Nearly two dozen of the 291 films hitting the big screen at TIFF are plucked from the bookshelves – a reader’s paradise. Buzzy star-studded adaptations of enduring classics like Frankenstein share the slate with more obscure literary fare, like French dramatist Bernard-Marie Koltès’ brutal dissection of colonialism, Black Battles with Dog, is interpreted by Claire Denis with The Fence, starring Matt Dillon, or Winter of the Crow, a short story of Cold War espionage by Polish Nobel laureate Olga Tokarczuk, featuring Lesley Manville. And in between: Hedda, Nia DaCosta’s feminist take on Henrik Ibsen’s Gilded Age play, Riz Ahmed’s gritty modern Hamlet, and an intimate movie about the tragedy that motivated Shakespeare to write it, as well as projects about literary luminaries George Orwell, Miguel de Cervantes and Franz Kafka. In the eternal question of whether the book is better than the movie, here are our picks of the best bets.
A Booklover’s Guide to TIFF: 8 Buzzy Reads That Are Headed For the Big Screen
1Hamnetby Maggie O'Farrell With Nomadland in 2021, director Chloé Zhao became only the second woman to win an Academy Award for Best Director—and her decision to then make a western, a superhero movie and now an Elizabethan love story is eclectic and fascinating. Adapted by the filmmaker and the author, Hamnet reframes the grief of a couple (Jessie Buckley and Paul Mescal) in late-1500s England following the death of their 11-year-old son to the bubonic plague – the twist is that the couple is Anne and William Shakespeare (though conspicuously, never named). Published in the first months of the Covid-19 pandemic, this daring speculative portrait of a relationship (and grief as a fertile creative terrain) was the Irish writer’s breakout, centring the experience and vulnerability of motherhood rather than the famous husband. I’m counting on Zhao’s stunningly naturalistic visual style to translate O’Farrell’s lush descriptive prose into a tender, atmospheric chamber piece.
With Nomadland in 2021, director Chloé Zhao became only the second woman to win an Academy Award for Best Director—and her decision to then make a western, a superhero movie and now an Elizabethan love story is eclectic and fascinating. Adapted by the filmmaker and the author, Hamnet reframes the grief of a couple (Jessie Buckley and Paul Mescal) in late-1500s England following the death of their 11-year-old son to the bubonic plague – the twist is that the couple is Anne and William Shakespeare (though conspicuously, never named). Published in the first months of the Covid-19 pandemic, this daring speculative portrait of a relationship (and grief as a fertile creative terrain) was the Irish writer’s breakout, centring the experience and vulnerability of motherhood rather than the famous husband. I’m counting on Zhao’s stunningly naturalistic visual style to translate O’Farrell’s lush descriptive prose into a tender, atmospheric chamber piece.
2The Axby Donald E. Westlake After working together to adapt Viet Thanh Nguyen’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Sympathizer into an HBO miniseries, Korean auteur Park Chan-wook (Oldboy) and Toronto’s own Don McKellar now tackle Westlake’s 1997 thriller, with a new title, No Other Choice (which Chan-wook directs.) The source material concerns an angry older white man who, having lost his job and status, begins a murderous quest to eliminate the competition and restore his perfect life. The ruthless strategy recalls Michael Douglas in Falling Down, re-worked to the heartless workplace culture of present-day South Korea.
After working together to adapt Viet Thanh Nguyen’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Sympathizer into an HBO miniseries, Korean auteur Park Chan-wook (Oldboy) and Toronto’s own Don McKellar now tackle Westlake’s 1997 thriller, with a new title, No Other Choice (which Chan-wook directs.) The source material concerns an angry older white man who, having lost his job and status, begins a murderous quest to eliminate the competition and restore his perfect life. The ruthless strategy recalls Michael Douglas in Falling Down, re-worked to the heartless workplace culture of present-day South Korea.
3The Man in My Basement by Walter MosleyThe Khartoum and London-raised theatre and film director Nadia Latif joins author Mosley (best known for his Easy Rawlins detective books) in adapting the latter’s stand-alone novel about personal and societal guilt. In order to hold onto his ancestral family home, an African-American man (Corey Hawkins) strikes a curious bargain with a wealthy white businessman (Willem Dafoe) who wishes to be locked up in the house’s basement. The enigmatic, character-driven horror thriller is a thought-provoking meditation on punishment and redemption.
The Khartoum and London-raised theatre and film director Nadia Latif joins author Mosley (best known for his Easy Rawlins detective books) in adapting the latter’s stand-alone novel about personal and societal guilt. In order to hold onto his ancestral family home, an African-American man (Corey Hawkins) strikes a curious bargain with a wealthy white businessman (Willem Dafoe) who wishes to be locked up in the house’s basement. The enigmatic, character-driven horror thriller is a thought-provoking meditation on punishment and redemption.
4Paradiseby Lizzie Johnson San Francisco Chronicle reporter Johnson’s narrative non-fiction Paradise followed the fate of a small California town in the aftermath of the 2018 Camp Fire (the deadliest wildfire America had seen in a century). Now under the direction of acclaimed filmmaker Paul Greengrass, the film version The Lost Bus stars Matthew McConaughey on a rescue mission to save a teacher and her 22 students, and shapes the firsthand account into the kind of pulsing, urgent survival drama we’ve come to expect from the director of United 93 and many of the Bourne films.
San Francisco Chronicle reporter Johnson’s narrative non-fiction Paradise followed the fate of a small California town in the aftermath of the 2018 Camp Fire (the deadliest wildfire America had seen in a century). Now under the direction of acclaimed filmmaker Paul Greengrass, the film version The Lost Bus stars Matthew McConaughey on a rescue mission to save a teacher and her 22 students, and shapes the firsthand account into the kind of pulsing, urgent survival drama we’ve come to expect from the director of United 93 and many of the Bourne films.
5Frankenstein by Mary ShelleyOscar-winning filmmaker and honorary Canadian (he’s a City of Toronto keyholder) Guillermo del Toro has frequently cited James Whale’s 1931 version of the Gothic and science fiction classic as the reason he became a filmmaker. His appreciative introduction to a past edition proves him an avowed fan of Shelley’s unflinching 1818 novel – and his US$120 million passion project cements it. It reportedly explores the motivations of misunderstood Victor Frankenstein (Oscar Isaac), whose scientific hubris grafts the corpses of dead men into a grisly new creature (Jacob Elordi). Like del Toro’s Academy Award-winning fable, The Shape of Water, this adaptation is filmed in and around Toronto, As a bonus: there will be a book detailing del Toro’s intense attention to below-the-line craft, too.
Oscar-winning filmmaker and honorary Canadian (he’s a City of Toronto keyholder) Guillermo del Toro has frequently cited James Whale’s 1931 version of the Gothic and science fiction classic as the reason he became a filmmaker. His appreciative introduction to a past edition proves him an avowed fan of Shelley’s unflinching 1818 novel – and his US$120 million passion project cements it. It reportedly explores the motivations of misunderstood Victor Frankenstein (Oscar Isaac), whose scientific hubris grafts the corpses of dead men into a grisly new creature (Jacob Elordi). Like del Toro’s Academy Award-winning fable, The Shape of Water, this adaptation is filmed in and around Toronto, As a bonus: there will be a book detailing del Toro’s intense attention to below-the-line craft, too.
6& Sons by David GilbertGilbert’s acclaimed saga about the thorny legacy an iconic, Salinger-esque literary lion bequeaths to his three sons remains one of my favourite novels of the 21st century. It’s a distinct panorama of moneyed New York, so I’m intrigued that director Pablo Trapero’s new film transposed the setting to London. The texture of that literary terrain may well be more layered. Plus, it’s co-written by Canadian Sarah Polley and the cast is stacked with favourites, including Bill Nighy as the complicated ailing patriarch and Imelda Staunton his long-suffering ex.
Gilbert’s acclaimed saga about the thorny legacy an iconic, Salinger-esque literary lion bequeaths to his three sons remains one of my favourite novels of the 21st century. It’s a distinct panorama of moneyed New York, so I’m intrigued that director Pablo Trapero’s new film transposed the setting to London. The texture of that literary terrain may well be more layered. Plus, it’s co-written by Canadian Sarah Polley and the cast is stacked with favourites, including Bill Nighy as the complicated ailing patriarch and Imelda Staunton his long-suffering ex.
7Train Dreamsby Denis Johnson TIFF has previously debuted cinematic interpretations of the work of Pulitzer-shortlisted American writer Johnson, including Jesus’ Son in 1999 and more recently, Stars at Noon (2022). Hailed as a miniature masterpiece when it was published in 2011, this slender but sweeping tale – of an itinerant logger and railroad worker (played by Australian actor Joel Edgerton, who has quietly become one of the great performers of the last decade) and his wife (Felicity Jones) – contains multitudes. Most strikingly, it’s an elegy for the inevitable costs of so-called civilization, in the rapidly expanding 1920s. Clint Bentley, who co-wrote Sing Sing, directs.
TIFF has previously debuted cinematic interpretations of the work of Pulitzer-shortlisted American writer Johnson, including Jesus’ Son in 1999 and more recently, Stars at Noon (2022). Hailed as a miniature masterpiece when it was published in 2011, this slender but sweeping tale – of an itinerant logger and railroad worker (played by Australian actor Joel Edgerton, who has quietly become one of the great performers of the last decade) and his wife (Felicity Jones) – contains multitudes. Most strikingly, it’s an elegy for the inevitable costs of so-called civilization, in the rapidly expanding 1920s. Clint Bentley, who co-wrote Sing Sing, directs.
8Ballad of a Small Playerby Lawrence OsbourneThe BAFTA and Oscar-winning German director Edward Berger (Conclave; All Quiet on the Western Front) goes from papal virtue to the sin of greed with his latest. Colin Farrell plays an inveterate international gambler – known to Hong Kong locals as Lord Freddy Doyle – who secretly prefers to lose. Though based on the British travel journalist’s 2014 novel, the film is also awash in Graham Greene-style secrets and intrigue: Tilda Swinton is a detective in pursuit, and the production jet sets audiences into the alluring underworld of Macau casinos. It’s hard to know whether to root for Farrell’s character to win – or lose.
The BAFTA and Oscar-winning German director Edward Berger (Conclave; All Quiet on the Western Front) goes from papal virtue to the sin of greed with his latest. Colin Farrell plays an inveterate international gambler – known to Hong Kong locals as Lord Freddy Doyle – who secretly prefers to lose. Though based on the British travel journalist’s 2014 novel, the film is also awash in Graham Greene-style secrets and intrigue: Tilda Swinton is a detective in pursuit, and the production jet sets audiences into the alluring underworld of Macau casinos. It’s hard to know whether to root for Farrell’s character to win – or lose.
