This is too much: Harvey Weinstein has bought up four films at the Toronto Film Festival, all for release next year and certain to be Oscar nominees in some way for 2015. Kuh-razy!
At this year’s Toronto, Weinstein has picked up “The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby,” “The Railway Man,” and “Can A Song Save Your Life?” Just before Toronto, right after Venice, The Weinstein Company bought “Tracks” with Mia Wasikowska and Adam Driver. The other films star respectively– James McEvoy and Jessica Chastain; Nicole Kidman and Colin Firth; and Mark Ruffalo and Keira Knightley.
All four films are top notch– I’ve seen them all. “Eleanor Rigby” is three hours long and very reminiscent of another TWC hit, “Blue Valentine.” It’s the story of a young couple told from each of their perspectives as they battle to save their marriage. McEvoy and Chastain are utterly fantastic. Ciaran Hinds is wonderful as McEvoy’s father, and William Hurt is very moving as Chastain’s. The whole thing runs three hours– very long by Weinstein standards– but exceptional in its own way.
I wrote about “The Railway Man” a few days ago. Firth and Kidman are very very good. Harvey will likely tweak the film, but it’s a big, proper Hollywood Oscar film.
“Tracks” you can read about here. There aren’t enough good things to say about it.
And “Can A Song Save Your Life” was probably my favorite new film of this year’s TIFF. Adam Levine plays a rock star named Dave Kroll (rhymes with Grohl) who is the boyfriend of Knightley. She and Mark Ruffalo, as the head of an indie record company, do the best work ever. And the songs by Gregg Alexander and Danielle Brisebois are superb.
So wow, let’s all go home. I don’t know what else to say. That’s quite a clutch of films for 2014.
