The Gala Presentations section saw fifteen films in contention for the Peoples Choice Award. Those films and the winner, are as detailed below :-
* 'Bergman Island' - this internationally co-produced drama film, is Written and Directed by Mia Hansen-Love. It stars Vicky Krieps, Tim Roth, Mia Wasikowska and Anders Danielsen Lie.
* 'Dear Evan Hansen' - is an American coming-of-age musical teen drama film directed by Stephen Chbosky. The film's ensemble cast also includes Ben Platt in the title role, Amy Adams, Julianne Moore, Kaitlyn Dever and Amandla Stenberg. World Premier screening.
* 'The Forgiven' - is a US and UK produced drama film Written for the screen, Co-Produced and Directed by John Michael McDonagh. Starring Ralph Fiennes, Jessica Chastain, Matt Smith, Christopher Abbott, Abbey Lee, Alex Jennings and Caleb Landry Jones. World Premier screening.
* 'The Good House' - is an American comedy-drama film Directed by Maya Forbes and Wally Wolodarsky, who also co-wrote the Screenplay. Starring Sigourney Weaver, Kevin Kline, Morena Baccarin, Rob Delaney and Beverly D'Angelo. World Premier screening.
* 'Jagged' - is an American documentary film Directed and Co-Produced by Alison Klayman and surrounds the life and career of musician Alanis Morissette centering on the release of her 1995 album 'Jagged Little Pill'. World Premier screening.
* 'Last Night in Soho' - is a British psychological horror film Directed, Co-Produced and Co-Written based on a story by Edgar Wright. It stars Thomasin McKenzie, Anya Taylor-Joy, Matt Smith, Terence Stamp, Diana Rigg, Margaret Nolan and Rita Tushingham.
* 'The Mad Women's Ball' - from France and Directed, Co-Written for the screen and starring Melanie Laurent. World Premier screening.
* 'Night Raiders' - is a Canadian and New Zealand science fiction apocalyptic film Written and Directed by Danis Goulet. The film stars Elle-Maija Tailfeathers, Brooklyn Letexier-Hart, Alex Tarrant, Amanda Plummer and Violet Nelson.
* 'Silent Night' - this British and American comedy film is Written and Directed by Camille Griffin and stars Keira Knightley, Roman Griffin Davis, Matthew Goode, Annabelle Wallis and Lily-Rose Depp. World Premier screening.
* 'The Survivor' - this American biographical drama film is Directed and Co-Produced by Barry Levinson, and stars Ben Foster as Harry Haft, a real-life survivor of the Auschwitz concentration camp, where he boxed fellow inmates to survive. Billy Magnussen, Danny DeVito, Vicky Krieps, Peter Sarsgaard, and John Leguizamo co-star. World Premiere screening.
* 'The Worst Person in the World' - this Norwegian dark romantic comedy-drama film is Directed and Co-Written by Joachim Trier, and stars Anders Danielsen Lie and Renate Reinsve.
The other winners included :-
* Peoples Choice Second Runner Up awarded to 'The Power of the Dog' shown in the Special Presentations section and this internationally co-produced drama film is Written and Directed by Jane Campion, based on the novel of the same name by Thomas Savage. It stars Benedict Cumberbatch, Kirsten Dunst, Jesse Plemons, Kodi Smit-McPhee, Thomasin McKenzie, Keith Carradine, and Frances Conroy.
The festival presented the TIFF Tribute Awards, which were introduced in 2019 to honour Actors and filmmakers for distinguished achievements over the course of their careers. The first two honourees announced were the native American Canadian film maker and activist Alanis Obomsawin as the recipient of the Jeff Skoll Award in Impact Media and Denis Villeneuve as the winner of the Ebert Director Award. Jessica Chastain and Benedict Cumberbatch were subsequently announced as the recipients of the Actor Awards. Dionne Warwick received the special tribute award, and filmmaker Danis Goulet was named the recipient of the Emerging Talent Award.
For the other awards and film sections from this years Toronto International Film Festival, you can go to the official website at : https://www. tiff.net
'JOE BELL' (Rated M) - is an American biographical drama road film Directed by Reinaldo Marcus Green in only his second feature film outing following 2018's 'Monsters and Men' with John David Washington, with his third feature 'King Richard' with Will Smith playing the father, trainer and mentor to Serena and Venus Williams - his daughters, and due for release later this year. This film saw its World Premier screening at TIFF back in mid-September 2020 and was released in the US in late July this year having so far earned US$1.5M at the Box Office and mixed or average Reviews along the way. This film is Co-Produced by Mark Wahlberg and Cary Joji Fukunaga.
This films tells the intimate and emotional true story of an Oregonian father Joe Bell (Mark Wahlberg) who pays tribute to his gay teenage son Jadin (a breakout performance by Reid Miller), embarking on a self-reflective walk across America to speak his heart to heartland citizens about the real and terrifying costs of bullying. Also starring Connie Britton as Lola Bell (wife of Joe and mother to Jadin), Maxwell Jenkins as Joseph Bell (younger brother to Jadin) and Gary Sinise.
'RIDERS OF JUSTICE' (Rated MA15+) - this Danish action comedy film is Written and Directed by Anders Thomas Jensen whose previous feature film credits are 'Men & Chicken' in 2015, 'Adam's Apples' in 2005, 'The Green Butchers' in 2003 and 'Flickering Lights' in 2000, all starring Mads Mikkelsen who also leads the cast in this, his latest offering. Released in its native Denmark in mid-November last year, has taken US$8M off the back of a US$6.5M production budget and has garnered universal critical acclaim. The film follows recently-deployed soldier to Afghanistan Markus (Mads Mikkelsen), who is forced to return home to care for his teenage daughter after his wife is killed in a tragic train accident. But when a survivor of the wrecked train surfaces claiming foul play, Markus begins to suspect his wife was murdered and embarks on a revenge-fueled mission to find those responsible. Also starring Nikolaj Lie Kaas, Lars Brygmann, Nicolas Bro and Roland Moller.
'FLASHBACK' (Rated MA15+) - is a Canadian mystery thriller movie Written, Directed and Executive Produced by Christopher MacBride in only his second feature film offering after 2012's 'The Conspiracy'. The film saw its World Premier screening at Spain's Stiges Film Festival back in early October last year and was released in the US in early June to mostly mixed Reviews. Here then, Fredrick Fitzell (Dylan O'Brien) is living his best life, until that is, he starts having horrific visions of Cindy (Maika Monroe), a girl who vanished in high school. After reaching out to old friends with whom he used to take a mystery drug called Mercury, Fredrick realises the only way to stop the visions lies deep within his own memories, so he embarks on a terrifying mental odyssey to learn the truth. Also stars Hannah Gross and Emory Cohen.
'TIME IS UP' (Rated M) - this Italian romance film is Co-Written and Directed by Elisa Amoruso and tells the story of Vivien (Bella Thorne), a highly accomplished student, with a passion for physics and keen to get into a prestigious American university. She seems to live her own life as a mathematical formula that drives her to look at her own happiness as something to be postponed into the future. Roy (Benjamin Mascolo), by comparison, is a troubled and problematic young man who, due to a trauma suffered as a child, sees his desires continually hindered by a past that seems to constantly haunt him. But mathematics too has its variables and as often happens, life manages to weave events together in surprising and unexpected ways. When an accident forces Vivien and Roy to come to a stop and reclaim their lives, they finally learn to start living in a present that perhaps will prove to be more exciting than any predefined formula. 'Time Is Up 2' is already in pre-production apparently.
'PERSIAN LESSONS' (Rated M) - this Russian and Belarusian drama film is Directed and Co-Produced by Vadim Perelman whose film making debut came with the multi-award winning and nominated 'House of Sand and Fog' in 2003 with Jennifer Connolly and Ben Kingsley, which he then followed up with 'The Life Before Her Eyes' in 2007 with Uma Thurman and Oscar Isaac and 'Buy Me' in 2018. The film saw its World Premier screening at the Berlin International Film Festival in late February 2020 before its release in China in mid-March of this year. It was selected as the Belarusian entry for the Best International Feature Film at the Oscar Ceremony earlier this year but was disqualified by the Academy, due to the majority of individuals involved in making the film not coming from Belarus. In 1942, in a German concentration camp, Gilles (Nahuel Perez Biscayart), a young Belgian man, narrowly avoids execution by swearing to the SS guards that he is not Jewish, but Persian. This lie temporarily saves him, but then Gilles is assigned a seemingly untenable task to teach Farsi to Koch (Lars Eidinger), the officer in charge of the camp’s kitchen, who dreams of opening a restaurant in Iran once the war is over. Gilles finds himself having to invent a language he doesn’t know, word by word. As the unusual relationship between the two men begins to incite jealousy and suspicion, Gilles becomes acutely aware that one false move could expose his swindle.
'OASIS KNEBWORTH 1996' (Rated MA15+) - Directed by Jake Scott (son of Ridley Scott) whose previous feature film credits take in 'Plunkett & & Macleane' with Robert Carlyle and Jonny Lee Miller, in 1999, 'Welcome to the Rileys' in 2010 with James Gandolfini and Kristen Stewart and 'American Woman' in 2018 with Sienna Miller and Sky Ferreira plus a whole bunch of music videos for bands and artists including R.E.M., Smashing Pumpkins, Soundgarden, Radiohead, U2, The Strokes, George Michael, Lily Allen and the Rolling Stones amongst others. Here he Directs this documentary concert film staged on August 10th & 11th 1996, when 250,000 young music fans converged on Knebworth Park, Hertfordshire, England to see Oasis play two record breaking, era defining shows. The ear defining concerts sold out in under a day with over 2% of the UK population attempting to buy tickets. Featuring a setlist packed from beginning to end with classics, including 'Champagne Supernova', 'Wonderwall' and 'Don't Look Back In Anger', the Knebworth concerts were both the pinnacle of the band's success and the landmark gathering for a generation of concertgoers. 'Oasis Knebworth 1996' is the story of that weekend and the special relationship between Oasis and their fans that made it all possible. It is told through the eyes of the fans who were there, with additional interviews with the band and concert organisers and featuring exclusive never-before seen footage.
With Greater Sydney, where I live, still in COVID lockdown for another couple of weeks ending (at this stage) at the end of September, this means all of our cinema's are closed until this date, which further means that the release of the movies as given below, slated for release this week, will be delayed somewhat across certain parts of Australia at least. That said, these movies will either have been released or are set for an imminent release somewhere in the world, and as Odeon Online has an international audience, I thought it best to carry on regardless.
Turning attention back to this weeks new cinematic offerings coming to an Odeon near you, of which we have American, Danish, Italian, Belarusian and British films, we kick start with a true story of a small town, American working class father who embarks on a solo walk across the US to crusade against bullying after his son is tormented in high school for being gay. This is followed by a Danish film about a soldier who goes home to his teenage daughter, after his wife dies in a tragic train crash, which at first appears to be an accident until a mathematics geek, who was also a fellow passenger on the train, and his two colleagues show up. Then we turn to a story following a chance encounter with a man forgotten from his youth, this guy literally and metaphorically journeys into his past. Next up is an Italian film of how an accident forces a young woman and a man to come to a stop and try to reclaim their lives one minute at a time to start living in the present. We then have a Russian Belarusian film set during WWII where a young Jewish man pretends to be Iranian to avoid being executed in a German concentration camp; and closing out the week we have a concert documentary film featuring the mid-August 1996 gig at Knebworth Park when 250,000 young music fans converged to see Oasis play two record breaking, era defining shows.
Whatever your taste in big screen film entertainment is this week - be it any of the six latest release new movies as Previewed below, or those doing the rounds currently on general release or as Reviewed and Previewed in previous Blog Posts here at Odeon Online, you are most welcome to share your movie going thoughts, opinions and observations by leaving your relevant, succinct and appropriate views in the Comments section below this or any other Post. We'd love to hear from you, and in the meantime, enjoy your big screen Odeon outing during the week ahead.
With six new release films this week to tempt you out to your local Odeon, remember to share your movie going thoughts with your other like minded cinephile friends afterwards here at Odeon Online. In the meantime, I'll see you sometime somewhere in the coming week, at your local Odeon, or perhaps not!
-Steve, at Odeon Online-
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