The Toronto International Film Festival wrapped up earlier this week and the Oscar buzz is now well underway. In the eyes of Hollywood studio marketing departments the TIFF has become an important event, where the last five Oscar Best Picture winners have all screened successfully.
The Toronto International Film Festival wrapped up earlier this week and the Oscar buzz is now well underway. In the eyes of Hollywood studio marketing departments the TIFF has become an important event, where the last five Oscar Best Picture winners have all screened successfully.
With the Telluride, Venice and now Toronto Film Festivals complete, we’re starting to get an idea of potential Oscar nominees, although some commentators and websites are rather prematurely going as far as predicting potential winners. It’s risky as there are still some big films to be premiered at the New York Film Festival, such as The Life of Pi (I saw the extended new trailer a week or so back on the big screen – it looks beautiful).
The three most talked about films at TIFF have been Paul Thomas Anderson's The Master (which won the best director and actor awards in Venice), political drama Argo (directed by Ben Affleck and first runner-up for the audience award in Toronto) and David O. Russell's comedy Silver Linings Playbook, starring Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence. Silver Linings Playbook won the coveted BlackBerry People's Choice Award and is being distributed by Harvey Weinstein - a man who knows how to market an Oscar winner.
To get a good basic overview of the film’s that screened in Toronto, head to www.indiewire.com and search for 102 Reviews From the 2012 Toronto International Film Festival. There you will find exactly that – brief reviews that can be maximized of 102 films. Beware, what starts out as a quick visit can easily turn into hours of reading!
From a local point of view, Andrew Adamson’s Mister Pip, adapted from the wonderful Lloyd Jones’ novel, staring House’s Hugh Laurie screened in the ''special presentation'' section of the festival.
It’s received mixed reviews. Reviewer Kerry Doole of Exclaim calls Mister Pip ''a powerful and poetic film'', while Nikola Grozdanovic from Indie Wire said, “There is a lot wrong with Mr. Pip, but perhaps most of all the issues relate to the characters…Mr. Pip is a movie that looks like it belongs on TV, and not because of its small-screen star.” Fans of the novel will have to wait until late December to decide for themselves.
The Academy of Arts and Science has announced its key dates for 2013. Nominations will be announced 5 days earlier then usual, on January 10th, with the 85th Academy Award presentation taking place on Sunday 24th January. This is also the first year that members of the Academy will have the opportunity to vote electronically – how 2005!