At TIFF, which runs until September 15, two films stood out on Sunday: Conclave with Ralph Fiennes and The Wild Robota DreamWorks cartoon.
How do Catholic cardinals choose a new pope? What happens in their closed-door meetings? This is the starting point of the thriller Conclave, which premiered Sunday at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF). This fictional account of high-level dealings in the Holy See, based on a novel by Robert Harris, imagines how the death of a pope draws the various factions of the church into a battle for its future.
Ralph Fiennes, Stanley Tucci and John Lithgow lead a stellar cast that is generating strong Oscar interest, as is director Edward Berger, whose film All Quiet on the Western Front won four trophies last year.
Fiennes plays Cardinal Lawrence, who is tasked with organizing the conclave, the top-secret assembly of cardinals that elects the pontiff. Tucci and Lithgow play two of the men vying for the papal throne. “No sane man would want the papacy”will at one point launch Cardinal Bellini (Tucci), a liberal who nevertheless wants the post in the hope of thwarting the conservatives who, he believes, would cause the Church to regress socially.
Twists and turns abound as the most saintly of men reveal their sins and misdeeds in this film, which had its world premiere a week ago at Telluride, one of the film industry’s premier fall festivals.
The thrilling music of Oscar-winning composer Volker Bertelmann (All Quiet on the Western Front) paces the film to an unexpected conclusion. Ralph Fiennes, 61, has been nominated twice for an Oscar for Schindler’s List et The English Patientbut never won. The actor is, however, on every expert’s list for the Best Actor Oscar on the awards prediction website Gold Derby. Conclave will be released in theaters in France on December 4, 2024.
A robot in the race for a trophy
Moreover, The Wild Robotthe latest film from DreamWorks Animation, which had its world premiere Sunday in Canada’s largest city, will also surely be in the discussion for a trophy. Set to hit theaters in Canada on October 9, Oscar winner Lupita Nyong’o plays the intelligent robot Roz, who finds herself on an uninhabited island after a typhoon overturns a cargo ship.
To survive, she must befriend the menagerie of woodland animals who are perplexed by her arrival. She takes a liking to the gosling Brightbill, who must learn to fly in order to migrate with the rest of his group. “Sometimes, in order to survive, we must become more than we were programmed to be.”Roz will say in the film, who overwrites some of her own code as she grows closer to her unexpected new friends.
With this cartoon, some codes of Baymax, the round and white robot from the animated film The new heroes (2014) from Disney Studios, are comparable. This inflatable android that interacted with a child also had to learn to do more than its programming.
The list of leading actors working under the direction of Chris Sanders (Lilo & Stitch) also stars Pedro Pascal, Mark Hamill, Catherine O’Hara and Stephanie Hsu. The film, based on the popular book of the same name by Peter Brown, features funny animals but has much less dialogue than usual for an animated film, relying instead on the music of Kris Bowers.
The animation of the lush forest landscape, with the waves crashing on the shore, seems almost painted. “It’s a fable, it’s also an extraordinary story, and we innovated visually because no film looks like that”Chris Sanders told AFP on the red carpet.
After the premiere, Lupita Nyong’o explained that he chose her because he liked her “heat” of his voice. “We knew we would get closer to my natural voice”she told the audience during a question-and-answer session. “There was always an intention to have Roz’s voice reflect her journey toward individuality, but also embody a robotic version of empathy.”.