3.
Anna Karenina
I am a huge fan of Joe Wright‘s work from Pride and Prejudice to Atonement to my intense love for Hanna. The guy has serious talent for filmmaking and surrounds himself with a spectacular crew and cast and isn’t afraid to take a few chances and flex his muscles. The introduction to the Bennets in Pride and Prejudice is marvelous, the beach scene in Atonement is striking and the mixture of score, editing and intensity in Hanna is absorbing.
With Anna Karenina he’s taken things even further and has shot the majority of the film in a single location, a dilapidated theatre. I can’t wait to see the result.
2.
Seven Psychopaths
Toronto’s line-up is largely dramatic and Martin McDonagh‘s first film since In Bruges looks like it will certainly lighten the mood a little bit as he is bringing Seven Psychopaths to the Midnight Selection with a cast that includes Colin Farrell, Christopher Walken, Sam Rockwell, Woody Harrelson, Olga Kurylenko, Tom Waits and Abbie Cornish. Seriously, how can you go wrong?
1.
Cloud Atlas
What excites me most about Cloud Atlas is I get the impression it is a film about ideas. Ideas of who we are, where we come from and where we are going. It takes risks and comes from a trio of directors — Tom Tykwer and Andy and Lana Wachowski — that want to not only excite and entertain their audience, but wrap them up and pull them in. If this film can live up to my expectations of its ambitions it may very well be one of the best movies we see all year. I don’t want to go too overboard and pronounce its possibilities any further, but my hopes are through the roof.
And that does it for my top ten, but as I mentioned there are several others I would love to see but there is only so much time. I will post a tentative (most likely) schedule on Wednesday, September 5, but until then you can get a look at what I’m leaning toward right here.
