From September 8th to the 18th, the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) will return for its 46th annual celebration of cinema from all over the world. The 11-day event will include screenings of films by both renowned and lesser-known directors and will include many Canadian and worldwide premieres. Brett Morgen’s David Bowie documentary Moonage Daydream, the Viola Davis-led historical epic The Woman King, and Steven Spielberg’s semi-autobiographical The Fablemans, are just a few of the highly-anticipated features that will be shown during the festival, along with many, many more.
The following list highlights the films from the sports and thriller genres that will be screened and features both films with star-studded Hollywood casts as well as more independent projects that focus on telling the important and visionary stories that TIFF is known for celebrating.
10 Alice, Darling
Lionsgate
Alice, Darling is a Canadian-American psychological thriller from Mary Nighy in her directorial debut. The film stars multi-talented actress Anna Kendrick as a woman in an abusive relationship who is taken on a girls’ weekend by two of her friends (played by Wunmi Mosaku and Kaniehtiio Horn) who are hoping to reconnect with her. A character study that captures the “anxious psychology” of a woman trying to hide the fact that she’s living under the control of a violent man. According to Empire, Alice, Darling has been picked up by Lionsgate, who will be distributing the film after its TIFF debut.
9 Decision to Leave
CJ Entertainment
A South Korean romantic mystery, Decision to Leave is the 11th film from director Park Chan-wook since his career began 30 years ago, who has already won the 2022 Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Director. Starring award-winning Chinese actors Tang Wei and Park Hae-il in the lead roles, the film follows a classic thriller premise with a detective falling for a widow who is the prime suspect in his most recent murder investigation. Critics have praised the project, which boasts Chan-wook’s signature noir style, and celebrated the multi-layered plot and surprising twists. Decision to Leave landed at number one at the Korean box office when it debuted in June 2022 and will be released by the streaming service MUBI in the U.S. in October.
8 Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery
Netflix
In director Rian Johnson’s sequel to the 2019 comedic mystery Knives Out, for which he received an Oscar nomination for Best Original Screenplay, Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery brings back a majority of the first film’s star-studded ensemble cast. Acclaimed actor Daniel Craig reprises the lead role as southern detective Benoit Blanc, who travels to Greece to take on his latest case. The film also stars Edward Norton, Janelle Monáe, Kathryn Hahn, Leslie Odom Jr., Jessica Henwick, Madelyn Cline, Kate Hudson, and Dave Bautista. Following its premiere at TIFF, Glass Onion will be released on Netflix in late 2022, and the streaming service has already purchased the rights to a third installment in the series.
7 Holy Spider
Alamode Film/TriArt Film/Metropolitan Filmexport
Based on the true story of Saeed Hanaei, who murdered 16 sex workers in Iran’s spiritual capital of Mashhad from 2000 to 2001, Ali Abbasi’s Persian-language crime thriller Holy Spider follows a female journalist who begins investigating the serial killer and finds herself in a dangerous game of cat-and-mouse. Actress Zar Amir Ebrahimi plays the lead role of the journalist named Rahimi and her work earned her the 2022 Cannes Film Festival award for Best Actress — which garnered pushback from the Iranian government. Director Abbasi has stated that his intention in creating a fictional female protagonist from which to tell the story was to highlight the inherent misogyny in Iranian society, which ultimately deemed Saeed (played by Mehdi Bajestani in the film) a hero by conservatives at the time of his arrest.
6 Nanny
5 Pacifiction
Les Films du Losange
Director Albert Serra has moved away from the 17th-century landscape of his previous works in favor of exploring contemporary French Polynesia in his most recent political thriller Pacifiction. With a clever title and an entrancing island backdrop, the film stars prolific French actor Benoît Magimel as French High Commissioner and Tahiti ambassador De Roller, a government puppet who thrives as a white interloper tasked with presenting an image of peaceful cooperation with the locals. In what Slant Magazine dubbed a “hypnotic look at contemporary malaise,” Pacification is sure to captivate fans of Serra’s notoriously languid storytelling. The film will be released theatrically in the U.S. in late 2022.
4 The Good Nurse
Based on the 2013 Charles Graeber book of the same name, Tobias Lindholm’s latest crime thriller The Good Nurse is a fictional portrayal of the pursuit and capture of a real American serial killer named Charles Cullen, who murdered 300 patients during his 16-career as a nurse. Academy Award-winning actress Jessica Chastain plays the lead role of a nurse who correctly suspects her friend and colleague of quietly murdering patients and is tasked with aiding the investigation into Cullen — played by popular English actor Eddie Redmayne. Following its premiere at TIFF, The Good Nurse will be available for streaming on Netflix in late 2022.
3 The Gravity
Trésor Cinéma
The Gravity is the second feature film from French-Burkinabe actor, writer, and director Cédric Ido, following the success of Château, released in 2017. This fantastical sci-fi drama follows a mysterious planetary event that upsets gravity in a futuristic Parisian suburb that is controlled by a group of cosmically-connected young people. It stars French actors Max Gomis, Jean-Baptiste Anoumon, Steve Tientcheu, and Olivier Rosemberg. The Gravity was selected by TIFF to be part of their competitive program called Platform that promotes unique directorial visions and is one of two sci-fi projects to be included, alongside Stéphane Lafleur’s Viking.
2 The Swimmers
Director Sally El Hosaini, who has previously won several film festival awards for her 2012 debut feature My Brother the Devil, celebrates the strength of human spirit and athleticism in her epic drama The Swimmers. The film dramatizes the true story of Syrian sisters Sara and Yusra Mardini, who made a dangerous escape from their war-torn country before settling in Europe and competing for the chance to swim at the 2016 summer olympics in Rio. Real life sisters Nathalie and Manai Issa take on the lead roles. Following its premiere at TIFF, The Swimmers will be released on Netflix in late 2022.
1 The Wonder
Inspired by the 19th century phenomenon “fasting girls” and based on the 2016 Emma Donoghue novel of the same name, The Wonder is a psychological period thriller that follows a nurse who is tasked with investigating the case of a young girl in the Irish Midlands who hasn’t eaten for four months but remains alive and well. Award-winning English actress Florence Pugh stars as the aforementioned nurse and child actress Kíla Lord Cassidy takes on the role of “the wonder” Anna O’Donnell. Directed by Sebastián Lelio, the project has already been nominated for Best Film at the San Sebastián International Film Festival and will also be streaming on Netflix later this year.
