The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) is almost upon us. The films this year are exciting and some we may want to skip. TIFF runs from Thu, Sep 5, 2024, 7:00 PM – Sun, Sep 15, 2024
By: Billy Joynt | September 3rd, 2024
The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) is almost upon us. The films this year are exciting and some we may want to skip. TIFF runs from Thu, Sep 5, 2024, 7:00 PM – Sun, Sep 15, 2024.
TIFF is a not-for-profit cultural organization with a mission to transform the way people see the world through film.
TIFF is dedicated to presenting the best of international and Canadian cinema and creating transformational experiences for film lovers and creators of all ages and backgrounds.
As Canada's premiere home of cinema, TIFF offers screenings, lectures, discussions, festivals, workshops, events, professional development and opportunities to meet, hear and learn from filmmakers from Canada and around the world.
See below on the Top films that I am looking forward to viewing at TIFF 2024. Click Here for Information on Attending the Festival.
SATURDAY NIGHT
It’s the mid-1970s, and a flipbook of Watergate, Vietnam, and rising counterculture make everything old in America feel broken, and everything new feel scary as hell. And now, yet another certainty is about to crack. Because in 90 minutes’ time, live, from New York, it’s Saturday Night. SATURDAY NIGHT dives headfirst into the frenzied hour-and-a-half before a clutch of unknown, untrained, unruly young comedians took over network television and transformed the culture. Saturday Night Live would go on to become the late-night institution that brought John Belushi, Dan Aykroyd, and later Eddie Murphy, Tina Fey, Will Ferrell, and others to our screens. But tonight, it’s barely contained madness backstage, with Canadian Lorne Michaels (Gabriel LaBelle, The Fabelmans, TIFF ’22) desperately trying to channel the chaos towards a vision even he’s not sure of.
QUEER
Brilliant, audacious author, meet brilliant, audacious director: it takes risk to translate the work of William S. Burroughs for the screen, but Oscar-nominated filmmaker Luca Guadagnino’s (Call Me by Your Name, TIFF ’17) spin on the Beat legend’s autobiographical novel matches its source material in vulnerability and taboo-smashing adventurousness. Starring Daniel Craig (Knives Out, TIFF ’19) and featuring supporting turns from Jason Schwartzman (Quiz Lady, TIFF ’23) and Oscar nominee Lesley Manville (Phantom Thread), Queer is a hallucinogenic odyssey bathed in desire.
Lee (Craig) mingles with the expatriate set in postwar Mexico City, wandering its streets, frequenting its gay bars, and ingesting whatever illicit substances are available. He is a consummate raconteur who has no trouble finding an audience, but he is also a desperately lonely, middle-aged addict with an alarming fondness for guns. Early in Queer, Lee sets his sights on a journey to the Amazon in search of the potentially telepathic ayahuasca — and he wants handsome young bi-curious Oklahoman Allerton (Drew Starkey, The Hate U Give, TIFF ’18) to accompany him. Their travels will yield a string of unexpected encounters and provide Lee with sobering lessons in what Burroughs dubbed “the algebra of need.”
THE WILD ROBOT
Based on Peter Brown’s bestselling children’s books, this adventure from Oscar-nominated director Chris Sanders (Lilo & Stitch) and DreamWorks Animation follows a robot (voiced by Oscar winner Lupita Nyong’o), designed to assist humans who finds herself stranded on an island populated exclusively by beasts. Also featuring the voices of Pedro Pascal, Catherine O’Hara, and Oscar nominees Stephanie Hsu and Bill Nighy, The Wild Robot is an epic tale of survival, in which animals and machines must question their programming and embrace their hidden strengths.
Rozim 7134 (Nyong’o) exists to receive orders. But on the rugged isle where Roz first boots up, no orders are forthcoming. There’s no owner is to be found and none of the island’s motley menagerie of animals have any use for her skills. Until, that is, she meets Brightbill (Kit Connor), an orphaned gosling who attaches to Roz the moment he’s born. Taking advice from a fox called Fink (Pascal), Roz compiles a set of directives to help Brightbill through his infancy. But in this place where every creature is either predator or prey, learning to eat, swim, and fly isn’t enough. Brightbill needs to negotiate sticky social situations and find entry into a flock before migration season comes. In short, he needs qualities like tenderness and nurturing — things Roz will need to look deep inside her robot soul to find.
PIECE BY PIECE
The life of singer and producer Pharrell Williams is told through LEGO pieces in this animated feature debut from Morgan Neville, featuring the voices of Gwen Stefani, Kendrick Lamar, and Jay-Z.
TIFF Presented by Rogers
Charting Pharrell Williams’ vibrant career with a conventional documentary would have never been satisfying enough. Fittingly, Piece by Piece tells his story entirely with LEGO, for a bright, bouncy, and energetic treatment that captures the multi-hyphenate musician’s unyielding creative spirit.
The film takes us through Pharrell’s spirited upbringing in Virginia, his first job at a record label, the start of production duo the Neptunes with Chad Hugo, the formation of the band N.E.R.D., and beyond.
When nobody wants to give him a shot as a singer and performer, Pharrell pivots to producing, giving him new fuel that blasts him into orbit, working with artists like Gwen Stefani, Jay-Z, and Snoop Dogg, all also presented in LEGO form and who talk about Pharrell’s unique vision and golden touch. But, as the film also shows, being in the stratosphere doesn’t come without a cost.
CLICK HERE to view other movies on the Schedule.
Billy Joynt(Editor) - Billy has seen many movies over the years. He enjoys comedies and anything action, including the summer blockbuster movies. You can follow Billy on Twitter here. Click Here to check out Billy's Articles.
Billy Joynt (Editor) - Billy has seen many movies over the years. He enjoys comedies and anything action, including the summer blockbuster movies. You can follow Billy on Twitter here.