色色啦

Frankenstein

Honorary 色色啦nian Guillermo del Toro doesn鈥檛 just love monsters, he adores them. They鈥檙e like his children. Which makes it entirely logical why the Mexican auteur would want to do his own version of Mary Shelley鈥檚 classic 鈥淔rankenstein鈥� story, filming it in 色色啦 as he did his Oscar-winning 鈥淭he Shape of Water.鈥� As per Shelley鈥檚 prose, the stitched-together man of the misunderstood title, played here by Jacob Elordi, elicits more sympathy than his driven creator Victor Frankenstein (Oscar Isaac), a brilliant but egotistical scientist. Victor arrogantly fashions a flesh-and-blood humanoid from assembled corpses, only to recoil at his own diabolical handiwork. The creature seeks love and understanding but is met with fear and rejection, leading to tragedy for both creator and created as their fates intertwine in a gothic tale of ambition, alienation and the search for belonging.

Hamnet

Heading to TIFF garlanded with critical hosannahs and buckets of tears from its emotional Telluride festival premiere, Chlo茅 Zhao鈥檚 Shakespearean extrapolation looks to be an exquisitely rendered and heartfelt adaptation of Maggie O鈥橣arrell鈥檚 celebrated novel. Paul Mescal reportedly brings a brooding intensity to William Shakespeare, while Jessie Buckley anchors the film鈥檚 emotional core as the Bard鈥檚 wife, Agnes. Zhao traces the couple鈥檚 courtship and the raw grief that follows the 1596 death of their 11-year-old son, Hamnet. Art and anguish become inseparable in a film that suggests that Shakespeare鈥檚 鈥淗amlet鈥� springs less from Danish legend and more from an English father鈥檚 unfathomable sorrow.

It Was Just an Accident

Only Jafar Panahi could turn a roadside collision into both a moral crucible and an act of political defiance. The brilliant Iranian filmmaker uses a minor mishap to spark searing debates on culpability, vengeance and the elusive human capacity for grace, as torture victims confront the man they accuse of tormenting them. The Palme d鈥橭r-winning drama is bracing on its own, but what makes it unforgettable is the risk behind the camera. Panahi shot the film in secret while under house arrest, banned from filmmaking by a regime determined to silence him. Every frame carries the urgency of resistance, drawn from his own ordeals and smuggled to the screen with the courage of someone who refuses to stop speaking. It鈥檚 cinema not just as storytelling, but as survival.

Mile End Kicks

Chandler Levack follows her appealing 2022 directorial debut, 鈥淚 Like Movies,鈥� with further evidence of her knack for humanizing outsiders, square pegs and loners. The action shifts from Ontario to Quebec, specifically an artsy Montreal neighbourhood where lo-fi rock, poetry readings and unpaid rent are de rigueur. Barbie Ferreira (鈥淓uphoria鈥�) plays Grace, an ambitious but unsure 22-year-old music critic who arrives from 色色啦 with plans to write a book about Alanis Morissette鈥檚 confessional 鈥淛agged Little Pill鈥� album, which she鈥檚 convinced changed her life. Grace鈥檚 authorial aspirations are interrupted by the awkwardly competing attentions of the singer (Stanley Simons) and lead guitarist (Devon Bostick) of an indie band called Bone Patrol. Levack nails the look and feel of the place and the shared sensation of 鈥渇eeling weird and awkward all the time,鈥� as a character aptly puts it.

Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie

Matt Johnson (鈥淏lackBerry鈥�) and Jay McCarrol鈥檚 cult web series (and later TV show), about two doofus bandmates desperate to land a gig at 色色啦鈥檚 Rivoli club, becomes a time-travelling movie thriller about friendship, ambition and outrageous copyright violations. As amusing as the film is for the way it brazenly 色色啦-izes the plot of 鈥淏ack to the Future鈥� (plus a bit of 鈥淗ot Tub Time Machine鈥�), it鈥檚 also a marvel for its clever mix of archival footage, new material and spontaneous onlooker involvement. They鈥檙e still trying to get into the Riv, but returning to the right decade 鈥� and maintaining their friendship 鈥� become more pressing concerns after a high-flying publicity stunt becomes a leap into the unknown.

No Other Choice

The latest from acclaimed South Korean director Park Chan-wook (鈥淥ld Boy鈥�) follows a laid-off middle manager (Lee Byung-hun of 鈥淪quid Game鈥�) desperate to survive an imploding job market at any cost. The black comedy/thriller finds grim laughs in the absurdities of late-stage capitalism and AI, for an unnervingly resonant satire replete with stylized violence. Son Ye-jin adds emotional heft as the axed worker鈥檚 conflicted wife. Coming straight from its premiere in Venice, where it drew universal acclaim and a nine-minute standing ovation, 鈥淣o Other Choice鈥� is sure to be one of the festival鈥檚 hottest tickets.

Sentimental Value

Renate Reinsve and Elle Fanning gleam like two sides of the same coin in Joachim Trier鈥檚 knotty family drama, with emotions running sharp and deep. Stellan Skarsg氓rd plays a famed filmmaker hoping to bridge years of absence by casting his actress daughter (Reinsve) in a film that replays their shared past. She refuses, wary of wounds too raw to expose, and the part instead goes to an American star (Fanning), who steps into a role loaded with uncanny echoes. What follows is a charged confrontation of art and memory, buoyed by magnificent performances from Reinsve and Fanning and Trier鈥檚 typically sharp sense of intimacy.聽

厂颈谤芒迟

Oliver Laxe jolted Cannes with a road movie that feels like Henri-Georges Clouzot鈥檚 thriller 鈥淭he Wages of Fear鈥� (and William Friedkin鈥檚 masterful remake 鈥淪orcerer鈥�) reimagined for the end of days. The combustible cargo here isn鈥檛 dynamite but grief, carried across the Moroccan desert by Sergi L贸pez as Luis, a father staggering through loss while clinging to hope of finding his missing daughter. He travels with his young son and a caravan of free-spirited hitchhikers, their existential poetry colliding with the film鈥檚 looming dread. L贸pez gives a performance of quiet magnetism, at once hardened and vulnerable, as Laxe steers the story into zones of apocalyptic energy, spiritual yearning and hair-raising narrative swerves. It鈥檚 a desert odyssey buzzing with tension, vision and the strange euphoria of despair.

Train Dreams

Clint Bentley, fresh off co-writing the Oscar-nominated 鈥淪ing Sing,鈥� delivers a bold, ravishing take on Denis Johnson鈥檚 2011 novella. It opens as a classic Western before deepening into myth. The film breathes tragedy and awe, summoning the hard truths and aching beauty of Thomas Hardy. Joel Edgerton embodies the battered soul of an ordinary man, stalled between wilderness and encroaching civilization, his world shifting faster than he can grasp. Supporting characters played by Felicity Jones, Kerry Condon, William H. Macy and Nathaniel Arcand add rich textures to this haunting survival saga of loss and the vanishing frontier.

Uiksaringitara (Wrong Husband)

Celestial beings appear in a puff of smoke, their intentions unclear. A seaweed-draped troll hides beneath the water鈥檚 edge, seeking victims. An evil shaman commits murder in a dream, setting in motion a battle with destiny. The Far North folklore is vivid and often terrifying in this new drama by Inuk auteur Zacharias Kunuk (鈥淎tanarjuat: The Fast Runner鈥�), but the biggest jolt to the senses comes from the beating hearts of two humans, betrothed lovers Sapa (Haiden Angutimarik) and Kaujak (Theresia Kappianaq). Separated by fate and custom, they鈥檒l have to fight many challenges 鈥� and other suitors 鈥� if they are to remain a couple. Kunuk鈥檚 wild storytelling is informed by tales he heard growing up, but he also wants to show how the people of the North go about their daily lives. It鈥檚 a window into another world, one blessed by nature and enriched by imagination.