The Toronto International Film Festival has descended upon the city, and with hundreds of choices, picking the right film to see can be overwhelming. We’ll be bringing you recommendations every day, from major Hollywood features to compelling docs — the best from around the world. These are films that deserve to be seen, either during the festival or after.
Gravity
I must say that I have yet to see this film, mainly because too many people want to. And it seems justified; however you feel about Alfonso Cuarón’s Gravity once you see it, whether you’re astounded or bored, it would seem more important that you just see it and talk about it. Without question, it’s one of the most — if not the most — anticipated films of the festival.
George Clooney and Sandra Bullock are lost in space in this tense sci-fi drama. An early trailer suggests visually stunning images and intense thrills, and a longer, more recent one reinforces that. Try to get there early, as this is one you want to see on the big screen in a packed house.
And if you do miss it this time around, you have a month to regroup before its Oct. 4 release.
Sept. 11, Scotiabank 12, 9 p.m.
Sept. 15, Ryerson Theatre, 12 p.m.
Don Jon
Rating: 3/5
The writing and directing debut by Joseph Gordon-Levitt is a film full of ideas, thrown to the screen at rapid pace. We follow Jon (Levitt), a Jersey Shore playboy of sorts who cares about his family, his faith, going to the gym, hanging with his guys and picking up girls. Oh, and he also really enjoys pornography.
It’s a forceful, frenetic comedy that makes a lot of attempts at humour, many of which hit (though not all of them do). The film also dips its toe into interesting notions about love, lust, family dynamics and gender roles. When Jon meets a woman he thinks is a “10” (Scarlett Johansson), he is forced to quit his addiction to online porn — or at least hide it.
In doing so he confronts some personal and familial issues while also wondering where he fits in this newfound relationship.
The film is a bit messy, but it’s not short on entertainment and effective directing.
Sept. 11, Ryerson Theatre, 3 p.m.
How I Live Now
Rating: 3/5
Similarly, How I Live Now, a tense drama about a group of kids living freely on the cusp of World War III, has a lot of ideas going on. Saoirse Ronan — with an American accent — plays an angsty teen sent from the U.S. to England live with her unfamiliar cousins, who happen to live mostly unsupervised in a beautiful retreat.
Her name is Elizabeth, but she prefers Daisy. She also prefers not to swim or run or play or generally be around the group. She is a fish out of water, and just as she starts to warm up, Europe finds itself on the brink of war, and Englanders are forced from their homes.
It’s this second sudden change in her living environment that makes Daisy realize what she really wants in life. This at times romantic and at times disturbing drama has both laughs and shocks, and the tense moments are balanced out with light ones. Daisy’s first journey is an emotional one, and her second is a physical and mental one as she seeks to find a place she can truly call home.
Sept. 11, The Bloor Hot Docs Cinema, 3 p.m.