HtN’s 15 Most Anticipated Films at TIFF 2024

The 2024 Toronto International Film Festival runs September 5-15, and this year’s edition promises a strong, exciting variety of new cinema – ranging from Almodovar’s English feature debut The Room Next Door, to Sean Baker’s Palme d’Or winner Anora, to the newly-added hot Trump biopic The Apprentice. As we did last year, we offer up our most-anticipated movies from the 278 features in this year’s program. Lead critic Christopher Llewellyn Reed, Editor-at-Large Matt Delman, and contributor M.J. O’Toole are all returning to the festival after attending last year’s. Each of them offers 5 films below that they are most excited about seeing. Stay tuned to Hammer to Nail for a deluge of full-length reviews as the festival progresses.

The Brutalist (Dir. Brady Corbet)

I was a massive fan of actor-turned-director Brady Corbet’s debut film Childhood of a Leader, which he made at the age of 27–a staggering achievement. He followed that up with the equally impressive Vox Lux, starring Raffey Cassidy and Natalie Portman. For The Brutalist he reteams with co-writer Mona Fastvold and cinematographer Lol Crawley (Raffey Cassidy and Stacy Martin also return in small parts). The main character is a Hungarian Jew played by Adrien Brody who–you guessed it–is an architect. He flees Hungary during the Second World War and comes to America, just as my grandmother did. A wealthy businessman played by Guy Pearce hires him to embark on a new project. The Brutalist just premiered in Venice to a 13-minute standing ovation. I can’t wait to see this in Toronto on 70mm. (Matt Delman)

Anywhere Anytime (Dir. Milad Tangshir)

Iranian-born director Milad Tangshir (Star Stuff) explores the immigrant experience in Italy in Anywhere Anytime, with newcomer Ibrahima Sambou in the lead. He plays Issa, an undocumented Senegalese laborer whose best friend Mario—more gainfully employed in a restaurant—helps set him up as a food deliverer. First, though, Issa needs a bicycle, which he and Mario procure after some haggling. As anyone who’s seen Vittoria De Sica’s iconic 1948 neorealist masterpiece Bicycle Thieves may suspect, it’s only a matter of time before this otherwise fine plan goes awry. With expert mise-en-scène and near-perfect timing, Tangshir delivers a heartbreaking thrill ride of a misadventure that is very much of our moment. (Christopher Llewellyn Reed)

Harvest (Dir. Athina Rachel Tsangari)

Director Athina Rachel Tsangari, a giant of the Greek Weird Wave, is back with her debut English feature – a period piece that shows the impact capitalism has on the lives of locals. Captured through the lens of cinematographer Sean Price Williams are the lives of villagers in medieval England (played by Caleb Landry Jones and Harry Melling among many others) whose way of life comes under threat from the arrival of the iron-fisted wealthy who claim the land as their own. It isn’t long before tensions escalate in this cerebral drama which Tsangari co-wrote with Joslyn Barnes (who also co-wrote the upcoming Nickel Boys). This dark observation of outside wealth and modernity affecting rural life may eerily resonate. (M.J. O’Toole)

Flow (Dir. Giants Zilbalodis)

Climate change is on all of our minds, and one certainty of our planet Earth is that some coastal locales will soon be underwater. A black cat joins forces with a team of other cuddly animals (including a lemur and a capybara–my personal fav animal) to traverse this new watery existence, but unlike Madagascar, there are no famous actors voicing these animals. In fact there is no dialogue at all. Nevertheless, Flow took home four prizes at this year’s Annecy Film Festival – the pinnacle of animation. And as Guillermo del Toro reminds us, animation IS cinema. Sideshow and Variance Films will be releasing the film in November. (MD)

 

Kill the Jockey (Dir. Luis Ortega)

Argentinian director Luis Ortega (El Angel) has crafted a mind-bending rumination on passion, self-destructiveness, and gender in Kill the Jockey, which has the plot of a crime thriller but the aesthetic of an Aki Kaurismäki film. Or rather, imagine that Finnish auteur crossed with Chile’s Alejandro Jodorowsky. Mixing deadpan performances with flamboyant production design and a consistently oddball narrative, Ortega nominally follows the story of one Remo Manfredini (Nahuel Pérez Biscayart, BPM), the titular jockey who does himself no favors vis-à-vis his sketchy sponsor by drinking and drugging to excess. Not even the loving support of his romantic partner—also a competitive jockey—Abril (Úrsula Corberó, Snake Eyes: G.I. Joe Origins), can help Remo do right, leading us down a rabbit hole of cinematically alluring twists and turns. It’s a jumble, but never a mess. (CLR)

 

Viktor (Dir. Olivier Sarbil)

It’s not often you come across a documentary premiering in the Platform section. Veteran war photographer Olivier Sarbil, who is no stranger to warfronts, documents the trials and tribulations of a deaf Ukranian man as he navigates the violence and chaos caused by the Russian invasion of his country. As Viktor tries to find his place in the midst of a war he cannot fight in or hear, Sarbil fuses reportage on the frontlines with cinematic tendencies to create an intimately immersive experience not necessarily on the frontlines of battle, but through the eyes of a determined soul eager to do his part. With Darren Aronofsky producing and documentary giant Impact Partners on board, we should expect a unique experience that forces us to see conflict differently through the absence of sound. (MJ)

 

Heretic (Dir. Scott Beck & Bryan Woods)

Hugh Grant has entered his villain era. When two young Mormon missionaries (Sophie Thatcher and Chloe East) knock on his door, they are beckoned in with the promise of his wife’s pie. The Mormon rule is never to enter a stranger’s house without a woman present. However once inside they realize there is no pie, just a pie scented candle. After a healthy dose of religious proselytizing, they are led like mice into a devious game, forced to navigate a creepy maze of sorts. The cult fandom of the Cube series should show out for this thrill ride from the scribes behind A Quiet Place. A24 will release it later this year. (MD)

 

Mistress Dispeller (Dir. Elizabeth Lo)

In her second feature, documentarian Elizabeth Lo (Stray) turns her attention to China, where she chronicles the efforts of a “mistress dispeller,” hired by a wife to break up an affair her husband is having with a younger woman. It’s apparently an actual profession, and here, at least, the titular job-holder has an extensive bag of tricks from which she pulls out this and that, eventually succeeding in her appointed task. It’s a lot more subtle of a process than one might suppose. Her methods are more about convincing people that they don’t really want what they think they want. Intimately bound with her subjects, Lo takes us on a poignant journey into the inner workings of the heart. (CLR)

 

Bring Them Down (Dir. Christopher Andrews)

Having strong ties to Ireland myself, I’m always intrigued by a decent-looking film set in its vast, breathtaking, and mostly desolate countryside. Christopher Abbott and Barry Keoghan star in Christopher Andrews’ feature directorial debut as two opposing shepherds who are thrust into battle against one another in a way that reopens old wounds and forces them to reckon with their tied broken past. Both Abbott and Keoghan are gritty, dedicated actors who have their own magnetic presence. To see how events will escalate with the two sharing the screen is something worthy of anticipating. MUBI produced and will release the film. (MJ)

 

Pepe (Dir. Nelson Carlo de los Santos Arias)

If watching Nicole Kidman and Harris Dickinson’s sweaty, thrusting bodies doesn’t excite you, perhaps you’d prefer an avant-garde hippopotamus film instead. Pepe the hippo, not to be confused with the frog, was rumored to belong to Columbian drug lord Pablo Escobar. After being shot by authorities, his ghost returns (in voiceover) to tell the story. The story follows his journey from Africa to South America, and weaves multiple oral histories of migration. Winner of the Silver Bear for Best Director at Berlin, Pepe is still searching for US distribution. (MD)

 

Superboys of Malegaon (Dir. Reema Kagti)

Indian director Reema Kagti (Gold) adapts the 2012 documentary Supermen of Malegaon into a dramatized feature, plunging the viewer into the over 10-year journey of a group of friends to make movies set in their hometown, located in the state of Maharashtra. Malegaon may not be New Delhi, but its denizens have a lot of local pride. When local man Nasir Shaikh (Adarsh Gourav, The White Tiger) discovers heretofore unknown film-editing skills, he launches himself into remaking Bollywood hits set in Malegaon. He has not much in the way of budget, but what he lacks in money, he makes up for in passion and ingenuity, as well as friendly accomplices. Unfortunately, the more successful he becomes, the more he treats those friends badly. Kagti layers the drama with healthy doses of comedy, building tension until the magical ending that proves surprisingly moving. (CLR)

 

Pedro Páramo (Director Rodrigo Prieto)

Though you may not be familiar with the name Rodrigo Prieto, most likely you’ve been witness to his visually stunning cinematography. Lensing a prolific number of superb films over the years – Killers of the Flower Moon, Barbie, Brokeback Mountain, and Amores Perros to name a few – Rodrigo Prieto has without a doubt made a name for himself as one of the most sought-after DPs in the industry today. But now he shifts gears behind the camera as he makes his directorial debut in this adaptation of Juan Rulfo’s influential 1955 novel. Set in Prieto’s native Mexico, Pedro Paramo follows one man’s search for the father he never met, the titular character (Manuel Garcia-Rulfo), following his mother’s death. When he reaches the abandoned town his father resided in, the past and present beguilingly coexist in a way we can trust Prieto can capture alongside his co-cinematographer Nico Aguilar. (MJ)

 

The Return (Dir. Uberto Pasolini)

Although I read The Odyssey in highschool, my best memories of it are from the kids show starring the dog Wishbone, and the accompanying video game. Therefore I could use a good re-telling. Ralph Fiennes is looking jacked as Odysseus, about to take down some unruly suitors. Juliette Binoche plays his wife and Queen Penelope, and who else is more regal? Charlie Plummer (Lean on Pete) rounds out the cast as their son Telemachus. From legendary producer turned director Uberto Pasolini, The Return will open in December courtesy of Bleecker Street. (MD)

 

Tata (Dir. Lina Vdovîi/Radu Ciorniciuc)

Working closely with her husband, Radu Ciorniciuc, Moldovan journalist Lina Vdovîi dives headfirst into decades of family trauma after her estranged father—long an immigrant worker in Italy—contacts her to ask for help in reporting the abuse (physical, emotional, and legal) he suffers at the hands of his employer. Vdovîi has good reasons to want nothing to do with dad: for years, he abused his children and his wife through controlling and violent behavior. Their lives vastly improved when he left to go abroad. But now, somehow, Vdovîi can’t just let him rot. What ensues is a powerful examination of generational toxicity and deep meditations on how to escape from it. With the camera frequently trained on her (courtesy of Ciorniciuc), Vdovîi asks hard questions of herself, her father, and the women in her family. In the end, herself now a mother, as well, she appears free to break the cycle of imprisonment and move forward, finally at peace. (CLR)

 

Cloud (Dir. Kiyoshi Kurosawa)

Very few filmmakers are capable of delivering slow-burn dread the way Kiyoshi Kurosawa does. The writer-director, known for his chilling masterpieces such as 1997’s Cure and 2001’s Pulse, is back with an action-packed nailbiter that takes the concept of online reselling to deadly heights. Japan’s recently-announced official Oscar entry follows an ambitious Tokyo-based average joe (Masaki Suda) who tries to make a bang for his buck by reselling goods online. It’s not long though before his newfound success is disrupted by multiple enemies looking for revenge. Where things go from there, we can only wait and see what kinds of swift punches to our nerves Kurosawa has in store. (MJ)

For tickets to these and other films, check out the festival website.