THE VOICES: Sundance Buzz!

"What, I'm excited. This is my excited face."

The Voices is a lot to take in on first glance. Ryan Reynolds? Talking animals? Wait, is that a head on that table? And what is up with those couch cushions?! So, it's totally understandable that you might be hesitant to add it to your Festival list. That's okay. There, there. We forgive you. This blog is going to help you get over your hesitation and running (literally to the box office or figuratively to the TIFF website) for a ticket before they go off-sale. You might wanna have your credit card ready before you start reading...

We still stand firmly on the belief that the less you know about this movie, the better so we've carefully selected reviews that don't give away too much. 

Joey Paur at Geeky Tyrant admits that "The Voices isn't for everyone, as it's extremely bloody and very disturbing, but in the best possible way, especially if you kind of have a demented mind."

Demented minds? Say no more, as we know all you readers have a little bit of dement...ness (Eh? Well, it's a word now.) lurking around in those delicious brains of yours. Paur also says:

I knew this movie was going to be a dark comedy going in, but I didn't know just how dark it would be. It goes into some very black places, but at the same time you can't help laughing because it's seriously funny as hell. There's definitely a lot of uncomfortable laughter. Reynolds plays such a great character in this movie. He has to show a lot of range and be funny, dramatic, and psycho, and he pulls it off seamlessly. This could very well be one of Reynolds' best performances to date.

Adam Chitwood at Collider declares that "The Voices is an insane movie about insanity" and "that [it] wears its crazy right on its sleeve."

We might even go as far to add that it's an insanely-insane movie about insanity. If such a thing didn't exist before, it does now. He goes on to compliment the style of the film:

The visual cues in the film are remarkably executed. When on his pills, Jerry sees the world as colorful and bright, almost as a picturesque 1950s society. He wears bright colored jackets, smiles a lot, and eats the same delicious cereal every day. This is the style in which the movie opens, but when Satrapi gives us a glimpse of the reality of what Jerry is seeing, these visual themes are all the more impressive. Moreover, Satrapi plays with a number of horror tropes throughout the film, bringing an air of familiarity to some of the more tense scenes but always playing them with a slight twist that makes them feel fresh and odd. 

And we're wildly in love with the three things Eric D. Snider at Film.com wrote that you need to know about The Voices:

One: Marjane Satrapi, the Iranian filmmaker whose autobiographical “Persepolis” made waves a few years ago, is a major directorial talent. Two: there is a demented screenwriter named Michael R. Perry who should probably be on some kind of watch list. Three: if Ryan Reynolds will keep making risky, offbeat aberrations like this, we’ll overlook the “Green Lantern”s and “R.I.P.D.”s and love him forever.

Enough with the reviews! Bring on the tweets! Below that you'll find the screening information. We recommend taking a date to this movie. You'll know if they run out screaming it wasn't meant to be.

The Voices is screening at the 2014 Toronto International Film Festival as part of the Vanguard Programme. Check out more Vanguard films on the official Festival website.

THE VOICES screening times:

Thursday, Sept 11th 9:00 PM RYERSON
Friday, Sept 12th 6:00 PM THE BLOOR HOT DOCS CINEMA