BabiesSeth 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, w
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 comedy 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 series The Studio and garnered praise for his dramatic turn in Olivia Wilde’s The Invite, Lauren is also no slouch: her 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 return. Shun Oguri plays a gambling-addicted Tokyo Metropolitan police officer under investigation after the disappearance of a politician’s daughter, with Lily James as 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
Sian Heder, the writer and director behind the Oscar-winning Coda, is back with her follow-up feature film Being Heumann, which opens the festival. Apple TV 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, Madeley goes head to head with Mark Ruffalo, who plays the Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare, refusing to sign regulations that would lend a hand 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 film will be released in theaters on November 6th and streaming on November 13th. – J.R.
