1. The Salesman
Academy Award winner Asghar Farhadi (A Separation) is back with another slow burner about a relationship on the rocks. Shahab Hosseini and Taraneh Alidoosti play the troubled pair living with nearly unbearable domestic tension while performing the lead roles in an amateur production of Death Of A Salesman. It begins with a shocking act of violence, but knowing Farhadi’s subtlety, I’m guessing The Salesman will be a disconcerting exercise in complexity.
Sep 13, 5:45 pm, TIFF Bell Lightbox 1 Sep 14, 1 pm, TIFF Bell Lightbox 1
2. In Between
Maysaloun Hamoud zooms in on three Palestinian women living in Tel Aviv, where they are neither quite Israeli nor Palestinian enough. Two are sophisticated clubgoers – one a lawyer, the other a bartender – and the third is a devout Muslim student. Here in North America, where opinions on Israel seem to be set in stone, this kind of complicated and humanizing meditation on female friendship could be just what we need.
Sep 11, 6:30 pm, TIFF Bell Lightbox 2 Sep 12, 10:30 am, TIFF Bell Lightbox 3 Sep 18, 6:30 pm, Scotiabank 13
3. The Rehearsal
Alison Maclean adapts Eleanor Catton‘s brilliant first novel about life at a drama school, where a charismatic teacher (Kerry Fox) is pushing her students to the limit – and beyond. Student Stanley is already having trouble with the pressure when his classmates plan a project to dramatize the scandal enveloping the family of his new girlfriend. Who can resist a pic about creativity and morality?
Sep 9, 7 pm, Scotiabank 3 Sep 10, 9:15 am, TIFF Bell Lightbox 3
4. Aquarius
I was blown away by Kleber Mendonça Filho‘s first feature, Neighbouring Sounds, so I’m ready for this follow-up. Like his debut, Aquarius highlights issues of race and class, this time focusing on a retired music critic (the great Sônia Braga, who does a Conversation With… event on September 12), the last remaining tenant in an apartment block, who’s facing down the developers who want to evict her. Watch how Filho uses sound and the way he constructs his meticulous images. Soon he’ll be a household name.
Sep 11, 2:45 pm, TIFF Bell Lightbox 2 Sep 13, 9 am, TIFF Bell Lightbox 3 Sep 17, 3:15 pm,
Isabel Bader
5. The Handmaiden
I’d be curious about any adaptation of a novel by the great UK writer Sarah Waters, but this version of Fingersmith is particularly fascinating. Waters’s novels, all historical, are British to the core and deeply researched. So news that Park Chan-wook has transplanted this slice of Victorian intrigue – with an outrageous twist – to Japanese-occupied Korea in the 1930s is surprising, to say the least. Can’t wait.
Sep 10, 9:30 pm, Elgin Sep 11, 8:30 pm, Scotiabank 2
susanc@nowtoronto.com | @susangcole