“Toronto 2010: A high-profile festival looks for some sleepers”

Steve Zeitchik (24 Frames) has this article noting six movies that could be sleeper hits at the Toronto Film Festival:

“Ceremony” — Last year’s “(500) Days of Summer” referenced “The Graduate;” this romantic comedy pays homage to it. In Max WInkler’s new film, a 20-something man is thrown for a loop when he falls in love with an unavailable older woman — and she, surprisingly, returns his affection.

“It’s Kind of a Funny Story” — Wunderkind filmmakers Ryan Fleck and Anna Boden dazzled festival audiences with their previous “Half Nelson” and “Sugar.” They’re back with a bigger-budgeted film, this one starring Zach Galifianakis and newcomer Keir Gilchrist as not-quite-disturbed patients in a psychiatric institution. It’s essentially a modern-day coming-of-age story, a John Hughes film for the Adderall generation.

“Easy A” — After acclaimed turns in less-than-acclaimed movies, Emma Stone (“The Rocker,” “Paper Man”) is ready for her close-up. It may well have been been worth the wait. The 21-year-old stars in what early word has as a winning story about a high-schooler mistakenly reputed for her sexual prowess who decides to use the rumors to her advantage.

“Dirty Girl” — Abe Sylvia’s directorial debut takes us back to the 80’s in what is a period comedy about a pop-culture savvy girl who runs away with her gay best friend.

“The Whistleblower” — The slave trade in the Balkans circa the 1990’s isn’t a topic you see Hollywood taking on very often. The indie world, however, is another story. In the movie, based on a true story, Rachel Weisz (keeping with woman-against-the-system theme of her breakout “The Constant Gardener”) plays a Nebraska policewoman who uncovers a sex-trade scandal. This one’s less of a comedy, but like “Ceremony,” and “Dirty Girl” is also seeking a theatrical distributor, and could use some Canadian word-of-mouth to pull off the feat.

“Score: A Hockey Musical” — The opening-night film. It’s essentially “Glee” meets “Slap Shot.” You need more?

Easy A sold as a spec script in August 2008 and I covered that here. Two years from script sale to market is a pretty speedy turnaround. Here’s the trailer:

The official TIFF site is here.

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