Mathew Englander (mathew5000) wrote,
Mathew Englander
mathew5000

TIFF 2014 top ten

Before VIFF starts I want to say something about what I saw at TIFF. Of the 26 screenings I attended there, most were excellent. Here's my top ten.

1. Who Am I–No System Is Safe [Who Am I - Kein System ist sicher] (dir. Baran bo Odar, Germany)
2. The Dark Horse (dir. James Napier Robertson, New Zealand)
3. Wild Tales [Relatos salvajes] (dir. Damián Szifrón, Argentina/Spain)
4. Behavior [Conducta] (dir. Ernesto Daranas, Cuba)
5. The Tribe [Плем'я] (dir. Мирослав Слабошпицький, Ukraine)
6. The Imitation Game (dir. Morten Tyldum, USA/UK)
7. Rosewater (dir. Jon Stewart, USA)
8. The Keeping Room (dir. Daniel Barber, USA)
9. Murder in Pacot [Meurtre à Pacot] (dir. Raoul Peck, Haiti/France/Norway)
10. A Hard Day [Kkeut-kka-ji-gan-da] (dir. Kim Seong-hun, South Korea)

About those ten, I won't say too much; they all had great acting and a gripping story. (That's what I look for in movies.) The Imitation Game will get a huge release and a few Oscar nominations; it won the People's Choice Award, so is now one of the favourites to get Best Picture. Wild Tales will get a release in North America but you'll have to look for it. It should also get an Oscar nomination in the Foreign Language category. Wild Tales and Behavior are both at VIFF. Rosewater also will get a North American release; The Keeping Room is an indie American movie; I hope it gets a theatrical release but may slip under the radar, you have to watch out for it. For descriptions and so forth, follow the links I provided to TOfilmfest.ca, which will give links to the official TIFF programme note, to IMDb, maybe a trailer, and so on. Or, just Google the film title and director.
Tags: film festival, films, foreign films, independent film, movies, tiff, toronto international film festival
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