Top Ten Most Anticipated Movies at the 2013 Toronto Film Festival

#5

Under the Skin

dir. Jonathan Glazer

It’s already been declared the most polarizing film of this early fall festival season and that is all I need to hear to find pique my level of interest. All I’ve seen are raves for Under the Skin, but then again I haven’t looked too hard. What does have me nervous is I was not a fan of Glazer’s Birth like everyone else and I’ve never seen Sexy Beast, which I know a lot of people like. Nevertheless, I can’t wait to see how this one turned out.

The story of an alien in human form on a journey through Scotland. Part road movie, part science fiction, part real, it’s a film about seeing the world through alien eyes. Starring Scarlett Johansson.

#4

12 Years a Slave

dir. Steve McQueen

Steve McQueen is pure, raw talent and with 12 Years a Slave he has the most impressive cast he’s assembled to date. The key here is his films are not the kind of films you go into looking for entertainment in the same way you look for entertainment in summer popcorn blockbusters. The entertainment here is in the art and the performances and if the early reviews are any indication they are all in top form right here.

12 Years a Slave tells the incredible true story of Solomon Northup, a free black man from upstate New York who was kidnapped and sold into slavery in 1841 and finally freed in 1853. The story is a triumphant tale of one man’s courage and perseverance to reunite with his family that serves as an important historical and cultural marker in American history. Starring Chiwetel Ejiofor, Michael Fassbender, Benedict Cumberbatch, Paul Dano, Garret Dillahunt, Paul Giamatti, Scoot McNairy, Lupita Nyong’o, Adepero Oduye, Sarah Paulson, Brad Pitt, Michael Kenneth Williams and Alfre Woodard.

#3

Blue is the Warmest Color

dir. Abdellatif Kechiche

After missing it at Cannes and reading more and more people talk about it I can’t help but wonder if my anticipation for Blue is the Warmest Color is based more on jealousy than anything else. Either way, I want to see it and I want to see it now.

As you probably already know, it’s a film about a lesbian relationship in all its intimacy, including an extended sex scene that earned the film an NC-17 rating. In speaking with The Daily Beast recently star Léa Seydoux spoke of working on the film and with director Abdellatif Kechiche saying, “The thing is, in France, it’s not like in the States. The director has all the power. When you’re an actor on a film in France and you sign the contract, you have to give yourself, and in a way you’re trapped.”

In discussing the sex scene she elaborates saying:

“He warned us that we had to trust him — blind trust — and give a lot of ourselves. He was making a movie about passion, so he wanted to have sex scenes, but without choreography–more like special sex scenes. He told us he didn’t want to hide the character’s sexuality because it’s an important part of every relationship… But once we were on the shoot, I realized that he really wanted us to give him everything. Most people don’t even dare to ask the things that he did, and they’re more respectful — you get reassured during sex scenes, and they’re choreographed, which desexualizes the act.”

I’m not sure how necessary an explicit sex scene running approximately ten minutes actually is, but many that saw it in Cannes, where it won the Palme d’Or, insist it absolutely is. I can’t wait to see for myself and see breakout star Adèle Exarchopoulos‘ performance in the process.

At 15, Adele doesn’t question it: girls go out with boys. Her life is changed forever when she meets Emma, a young woman with blue hair, who will allow her to discover desire, to assert herself as a woman and as an adult. In front of others, Adele grows, seeks herself, loses herself, finds herself…

NOTE: The trailer below is not safe for work.

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