Henry Barnes September 5, 2012

Toronto film festival 2012: key contenders – in pictures

Henry Barnes: From Looper to Cloud Atlas, here are some of the films expected to have the best chance of nabbing prizes in Toronto

Toronto 2012 picks: Looper — Looper: Joseph Gordon-Levitt reunites with Brick director Rian Johnson to have a crack at killing himself in this sci-fi thriller. Joe is an assassin tasked with tracking his older self through time, with Bruce Willis playing Levitt Senior (hence the manly chin). Looper duper! Photograph: PR

Toronto 2012 picks: The Place Beyond the Pines — The Place Beyond the Pines: Ryan Gosling and director Derek Cianfrance, who last teamed up on Blue Valentine, swap moping for mopeds with a crime drama that sees Gosling play a stunt biker thinking of breaking bad to provide for his unborn son. Bradley Cooper is the cop to Gozzle's robber Photograph: PR

Toronto 2012 picks: Anna Karenina — Anna Karenina: Tolstoy's classic gets a sumptuous reworking from Joe Wright, who's rinsed the phone book to recruit Keira Knightley as the Russian socialite wooed away from her straight-laced hubby (Jude Law) by the dashing Count Vronsky (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) Photograph: PR

Toronto 2012 picks: Cloud Atlas — Cloud Atlas: Tom Tykwer and Andy and Lana Wachowski (of The Matrix fame) are behind this megabucks adaptation of David Mitchell's Booker-shortlisted novel. The plot, which traces six interconnected stories set everywhere from the 1850s to a post-apocalyptic near future, required a six-minute trailer and a giant ensemble cast (including Tom Hanks, Halle Berry and Hugh Grant) to do it justice. Epic win? Or mighty folly? Photograph: PR

Toronto 2012 picks: Hyde Park on Hudson — Hyde Park on Hudson: Or what George VI did next. Hot(ish) on the heels of 2011's Oscar monster The King's Speech comes a dramatisation of the nervous monarch's 1939 trip to America to meet Franklin D Roosevelt. Bill Murray plays FDR, Samuel West is George and Olivia Colman plays Queen Elizabeth Photograph: PR

Toronto 2012 picks: End of Watch — End of Watch: Michael Peña and Jake Gyllenhaal are po-po bros taking on a Mexican drug cartel in the latest gritty LA cop drama from Training Day writer David Ayer Photograph: PR

Toronto 2012 picks: Great Expectations — Great Expectations: This was pipped to the post by Anna Karenina's placement as Toronto's first big'n'classy literary adaptation. Still, with a cast including Helena Bonham Carter (Miss Havisham) and Ralph Fiennes (Magwitch), you can expect Mike Newell's film to pocket some critical acclaim Photograph: PR

Toronto 2012 picks: Late Quartet — A Late Quartet: Yaron Zilberman's drama follows a world-renowned string quartet's struggle to stay together in the face of jealousy, ego and bouts of abbandono bed-hopping Photograph: PR

Toronto 2012 picks: Argo — Argo: Hooray for Hollywood! Ben Affleck directs and stars in a thriller based on the true story about a CIA mission that saw the agency bankroll a B-movie in order to help a group of American citizens pass themselves off as a Canadian film crew to escape Iran during the 1979 hostage crisis Photograph: PR

Toronto 2012 picks: Midnight's Children — Midnight's Children: Based on Salman Rushdie's award-winning allegorical novel about Indian independence. A boy born at the precise moment of his country's transition from British colonialism watches India progress as he grows up Photograph: PR

Toronto 2012 picks: Seven Psychopaths — Seven Psychopaths: In Bruges director Martin McDonagh rambles off to the US in the company of amateur kidnappers of a dangerous gangster's pooch. Colin Farrell, Sam Rockwell and Christopher Walken are among the crazy crew, being chased around the desert by a psychotic gangster (Woody Harrelson) searching for his beloved pet Photograph: PR

Toronto 2012 picks: Silver Linings Playbook — Silver Linings Playbook: Bradley Cooper shakes his serious acting chops in the direction of a drama about a former teacher, recently discharged from a psychiatric hospital. Alone and adrift after the tight regimen of the ward, he turns to the similarly troubled Tiffany (Jennifer Lawrence) for solace. It'll take a lot of beating to whip that premise into something light and frothy enough for the mainstream. The Fighter director David O Russell holds the whisk Photograph: JOJO WHILDEN/PR

Toronto 2012 picks: Quartet — Quartet: Dustin Hoffman's directorial debut is set in a home for retired opera singers where diva-dom and ego live on long after the residents have hit their last high note. Maggie Smith stars as the fiery soprano wreaking havoc among the chorus Photograph: PR

Toronto 2012 picks: Byzantium — Byzantium: Neil Jordan (The Brave One, Ondine) gets his teeth into Moira Buffini's play about mother and daughter vampires looking for a home. Gemma Arterton plays 400-year-old mum, Saoirse Ronan is bloodsucker junior Photograph: PR

Toronto 2012 picks: Ginger and Rosa — Ginger and Rosa: In the shadow of the Cuban missile crisis, two best friends are torn apart by love. Christina Hendricks, Elle Fanning and Jodhi May star, while Sally Potter directs the stand-off Photograph: Nicola Dove/PR

Actor and singer Marilyn Monroe — Love, Marilyn: A docudrama in which actors, including Elizabeth Banks, Uma Thurman and Lindsay Lohan, portray scenes from the Hollywood bombshell's life, based on a box of notes and diaries found decades after her death Photograph: PR

Toronto 2012 picks: Thanks for Sharing — Thanks for Sharing:Mark Ruffalo and Gwyneth Paltrow are among the patients receiving treatment for sex addiction in The Kids Are All Right co-writer Stuart Blumberg's debut film Photograph: PR

Toronto 2012 picks: The Perks of Being a Wallflower — The Perks of Being a Wallflower: A shy young writer on the cusp of greatness meets a pair of sparky, alternative souls that show him that life is for living etc etc. Featuring a big post-Potter role for Emma Watson as Free Spirit #1 Photograph: PR

Toronto 2012 picks: Arthur Newman — Arthur Newman: Don't let the sombre pic fool you: director Dante Ariola cut his teeth on The Ren & Stimpy Show. This film is billed as a fragile love story about two damaged people moving into an abandoned house together. Expect Colin Firth to be screaming "EMILY! YOU EEEEEE-DIOT!" soon after Photograph: PR

Toronto 2012 picks: Frances Ha — Frances Ha: Hipster vortex! Noah Baumbach directs Greta Gerwig in a black-and-white comedy about a disaffected Brooklynite struggling to make a living through dance. Reports of scenes of vegan cookery, fixed-gear cycling and a cameo from David Byrne as yet unconfirmed Photograph: PR

Toronto 2012 picks: Writers — Writers: First-time director Josh Boone recruits the services of Greg Kinnear, Jennifer Connelly and Lily Collins to tell the story of heartbroken author Sam (Kinnear), who pines for his ex-wife and watches jealously as his teenage daughter's own writing career takes off Photograph: PR

Toronto 2012 picks: Greetings from Tim Buckley — Greetings from Tim Buckley: Whoooo-oooooo-ooooo wouldn't want to watch warbling indie darling Jeff Buckley work out his daddy issues with ramblin' dad Tim? Penn Badgley plays Jeff as the wounded soul who'd go on to record the multimillion selling album Grace Photograph: PR

Toronto 2012 picks: Much Ado About Nothing — Much Ado About Nothing: Made as the charge was being lit on Joss Whedon's career explosion, this lo-fi adaptation (it was shot in Whedon's living room) of the Shakespeare comedy couldn't be further away from the biff-bang-pow of The Avengers. Amy Acker, Alexis Denisof and Nathan Fillion star Photograph: PR

Toronto 2012 picks: Everyday — Everyday: A Channel 4-commissioned five-year project by director Michael Winterbottom, this film explores the modern prison system by watching a family's daily life as the father serves his term Photograph: PR

Toronto 2012 picks: A Liar's Autobiography — A Liar's Autobiography – The Untrue Story of Monty Python's Graham Chapman: A skew-wiff biopic of the late comedian, who made his name as one of Footlights's surrealist exports before bonking and booze got the better of him. Chapman narrates (via audio recorded before his death in 1989). The other Pythons chip in with the odd bit of very British lunacy Photograph: PR

Toronto 2012 picks: Imogene — Imogene: Kristen Wiig stars as a depressed playwright who, after faking a suicide to get her ex's attention, is placed under house arrest by her overbearing, gambling-addict mum. Also starring Glee-graduate Darren Criss, Matt Dillon and Annette Bening
Photograph: Nicole Rivelli Photograph: Nicole Rivelli/PR

Toronto 2012 picks: Mr Pip — Mr Pip: A teacher and student living in war-torn Papua New Guinea find an unlikely bond developing through their love of Charles Dickens's Great Expectations. Hugh Laurie and newcomer Xzannjah Matsi star. Shrek anchor Andrew Adamson is in the director's chair Photograph: PR

Toronto 2012 picks: Yellow — Yellow: A substitute teacher staves off the boredom of the school routine by spacing out into vivid hallucinations. Directed by Nick Cassavetes, son of the far-from-regular John. Starring Sienna Miller, Lucy Punch and Heather Wahlquist, Cassavetes's wife, as the pill-popping lead Photograph: PR

Toronto 2012 picks: What Richard Did — What Richard Did: Kevin Power's Bad Day in Blackrock gets converted into a stifling drama about a secondary school rugby star who makes a violent mistake and must try to live with the consequences Photograph: PR

Toronto 2012 picks: What Maisie Knew — What Maisie Knew: Six-year-old Maisie watches her rocker mum (Julianne Moore) and art dealer dad (Steve Coogan) bitterly argue their way through their divorce and decides that enough is enough in this modern-day adaptation of Henry James's novel. It's time for a new family, one Maisie can choose for herself …
Photograph: JoJo Whilden Photograph: JoJo Whilden/PR

Toronto 2012 picks: Foxfire — Foxfire: Confessions of a Teenage Gang: The Class director Laurent Cantet takes on Joyce Carol Oates's story about a group of girls determined to undermine the chauvinist mentality of their 1950s New York community Photograph: PR

Toronto 2012 picks: In the House — In the House: François Ozon takes another dig at the heart of the family with this satirical comedy. Claude, a dreamy 16-year-old given to sinking to the back of the room, realises the power of his imagination after a story he writes about a friend's family starts to come true Photograph: PR

Toronto 2012 picks: Underground — Underground: Let the race for the definitive almost-certainly-nearly true-ish retelling of the Julian Assange saga begin! A movie about the WikiLeaks founder's adventures in online dating is on the cards, but in the meantime there's this Australian thriller, about The Man v young hacker Jules in a game of cat-and-very-squeaky-mouse Photograph: PR

Toronto 2012 picks: Inescapable — Inescapable: Montreal-born director Ruba Nadda follows up her romantic debut, Cairo Time, with a taut thriller that sees a man searching Damascus for his missing daughter Photograph: PR

Toronto 2012 picks: The Impossible — The Impossible: A drama set in the aftermath of the events of Boxing Day 2004, when the world's third-largest recorded earthquake caused a tsunami to sweep across Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India and Thailand. Ewan McGregor and Naomi Watts star as a tourist couple caught up in the horror. Tricky ground to cover so soon after a tragedy of such magnitude
Photograph: Jose Haro Photograph: Jose Haro/PR

Toronto 2012 picks: How To Make Money Selling Drugs — How to Make Money Selling Drugs: A critical analysis of US narcotics enforcement, rolled up in a practical guide to the setup of a drug operation. Interviewees range from former front-line hustlers (50 Cent, Eminem) to those who've made a living off the drug trade by association (The Wire creator David Simon) Photograph: PR

Toronto 2012 picks: Twice Born — Twice Born: Emile Hirsch leaves the trailer park behind with a classy drama directed by Sergio Castellitto (Don't Move). Hirsch plays the former lover of Gemma (Penélope Cruz), whose return trip to Sarajevo sparks a series of flashbacks about their time together during the Bosnian war Photograph: PR

Toronto 2012 picks: Venus and Serena — Venus and Serena: Maiken Baird's documentary on the most powerful pairing in women's tennis offers a candid look at the relationship between two sisters vying to be the best on the ball, while maintaining their friendship off court Photograph: PR

Toronto 2012 picks: Hannah Arendt — Hannah Arendt: A biopic of the influential political theorist, whose work around the trial of Adolf Eichmann helped her develop her theory on the 'banality of evil' Photograph: PR

Toronto 2012 picks: Song for Marion — Song for Marion: The festival ends with a sing-song, as grumbly old pensioner Terence Stamp agrees to take his wife's place in her choir when she falls ill. Will his voice soar to the rafters or catch in the throat? We'll have to wait until the end of the fest to find out Photograph: Action Images

Leave a Comment Cancel comment