getting praised so we could see the film be a hit with the acting branch. The Miles Teller starring Bleed for This has had a relatively mixed response, with Rotten Tomatoes scoring it 71% and an average rating of 5.2/10. We’ll see how it fares going forward. Like Arrival, Damien Chazelle’s La La Land has continued a strong run of the board with great praise going out for the film. It has a 94% rating on Rotten Tomatoes with an average rating of 8.7/10. Also in that same boat is Manchester by the Sea. With a 96% score on Rotten tomatoes and a very praised cast, it could very well become among the most praised films of the year. Average rating of 8.4/10 also means great things for the film. Nocturnal Animals from Tom Ford has continued to be a fairly polarizing film. It currently has a 76% on Rotten Tomatoes and an average rating of 7.2/10. No guarantee that it’ll be a favorite in the Oscar race. Moonlight is next, and it has seen a phenomenal result: 100% on Rotten Tomatoes with an average rating of 9.2/10. The Birth of a Nation from Nate Parker has also seen a great result from its screenings, not succumbing completely to the controversy surrounding star, director, and co-writer and co-producer. It sits at 87% on Rotten Tomatoes with an average rating of 7.1/10.
And now for the films that have shown up for the first time this year, and it’s quite a list so far. Starting with A Monster Calls, which has received some strong word of mouth from attendees. The film has an 82% score on Rotten Tomatoes with an average rating of 7.3/10. Pretty good. Next up is Deepwater Horizon with Mark Wahlberg. Like Magnificent Seven, it’s not expected to be a huge hit with the Academy crowd, but thus far it’s been getting decent reviews. It has a 75% on Rotten Tomatoes with an average of 7/10. Showing last week but now screening for critics is Snowden, the latest from Oliver Stone. While it’s Oscar chances aren’t dead, the reviews won’t fuel it much further. It’s 47% rating on Rotten Tomatoes with average rating of 5.7/10. Next up is another failure, American Pastoral, which crashed at the festival with 13% from Rotten Tomatoes with an average rating of 4/10. Yikes! Lion is another film with a mixed reception. It has a current rating of 60% on Rotten Tomatoes with an average rating of 5.7/10. Again, this isn’t doom and gloom for the film’s chances later this year, but it isn’t exactly what the studio is looking for. And last up is the newest addition to the awards-contending films: Jackie with Natalie Portman. Not only has it become a great contender due to the studio, Fox Searchlight, but it has become the film that everyone now has their eyes on. It has all positive reviews on Rotten Tomatoes with an average of 8.7/10. Wow! So this is one I am certainly going to keep my eye on for the rest of the season.
For what’s left this week? The one that I’m maybe going to keep tabs on is Hailee Steinfeld’s latest, The Edge of Seventeen. It closes the festival on Saturday. While some have not enjoyed the ads so far, I actually quite liked it. Plus I love the idea of pairing Steinfeld and Woody Harrelson. If you haven’t seen the trailer, check it out. Anyways, the story of Toronto has been like this so far: the strong contenders that had already screened came out stronger, and the new films that showed for the first time have been fairly disappointing. We’ll see what wins the People’s Choice Award, because that is usually a contender. For example, in the last four years we’ve had Silver Linings Playbook (2012), 12 Years a Slave (2013), The Imitation Game (2014), and Room (2015). All four had at one point been a major player for best picture, with Slave later winning the top prize at the Oscars, so we’ll see what happens from here.
