The Hottest Films at the 2012 Toronto Film Festival

Well underway now is the annual Toronto International Film Festival, which has grown in importance for two reasons: It’s the largest and most diverse of the fall film festivals (which include Venice, Telluride and New York); and it has become an unofficial launch pad for the Oscar season. Here, our list of the 15 hottest movies expected at TIFF that you should stay tuned for when they’ll open near you. Plus, our complete TIFF coverage!

The Hottest Films at This Year's Toronto Film Festival

15. Looper (Sept. 28)

Brick and The Brothers Bloom director Rian Johnson has the distinction of opening this year’s Toronto fest with this anticipated sci-fi thriller that dabbles in time travel – which is possible, but illegal, in our distant future – but really just pits Joseph Gordon-Levitt against Bruce Willis with the fate of humanity resting in the balance. Emily Blunt and Jeff Daniels co-star.

14. The Silver Linings Playbook (Nov. 21)

David O. Russell follows up The Fighter – which earned seven Oscar nominations (including best director) and two wins – with a dark comedy about one man’s (Bradley Cooper) futile quest to overcome his mental illnesses and reunite with the ex-wife who slapped him with a restraining order. Can Jennifer Lawrence help bring balance to his world?

13. Anna Karenina (Nov. 16)

Russian literature? Maybe you’d rather wait for James Bond’s return in Skyfall. But here’s why Anna Karenina is on our TIFF list: The lavish adaptation of Leo Tolstoy’s novel has been directed by Joe Wright with his favorite leading lady, Keira Knightley. And in the past, they collaborated on Pride & Prejudice and Atonement. That’s more than enough for us.

12. Seven Psychopaths (Oct. 12)

TIFF’s Midnight Madness program has become legendary, introducing hungry genre fans to movies like The Raid, Insidious, JCVD and The Host. If we can pick only one movie to see on this year’s Midnight slate, it would be Martin McDonagh’s Psychopaths, with an intentionally kooky ensemble (including Colin Farrell, Woody Harrelson and Christopher Walken) in a crime story centered on a kidnapped dog.

11. Imogene (TBA)

Now that Kristen Wiig has exited Saturday Night Live, we’ll have to look to the silver screen to enjoy her unique comedic talents. For Imogene, she teams with American Splendor co-directors Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini for a dry story of a struggling playwright who fakes a suicide to get back with her ex, but instead ends up in the arms of her troubled mother (Annette Bening).

10. On the Road (Dec. 21)

Garrett Hedlund and Sam Riley may star as Dean and Sal in Walter Salles adaptation of Jack Kerouac’s vintage Beat Generation novel. But it’s the star power of Kristen Stewart – and the solid supporting performances of Steve Buscemi, Viggo Mortensen, Amy Adams and Kirsten Dunst – that should help this Cannes hit continue to build awards buzz in Toronto.

9. The Perks of Being a Wallflower (Sept. 21)

Hermione Granger herself, Emma Watson, is back in school. But because this isn’t Hogwarts, Summit Entertainment has to hope for a different form of magic to spring from Stephen Chbosky’s cinematic adaptation of his own novel about outcast students taking a shy freshman (Logan Lerman) under their social wing. Early buzz has been very strong, so Perks has moved up our personal charts.

8. To the Wonder (Opens TBA)

Any time Terrence Malick decides to release a film, we’re going to sit up and pay attention. So we’ll stop trying to figure out The Tree of Life and turn our focus to this reported romance that stars Ben Affleck, Rachel McAdams and Javier Bardem. In true Malick fashion, we know very little about the movie going into it. But we hope it will be as challenging and rewarding as the other films on Malick’s staggering resume.

7. Hyde Park on the Hudson (Dec. 7)

Already being described as “The American King’s Speech,” Roger Michell’s Hyde Park casts Bill Murray against type as U.S. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and centers around his unconventional relationship with his distant cousin (Laura Linney) on a weekend when they’re hosting the King and Queen of England. Olivia Williams, Olivia Colman and Samuel West co-star in what could be a serious Oscar player.

6. The Impossible (Dec. 21)

Thanks to The Orphanage, we’d follow director Juan Antonio Bayona anywhere. It helps, though, that his latest picture looks like a riveting roller coaster story of human perseverance in the face of staggering natural disaster. Ewan McGregor and Naomi Watts play Americans vacationing with their children in a Southeast Asian island nation when a tsunami hits. We’re hoping the feature is half as enthralling as the film’s white-knuckle trailer.

5. Argo (Oct. 12)

Ben Affleck has impressed with his first two directorial efforts, though Gone Baby Gone and The Town stayed close to home in his beloved Boston. The filmmaker spreads his wings, though, for this based-on-a-strange-story account of a hostage rescuer (Affleck) who fakes the filming of a sci-fi thriller so he can extract Americans from a dangerous situation in Iran. The great Bryan Cranston and John Goodman lend support.

The Hottest Films at the 2012 Toronto Film Festival

4. The Sessions (Oct. 26)

Helen Hunt (nice to see her again) stars in this Sundance crowd-pleaser as a sex therapist who agrees to work with a man in an iron lung (John Hawkes). Word on both Hunt and Hawkes is that they are locks for Oscar nominations thanks to their compassionate and funny performances in Ben Lewin’s feature. But look out for William H. Macy, who might steal the show as Hawkes’ confidante … a parish priest.

3. Cloud Atlas (Oct. 26)

The largest gamble at TIFF, it could be a sensation or a bust. Tom Tykwer and the Wachowski siblings attempt to adapt David Mitchell’s sprawling novel, which intersects multiple characters in various timelines. The trailers give us hope, but the runtime (164 minutes) gives us pause. Still, it’s hard to argue against the power of the cast, which includes Tom Hanks, Halle Berry, Hugh Grant, Susan Sarandon, and Jim Broadbent.

2. Amour (Dec. 19)

Sometimes, a film reaches TIFF with such an overwhelming wave of support that all we can do is hop on the bandwagon. Every festival that has screened Michael Haneke’s Amour – from Cannes to Paris – has produced raves for the subtle performances by screen legends Jean-Louis Trintignant and Emmanuelle Riva as a longtime couple coping with a sudden illness.

1. The Master (Sept. 14)

Finally, the No. 1 movie we are dying to see at TIFF. Paul Thomas Anderson’s latest film reunites him with Boogie Nights player Philip Seymour Hoffman, casting him as a charismatic leader or a religious cult who takes a wayward soul (Joaquin Phoenix) under his wing. If The Master delivers on its hype, it could leave Toronto as the frontrunner for a Best Picture Oscar … for now.
Which are you most interested in? Sound off below!