Scottish writer-director Tom Nicoll is unveling at Toronto his buzzy debut “Salvation.” It tracks an aspiring online life coach whose attempt to reinvent himself and then sell that transformation to others pulls him in increasingly desperate directions. The psychological and blackly comic thriller world premieres in TIFF’s Discovery section, having already been selected for the…

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Toward the end of Rebel Wilson’s “Girl Group,” a fizzy, gaudy clone of “Pitch Perfect” sculpted from the mentor formula of “Bad News Bears,” the movie spirals into an interminable sequence of pop music performances. The song-and-dance numbers are so awkwardly endless that they call to mind the denouement of a very different pop spectacle:…

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In “The Stunt Driver,” Jay Baruchel reteams with his “Goon” director Michael Dowse and takes on a showy lead part as stunt driver Ken Carter, who’s best remembered for a jump he didn’t make: a proposed mile-long leap over the St. Lawrence River in a rocket-powered car. The five years spent on that ill-fated project…

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Variety and Chanel’s annual Women in Film dinner was the place to see and be chic at the Toronto Film Festival on Friday night. When Oscar winner Michelle Yeoh entered the bar for the evening cocktail hour, Emmy winners Sarah Paulson and Colman Domingo greeted her with hugs. Soon, Patricia Arquette breezed in too, pulling…

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Writer Steven Knight has confirmed that he’s finished the first draft of the script for the new James Bond film, which Denis Villeneuve will direct.

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“Happily Ever After,” the follow-up feature from Taiwanese director Feng-i Fiona Roan, is bowing in the Toronto Film Festival’s Special Presentations lineup, arriving amid heightened attention following the success of her acclaimed debut, “American Girl.” “American Girl” premiered in the Asian Future section of the Tokyo International Film Festival before earning seven Golden Horse Award…

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In “Masc,” director Bertil Nilsson pulls off a nifty trick: He observes an observer. Usually a film’s protagonist has the dominant POV, but here, Robin (Joshua Griffin) is trying to find his personality by observing other men in his orbit. He almost never initiates the action and is mostly reticent about his reactions, but he…

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Seven years after “Moving On,” Korean filmmaker Yoon Dan-bi returns with “The World Before,” a coming-of-age film about desire and first love. Speaking with Variety ahead of the film’s Toronto Film Festival Platform world premiere, Yoon discusses how capturing the authenticity of change worked its way at every stage of the production. “I want to…

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A crisscrossing family dramedy, Trudie Styler’s “Up Against It” features wonderful performances and intriguingly modern ideas, but it seldom coheres as comedy or drama. A tale of divorced parents, their respective partners and their ailing, precocious teen, this occasionally effervescent film has much to enjoy, but just as much that lands with an awkward thud.…

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Reaping upbeat initial reviews, Italian film “Idda” had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival as part of the TIFF Platform competition, whose non-English language winner, starting this year, will be directly eligible for the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film. Directed by Irene Dionisio (“Pawn Street,” “Shores”) and starring Tecla Insolia…

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