SPOTLIGHT ON TORONTO FILM FESTIVAL 2024 PERIOD SET MOVIES: WILLIAM TELL, ON SWIFT HORSES, QUEER, RETURN, PENGUIN LESSONS, BRUTALIST, VERMIGLIO

  TORONTO FILM FESTIVAL 

WILLIAM TELL

Tiff is ready to start next month so I thought I could spotlight for you some of the period set films that will air there. WILLIAM TELL will have world premiere there September 5th. Ben Kingsley, Claes Bang, Jonathan Pryce, Solly McLeod, Jonah Hauer King, Emily Beecham, Connor Swindells, Ellie Bamber Eanna Hardwicke and Rafe Spall lead the monumental tale about the legendary 14th century warrior marksman who liberated Switzerland, becoming a folk hero for the ages. In 1307, a cruel Austrian Hapsburg king (Ben Kingsley) occupies the bordering Swiss cantons. His tax collectors oppress and violate the citizens, driving one farmer to thoughts of murderous revenge. Fleeing across a vast landscape, this farmer finds only one man who will come to his aid: William Tell (Claes Bang). Tell has returned home weary after fighting with the Knights Templar in the Holy Land. Now seeking only a quiet life with the wife he met there (Golshifteh Farahani), he’s nevertheless bound by his principles. When pushed beyond his limits by the villainy of the Hapsburg court, Tell picks up his weapons and rides into battle 

  ON SWIFT HORSES

Opening September 8th is new period set drama from director Daniel Minahan ON SWIFT HORSES set in the 1950s. Newlyweds Muriel (Daisy Edgar-Jones) and Lee (Will Poulter) leave their Kansas home for a new life in San Diego, with steady jobs and a house they can start a family in. Lee’s brother Julius (Jacob Elordi), meanwhile, returns from the Korean War without any long-term plans. A deft hand at poker, he winds up in Las Vegas, where he does pit surveillance at a casino and befriends Henry (Diego Calva), a handsome Chicano who, like Julius, loves a good gamble. All this time, Muriel and Julius correspond, though neither realize how much they have in common. Bored with waiting tables, Muriel secretly begins playing the horses and winning. What’s more, Muriel and Julius find themselves on parallel journeys involving clandestine transgressions that could place them in greater danger than either bargained for.

 

QUEER

September 10th will mark American premiere of Luca Guadagnino's drama QUEER in which Daniel Craig is Lee who mingles with the expatriate set in postwar Mexico City, wandering its streets, frequenting its gay bars, and ingesting whatever illicit substances are available. He is a consummate raconteur who has no trouble finding an audience, but he is also a desperately lonely, middle-aged addict with an alarming fondness for guns.  Lee sets his sights on a journey to the Amazon in search of the potentially telepathic ayahuasca — and he wants handsome young bi-curious Oklahoman Allerton (Drew Starkey) to accompany him. Their travels will yield a string of unexpected encounters and provide Lee with sobering lessons in what Burroughs dubbed “the algebra of need.”

THE RETURN

September 8th will also bring world premiere of Uberto Pasolini's THE RETURN which picks up as Odysseus (Ralph Fiennes) washes onto the shores of Ithaca. It has been more than 20 years since he left his kingdom to fight in the Trojan War and, in all that time, his wife and queen Penelope (Juliette Binoche) has waited. Their son, Telemachus (Charlie Plummer), has lost faith that his father will return and worries for his mother’s safety as a group of increasingly unruly suitors pressure her to take one of them as the new king.

 

THE PENGUIN LESSONS

September 6th will see the world premiere of Peter Cattaneo's THE PENGUIN LESSONS set in 1976. Tom (Steve Coogan) lands in Buenos Aires to take up a teaching position at a prestigious English boarding school. The city is in the midst of political violence, but the headmaster (Jonathan Pryce) insists his school simply keep calm and carry on. That suits Tom just fine. When a coup d’état shuts down the school, he hops next door to Uruguay to party. A romantic foray leads to a walk along the beach, which leads to the sight of a penguin drenched in oil from a spill. Against his better judgment, Tom rescues the bird, which unlocks its undying loyalty. He's forced to sneak the flightless beast back to Argentina, and thus begins a strange and beautiful friendship.

THE BRUTALIST

September 6th will also see the American premiere of Brady Corbet's THE BRUTALIST in which Adrien Brody plays Jewish architect László Toth who arrives in America with barely anything to his name, eagerly hoping to soon be joined by his wife Erzsébet (Felicity Jones). Settling in Philadelphia, he has a not-so-gracious run-in with Harrison Lee Van Buren (Guy Pearce), a wealthy businessman, after he becomes an unwitting client for a home renovation scheme. This serendipitous encounter leads to a more complex undertaking, as Van Buren and his son (Joe Alwyn) enlist László’s brilliance for a monumental new project. It’s a dream that he never thought he could relive, but it comes with a dark cost, as László sacrifices more and more of himself to complete his exacting vision.

 

VERMIGLIO

Coming to TIFF from Italy on September 9th is Maura Delpero's VERMIGLIO. A young Sicilian soldier Pietro has carried his injured comrade Attilio all the way back to his mountain home, much of the journey with his passenger on his back. Hailed as a hero, Pietro is furnished with the best the village can provide. As a rare newcomer, Pietro is much gossiped about but keeps to himself. He catches the eye of Lucia, the eldest daughter of the stern village schoolteacher and soon the two are gently flirting and falling in love. This seemingly simple pairing of two young hearts sets off a sweeping series of events that shakes the village and a small town in Sicily, uncapping age-old misogyny, intolerance, and narrowness with tragic results.