by Tim Gordon
The 48th annual Toronto International Film Festival returns beginning September 7 to 17, 2023. We feature over 30 films that we’ll check out during the fest.
During this year’s awards, special tributes will be awarded to Spike Lee, Colman Domingo, Vicky Krieps, and Patricia Arquette among others.
Some of the festival highlights include:
GALA PRESENTATIONS
Dumb Money
Paul Dano and Seth Rogen find themselves on opposite ends during a tug-of-war, in Craig Gillespie’s take on the outrageous battle of wits between amateur investors and hedge fund billionaires that became the infamous GameStop Wall Street scandal.
Finestkind
Ben Foster, Toby Wallace, Tommy Lee Jones, and Jenna Ortega star in this new crime drama from Brian Helgeland about a crew of fishermen who tread dangerous waters after their debts start piling up.
Origin
Ava DuVernay directs an inspired adaptation of Isabel Wilkerson’s life, as she digs into the nuance of discrimination while writing what would become her New York Times bestselling book, Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents.
Thank You For Coming
Smart, successful, and respected, Delhi food blogger Kanika Kapoor (Bhumi Pednekar) is what you might call a hapless romantic. A serial monogamist, she’s spent her entire adult life seeking a satisfying love match — both emotionally and physically. But no matter the partner, and no matter how enthusiastic the relationship, she’s never been able to have an orgasm… and it’s become so damaging to her self-image that she’s about to throw away her dreams of a fairy-tale romance and settle for a devoted but painfully dull suitor.
SPECIAL PRESENTATIONS
American Fiction
Jeffrey Wright stars in Cord Jefferson’s adaptation of Percival Everett’s Erasure — a wicked satire about the commodification of marginalized voices and a portrait of an artist forced to re-examine his integrity.
The Beast (La Bête)
This heady, sci-fi examination of yearning, obsession, and existential dread by visionary French auteur Bertrand Bonello stars Léa Seydoux and George MacKay as two lovers connecting and reconnecting across time and space, all while catastrophe looms.
Daddio
Dakota Johnson and Sean Penn display their magnetism and acting range over the course of a cab ride through New York City full of conversational — and power — shifts. From its beginning, cinema has both explored and exploited screen relationships between younger women and older men — nearly always from the men’s perspective. Daddio offers a refreshing turn.
Ezra
Bobby Cannavale, Rose Byrne, and Robert De Niro star in this fabulously unpredictable ensemble dramedy from director Tony Goldwyn (TIFF ’10’s Conviction) about parents struggling over how best to raise their child.
His Three Daughters
A tense, captivating, and touching portrait of family dynamics starring Carrie Coon, Elizabeth Olsen, and Natasha Lyonne as sisters who converge after their father’s health declines.
Les Indésirables
Set largely in an underprivileged Parisian suburb, Ladj Ly’s follow-up to Les Misérables (TIFF ’19) is an incendiary indictment of racist policies that force the poor into unsafe and inadequate living conditions.
Knox Goes Away
Michael Keaton directs and plays Knox, a hitman losing his memory, putting him in a race against time to help his estranged son (James Marsden) cover up a messy crime. Keaton returns to double duty, directing and acting in this crime drama about a hitman who is diagnosed with a fast-moving form of dementia, with one last task to take care of before he can fade away.
Memory
Past, present, and future collide when Saul (Peter Sarsgaard) follows Sylvia (Jessica Chastain) home from their high school reunion, in this touching and masterful film by director Michel Franco.
Next Goal Wins
Michael Fassbender, Elisabeth Moss, and Oscar Kightley star in Taika Waititi’s comedy about the American Samoa soccer team’s attempt to make a World Cup — 12 years after their infamous 31-0 loss in a 2002 World Cup qualifying match.
North Star
For her feature directorial debut, Kristin Scott Thomas leads Scarlett Johansson and Sienna Miller in a charming family drama about three sisters who are hung up on the men in their lives, as their mother prepares for her third wedding.
Quiz Lady
From Oscar winner Jessica Yu comes a comedy starring Awkwafina and Sandra Oh as two very different sisters who are forced to pay off their mother’s gambling debts by concocting a scheme to go on a quiz show.
Reptile
Oscar winner Benicio Del Toro, Oscar nominee Justin Timberlake, and Alicia Silverstone star in this moody, intricate New England–set noir in which the worlds of real estate, narcotics trafficking, and police work merge.
Rustin
George C. Wolfe brings Bayard Rustin’s story to life, with a joyous performance by Colman Domingo as the activist who organized the 1963 March on Washington while being forced into the background because of his sexuality.
Sing Sing
A theatre troupe finds escape from the realities of incarceration through the creativity of putting on a play in this film based on a real-life rehabilitation program and featuring a cast that includes formerly incarcerated actors.
Woman of the Hour
Anna Kendrick’s directorial debut examines uncomfortable gender dynamics with the stranger-than-fiction story of Rodney Alcala’s appearance on The Dating Game in the middle of his 1970s murder spree.
CENTERPIECE
Banel & Adama
Ramata-Toulaye Sy’s tragic romance follows two lovers on a quest for self-possession in the face of tradition and against the terrestrial majesty of the Sahel.
Sira
Apolline Traoré won the Panorama Audience Award at Berlinale ’23 for this unflinching look at the crisis plaguing the Sahel region of Northern Africa.