It looks as though no movie will be hitting all four of the major fall fests, but there are a few titles doing three of the four.
Last year, Laura Poitras’ “All the Beauty and the Bloodshed,” Venice’s Golden Lion winner, did Toronto, Telluride, Venice and New York. This year? Not a single film can claim to be doing that.
Is this an indicator that the quality of this year’s fall movies isn’t up to par? Not necessarily. It seems as though Toronto has decided to put an emphasis on “world premieres,” which ended up shaking things up — TIFF will not have big titles such as “Ferrari,” “Poor Things,” “The Killer,” “Saltburn,” “All Of Us Strangers,” “Priscilla,” and “Maestro.”
It’s come to the point where I’m now looking for Venice accommodation to attend that fest, but, given how late I am in searching for a place on the Lido, I’m not optimistic this venture will pan out. TIFF seems to be where I’ll be headed this fall.
Now, here’s a list of the film we can expect to screen at three of the fall festivals.
The Beast (Venice, TIFF, NYFF)
Evil Does Not Exist (Venice, TIFF, NYFF)
The Green Border (Venice, TIFF, NYFF)
Poor Things (Venice, Telluride, NYFF)
The Promised Land (Venice, Telluride, TIFF)
“Poor Things” should have absolutely gone to Toronto. There is no excuse. Searchlight has a good relationship with TIFF and Yorgos Lanthimos could have carried the slack by promoting his film there without the actors.
In case you’re wondering, past films that made it into all four of the major fests include 2018’s “ROMA,” 2019’s “Marriage Story,” 2020’s “Nomadland” and 2021’s “The Power of the Dog.”