All the best movies at Toronto Film Festival, ranked (including 'The Piano Lesson')

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TORONTO – O, Canada, our home for a week of excellent movies and Oscar-hopeful fare, including a Donald Trump biopic, a Hugh Grant horror flick and a drama where Amy Adams thinks she’s turning into a dog.

Toronto International Film Festival, which runs through Sept. 15, for years has been a major launching pad for best picture winners like “Parasite,” “Nomadland” and “Spotlight.” And while not all of the 2024 lineup is probably headed for Academy Awards glory – yes, it would be nice to see a Stephen King adaptation such as “The Life of Chuck” make the Big Show one day – the slate is pretty stacked with high-profile projects from notable personalities (Demi Moore, Pamela Anderson and Jennifer Lopez), legendary artists (Bruce Springsteen and Elton John) and iconic directors (Francis Ford Coppola and Ron Howard).

We’re keeping a running tally on the movies we watch at Toronto, and here’s the best of the fest so far, ranked:

28. 'Megalopolis'

Bizarre and outlandish, filmmaking icon Francis Ford Coppola's sci-fi movie is a mangled wreck of New York story and Roman Empire epic. A genius architect (Adam Driver) has a magical new building material he wants to use to turn the place into a utopia; the city's corrupt mayor (Giancarlo Esposito) hates him; and the mayor's daughter (Nathalie Emmanuel) is the architect's aide-de-camp girlfriend. The movie's overacted and underwhelming as it slams a series of interesting ideas together (a gladiator circus in Madison Square Garden, Driver being able to stop time) yet Esposito, at least, is a grounding presence amid a scenic skyline of metaphorical madness.

27. 'Daniela Forever'

“Crazy Rich Asians” star Henry Golding is embracing leading man status again but in extremely mind-bendy fashion with “Colossal” director Nacho Vigalondo’s sci-fi romance. A grieving mess after the death of his artist girlfriend Daniela (Beatrice Grannò), British DJ Nick (Golding) volunteers to be part of a lucid dreaming drug study. He doesn’t follow directions and, struggling to move on, instead molds a strange reality where Daniela still lives. It doesn’t always make sense but when it does, it’s highly imaginative exploring how we sometimes change in our mind the memories we make with loved ones.

26. ‘The Luckiest Man in America’

From “I, Tonya” to “Richard Jewell,” Paul Walter Hauser has carved out a niche for himself in Hollywood deftly playing awkward sorts who tumble into trouble, and his take on a real-life game-show disruptor finds him playing to win. (No Whammies here.) The drama, which also features David Strathairn and the always-fab Walton Goggins, revisits a 1980s scandal in which a mercurial contestant (Hauser) steals another’s spot on “Press Your Luck.” He goes on an epic run gaming the system that gives TV producers fits, though there’s real emotional depth to his competitive fire.

25. 'The Quiet Ones'

Based on the tale of the largest robbery in Denmark’s history, director Frederik Louis Hviid’s action thriller stars Gustav Griese as boxer and family man Kasper, who’s not destined for in-ring success. He happens to be really good at planning, in this case for ambitious heists. Griese, with a seriously cool action-movie vibe to him (give him a call, Netflix!), plays Kasper with a steely nerve as he’s recruited to not only figure out how to pull off an impossible job but deal with the issues egos and greed create, while Amanda Collin aces a supporting role as a security guard caught up in the chaos.

24. 'The Last Showgirl'

Let's call it a comeback. Pamela Anderson gets her meatiest role at age 57 with director Gia Coppola's introspective ensemble drama about how various performers negotiate the final run of a legendary Las Vegas show. Anderson plays Shelly, the feather-clad, 30-year veteran of the show who doesn't know what her next steps are, while Brenda Song and Kiernan Shipka are youngsters figuring out what career they even want to have. Anderson earns some nice moments and a couple of supporting players really shine, including Jamie Lee Curtis as a feisty cocktail waitress and Dave Bautista as the show's pensive stage manager.

23. 'Rez Ball'

After the tragic death of their teammate, Jimmy Holiday (Kauchani Bratt), former WNBA player Coach Hobbs (Jessica Matten) and a Native American high school basketball squad in New Mexico go on an unlikely run to the state hoops tournament. The undersized players switch to "rez ball," a focus on quick play and using their Navajo dialect in games, to find success on the court, but the kids and their loved ones also deal with personal crises off the court. Based on a true story, the Netflix sports drama doesn't break the mold, but the mix of young and old personalities gives it a winning edge.

22. 'Paul Anka: My Way'

Even if he was just a 1950s teen idol, Paul Anka would deserve a deep-dive documentary on his life and career, still going at 83. What differentiates Anka, who's also Jason Bateman's father-in-law, from some of his bop-till-you-drop ilk is that he became an iconic songwriter, too. The movie digs into his greatest hit for Frank Sinatra, "My Way" – which he can croon the heck out of himself, FYI. Anka has had co-writing credits on posthumous Michael Jackson songs, collaborations with fellow Canadians Celine Dion and Drake, and compositions like the theme song for Johnny Carson's "Tonight Show" that you might now know were his.

21. 'Eden'

Neighbors behave very badly, even on a remote island in the Galápagos, in Ron Howard's hostile true-life historical thriller. Set in the 1930s, Jude Law and Vanessa Kirby play a high-minded German couple who've skipped out of Europe and are loving their life of solitude working on philosophical manifestos. Then a couple of their countrymen (Daniel Brühl and Sydney Sweeney) show up to raise crops and raise a new baby. Then a self-proclaimed baroness (a gleefully evil Ana de Armas) shows up with her manservants to start a luxury hotel. Bad decisions, shifting alliances and underhanded betrayals lead to hard feelings and much, much worse.

20. 'Road Diary: Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band'

There's a good reason why they call him "The Boss." Director Thom Zimny's documentary about Bruce Springsteen and his band heading off on a world tour features a bunch of concert footage that fans will dig. The most fascinating stuff, however, is E Street Band rehearsals that go behind the scenes on how Springsteen runs his ship and creates a concert set list that tells a story of "life, death and everything in between." The movie also finds him in a reflective mood, discussing age and mortality and reminiscing on close friends he's lost, but concluding that at nearly 75, he's not even thinking of putting on the brakes. As Springsteen says in the movie, "It's too late to stop now."

19. 'Queer'

Daniel Craig wears drunken confidence and weary desperation so very well in Luca Guadagnino's adaptation of William S. Burroughs' autobiographical 1985 novel. Middle-aged American expat William Lee (Craig) picks up men in local bars in 1950s Mexico City and becomes obsessed with younger Navy serviceman Eugene Allerton (Drew Starkey). There's an extended dance of unrequited desire between them and they do hook up, which complicates feelings. It's a bold erotic drama that loses some of its emotional connection as "Queer" hurdles toward an ending of trippy magical realism and regret.

18. ‘The Cut’

Orlando Bloom stars as an Irish boxer once known as the “Wolf of Dublin” who missed his chance at superstardom. A decade later, he and his love interest/trainer (Caitriona Balfe) are given another round of redemption against the current champ, if the fighter can make weight – in his case, lose 25 pounds in a week. What starts as a dull series of sports-movie clichés shifts to a solid movie with some psychological horror, discussion of mental health and eating disorders, a fantastic supporting turn from John Turturro (as the no-nonsense guy who comes in to help burn serious poundage) and one haymaker of a climax.

17. 'K-Pops'

Soul singer Anderson .Paak crafts an enjoyably lighthearted musical family comedy, plus isn't too shabby a leading man, either, as he makes his directorial debut. A washed-up LA drummer (.Paak) ventures to South Korea to play in a house band for a popular Korean TV singing contest and discovers he has a kid (.Paak's real-life son Soul Rasheed), who's a middling contestant needing some polish to reach his potential. Rather than a tired fish-out-of-water narrative, .Paak instead goes for a clever tale heavily rooted in hip-hop and K-pop cultures and buoyed by the natural chemistry between the filmmaker and his talented offspring.

16. 'Unstoppable'

Jharrel Jerome's electric scrappiness and Jennifer Lopez's mama-bear fire lift the straightforward sports biopic into crowd-pleasing territory. Based on the inspirational story of one-legged wrestler Anthony Robles, Jerome plays the grappler as he transitions from high school phenom to college standout. While mom Judy (Lopez) struggles on the homefront, including dealing with a jerky husband (Bobby Cannavale), Anthony has his hopes of attending wrestling powerhouse Iowa dashed but instead finds the teammates and coach (Don Cheadle) he needs at Arizona State while tussling with the odds and dreaming of being a national champion.

15. 'Elton John: Never Too Late'

Bookended by Dodger Stadium concerts in 1975 and 2022, the warmly nostalgic Elton John documentary chronicles the 77-year-old pop music icon's life and music over two parallel periods. The movie follows John in the 10 months leading up to his final touring show before retiring to spend time with his family, and also tracks his early 1970s monster hits that made him a superstar but represented years of sadness and loneliness. The film isn't packed with huge revelations, but that's mainly because it's too busy tugging at your heartstrings.

14. ‘Bird’

English director Andrea Arnold’s coming-of-age drama tells a hardscrabble story with a whiff of dark fantasy, about a 12-year-old girl who’s had to grow up too fast. Bailey (Nykiya Adams) is irked when her unpredictable and chaotic dad Bug (Barry Keoghan) is getting married to a woman he hardly knows, and her mom lives under the thumb of a cruel boyfriend. Bailey finds escape in nature, where she meets an enigmatic sort named Bird (Franz Rogowski). He needs help finding his parents, but they ultimately look out for each other out in a thoughtful narrative about adolescence and family bonds.

13. 'The Assessment'

The sci-fi thriller reads much like a "Black Mirror" episode: In a futuristic landscape that's been wrecked by climate change, people have to get government permission to have children in order to save resources. Elizabeth Olsen and Himesh Patel play a scientific couple wanting a kid, and Alicia Vikander is the assessor sent to test them in the most extreme ways possible. Parents especially will feel seen in many frames of Fleur Fortuné's directorial debut, especially as the would-be mom and dad navigate Vikander's character making their lives hell, and the film bounces between outrageously funny and extraordinarily bleak.

12. 'We Live in Time'

Directed by "Brooklyn" filmmaker John Crowley, the romance takes a non-linear route to tell its love story, which begins when rising-star chef Almut runs over Weetabix employee Tobias in her car. Their relationship involves kids, careers and most importantly, cancer: When Almut gets sick, they have to choose between prolonged, possible life-saving treatment or making the most of any days you have left. The story chooses to flesh out the character of Almut more than Tobias, though both of the lead actors' performances are poignant enough to invest in and it thankfully goes for earned emotion rather than cheap schmaltz.

11. ‘The Apprentice’

While it has nothing to do with Donald Trump’s reality TV show, it does have all to do with how a person – in this case, Trump himself – treats another in the name of fame, wealth and power. Set during his rise in New York in the 1970s and ‘80s, the engaging drama stars Sebastian Stan as a young Trump working for his father’s real estate business who comes under the tutelage of lawyer Roy Cohn (Jeremy Strong), infamous for his ruthlessness and lack of empathy. In that regard, the narrative follows the student becoming the master, with Stan and Strong both pulling off stellar character arcs.

10. 'The Return'

Finally, all those times you read Homer's "The Odyssey" in school are paying off with this "Game of Thrones"-y action melodrama. Ten years after his Trojan Horse gambit, and still feeling the physical and psychological scars of war, Odysseus (Ralph Fiennes) washes up on shore naked on the island of Ithaca. While his wife Queen Penelope (Juliette Binoche) has fought off suitors wanting to rule, hoping her dude would be back one day, the place is kind of an unruly mess. Everyone thinks this new bearded dirty stranger is a tramp, including son Telemachus (Charlie Plummer), but Odysseus has to get his mind right and his warrior groove back for a rousing kingly return.

9. 'Nightbitch'

Surprisingly funny and not nearly as bizarre as you might expect, "Nightbitch" weaves magical realism into a revealing narrative about modern motherhood and societal expectations. A stay-at-home mother (Amy Adams) pines for a good night's sleep and her artistic past while trying her hardest to keep it together taking care of her son amid pestering moms and a constantly traveling husband (Scoot McNairy). Our heroine also thinks she's turning into a dog, which sparks a long-needed change in her confidence in a story that goes to some strange places and lets Adams growl, howl and bark for all she's worth.

8. 'Relay'

"Hell or High Water" filmmaker David Mackenzie expertly directs this modern homage to old-school paranoia thrillers. Oscar winner Riz Ahmed plays a recovering alcoholic who works as a secretive middle man for whistleblowers hoping to settle with shady corporations. His latest client (Lily James), is a scientist with documents that show a massive cover-up that could deep-six an important merger, and our hero begins to get too close personally to the job as she's pursued by a van full of high-tech baddies (including Sam Worthington). Ahmed is fabulous in the role and Mackenzie masterfully pulls off just the right number of twists and turns.

7. 'Heretic'

In this darkly funny (and quite chatty) horror flick, Sophie Thatcher and Chloe East play a pair of Mormon missionaries making their rounds to potential converts. They knock on the door of Mr. Reed (Hugh Grant), a seemingly kindly English gentleman who invites them in for blueberry pie. But there is no pie, and he's quite familiar with the Book of Mormon and plenty of other religions during a night full of conversation, terror and "Monopoly." The film has a lot to say about belief vs. disbelief. Grant doesn't do a lot of horror, but he's a pitch-perfect menace here, while East is a star in the making (and should have already been a thing after "The Fabelmans").

6. 'The Piano Lesson'

Denzel Washington's talented brood is the creative heart of this fabulously haunting August Wilson adaptation. Youngest son Malcolm Washington directs a riveting first feature with the 1930s-set tale of an engraved heirloom piano sitting in a Pittsburgh home with a deep dark history to it. His older sibling John David Washington brilliantly plays Boy Willie, who wants to sell the instrument to help buy the land his family worked on as enslaved people. But Boy WIllie's sister Berniece (a standout Danielle Deadwyler) is dead set against letting it go. There's tension between the two, and a horror-tinged ghost story involved as the narrative revisits past tragedies but never loses its sense of hope.

5. 'The Order'

Based on a true story, director Justin Kurzel’s excellent white-knuckle crime thriller casts Jude Law as a world-weary FBI agent assigned to a less-stressful post in the Pacific Northwest. Instead of taking it easy, though, he ends up teaming with a young Oregon cop (Tye Sheridan) when a series of terrorist attacks hint at the involvement of a neo-Nazi group with nefarious plans to raise an army for a government takeover. Law exudes dogged intensity and Nicholas Hoult is superb as the charismatic white supremacist leader in a gripping action drama.

4. 'Emilia Pérez'

French director Jacques Audiard ("The Sisters Brothers") toys with the musical form to heighten and add extra verve to his superb and soapy crime drama. Karla Sofía Gascón is a revelation as Mexican cartel leader Manitas, who hires defense attorney Rita (Zoe Salda?a) to help him find a gender confirmation surgeon. Years later and now a woman, Emilia tracks down Rita again to find her family ― including wife Jessi (Selena Gomez) and their two sons, all of whom believe Manitas is dead ― and try to make up for her sins, though Emilia finds herself caught between the man she used to be and the woman she wants to be.

3. ‘The Substance’

Every so often at a film fest, you see something that makes you go, “Well, that’s new.” And here that honor goes to this gloriously demented body horror, with Demi Moore just pulling out all the bonkers stops. She plays a TV fitness celebrity who signs up for a process promising to make her beautiful and perfect again. Margaret Qualley plays her younger self born as a result in a movie that gleefully goes off the tracks and keeps on going. Sure, it’s full of thought-provoking metaphors on beauty, vanity and self-worth, but you’ll also love that it's a disturbing, hilarious and jaw-dropping hoot.

2. 'The Life of Chuck'

Based on the exceptional Stephen King novella, director Mike Flanagan's genre-defying delight is a supremely joyous three-act character study – told backwards, mind you – that involves an apocalypse, multiple dance extravaganzas and a haunted attic. With the end times in sight, a teacher (Chiwetel Ejiofor) is confused by huge billboards that thank accountant Charles Krantz (Tom Hiddleston) for "39 great years." His story unfurls in epic as well as intimate ways, though the movie is less about Chuck and more about all of us and our place in the universe. It might not be "classic" King, but it is the kind of life-affirming effort we all could use to lift our spirits.

1. 'Conclave'

Edward Berger follows up his Oscar-winning "All Quiet on the Western Front" remake with something even better: a striking tour de force that's equal parts courtroom drama, detective story and political thriller, with wannabe popes. When the holy father dies, the dour Cardinal Lawrence (Ralph Fiennes) has the stressful job of running the conclave to elect a new one. Making it harder: Dealing with conservative vs. liberal friction, rumors of priestly wrongdoing, reports of the late pope firing one of their own, and even the shocking appearance of a new cardinal no one even knew existed, all while sequestered. And you thought our presidential election was dramatic.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: 'The Piano Lesson': Toronto Film Festival's best movies, ranked