TIFF Toronto Film

TIFF Today: Tyrannosaur, Faust, Once Upon a Time in Anatolia, Paradise Lost 3, You're Next

Today is the final day of press and industry screenings at TIFF 2011, but public screenings continue through Sunday, and the festival's organizers have made sure that there are still plenty of great films to see on the final weekend. Tonight's gala premieres are The Awakening, a 1920s UK ghost story starring Rebecca Hall, and Winnie, a biopic about Nelson Mandela's estranged wife. As for non-premium offerings, there are plenty to choose from, and the selections below should all still have tickets available.

YOU'RE NEXT (4PM, Lightbox 2)
After screening A Horrible Way to Die in the Vanguard programme last year, Adam Wingard returns to TIFF with midnight madness selection You're Next. We already recommended the film in our Midnight Madness preview, but it screens again today, and I'd like to add my own thumbs-up. Marvelously self-aware, You're Next walks a tonal tightrope between horror and hilarity, and is a treat for genre fans.

TYRANNOSAUR (6PM, Elgin Theatre)
English actor Paddy Considine will be familiar to Toronto audiences for roles in 24 Hour Party People, Hot Fuzz, and Submarine, but Tyrannosaur sees him making his directorial debut. There are no dinosaurs involved, though for a film about a bristling alcoholic father, Tyrannosaur seems as apt a title as any. Since premiering at Sundance earlier this year, the film's garnered plenty of accolades, both for Considine and for Peter Mullan's excellent performance.

FAUST (7PM, Lightbox 2)
It may not be sponsored by Cadillac, but the Venice Film Festival's Golden Lion still carries plenty of prestige. This year it went to Russian director Alexander Sokurov (of the epic, single-take Russian Ark) for his adaptation of deal-with-the-devil tale Faust. The Venice jury was headed by Darren Aronofsky, who demonstrated a flair for the demonic in last year's Black Swan, so we can take it on good authority that Faust shouldn't be missed.

ONCE UPON A TIME IN ANATOLIA (5:45PM, Scotiabank 3)
Like Faust, Once Upon a Time in Anatolia is also screening in TIFF's Masters programme. Turkish director Nuri Bilge Ceylan has been a staple of the European arthouse scene, and won the Grand Prix at Cannes in 2003 for Distant. Anatolia sees him tackle and subvert the police procedural, which rewards patient audiences with a spectacular conclusion.

PARADISE LOST 3: PURGATORY (8:30PM, AMC 2)
"The West Memphis 3" - famously convicted of murder as teenagers despite problematic evidence against them — were recently released from prison after 18 years, and just after it was announced that Paradise Lost 3 would premiere at TIFF. The Paradise Lost series has followed their case since 1996, providing compelling arguments in favour of the trio's exoneration. That event actually occurred too recently to be incorporated into the latest film, which will be re-cut post-festival, but TIFF represents a unique opportunity to see the original version in the knowledge that Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky's documentary series played a role in securing its subjects' release.

A big thanks to Drive, an Alliance film opening in theatres on September 16th, for sponsoring our coverage of the 2011 Toronto International Film Festival.


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