Now that the Toronto International Film Festival has come to a close, many people are dying to know what movies topped the list this year. 12 Years a Slave, which was shown Friday in Toronto, generated a lot of positive buzz at this year’s festival. It was said to be so good that it is already being considered for an Oscar nomination, hype which will surely come to fruition.
The film is based on the 1853 autobiography of Solomon Northup, a free African-American man from upstate New York who was tricked into slavery in 1841. The movie itself looks brilliant and I’m excited to see it, but I would have loved to watch it in Toronto.
The film is directed by Steve McQueen, the same man who is known for his independent films Shame and Hunger. The film also has a lot of top billed actors, including Brad Pitt and Benedict Cumberbatch from Sherlock. Hans Zimmer scored the music, so you can expect this to be one of the most suspenseful films of the year.
The film has already earned itself a 96 percent on Rotten Tomatoes, which puts it at No. 16 on the site’s list of top films of 2013. While at the festival, its director also won the BlackBerry People’s Choice Award. I expect a lot of good things from this film and hope to see it when it is released in theaters on Oct. 18.
Some other films to check out from the festival include Prisoners, which is already playing, and The Fifth Estate, which is based on the life of Julian Assange, the creator of WikiLeaks.
Abdalah El-Barrad is a freshman studying economics and a columnist for The Post. Do you think that 12 Years a Slave will win an Oscar? Email him at ae738513@ohiou.edu.
