What everyone is talking about at the Toronto International Film Festival

The biggest themes and buzziest films from the first half of the fest

Lady Gaga.
(Image credit: Michael Loccisano/Getty Images)

Back in 2013, the Toronto International Film Festival helped kick off what turned out to be a close, thrilling Oscar race, when the fest showed both Gravity and 12 Years a Slave. Two years ago, the story was much the same, when TIFF had both Moonlight and La La Land. This year, the directors of all four of those films are back at the fest: Alfonso Cuaron with Roma, Steve McQueen with Widows, Barry Jenkins with If Beale Street Could Talk, and Damien Chazelle with First Man.

And yet, for the first few days of this year's TIFF, all anyone wanted to talk about was a very different showdown: Natalie Portman vs. Lady Gaga.

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Noel Murray

Noel Murray is a freelance writer, living in Arkansas with his wife and two kids. He was one of the co-founders of the late, lamented movie/culture website The Dissolve, and his articles about film, TV, music, and comics currently appear regularly in The A.V. Club, Rolling Stone, Vulture, The Los Angeles Times, and The New York Times.