10 movies getting the biggest advance buzz at TIFF 2017

Not all movies go into TIFF as equals. Some have already been ear marked by award prognosticators – either based on receptions at other festivals, or talent pedigree – as buzz-worthy frontrunners for Oscar season consideration.

Here are the movies getting the most advance buzz at TIFF 2017.

Battle of the Sexes

Emma Stone may have only just won an Oscar for La La Land, but that’s not stopping anyone from suggesting she could earn herself another nomination for playing tennis star Billie Jean King as she faced off against Bobby Riggs (played be also Oscar-contender, Steve Carell) in 1973.

Darkest Hour

Film awards love actors who undergo physical transformations – especially when playing a real-life figures. That’s why Gary Oldman’s transformation into Winston Churchill for Joe Wright’s film has many believing Oldman is the Best Actor frontrunner this year.

Downsizing

An all-star cast (including Matt Damon, Kristen Wiig, and Christoph Waltz) paired with Oscar-favorite writer-director Alexander Payne, makes this a big buzz contender. There’s also the intriguing premise: a story about a scientific breakthrough that makes miniaturization of people possible.

The Disaster Artist

If you’ve seen the so-bad-it’s-good cult classic The Room, you’ll know why this project has people intrigued. But it’s especially James Franco’s perfect impression of the eccentric The Room writer-director Tommy Wiseau that has people wondering if an Oscar nomination may be in the cards.

Film Stars Don’t Die in Liverpool

Annette Bening may still be unjustly Oscar-less, but word is that her performance in Film Stars Don’t Die in Liverpool could change that. Here she plays real-life Golden Age Hollywood star Gloria Grahame, who in her later years shared a romance with English actor Pete Turner.

First They Killed My Father

As a United Nations High Commissioner, and the mother of an adopted son from Cambodia, Angelina Jolie’s latest directorial project is a very personal (and anticipated) one: an adaptation of Loung Ung’s memoir about living through the Khmer Rouge regime in the 1970s.

mother!

After the epic Noah, Darren Aronofsky returns to a project that’s more in the vein of his 2010 film, Black Swan. Considering that film earned four Oscar nominations, mother! – especially with Award-darling Jennifer Lawrence – is set-up to garner a fair bit of attention.

The Shape of Water

Guillermo del Toro’s best work has always been those films that are more intimate affairs—like The Devil’s Backbone and Pan’s Labyrinth. That’s why there's a lot of anticipation for his latest. The story: during the Cold War, a secret government facility employee begins to bond with a mysterious creature being studied.

Stronger

In recent years, Jake Gyllenhaal has produced a bevy of award-worthy performances, but always comes up short of an Oscar. Stronger may get him there, as there’s a good deal of buzz around his portrait of real-life Jeff Bauman, a man who lost his legs in the Boston Marathon bombing.

Suburbicon

With George Clooney directing a script co-written by the Coen Brothers, it’s easy to see why Suburbicon is hotly anticipated: there are 14 Academy Award nominations between all of them. So needless to say this film, about a seemingly utopian 1950s community, is a must-see at TIFF.

by Alexander Huls via blogTO