Babies
Seth Rogen and Lauren Miller Rogen don’t have any babies. But they do have Babies, a comedy about a couple debating whether to have children, written and directed by Lauren and starring Seth. The cast features all manner of comedic heavy hitters, including Anna Kendrick (who’s been lying rather low since Another Simple Favor), Kate Berlant, Issa Rae, and…Sharon Stone. (Sharon Stone? Sharon Stone!) And while Seth recently won a bushel of Emmys for the first season of his industry-skewering Apple TV series, The Studio, and garnered praise for his dramatic turn in Olivia Wilde’s The Invite, Lauren is also no slouch: Her feature directorial debut, Like Father, was fairly well received in 2018, and her 2012 comedy, For a Good Time, Call…, was definitely a good time. —H.B.
Bad Lieutenant: Tokyo
From Abel Ferrara’s Bad Lieutenant (TIFF ’92) to Werner Herzog’s Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call—New Orleans (TIFF ’09), the franchise has always attracted filmmakers willing to get a little weird with it. Now comes Takashi Miike’s Bad Lieutenant: Tokyo, the third installment and another TIFF selection. Shun Oguri plays a gambling-addicted Tokyo Metropolitan police officer under investigation after the disappearance of a politician’s daughter, with Lily James portraying an FBI agent who joins the search. Together, they descend into Tokyo’s underworld in this latest entry from the director of Audition and Ichi the Killer. —Wengel Gemu
TIFF
Being Heumann
Siân Heder, the writer and director behind the Oscar-winning CODA, is back with her follow-up feature film, Being Heumann, which will open the festival. Apple is releasing the film based on the real life of Judy Heumann, played by Ruth Madeley, who was described as the “mother of the disability rights movement.” Set in 1977, the film sees Madeley go head-to-head with Mark Ruffalo, who plays the secretary of health, education, and welfare, refusing to sign regulations that would help disabled people across America. The film stars a diverse cast of actors, and the premiere is sure to be emotional given Heder’s track record as a filmmaker. The movie will be released in theaters on November 6 and start streaming on November 13. —J.R.
