- Biden commutes sentences for 37 of 40 federal death row inmates
- Clock ticks down on France government nomination
- Mozambique on edge as judges rule on disputed election
- Mobile cinema brings Tunisians big screen experience
- Honda and Nissan to launch merger talks
- Police arrest suspect who set woman on fire in New York subway
- China vows 'cooperation' over ship linked to severed Baltic Sea cables
- Australian tennis star Purcell provisionally suspended for doping
- Luxury Western goods line Russian stores, three years into sanctions
- Wallace and Gromit return with comic warning about AI dystopia
- Philippine military says will acquire US Typhon missile system
- Afghan bread, the humble centrepiece of every meal
- Honda and Nissan expected to begin merger talks
- 'Draconian' Vietnam internet law heightens free speech fears
- Israeli women mobilise against ultra-Orthodox military exemptions
- Asian markets track Wall St rally as US inflation eases rate worries
- Tens of thousands protest in Serbian capital over fatal train station accident
- Trump vows to 'stop transgender lunacy' as a top priority
- 'Who's next?': Misinformation and online threats after US CEO slaying
- Only 12 trucks delivered food, water in North Gaza Governorate since October: Oxfam
- Langers edge Tiger and son Charlie in PNC Championship playoff
- Explosive batsman Jacobs gets New Zealand call-up for Sri Lanka series
- Holders PSG edge through on penalties in French Cup
- Daniels throw five TDs as Commanders down Eagles
- Atalanta fight back to take top spot in Serie A, Roma hit five
- Mancini admits regrets over leaving Italy for Saudi Arabia
- Run machine Ayub shines as Pakistan sweep South Africa
- Slovak PM Fico on surprise visit to Kremlin
- 'Incredible' Liverpool must stay focused: Slot
- Maresca 'absolutely happy' as title-chasing Chelsea drop points in Everton draw
- Salah happy wherever career ends after inspiring Liverpool rout
- Three and easy as Dortmund move into Bundesliga top six
- Liverpool hit Spurs for six, Man Utd embarrassed by Bournemouth
- Netanyahu vows to act with 'force, determination' against Yemen's Huthis
- Ali hat-trick helps champions Ahly crush Belouizdad
- Salah stars as rampant Liverpool hit Spurs for six
- Syria's new leader says all weapons to come under 'state control'
- 'Sonic 3' zips to top of N.America box office
- Rome's Trevi Fountain reopens to limited crowds
- Mbappe strikes as Real Madrid down Sevilla
- Pope again condemns 'cruelty' of Israeli strikes on Gaza
- Lonely this Christmas: Vendee skippers in low-key celebrations on high seas
- Troubled Man Utd humiliated by Bournemouth
- 2 US pilots shot down over Red Sea in 'friendly fire' incident: military
- Man Utd embarrassed by Bournemouth, Chelsea held at Everton
- France awaits fourth government of the year
- Death toll in Brazil bus crash rises to 41
- Odermatt stays hot to break Swiss World Cup wins record
- Neville says Rashford's career at Man Utd nearing 'inevitable ending'
- Syria's new leader vows not to negatively interfere in Lebanon
Amy Adams gets real about motherhood in 'Nightbitch'
As far as movie taglines go, this one is epic: "Motherhood is a bitch." In director Marielle Heller's latest feature, it is both literal and figurative.
"Nightbitch," which premiered at the Toronto film festival late Saturday, stars Amy Adams as Mother, an artist who becomes a harried stay-at-home mom caring for a boisterous toddler while her husband travels often for business.
As she becomes increasingly isolated and overwhelmed, Mother starts hearing things in the night and sprouting unusual hair patches. Is she... turning into an actual dog?
Based on the 2021 novel by Rachel Yoder of the same name, "Nightbitch" explores different facets of motherhood -- the wonder and joy, but also the darkness and exhaustion -- using equal doses of comedy, drama and magical realism.
The film is sure to strike a chord with millions of women who have had to make tough choices about parenting, careers and marriage -- only to sometimes be left disappointed and resentful.
"We're not very comfortable talking about female rage," Heller said in a Q&A after the screening.
"It felt really good to kind of take this invisible experience that a lot of us have gone through and make it more visible."
Heller is a veteran of the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), the largest in North America, which provides a showcase for Oscar bait movies, feel-good crowd pleasers, independent fare and timely documentaries.
This movie belongs to the 50-year-old Adams, a six-time Oscar nominee who digs her teeth into the role -- pun intended -- and may well be in next year's awards conversation for her gritty, no-holds-barred performance.
She fearlessly delivers inner monologues about the frustrations and mind-numbing monotony of being a mother, seethes as other kids scream during library story hour and paws at the ground on one of her nocturnal outings.
For Adams, parenthood is "a shared experience and yet it isn't shared. So it's such a gift to get to be a part of sharing that with you all," she said at the Q&A.
Scoot McNairy, who plays Mother's husband, offered his biggest takeaway from the experience: "Don't mansplain motherhood."
- Paradise lost -
Also making its world premiere in Toronto on Saturday was Oscar-winning director Ron Howard's "Eden," a survival thriller set in the Galapagos islands after World War I.
The film, starring Jude Law and Sydney Sweeney, is based on a true story of a small group of Europeans who sought a new life, away from society's horrors and constraints.
Law plays Friedrich Ritter, who escapes to the island of Floreana with his partner Dora (Vanessa Kirby) to enjoy the solitude and write a manifesto.
But his letters, picked up by local boats, are published on the Continent, and others follow his lead to the island.
A young German couple (Sweeney and Daniel Bruehl) arrive, followed by self-described baroness Eloise (Ana de Armas), who has an entourage and dreams of building a high-end hotel.
Though the weather and the terrain prove challenging, the biggest hurdles to overcome stem from within the community itself.
"This is what these people lived through and I just found it fascinating, and I found it utterly human, and surprisingly relatable to human existence today, with all of its foibles, all its quirks," Howard said in a Q&A session after the premiere.
Sweeney said it was "every actor's dream" to work with the 70-year-old filmmaker, who won Oscars for best picture and director for 2001's "A Beautiful Mind."
Law said he relished the opportunity to work with an ensemble cast, noting: "They don't come along very often."
The festival runs through September 15.
R.Veloso--PC