With the announcement of initial selections for the 2014 Toronto International Film Festival this morning, there is plenty of parsing that can be done vis a vis what's going to Telluride and what's going to Venice. But seeing as the latter will have its own announcement on Thursday and the former brings with it a guessing game that can go on for another couple weeks, let's just focus on the Canadian fest's offerings, shall we?
As usual, a number of trailers were dropping for films in play when the TIFF announcement was imminent. We've already seen those for films like “The Imitation Game,” “The Good Lie,” “The Equalizer” and “The Drop,” among others. But let's spotlight a few more, which have hit the web thanks to TIFF's handy YouTube account.
First up, “My Old Lady” from director Israel Horovitz, with Maggie Smith and Kevin Kline. It's the story of a down-and-out New Yorker who inherits an apartment in Paris from his estranged father and is stunned to find a refined old lady living there with her protective daughter. Could be an Oscar play for Smith?
Next, Lone Scherfig's latest, “The Riot Club.” Based on the hit play “Posh,” this scathing dissection of the British class system is about a privileged young man who is inducted into the exclusive, debaucherous company of Oxford”s elite “Riot Club.”
Finally, there is “A Second Chance,” which is an interesting case as it is Susanne Bier's latest, when we've yet to see hide nor hair of the film she made before this, the Bradley Cooper/Jennifer Lawrence starrer “Serena.” This one teases with the question, “How far are decent human beings willing to go when tragedy blurs the line between just and unjust?”