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Although the word “International” is part of the name of the Toronto International Film Festival, it’s still Canada’s premier festival, and naturally features quite a few homegrown films. Some of the most notable of these have already been announced (like David Cronenberg’s A DANGEROUS METHOD), and today TIFF announced the bulk of the rest. Here are a few that sound intriguing:CAFE DE FLORE: From the director of Young Victoria, an “epic love story” that’s also a “mystical and supernatural odyssey,” starring Vanessa Paradis.
GOON: In the popular Canadian genre of inspirational hockey dramas, this one boasts a script by Jay Baruchel and a fine cast: Liev Schreiber, Allison Pill, Seann William Scott, Eugene Levy and Baruchel himself.
KEYHOLE: Guy Maddin makes strangely arresting, often fascinating films that don’t look or behave like anyone else’s. His latest is described as a “gangsters-meets-ghosts sonata,” and stars Maddin’s muse Isabella Rossellini along with Jason Patric.
THE MOTH DIARIES: The new film from Mary Harron (American Psycho) is a thriller set in the everpopular locale of a girls’ school, where one girl thrives while another starts to weaken. It stars Lily Cole, Sarah Bolger and Scott Speedman.
388 ARLETTA AVENUE: Nick Stahl and Mia Kirshner in a film shot entirely from the point of view of surveillance cameras.
DOPPELGANGER KARL: I’m just going to reprint the festival description of this one in its entirety: “Following a near-death experience, Karl comes to believe that Paul is his doppelgänger. When Karl finally reveals himself to Paul, a unique and troubled relationship begins to form, a relationship that is severely tested when Karl grants Paul the privilege of reading his 20,000 page manuscript, A Book About How Much I Hate Myself. When Karl’s book is published 17 months later in a vastly edited version credited to two other authors/doppelgängers, Karl and Paul hit the road to confront the plagiarists but end up confronting themselves instead.”
And that’s what film festivals are like. More TIFF titles to come…
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