Toronto International Film Festival

The women went pale; the men were interesting.

Intense, funny, tragic and cathartic are the words that may best describe Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, a story of desperation, revenge, and determination featuring a fierce Frances McDormand as a divorced Missouri mother who pursues justice for her murdered daughter with steely resolve. She is supported by a stellar cast including Sam Rockwell and Woody Harrelson, and directed by Martin McDonagh.

Golden Globe nominated director Luca Guadagnino’s Call Me by Your Name debuted to much buzz at the Sundance Film Festival and showed at the Toronto Film Festival in advance of its awards-season theatrical release this fall. Adapted by James Ivory from André Aciman’s 2007 novel of the same name, the coming-of-age story stars Armie Hammer as Oliver, an American college student who spends a summer in Italy doing post-graduate study and finds himself slowly falling into a romantic relationship with the younger teenage son of his hosts, Elio (Timothée Chalamet).

Unlike Venice which floated on chiffon, black is trending at TIFF for women and men, though splashes of red shook things up, and silver stayed central.

Stronger by David Gordon Green tells the story of Boston bombing survivor Jeff Bauman and stars Golden Globe winner Jake Gyllenhaal as Bauman and Globe nominee Tatiana Maslany as his marathon runner girlfriend. It is a highly personal portrait of Bauman’s odyssey as he is thrust into national prominence and subsequently struggles to regain a normal life as a double amputee and PTSD victim.

One of the most controversial films to come out of Venice and Toronto, mother! is Darren Aronofsky’s attempt at what you could call a universal allegory. Set in a large house rising in a pristine field, it tells the story of the couple (Jennifer Lawrence and Javier Bardem) living in it – alone – until an increasingly strange assortment of visitors begins showing up with ever more startling consequences.

The Death of Stalin stars Jeffrey Tambor, Steve Buscemi, Olga Kurylenko, Toby Kebbell, Michael Palin, Simon Russell Beale, Paddy Considine, Andrea Riseborough, Adrian McLoughlin, Rupert Friend, Jason Isaacs and Paul Whitehouse, among others. A cast which is a testament to the standing of its director, Armando Iannucci, in the comedy world.

There’s a reason Alexander Payne calls Downsizing his biggest movie. The latest feature from the Golden Globe winning director of Sideways and About Schmidt, which bowed in Venice and Toronto, is set in a near future where people are miniaturized to environmental gain (but not their egos or problems).

Israeli director Samuel Maoz, who won the Golden Lion Award at the Venice Film Festival for his stunning war film, Lebanon, likes to take his time between movies. But it’s almost tempting to say that it was worth waiting as Foxtrot is just as inventive and bold as Lebanon, albeit in different ways, and thematically even more encompassing than the previous winning feature.

Emma Stone and Steve Carell do battle in Battle of the Sexes, based on the wild, real-life story of a made-for-TV tennis match.  Films frequently undergo all sorts of different cast and crew permutations during development, and Battle of the Sexes was no different.