10 Must-See Films at TIFF 2017

The Toronto International Film Festival is kicking off its 42nd year, and judging by previous years, there’s sure to be a few Oscar contenders screening throughout the festival. Academy Award winning films like American Beauty, Silver Linings Playbook, The Wrestler, Dallas Buyers Club, Argo, Room, La La Land and Moonlight have all had their world and/or North American premieres during previous editions of TIFF, so expectations for this edition are high

This year’s celluloid festival runs from September 7 to 17, and if you’re finding the list of films to choose from to be a little overwhelming, here are 10 films that won’t disappoint.

Director: George Clooney

Cast: Matt Damon, Julianne Moore

George Clooney steps behind the camera (with collaborators and co-writers Joel and Ethan Coen) for this complex tale of 1950s suburbia. Damon plays Gardner Lodge, a family man whose get rich insurance scheme doesn’t exactly go as planned. He’s in love with Margaret (Julianne Moore), but his married to her twin sister (also played by Moore), so the love birds hatch a plan to stage a home invasion, get rid of Margaret, collect the insurance money, and take off to Aruba. Of course, it doesn’t go as planned...

Director: David Gordon Green

Cast: Jake Gyllenhaal, Tatiana Maslany

Jake Gyllenhaal stars as Boston marathon bombing victim Jeff Bauman, who after losing both his legs in the 2013 terrorist attack struggles to learn how to live again. Orphan Black star Tatiana Maslany plays his girlfriend who was still a mile away from the finish line when the bombs went off. There’s serious Oscar-buzz building around Gyllenhaal’s performance, so expect to hear more on this film when award season rolls around.

Director: Darren Aronofsky

Cast: Jennifer Lawrence, Javier Bardem, Ed Harris, Michelle Pfeiffer, Kristen Wiig

The latest from famed director Darren Aronofsky has festival critics impressed and disturbed, but Mother! is pretty much guaranteed to impress fans of the director’s previous releases, Black Swan and Requiem for a Dream. This psychological thriller/haunted house horror film follows an unnamed woman (Jennifer Lawrence) and her tortured artist of a husband (Javier Bardem) as they encounter some strange guests in their creepy, isolated mansion.

Director: Craig Gillespie

Cast: Margot Robbie, Allison Janney

I, Tonya takes a look at controversial Olympic figure skater Tonya Harding (Margot Robbie) and her brutal attack on US medal hopeful Nancy Kerrigan back in 1994. Hailed as a “shamelessly entertaining film that is part mockumentary and part tragic comedy,” Craig Gillespie’s film gives insight into Harding’s success on the ice and her challenging personal life. Transformative performances from Margot Robbie (yup, that Margot Robbie) and Allison Janney have already received serious praise.

Director: Sebastián Lelio

Cast: Rachel Weisz, Rachel McAdams

Sebastián Lelio’s has two queer-themed films debuting at TIFF this year: A Fantastic Woman, which stars transgender first-time actress Daniela Vega as a singer who receives infuriating discrimination from doctors and police and contempt from her lover’s ex-wife when her boyfriend dies and Disobedience. Disobedience is an adaptation of a Naomi Alderman novel featuring Rachel Weisz as the daughter of a rabbi who returns to her Orthodox community in London, UK, where she falls in love with her cousin’s wife (Rachel McAdams).

Director: Valerie Faris, Jonathan Dayton

Cast: Emma Stone, Steve Carell

Battle Of The Sexes takes a look back to the legendary 1973 tennis match that pitted feminism icon Billy Jean King (Emma Stone) against chauvinistic pro tennis player Bobby Riggs (Steve Carell). King, a closeted lesbian at the time, was then lobbying for more lucrative winnings for women, while Riggs was arguing that women weren’t worth it when he proposed a $100,000 winner-take-all televised match.

Director: Robin Campillo

Cast: Nahuel Pérez Biscayart, Arnaud Valois

Robin Campillo’s BPM (Beats Per Minute), originally billed as 120 Battements Par Minute, is a touching activist drama that takes viewers back to the struggles of frontline protest organization Act Up, an AIDS awareness group. In French with subtitles, the film’s central couple Sean (Nahuel Pérez Biscayart) and Nathan (Arnaud Valois) are on the frontlines of the battle in early 1990s Paris. Also worthy of note? The film took home the coveted Cannes Grand Prix award earlier this year.

Director: Jennifer Baichwal, Nicholas de Pencier

Cast: Gord Downie, Paul Langlois, Gord Sinclair, Rob Baker, Johnny Fay

Award-winning Canadian documentary makers Jennifer Baichwal and Nicholas de Pencier (Manufactured Landscapes and Watermark) capture The Tragically Hip's poignant cross-Canada, summer 2016 Man Machine Poem Tour, which followed frontman Gord Downie's diagnosis of terminal brain cancer.

Director: Joseph Kahn

Cast: Anthony Michael Hall, Calum Worthy, Debra Wilson

Directed by Taylor Swift collaborator Joseph Kahn and produced by Eminem, Bodied is ridiculously fun. The satire about battle rap promises a wacky look at the experiences of a white Toronto rapper who attempts to make a name for himself in the underground rap scene. Serious.

Director: Aaron Sorkin

Cast: Jessica Chastain, Idris Elba, Kevin Costner, Michael Cera, Chris O’Dowd, Bil Camp

Molly’s Game is based on the true story of Molly Bloom, and Olympic-class athlete who ran a high-stakes poker game for years before coming under investigation by the FBI. The always incredible Jessica Chastain stars as Bloom.