The 2018 Toronto Film Festival (9.6 through 9.16) has announced the first crop of films under the headings of galas and special presentations. I’ve bunched them all together under my own Hollywood Elsewhere classifications — Oscar bait, high expectations, critically approved in Cannes and “hmmmm.” I’m sure I’ve omitted or mis-classified a title or two.
Oscar bait: Alfonso Cuaron‘s Roma, Damien Chazelle‘s First Man, Bradley Cooper‘s A Star Is Born, Felix van Groeningen‘s Beautiful Boy.
High Expectations: Steve McQueen‘s Widows, Jason Reitman‘s The Front Runner, Olivier Assayas‘ Non-Fiction, László Nemes‘ Sunset, David Lowery‘s The Old Man and the Gun, Marielle Heller‘s Can You Ever Forgive Me?, Wash Westmoreland‘s Colette, Yann Demange‘s White Boy Rick, Mia Hansen-Løve‘s Maya, Eva Husson‘s Girls of the Sun, Jacques Audiard‘s The Sisters Brothers, Peter Hedges‘ Ben Is Back.
Critically approved in Cannes: Pawel Pawlikowski‘s Cold War, Hirokazu Kore-eda‘s Shoplifters, Lee Chang-dong‘s Burning, Nadine Labaki‘s Capernaum, Zhang Yimou‘s Shadow, Matteo Garrone‘s Dogman, Paul Dano‘s Wildlife.
Second-Tier Farhadi Is Good Stuff Nonetheless: Asghar Farhadi‘s Everybody Knows.
Hmmm: Claire Denis‘s High Life, Melanie Laurent‘s Galveston, George Tillman‘s The Hate U Give, Jiang Wen‘s Hidden Man, Anurag Kashyap‘s Husband Material, Sara Colangelo‘s The Kindergarten Teacher, Nicole Holofcener‘s The Land of Steady Habits, Sir Trevor Nunn‘s Red Joan, Elizabeth Chomko‘s Wish They Had, Kwith Behrman‘s Giant Little Ones, Stella Meghie‘s The Weekend, Amma Asante‘s Where Hands Touch, Don McKellar‘s Through Black Spruce, Dan Fogelman‘s Life Itself, Emilio Estevez‘s The Public.
