TIFF 2012 WATCH—TOM HANKS’ CLOUD ATLAS AND JOAQUIN PHOENIX’S THE MASTER MOVIES ARE TWO OF TIFF’S MOST INTERESTING FILMS
Are you a sci-fi fan, or like movies that make you think? Tom Hanks’ futuristic offering Cloud Atlas, also starring Halle Berry, and Joaquin Phoenix’s The Master, loosely based on Scientology, will have your brain buzzing.
Tom Hanks is always a red carpet pro. Always stopping to talk to press about his latest movie. It wasn’t different this year as he, and his co-star Halle Berry, walked a crowded red carpet, with everyone trying to get some insight about their new sci-fi movie Cloud Atlas. Co-starring Susan Sarandon, Jim Broadbent and Hugh Grant, the movie is based on the best-selling novel by David Mitchell. Cloud Atlas, directed by the Wachowski siblings, explores how the actions and consequences of individual lives impact one another throughout the past, the present and the future. Drama, mystery, action and enduring love thread through a story that unfolds in multiple lifetimes as one soul is shaped from a killer into a hero, and a single act of kindness ripples across centuries to inspire a revolution. Each member of the ensemble cast appears in multiple roles as the story moves through time. It opens in theatres on October 26.
Have you missed the elusive Joaquin Phoenix? He makes his return to the big screen in a movie that is not only garnering a lot of buzz but is also getting rave reviews by critics. But when it came time to walk the red carpet, his cast members stopped to talk about their movie while Phoenix decided to avoid press and walk quickly into the premiere. Or maybe he just didn’t want to talk about Scientology. With the breakup of Katie Holmes and Tom Cruise bringing Scientology under fire, there’s never been a perfect time for this movie, which is loosely based on Scientology creator Ron L. Hubbard, to make its debut. P.T Anderson’s The Master unfolds the journey of a Naval veteran (Phoenix) who arrives home from war unsettled and uncertain of his future — until he is tantalized by The Cause and its charismatic leader (Philip Seymour Hoffman). The Master also stars Amy Adams and Laura Dern.
—Toni-Marie Ippolito