Fall Film Festival Recap: The Best & Worst of TIFF, Telluride and Venice

by Jason Dietz, Metacritic Features Editor
and Keith Kimbell, Metacritic Film Editor – September 17, 2017

The fall film season kicks off each year with a trio of prestigious festivals: the just-completed Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), the Venice Film Festival (now in its 74th year), and the smaller but no less interesting Telluride Film Festival in Colorado. It is at these festivals where many of the year's Oscar contenders typically make their debuts. (Last year, five best picture nominees—including eventual winner Moonlight—had their world premieres at one of these festivals.) And this year's crop includes promising upcoming releases from Guillermo del Toro, Greta Gerwig, Aaron Sorkin, Joe Wright, and Armando Iannucci ... as well as more divisive films from the likes of Alexander Payne, George Clooney, and Louis CK.

Below, learn more about the critical response to these and other notable films (and TV shows) debuting at the three festivals in 2017.

21 of 38

49 Mary Shelley

Director Haifaa Al Mansour was the first Saudi Arabian woman to direct a film (the acclaimed Wadjda). But her follow-up disappointed many critics. Chronicling the life of Mary Shelley (Elle Fanning) leading up to the publication of her groundbreaking novel Frankenstein, the film is a “lifeless portrayal of a vivid life,” claims Kate Erbland of Indiewire. But THR’s Deborah Young defends the film: “Despite some weaknesses in the story and pacing, Al Mansour and star Elle Fanning achieve a lot of good things.”

Mary Shelley