The 40th Toronto International Film Festival wrapped last Sunday. Although a non-competitive event -- meaning there were no juries -- the festival did have a People's Choice Award voted for by viewers, which this year went to Lenny Abrahamson's abduction drama Room (last year it was The Imitation Game, which went on to earn several Oscar nominations).
The Toronto festival is always a surfeit, a banquet of big hitters as well as smaller films that sometimes get drowned out by the spectacular noise of Hollywood premieres. The festival also casts a wide net that scoops up top picks from previous festivals, especially the (un)holy trinity of Berlin, Cannes and Venice. So, amid the growing Oscar buzz, here are some titles shown this year at Toronto that I would like to single out -- and that you'll certainly hear a lot more about in the months to come.
Anomalisa.
Anomalisa
This new film by Charlie Kaufman (Being John Malkovich, Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind) is a stop-motion drama about a motivational speaker hit by a sudden existential crisis. On the surface, this is a "cartoon" -- anything that doesn't feature real actors is often lumped into that category -- but at heart it is a confidently mature, black-humour study of male insecurity that ends up yielding melancholic tenderness. It also features the year's most memorable sex scene -- performed by digital characters with all the whispering intimacy of human touch. The film still has no Thai distributor.
Lost And Beautiful
This Italian film won't be released in many countries, but for me it's definitely one of the year's best. Part documentary, part dream, and part essay on life, death, nature and the sad cycle of life, Lost And Beautiful takes place in the rural fields near Naples and centres on a buffalo, an angel sent from heaven or maybe hell, a ruined palace, and a weathered shepherd who protects his land. Directed by Pietro Marcello, the film has the beauty of a Romantic painting, and it allows us to hear the voice of the buffalo's thoughts as it contemplates the fate of beasts and men in this troubled world. I haven't seen anything like it this year.
Spotlight
Viewers in Thailand will certainly get to see this film in 2016. Spotlight tells the story of hard-nosed investigative journalists of the Boston Globe who unearth the scandal of child molestation by Catholic priests in early 2000s. Starring a solid ensemble led by Michael Keaton, Rachel McAdams and Mark Ruffalo, the film has already emerged as a likely contender for the Oscars.
The Clan
This Argentinian kidnapping thriller tells a strange (and true) story of a Buenos Aires family, a seemingly normal middle-class bunch whose main livelihood is abducting politicians' sons for ransom. The family's ties with the military dictator in the 1970s gives them protection, until it doesn't. Films from South America often remind us of Thailand, and this one does, too, so please bring this one to our cinemas.
Neon Bull
This Brazilian film is a surreal beast covered in cow dung and human sweat -- which is the greatest compliment. Taking place in a dusty rural rodeo, the film by Gabriel Mascaro centres on a rough-hewn cowhand who handles bulls during the day and designs carnival clothes during the night. Neon Bull switches in and out between rugged reality and fevered fantasy, and touches on curious issues such as the hierarchy of animals, fertility (featuring perhaps the non-human assisted-masturbation scene of the year), and fleeting beauty in the unlikeliest of places.
Sunset Song
Terrence Davies is a British filmmaker respected for his ability to portray sweeping, poetic emotion. In this new film, he adapts an old Scottish book and gives us a turn-of-century pastoral epic of heartbreak, devotion and failed dreams, all in a story of a young woman in a farming hamlet and how she weathers the storm of life. This is decidedly old-fashioned and that's exactly why it feels so special.
Office
I'm sure this Hong Kong film will soon come to Thailand. Directed by action maestro Johnnie To, Office is, however, a 3D musical set entirely in a vast, semi-futuristic office of a merchandising company. The whole film was shot on a constructed set of modernist sleekness, with digitally enhanced visuals, and reminds us of the mid-century films by Jacques Tati. The story of office romance and rivalry is banal, but the point is in how To uses songs, choreography and sheer brashness in set direction to create the whole experience. It also stars Chow Yun-fat and Sylvia Chang, what more could you ask?
The Dressmaker
This Australian comedy is coming to Thai cinemas in a few months. Starring Kate Winslet, The Dressmaker is unabashedly campy with the story of an estranged daughter returning to her desolate Outback town in order to have revenge on the townsfolk who once wronged her. Her weapon: haute couture gowns cut to perfection and worn by rural souls against the desert sun. It's very silly and it's pretty fun.
