The 25 Most-Anticipated Movies From the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival (2024)

September 3, 2024

• ‘April’

  

  Few directorial debuts have wowed us as much as Dea Kulumbegashvili’s Beginning (2020), which immediately established the Georgian filmmaker as a major new voice in world cinema. So we’re beyond stoked that her follow-up is at TIFF this year, a drama that focuses on an OB-GYN named Nina (Ia Sukhitashvili) who performs secret, highly illegal abortions for desperate women. Word gets back to the hospital administrators, which puts this good samaritan in the crosshairs; when Nina is implicated in possible malpractice incident, she finds herself fighting a war for her reputation and her freedom on several fronts.

• ‘The Assessment’

  

  In the future [cough], the government decides who can or can’t conceive a child [cough, cough] and women’s control over their own bodies has been turned into a bureaucratic affair [COUGH, COUGH]. The feature debut of French director Fleur Fortuné uses this dystopian scenario as the backdrop for a drama about a couple (played by Elizabeth Olsen and Himesh Patel) who find their relationship tested when an auditor (Alicia Vikander) comes to observe them and determine whether or not they can start a family.

• ‘Bring Them Down’

  

  An Irish farmer (Christopher Abbott) loses a few rams; he soon finds out that a local neighbor’s son (Barry Keough) has actually stolen them, and refuses to give them back. What starts as a small incident of livestock theft soon escalates into an all-out war between the two rural residents, which is made all the more complicated because of the bad-blood history between the two families. This sounds like an intense one. Colm Meaney and The Magdalene Sisters’ Nora-Jane Noone.

• ‘The Brutalist’

  

  The early word on this epic — and clocking in at over three and a half hours, we do mean epic — from actor-director Brady Corbet (The Childhood of a Leader) is that it’s the sort of bold, brash, big-scale-and-scope type of movie that channels the 1970s heyday of Bertolucci, Coppola, et al., down to being shot with VistaVision cameras so it could be projected in 70mm. We’re sold! Following the life of a Hungarian immigrant named László Tóth (Adrien Brody) who flees his homeland during WWII, finds shelter in America and finds his life being consumed by a massive architectural project, this The Fountainhead-meets-The Godfather: Part II fever dream has already been making waves on the festival circuit. Felicity Jones, Guy Pearce, Alessandro Nivola, Joe Alwyn, and the always great Isaach De Bankolé are along for the ride.

• ‘Cloud’

  

  Kiyoshi Kurosawa (Cure, Pulse, Tokyo Sonata) returns with a thriller about a young man (Masaki Suda) who finds that his side hustle of reselling items on the web is way, way more lucrative than his factory job. He moves out of the city and into the country, hires someone to run the daily affairs of his online business and starts eyeing an early retirement. Then a series of mysterious attacks suggests that he’s stepped into an unexpected, and not-so-easily-explained sh*tstorm.

• ‘The Deb’

  

  You’ve likely heard about this boisterous musical comedy, which drops a hoity-toity big-city student (Charlotte MacInnes) into the Australian outback to live with her rural cousin (Natalie Abbott), because of the behind-the-scenes drama happening between its producers and director Rebel Wilson. We’re more curious to see how the Bridesmaids star does with her first time behind the camera, and really, who couldn’t use the occasional bubbly song-and-dance extravaganza in a fest season full of heavy, somber history lessons?

• ‘Eden’

  

  A German doctor (Jude Law) and his special lady friend (Vanessa Kirby) hightail it out of Deustchland in 1929 and head for a remote island in the Galápagos archipelago. They believe they’ve found their own personal paradise — see title! — until some like-minded escapees played by Sydney Sweeney, Ana de Armas, and Daniel Bruehl show up as well. Let’s just say things get a little territorial in Ron Howard’s historical drama.

• ‘Elton John: Never Too Late’

  

  The bitch is back with a bio-documentary! Sir Elton John is given the royal cine-portrait treatment, courtesy of R.J. Cutler (Billie Eilish: The World’s a Little Blurry, The September Issue) and Elton’s husband, David Furnish. Expect a lot of reminiscing about career highs and lows as the legend preps for what will be his final concert at L.A.’s Dodger Stadium.

• ‘The End’

  

  Joshua Oppenheimer has already plowed down the boundaries of what you can and can’t do within the documentary format, thanks to his groundbreaking, mind-blowing works The Act of Killing (2012) and The Look of Silence (2014). Now, he seems to be attempting the same thing with the old-school musical. Tilda Swinton, Michael Shannon, and The Beast‘s George MacKay are a family residing underground in a lavish bunker after a global natural catastrophe has left the surface uninhabitable. A stranger (Moses Ingram) from the outside world unexpectedly shows up at their door one day, throwing the whole postapocalyptic living situation into flux. Tim McInnery, Lennie James, and Pulp Fiction‘s Bronagh Gallagher costar. There will be singing.

• ‘The Friend’

  

  He (Bill Murray) is a renowned author, ladies’ man and overall irresistible charmer. She (Naomi Watts) is a writer who’s always thought of him as a mentor, even when he’s tested her tolerance for mercurial behavior. When the older gent suddenly dies, his longtime friend must deal with all the unfinished business he left behind — and take care of his ginormous Great Dane, Apollo. Sigrid Nunez’s bestselling novel is adapted for the screen by no less than David Siegel and Scott McGehee (Suture, Montana Story); word on the street is that the dog steals the show.

• ‘Friendship’

  

  Sure, it’s hard to make friends when you’re an adult dude — but Craig Wasserman’s new neighbor, Austin Carmichael, is the kind of kick-ass guy (he’s in a rock band!) who you can easily crack a brew and chill out with. Then something goes a little awry with this bromance, and Craig finds his life going off the rails. Since Austin is played by Paul Rudd, you might think this could be a variation on I Love You, Man; the fact that Tim Robinson plays Craig, however, suggests you’re in for a whole heapin’ helpful of I Think You Should Leave cringe-comedy absurdism.

• ‘Hard Truths’

  

  A new movie from Mike Leigh is always an event — and his latest, about the matriarch with an aggressive manner, sounds like he’s taking a break from his recent historical period pieces (Mr. Turner, Peterloo) and returning to his contemporary social-realism dramas of yesteryear. Secrets & Lies‘ star Marianne Jean-Baptiste is Pansy, a woman under the influence of her own anger with her family, friends, and anybody who crosses her path. The question is what lies behind that rage, and that’s where Leigh’s facility with deep-dive character studies and Jean-Baptiste’s limitless talent come into play. We can’t wait for this one.

• ‘Harvest’

  

  A widower (Caleb Landry Jones) in a superstitious English village circa the Middle Ages is considered a bit of a misfit by his neighbors. Hence, things are already tense for him when a fire breaks out, two drifters are accused of the crime and suddenly, everyone who isn’t a longtime local is viewed with suspicion and dread. Then some rich bastard (Frank Dillane) shows up and says the whole village belongs to him now, and, well … you ever seen a powder keg get its fuse lit. Greek auteur extraordinaire Athina Rachel Tsangari (Attenberg, Chevalier) directs.

• ‘The Last Showgirl’

  

  Pamela Anderson is a Vegas showgirl who’s been gracing the stage of the city’s premiere, old-school song-and-dance extravaganza. Tastes change and times are tough, however, which is why her show is closing after 30-plus years on the strip. She’s got to figure out her next step, and fast. Whether this is the first step toward the pop-culture icon and former Baywatch actor becoming “Pamela Anderson, Oscar Nominee” is anyone’s guess, but we’ve got a good feeling about director Gia Coppola’s drama. Dave Bautista and Jamie Lee Curtis provide additional star power.

• ‘The Life of Chuck’

  

  Writer-director Mike Flanagan has long been an admirer and an interpreter of Stephen King’s work (see: Doctor Sleep, Gerald’s Game). Still, we would not have guessed he’d pick the author’s odd, moving novella — about an ordinary accountant named Chuck who gets the celebrity treatment, as he both he and the world at large seem to be going out with a bang — for his next crack at a King story. Tom Hiddleston is the number-cruncher who begins showing up on billboards and TV ads. Chiwetel Ejiofor, Mark Hamil, Karen Gillan, and Jacob Tremblay costar.

• ‘Nightbitch’

  

  A writer (Amy Adams) decides to put her professional ambitions on hold to focus on parenting — and the fact that the character is literally listed simply as “Mother” in the credits hints that this adaptation of Rachel Yoder’s novel is telling the story from her rather frustrated perspective. Her one outlet is a nightly run around the neighborhood to blow off steam, which is soon accompanied by a rather majorly transformative change. IFYKYK, and if you don’t know, let’s just say the title contains a major hint. The always great writer-director Marielle Heller (The Diary of a Teenage Girl) has the sort of sensibility that suggests she’ll lean in to both the satirical and more personal aspects of this story with gusto. Scoot McNairy, Zoe Chao, Mary Holland, and Suspiria‘s Jessica Harper join in on the fun.

• ‘Nutcrackers’

  

  We’re getting some heavy Bad News Bears vibes from David Gordon Green’s dramedy about a Chicago-based business executive (Ben Stiller) forced to take care of his rowdy, recently orphaned nephews in small Ohio town. The idea is that he’ll stick around until these troublemakers find a new home, but naturally, he begins to warm to the kids — and eventually helps them stage a “new and improved” version of Tchaikovsky’s ballet, complete with samurai and gore.

• ‘The Order’

  

  On June 18, 1984, a Jewish talk-radio host named Alan Berg was assassinated outside his home in Denver. It was quickly labeled as a hate crime, but it soon came to light that this murder was just one small part of a much bigger plan hatched by a Neo-Nazi group known as “The Order.” Given his past work, Australian filmmaker Justin Kurzel (Nitram, The Snowtown Murders) is the perfect person to bring this true-crime thriller to the screen; Jude Law is the dogged FBI agent chasing down these white supremacists, and Nicholas Hoult is the domestic terrorist trying to start a race war. To say this story is relevant now would be putting it mildly.

• ‘Queer’

  

  Luca Guadagnino tackles William S. Burroughs’ semi-autobiographical novel (written in the early ’50s, published in 1985) about an American ex-pat named Lee (Daniel Craig) cruising Mexico City and dealing with a debilitating heroin addiction. He eventually hooks up with a younger man, Allerton (Drew Starkey), who joins his fellow traveler on a trip to ingest ayahuasca. The mix of director, star, and material has us giddy with anticipation.

• ‘Relay’

  

  Ash (Riz Ahmed) makes sure that potential corporate whistleblowers can both remain anonymous and expose the malfeasance of their employers. It’s a solid service, one in which he never meets his clients and is paid very, very well. Then along comes Sarah (Lily James), who’s about to make a private scandal go public and enlists the middleman to help her. Only some of her boss’s thugs have targeted her, which compromises Ash’s position, and … you can see where this is going. As card-carrying fans of director David Mackenzie (Hell and High Water, Starred Up), this is the fest offering we’re most likely to line up early for.

• ‘Riff Raff’

  

  If the movies have taught us nothing, it’s that once you’ve been in the crime game, you can never, ever really get out. Still, after 20 years, an aging crook (Ed Harris) has long settled down with his sweetheart (Gabrielle Union) and believes he’s left all that behind him. Cue: his grown son (Lewis Pullman), his volatile ex-wife (Jennifer Collidge), and an old colleague (Bill Murray) with scores to settle. Dito Montiel (A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints) directs.

• ‘Road Diary: Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band’

  

  They’re called Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band for a reason: For decades, the singer had been backed by a band that’s always been integral to what he does live and on wax, as well as being the tightest outfit in town. Documentarian and longtime Springsteen collaborator Thom Zimny (Western Stars, Letter to You) takes a look back at the musicians who have traveled far and wide as E Streeters, with an emphasis on how these Jersey guys went from bar-band commandos to rock and rock MVPs.

• ‘The Room Next Door’

  

  Who better to grace Pedro Almodóvar’s first English-language movie — an adaptation of the book What Are You Going Through by Sigrid Nunez, an author who is having a very good festival this year — than Tilda Swinton and Julianne Moore? The former is an ex-war correspondent who’s terminally ill, and the latter is a writer who comes to visit her. What happens next involves the right to die with dignity, and what one friend is willing to do for another. We expect one hell of an acting showdown!

• ‘Vice Is Broke’

  

  Once upon a time, Eddie Huang — author, chef, filmmaker and overall badass — hosted his travel show Huang’s World on Vice’s network. He was tight with the company that brought a hipster edge and a subversive sense of taste to the media world. Vice Inc. was once worth billions, now they’re bankrupt, and Huang wants to know what the hell happened. Also, he’d like his back royalties, please. The funny thing is that this expose of a corporation that made it big, did some smart and a lot of dumb things, then flamed out would likely have aired on Vice back in the day. Now they’re the subject.

• ‘Without Blood’

  

  Angelina Jolie — already generating crazy Oscar chatter for her portrayal of Maria Callas in Pablo Larrain’s biopic Maria — steps behind the camera once again for this take on novelist Alessandro Baricco’s story of murder and revenge. A doctor is gunned down at his home. Many years later, a woman (Salma Hayek Pinault) strikes up a conversation with a man (Demián Bichir) selling lottery tickets in a small town. It turns out that they have met before, though it takes a second for him to realize this — and that this stranger is playing the long game when it comes to payback.