Today the full schedule was announced and I picked up my TIFF programme book. There are way more films than I’ll be able to see, but here are a few more that I’m hoping not to miss:
Mr. Nobody (Director: Jaco van Dormael): No recently announced film had me more excited than this one. Jaco van Dormael directed the incredible Toto le héros (1991) but has taken a very long sabbatical from filmmaking. This film, his first in 13 years, seems reminiscent of Toto, which makes me very happy indeed. Jared Leto plays Nemo, at 120 the oldest living man in the year 2092. He’s also the last mortal, since advances in stem-cell technology means nobody has to die anymore. But Nemo is dying, and coming to terms with a lifetime of memories, not all of which can be real. Or can they?
Official site of the film (French)
Dogtooth (Kynodontas) (Director: Giorgos Lanthimos): A family where the teenaged children are not allowed to leave the house, are taught the wrong words for everything, and are sexually “relieved” occasionally by one of their father’s employees? This sounds like a social experiment gone wild, and the reviews from Cannes were puzzled but positive. It’s some kind of satire, probably about the fear of sex as a corrupting/liberating force, but the stills I’ve seen (and that poster!) have me curious just to look at it. Note: The embedded trailer below is not work-safe. There is some brief nudity.
Hiroshima (Director: Pablo Stoll): From the co-director of Whisky (2004) comes a “(mostly) silent musical” about the director’s brother Juan, who is unable to communicate except through his music. As lead singer of a band, Juan has opportunities to express himself, but without music, finds himself cut off from the world and people around him. This promises to be quite moving, since Stoll’s longtime co-director Juan Pablo Rebello took his own life in 2006 and the film is being talked about as a tribute of sorts to him. The description doesn’t quite make clear whether Juan Stoll is acting or just playing himself, which adds another layer of poignancy to the story.