Bad Education (Special Presentations)
Before “Operation Varsity Blues” netted Felicity Huffman and Lori Laughlin earlier this year, there were other high-profile scams that took schools for suckers. Bad Education tells the tale of one of them, an embezzlement racket that took place in the early ’00s out on Long Island. Rather than get into the details and potentially ruin the fun of the film, I’ll just throw out some members of the cast and let those names speak for themselves. For the adults, we’ve got Hugh Jackman, Allison Janney and Ray Romano. Among the youth, there’s Alex Wolff, Geraldine Viswanathan and Jimmy Tatro.
Can’t make it to Toronto? Watch this at home: Who better to take a scalpel to privileged, over-educated coastal elites than director Cory Finley? His debut Thoroughbreds drolly satirizes the danger of two cunning teenagers left to their own devices in palatial Connecticut estates. Like the scheming northeasterners of Bad Education, the two female leads of Thoroughbreds hatch a plan of their own – murdering one of their stepfathers. (available to stream on HBO GO)
Jungleland (Special Presentations)
Sometimes it feels like Jack O’Connell and Charlie Hunnam are two movie stars that the industry is trying to bludgeon us into accepting, even though neither has quite caught much of a fire with the public. Each actor has had roles worthy of breakout status – O’Connell with his feral intensity in Starred Up, Hunnam as an indefatigable explorer in The Lost City of Z – but need something bigger or risk going into Sam Worthington territory. Perhaps Jungleland, which leans into the rugged masculinity of both men, can change their trajectories. O’Connell plays a boxer on his last leg, while Hunnam features as his brother and manager. The two take a road trip to a potential final fight only to have an unexpected travel companion fracture their relationship further.
Can’t make it to Toronto? Watch this at home: It doesn’t feel like a particularly comparable title for Jungleland, but director Max Winkler’s last title Flower caught me by surprise with its deft handling of tricky relationships. He draws great performances of the ever-charismatic Zoey Deutsch, here playing a teenager unafraid to wield her sexuality for personal advantage, and Kathryn Hahn, playing her scatter-brained mother just trying to find some kind of foothold in the world. The story takes many an unexpected and potentially risky turn, but Winkler guides it confidently. (available for free to subscribers of Hulu)
Synchronic (Special Presentations)
Anthony Mackie and Jamie Dornan, while both well-known stars, have yet to find much commercial success outside franchises. Perhaps that changes with Synchronic, where the duo plays a team of paramedics who fall down a rabbit hole investigating a new drug that leads to numerous overdoses they must treat. The film also represents a potential breakthrough for its directors, Aaron Moorhead and Justin Benson, a team widely lauded on the genre circuit but still a bit under the radar for general audiences. With a starrier cast and noir-like premise that defies categorization, Synchronic might open many a door for them.
Can’t make it to Toronto? Watch this at home: After years of letting Moorhead and Benson’s work linger in various streaming queues, I finally got to work on checking out their back catalogue once TIFF programmed Synchronic. I was quite impressed with what I saw, particularly The Endless, a lo-fi UFO cult movie where the directors also play the two protagonists. Very few movies are able to pull off the sophistication of human drama that they do without selling out the genre conventions altogether. Their economic filmmaking style, too, has me amped to see what they do with a bigger budget and scale. (available for free to subscribers of Netflix)
The Streamer’s Guide To The 2019 Toronto International Film Festival: What Non-Festgoers Can Watch At Home
By Marshall Shaffer/Sept. 4, 2019 8:00 am EST
Just Mercy (Gala Presentations)
Radioactive (Gala Presentations – Closing Night Film)
Bad Education (Special Presentations)
Before “Operation Varsity Blues” netted Felicity Huffman and Lori Laughlin earlier this year, there were other high-profile scams that took schools for suckers. Bad Education tells the tale of one of them, an embezzlement racket that took place in the early ’00s out on Long Island. Rather than get into the details and potentially ruin the fun of the film, I’ll just throw out some members of the cast and let those names speak for themselves. For the adults, we’ve got Hugh Jackman, Allison Janney and Ray Romano. Among the youth, there’s Alex Wolff, Geraldine Viswanathan and Jimmy Tatro.
Can’t make it to Toronto? Watch this at home: Who better to take a scalpel to privileged, over-educated coastal elites than director Cory Finley? His debut Thoroughbreds drolly satirizes the danger of two cunning teenagers left to their own devices in palatial Connecticut estates. Like the scheming northeasterners of Bad Education, the two female leads of Thoroughbreds hatch a plan of their own – murdering one of their stepfathers. (available to stream on HBO GO)
Can’t make it to Toronto? Watch this at home: Who better to take a scalpel to privileged, over-educated coastal elites than director Cory Finley? His debut Thoroughbreds drolly satirizes the danger of two cunning teenagers left to their own devices in palatial Connecticut estates. Like the scheming northeasterners of Bad Education, the two female leads of Thoroughbreds hatch a plan of their own – murdering one of their stepfathers. (available to stream on HBO GO)
Ema (Special Presentations)
Guns Akimbo (Special Presentations)
Jungleland (Special Presentations)
Sometimes it feels like Jack O’Connell and Charlie Hunnam are two movie stars that the industry is trying to bludgeon us into accepting, even though neither has quite caught much of a fire with the public. Each actor has had roles worthy of breakout status – O’Connell with his feral intensity in Starred Up, Hunnam as an indefatigable explorer in The Lost City of Z – but need something bigger or risk going into Sam Worthington territory. Perhaps Jungleland, which leans into the rugged masculinity of both men, can change their trajectories. O’Connell plays a boxer on his last leg, while Hunnam features as his brother and manager. The two take a road trip to a potential final fight only to have an unexpected travel companion fracture their relationship further.
Can’t make it to Toronto? Watch this at home: It doesn’t feel like a particularly comparable title for Jungleland, but director Max Winkler’s last title Flower caught me by surprise with its deft handling of tricky relationships. He draws great performances of the ever-charismatic Zoey Deutsch, here playing a teenager unafraid to wield her sexuality for personal advantage, and Kathryn Hahn, playing her scatter-brained mother just trying to find some kind of foothold in the world. The story takes many an unexpected and potentially risky turn, but Winkler guides it confidently. (available for free to subscribers of Hulu)
Can’t make it to Toronto? Watch this at home: It doesn’t feel like a particularly comparable title for Jungleland, but director Max Winkler’s last title Flower caught me by surprise with its deft handling of tricky relationships. He draws great performances of the ever-charismatic Zoey Deutsch, here playing a teenager unafraid to wield her sexuality for personal advantage, and Kathryn Hahn, playing her scatter-brained mother just trying to find some kind of foothold in the world. The story takes many an unexpected and potentially risky turn, but Winkler guides it confidently. (available for free to subscribers of Hulu)
Pelican Blood (Special Presentations)
Synchronic (Special Presentations)
Anthony Mackie and Jamie Dornan, while both well-known stars, have yet to find much commercial success outside franchises. Perhaps that changes with Synchronic, where the duo plays a team of paramedics who fall down a rabbit hole investigating a new drug that leads to numerous overdoses they must treat. The film also represents a potential breakthrough for its directors, Aaron Moorhead and Justin Benson, a team widely lauded on the genre circuit but still a bit under the radar for general audiences. With a starrier cast and noir-like premise that defies categorization, Synchronic might open many a door for them.
Can’t make it to Toronto? Watch this at home: After years of letting Moorhead and Benson’s work linger in various streaming queues, I finally got to work on checking out their back catalogue once TIFF programmed Synchronic. I was quite impressed with what I saw, particularly The Endless, a lo-fi UFO cult movie where the directors also play the two protagonists. Very few movies are able to pull off the sophistication of human drama that they do without selling out the genre conventions altogether. Their economic filmmaking style, too, has me amped to see what they do with a bigger budget and scale. (available for free to subscribers of Netflix)
Can’t make it to Toronto? Watch this at home: After years of letting Moorhead and Benson’s work linger in various streaming queues, I finally got to work on checking out their back catalogue once TIFF programmed Synchronic. I was quite impressed with what I saw, particularly The Endless, a lo-fi UFO cult movie where the directors also play the two protagonists. Very few movies are able to pull off the sophistication of human drama that they do without selling out the genre conventions altogether. Their economic filmmaking style, too, has me amped to see what they do with a bigger budget and scale. (available for free to subscribers of Netflix)
