The Toronto’s film festival is coming to an end, it was a festival of social commitment. From this, more or less, independent cinema tsunami, we have selected three titles which in our opinion are the most interesting.
The Death and Life of John F. Donovan: a film of the now legendary young actor-director prodigy Xavier Dolan. It’s the story of a deceased television star seen through the lens of the letter exchange with one of his young fans some years ago. Through such narration, Dolan analyzes the consequences the epistolary relationship had on the lives of both protagonists. The film features a red carpet style cast such as the darling of television John Snow (Kit Harrington) sided by Natalie Portman, Jacob Tremblay, and Jessica Chastain.
Hold the Dark: is certainly a more commercial and perhaps less authoritative than the previous film but worthy of note. Hold the Dark, directed by Jeremy Saulnier and produced by Netflix, is a thriller based on the homonymous romance of William Girardi. The story, which takes place in Alaska, features a retired naturalist (Jeffrey Wright, recently seen in Westworld) entrusted with the task of tracing a missing toddler apparently captured by wolves. The story soon turns in a dense mystery set in a gloomy snowy country enveloped in darkness. The film will be released on the digital platform on September 28th. You can view the trailer here in the meanwhile.
If Beale Street Could Talk: is a movie written and directed by Moonlight Oscar winner Berry Jenkins now transposing on-screen James Baldwin’s homonymous novel. The story is set in the early 70s in New York’s Harlem district where a young couple (played by Kiki Layne and Stephan James) is ruined in a very short time by a false rape accusation. The family will do everything to try to set free the unjustly incarcerated protagonist before the child’s birth. The film will be released in US theaters on November 30th. We still do not know an Italian release date but given the warm reception, we are hoping it will be contemporary with the United States.
