It’s hard to suss out what is real and what isn’t if you’re sitting at home reading the tweets and reviews coming out of the Toronto film festival. The Oscar word is getting thrown around a lot. That happens every year. Whether or not any of it will hold water won’t be known until those titles start showing up in other places, like other awards shows. Given that, what films and performances are doing well in Toronto that didn’t play Cannes, Venice or Telluride?
- Truth – somehow this movie headed for TIFF with muted buzz, or no buzz. Actually, that’s the best way to go to any festival. You really don’t want the opposite. There is genuine buzz for Truth, whether it’s “Oscar buzz” or not matters less (who can really say for sure what is and isn’t) than just plain old fashioned buzz: is it a good movie? YES. Cate Blanchett’s performance is noteworthy – on par with her work in Carol. Robert Redford eyes a potential Supporting Actor win (his first ever acting Oscar). All of this is very good news for Truth, even if it will be competing with another film about journalism that has done even better, Spotlight.
- The Martian – Like Truth, it isn’t “Oscar bait” but it is well liked and people are kind of raving about it. I listen less when people say “it’s not an Oscar movie” than I do when they say how much they liked the film. That is always the thing to listen to. Believe it or not most people aren’t really Oscar experts. Even the best Oscar experts can be wrong. One thing that is never wrong, though, is a lot of people liking a movie. That gets you love from all of the branches. It’s hard to say whether Matt Damon himself could be in contention but if enough people like the movie that’s all it takes, really.
- Bryan Cranston in Trumbo has hit its target and puts Cranston squarely in the Best Actor race. Even if people were kind of negative on the film overall – some saying they were “underwhelmed” — my least favorite film criticism 2.0 term next to “overrated” — Cranston gives the right performance needed to be in the conversation, as they say. His spot was being held already and this just confirms it.
- Michael Moore enters the race big time with Where to Invade Next. There isn’t another documentarian like Moore. He is almost a performance artist in the way he rolls out a movie, how he inserts himself into the narrative and how the movie ultimately plays. He is one of a kind in this respect. He’s also quite popular in the doc branch at the Academy. All in all, he took Toronto by storm.
- Sandra Bullock in Our Brand is Crisis – again, kind of a mixed reaction to negative on the film itself but high marks all around for Bullock, who enters the Best Actress race. It was probably met with the curse of high expectations — which might have been the problem but nevertheless, Bullock can carry a movie and her movies make money. With George Clooney by her side in the producer’s chair and the gender switch, Bullock is one of the performances out of TIFF that has popped.
Uptick
- Emily Blunt better than expected in Sicario – Sicario played Cannes, but it’s worth noting that her performance seems to have popped up in Toronto where it didn’t as much in Cannes, for whatever reason. Blunt’s biggest problem is that hers is not a big enough part because it’s kind of overshadowed by Benicio Del Toro. Were that not the case, she would be among the strongest contenders for Best Actress right now. Still, I think her TIFF buzz has caught fire.
- Anomalisa – the reason being it won in Venice and is now wowing in TIFF. It did well at Telluride, no doubt about it but it wasn’t seen by enough people. Now it is getting lots of attention up in Toronto. Still has no distributor as of yet but someone should snatch it up immediately. It will do really well, based on the graphic puppet sex alone.
- Alicia Vikander in The Danish Girl – while more intel is needed on the film overall, one thing seems certain: everyone is wowed by Ex Machina star Alicia Vikander aka the most perfect woman god ever created. It’s hard to say where the film will land. Not cool enough for the cool kids, already burdened with the term “Oscar bait” but it’s like Anne Thompson always says. How do you build Best Picture? Branch by branch. Looks to me like the Danish Girl has the branches sewn up from the top down.
More Intel Needed
Tom Hiddleston in the Hank Williams biopic I Saw the Light seemed to draw a kind of tepid response. In a different year his performance might be one to reckon with — in a competitive year like this it seems like he has no shot.
Holding Steady
TIFF confirms that the Telluride or Venice hits like Beasts of No Nation, The Danish Girl, Youth, Black Mass, are also playing well, at least so far, to the more populist crowds Toronto. Will report back on that once the fest comes to a close.
