TORONTO — Hello, festgoers. A full weekend of screenings, video interviews and literally hundreds of portraits has left us spent, but the Toronto International Film Festival continues and we have plenty more to see.
Our photo gallery evolves like the thing of beauty it is. Most recently in our studio: a royal Helen Mirren kicking back, Javier Bardem and Penélope Cruz looking foxy and Buddy, a handsome golden retriever who stole the spotlight.
Videos-wise, we’ve been overwhelmed by many of the celebrities you’ll be hearing about in the coming months as the Oscar race heats up.
Andrew Scott continues his acclaimed run from Telluride with the heartbreaking drama “Elsinore.” He stopped by our TIFF studio to discuss theater, “Hamlet” and the purpose of art.
Cruz and the creative team of “La Bola Negra” dropped in to chat about their ambitious queer epic, still wowing audiences since its Cannes debut.
A true breakout of this year’s Toronto lineup, Rosalind Eleazar sat down with Mark Olsen to talk about playing the title character in the dark Hollywood comedy “Misty Green,” directed by Chris Rock.
What are we watching today?
‘Bucking Fastard’
Rooney Mara, left, and Kate Mara in the movie “Bucking Fastard.”
(TIFF)
Werner Herzog adores quixotic dreamers.
In “Bucking Fastard,” he has two of them: codependent sisters Jean and Joan Holbrooke (Rooney Mara and Kate Mara) who dress, act and speak identically — and are happy to share their neighbor (Orlando Bloom), much to his dismay once the trio’s erotic flames sputter out into arson attacks.
Inspired by the real story of British twins Freda and Greta Chaplin, Herzog’s kooky dramedy finds the siblings teaming up to top “Fitzcarraldo.” In that one, Klaus Kinski’s rubber baron attempted to drag a boat over a mountain. The Chaplins vow to dig a hole through one on their never-ending quest to find true love. — Amy Nicholson
‘Musk’
Elon Musk in the documentary “Musk,” directed by Alex Gibney.
(Alex Brandon / AP)
It is both an existential query and a point of personal preference: Do you want to spend nearly four hours considering the life and career of Elon Musk?
The prolific Oscar-winning documentary filmmaker Alex Gibney thinks that Musk is worthy of such extended contemplation, giving an exhaustive overview of how the self-styled inventor and entrepreneur assembled a vast fortune amid varied business interests that ultimately made him more influential than many nation-states.
Musk refused Gibney an interview, so the filmmaker assembles a trove of responses from available sources and creates a computer-generated A.I.-assisted Musk avatar to deliver them. (How much this gambit works for you may determine your overall response to the film.)
If nothing else, the doc makes it clear that no one, be it Elon Musk or anyone else, should hold such vast power at the command of their personal whims. — Mark Olsen
‘The Debut’
Julianne Moore in the movie “The Debut.”
(A24)
Maybe you’ve heard buzz about Julianne Moore’s performance in this — specifically that one scene that makes the audience burst into lengthy applause mid-movie.
I am hear to confirm that, yes, the hype is real. She’s that good.
What’s less reported is the utterly new creation Moore lands on by the end of the film. Already, she’s trotted out shades of meek “Safe” and meltdowns that bring to mind “Magnolia” or “May December.”
But in a story about the transformational power of community theater, Moore ends up as a dazzling red-jumpsuit-clad stage strutter who brings to mind someone living out their own showbiz fantasy. Call it Moore’s Liza moment. — Joshua Rothkopf
