50 Anticipated Films at the 2025 Toronto International Film Festival (Part 3)
The Toronto International Film Festival starts next week, and public ticket sales began yesterday. After reviewing the selections announced so far, I have chosen 50 films worth anticipating. I've already introduced 34 of them, and now I'd like to present the final 16.
The Savage
This series is directed by Houman Seyyedi, whose previous film, World War III, won the Orizzonti Award for Best Film at the Venice Film Festival.
Davood (Javad Ezati) is a man with many responsibilities. We first meet him as he attempts to broker a truce between his fellow labourers and the owner of the mine where they work, seeking to avoid further lost wages and an escalation into violence. His aging parents depend on him, even as they pester him to marry and sell a parcel of underutilized land Davood is determined to keep. After a particularly long day of pressures at work and home, Davood is thrust into an unimaginable tragedy.
Driving along a narrow path beside a train line, Davood spots two children walking. He slows down and invites them into his car for a ride home, gently admonishing the older sister and her younger brother for walking along such a dangerous route alone. As he scolds them for their poor judgement, including getting into the car of a stranger, Davood is unaware of the growing panic in the backseat, as the girl is overcome with fear. When she takes sudden action to protect herself and her brother, a devastating turn of events unfolds, thrusting Davood into a life he does not recognize.
Scarlet
Directed by Mamoru Hosoda, the four-time Japan Academy Film Prize for Animation of the Year winner for The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, Summer Wars, The Boy and the Beast, and Mirai.
The film follows a young girl as she seeks to avenge her father’s death at the hands of her uncle Claudius. Before she can exact vengeance, she’s poisoned and sent to a kind of purgatory where the rules of our universe are turned on their collective heads. The denizens here are all dead, seeking their way to eternity and Scarlet is befriended by Hijiri, a medic from the future. Together, the pair strive to overthrow the powers that be in this strange dimension, so that she can finally wreak her revenge.
The Secret Agent
Written and directed by Kleber Mendonça Filho, this film won Best Director and Best Actor for Wagner Moura at this year’s Cannes Film Festival. The cast also includes Gabriel Leone (Ferrari) and Maria Fernanda Cândido.
The film begins with Marcelo headed to the northern city of Recife, seeking asylum and to be closer to his young son. Arriving during the raucous celebrations of Carnival, Marcelo is welcomed by a colourful community of political refugees, yet an insidious atmosphere of surveillance, paranoia, and danger encircles him —- corruption everywhere, from the sleazy local police chief and his ruthless deputies to the director of the state identification archives where Marcelo is simultaneously working, hiding, and searching for his mother’s official ID card.
Sentimental Value
Directed by Joachim Trier, the director of The Worst Person in the World, this film won the Grand Prix, the second-highest award, at this year's Cannes Film Festival and is considered a strong Oscar contender. The cast includes Renate Reinsve (The Worst Person in the World), Golden Globe winner Stellan Skarsgård (Chernobyl), Elle Fanning (the Maleficent franchise), and Cory Michael Smith (Saturday Night).
A man who’s always prioritized his work, Gustav Borg (Stellan Skarsgård) is long estranged from his daughters Nora (Renate Reinsve), a gifted stage actress, and the more grounded Agnes (Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas), now immersed in family life years after performing in one of her father’s most revered movies. He finds a surprising source of support after a Hollywood star, Rachel Kemp (Elle Fanning) discovers his films at a festival retrospective. As preparation for Gustav’s new movie begins with Rachel in the role that Nora had rejected, the uniquely personal nature of his script — based on a tragedy that took place in the house that remains central to the Borgs’ lives — draws the family members together again in ways they could not predict.
Silent Friend
Directed by Ildikó Enyedi, the director of the Golden Bear winner On Body and Soul. The cast includes Cannes Best Actor winner Tony Leung Chiu-wai (In the Mood for Love), Luna Wedler (Biohackers), Enzo Brumm, Yun Huang, Sylvester Groth (Dark), Martin Wuttke (Inglourious Basterds), Johannes Hegemann, Rainer Bock, and Léa Seydoux (the 007 franchise).
Set in a botanical garden within a medieval German university town, Silent Friend centres on a majestic Ginkgo biloba tree — which can famously live up to 1,000 years — that silently observes humans over the centuries.
In 1908, steadfast Grete (Luna Wedler) is seeking admission to the botany department of a prestigious institution. Though whip-smart, her sex is a barrier to entry into the male-dominated field and to society at large.
In 1972, at the same institution, Gundula (Marlene Burow) is conducting an experiment on what plants can sense via a single geranium. She elicits the help of her anti-social classmate Hannes (Enzo Brumm), with whom there is unspoken sexual tension. Meanwhile, in 2020, Professor Tony Wong (Tony Leung Chiu-Wai), a brilliant neurologist working at the same institution, suspects a deep relationship between what is seen and unseen.
Determined to make a connection, he seeks the supervision of world-renowned botanist Dr. Alice Sauvage (Léa Seydoux) to test his radical theory. Over the span of ages, the incredible link between these humans goes unnoticed except by the tree, to which they are all spiritually connected.
Sirāt
Directed by Óliver Laxe and starring Sergi López (Pan's Labyrinth), this film won the Jury Prize at this year’s Cannes Film Festival.
Luis desperately searches for his missing daughter Marina throughout the harsh southern deserts of Morocco, along with his young son Esteban (Bruno Núñez Arjona) and their dog Pipa. At the film’s beginning — a pulsating open-air rave — the trio drifts through throngs of entranced and sweaty partygoers, handing out flyers with photos. As soldiers move in to shut down the festivities, father and son follow and ultimately join a motley bunch of roving ravers who set out in their van in search of the next party — and hopefully Marina — as hints of impending war multiply.
The Smashing Machine
This film is written, directed, and edited by Benny Safdie (Good Time, Uncut Gems). It focuses on the life of wrestler and mixed martial arts (MMA) fighter Mark Kerr. Kerr helped grow the sport’s popularity in its early days, but the fights’ brutal demands took a toll, eventually leading to painkiller addiction. The constant need to travel, since the most lucrative early matches were always in Japan, didn’t help either.
The film's cast includes:
Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson (Fast & Furious franchise) as Mark Kerr.
Emily Blunt (Oppenheimer) as Kerr’s wife, Dawn Staples.
MMA fighter Ryan Bader as the first UFC heavyweight champion and PRIDE FC 2000 champion, Mark Coleman.
UFC heavyweight champion Bas Rutten as himself.
Undisputed boxing champion Oleksandr Usyk as MMA fighter Igor Vovchanchyn.
Related News: Safdie Brothers Go Solo: First Look at Their New Films The Smashing Machine and Marty Supreme
Sound of Falling
Written and directed by Mascha Schilinski, this film won the Jury Prize at this year's Cannes Film Festival.
Alongside the river Elbe between Berlin and Hamburg, a family farm sits in a particularly tumultuous region, one that saw both world wars and defined East and West Germany. Mascha Schilinski’s Sound of Falling braids together the lives of four generations of inhabitants of this place: Alma (Hanna Heckt) in the early 20th century, Erika (Lea Drinda) in the 1940s, Angelika (Lena Urzendowsky) in the 1980s, and Lenka (Laeni Geiseler) in the present. As time moves both forwards and backwards throughout the encampment, where walls can all but talk, each character faces her unwitting, often unfortunate, fate and the home itself becomes a mirror to the nation’s brutal and tormented history.
Steal Away
Directed by Clement Virgo, the Canadian Screen Award winner for Best Direction for Brother. The film stars Angourie Rice (Mare of Easttown) and Mallori Johnson.
It tells the story of a pair of young women the film’s subtitle calls “two princesses.” The first is Fanny (Angourie Rice), a sheltered teenager whose knowledge of the world barely extends beyond the stately manor house belonging to her glamorous and magnanimous mother Florence (Lauren Lee Smith), which is located in a mysterious country that variously evokes occupied Europe, Algiers, and the Antebellum South.
Into her life comes Cécile (Mallori Johnson), a charismatic visitor who’s one of countless people seeking asylum from the conflicts that consume this alternate and highly stylized reality.
The two women’s mutual curiosity sparks a bond that may prove vital to their ability to survive the maelstrom of desires and dangers that surround them — though they are so immersed in sensory pleasures that they struggle to comprehend the truth about their situation.
The Sun Rises On Us All
Directed by Cai Shangjun, the winner of the Silver Lion for Best Director at the Venice Film Festival for People Mountain People Sea. The film stars Xin Zhilei (Blossoms Shanghai), Zhang Songwen (An Unfinished Film), and Feng Shaofeng (The Golden Era).
The film follows two former lovers whose lives remain painfully entangled by a shared secret: years ago, he took the fall for a crime she committed. After serving time, he re-emerges into a world where forgiveness remains elusive, and love has curdled into resentment. As they navigate their daily routines in the same city — estranged yet never far apart — their past resurfaces in a final, heart-wrenching reckoning.
The Testament of Ann Lee
Directed by Mona Fastvold, the writer of Golden Globe Best Film The Brutalist, who co-wrote the script with Brady Corbet, who won a Silver Lion for Best Director at Venice last year for The Brutalist. The film’s score is by Oscar winner Daniel Blumberg (The Brutalist). It stars Emmy Best Actress winner Amanda Seyfried (The Dropout), Thomasin McKenzie (Last Night in Soho), Lewis Pullman (Thunderbolts*), Stacy Martin (The Brutalist), Tim Blake Nelson (Captain America: Brave New World), Christopher Abbott (Wolfman), and Matthew Beard.
Growing up in a large family, Lee was a child seemingly gifted at everything she tried, fiercely protective of her little brother and intensely devoted to her faith. As an adult, she met and married Abraham (Christopher Abbott), a fellow explorer of spirituality and ideas.
Lee’s tragic loss of all her children in infancy or early childhood, along with her radically unique interpretation of scripture, transformed her into a fierce advocate for a more equitable and utopian society. Her beliefs become a policy adopted by her devoted followers, whose frenzied, ecstatic worship almost serves as a communal substitute for sexual activity.
The Shaker movement’s pacifism, its emphasis on simplicity in architecture, and its music and dances had a long-lasting, salutary impact on American culture. Ann Lee’s leadership and her adherents’ beliefs reverberate within contemporary culture and provide a distant reflection on our own choices.
Train Dreams
Directed by Clint Bentley, the writer of Sing Sing, who co-wrote the script with the director of Sing Sing, Greg Kwedar. Based on the novel of the same name by Denis Johnson, the film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival this past January to very positive reviews. It stars two-time AACTA Award winner for Best Supporting Actor Joel Edgerton (Animal Kingdom, The King), Felicity Jones (The Brutalist), Clifton Collins Jr. (Westworld), BAFTA winner Kerry Condon (The Banshees of Inisherin), and William H. Macy (Room).
Orphaned at a young age, Robert Grainier (Joel Edgerton) grows into adulthood among the towering forests of the Pacific Northwest, where he helps expand the nation’s railroad empire alongside men as unforgettable as the landscapes they inhabit. After a tender courtship, he marries Gladys (Felicity Jones) and they build a home together, though his work often takes him far from her and their young daughter. When his life takes an unexpected turn, Robert finds beauty, brutality and newfound meaning for the forests and trees he has felled.
Tuner
Directed by Daniel Roher, the director of the Oscar-winning documentary Navalny, in his first narrative feature film. The cast includes Leo Woodall (One Day), two-time Oscar winner Dustin Hoffman (Kramer vs. Kramer, Rain Man), Havana Rose Liu, Jean Reno (Da 5 Bloods), Lior Raz (Operation Finale), and Tovah Feldshuh (The Walking Dead).
Having acutely sensitive hearing is both a blessing and a curse for Niki White (Leo Woodall). Though his auditory condition ended a promising musical career, it’s been a boon for his job as a piano tuner. Together with his genial mentor Harry Horowitz (Dustin Hoffman), he spends his days travelling back and forth across New York, tending to instruments that require his special skills. These duties also compel the typically taciturn Niki to come out of his protective shell and interact with such people as Ruthie (Havana Rose Liu), a music composition student with whom he feels a spark. But when shady individuals discover that Niki’s talents could be just as useful on locked safes as they are on old Steinways, events take a dangerous turn.
Two Pianos
Written and directed by Arnaud Desplechin, the winner of the César Award for Best Director for My Golden Days. The film stars François Civil, Nadia Tereszkiewicz, Berlin Film Festival Best Actress winner Charlotte Rampling (45 Years), and Hippolyte Girardot.
Following an extended, self-imposed exile in Asia, Mathias Vogler (François Civil) travels to his hometown of Lyon, where his childhood mentor Elena (Charlotte Rampling) convinces him to collaborate on a series of concerts at the city’s historic auditorium. This long-delayed return and its accompanying reunion should be a cause for celebration, but Mathias’ life is about to take an uncanny turn: in a park, he encounters a boy who seems to be his doppelgänger. This strange child leads Mathias to Claude (Nadia Tereszkiewicz), a woman he once passionately loved — and whose reappearance threatens to destabilize Mathias’ already-fragile mental state.
Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery
Rian Johnson, who directed and wrote the previous two installments, returns to helm this new mystery, which sees Benoit Blanc returns for his most dangerous case yet. While the first two films were murder mysteries with a generally light comedic tone, this new teaser looks very much like a thriller. Could the director be misleading audiences again?
Daniel Craig, the former 007 actor, reprises his role as Detective Benoit Blanc. The formidable ensemble cast includes:
Josh O'Connor (Emmy winner for The Crown)
Glenn Close (Golden Globe winner for The Wife)
Josh Brolin (Marvel's Thanos)
Mila Kunis (Jupiter Ascending)
Jeremy Renner (Marvel's Hawkeye)
Kerry Washington (Emmy nominee for Scandal)
Andrew Scott (BAFTA winner for Sherlock)
Cailee Spaeny (Venice Film Festival winner for Priscilla)
Daryl McCormack (Peaky Blinders)
Thomas Haden Church (Critics' Choice winner for Sideways)
Related News: Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery First Trailer Revealed – Arriving This December!
The Wizard of the Kremlin
Directed by Olivier Assayas, the winner of the Best Director award at the Cannes Film Festival for Personal Shopper. Based on the novel of the same name by Giuliano da Empoli, the film stars Paul Dano (The Batman), Jude Law (Fantastic Beasts series), Oscar winner Alicia Vikander (The Danish Girl), Tom Sturridge (The Sandman), and Jeffrey Wright (American Fiction).
The year is 2019. An American journalist (Jeffrey Wright) with a longstanding interest in Russian history is invited to the luxurious dacha of Vadim Baranov (Paul Dano), once dubbed “the new Rasputin” for the 15 years he spent as a close advisor to Vladimir Putin (Jude Law).
Having retired from politics, Baranov looks back on his incredible life, from his university days in the immediate post-Soviet era — when he met the love of his life (Alicia Vikander) — to his tenure overseeing trashy television shows to his role in transforming a seemingly uncharismatic Federal Security Service chief into Russia’s indomitable president. The Chechen war, the sinking of the Kursk nuclear submarine, interference in foreign politics, the monopolization of power: these and other colossal events unfolded under Baranov’s watch, whether he approved or not.
If you are interested in upcoming movies to be released in Canada, please visit the Movie Release Schedule page on this website!
Photo and Source: TIFF