TORONTO FESTIVAL Films' wide range makes playing favorites tough

Twelve movies have been classified as 'must-see' flicks.
By GLENN LOVELL
KNIGHT RIDDER NEWSPAPERS
It's never easy to predict which films will become breakout hits. The Toronto International Film Festival (through Saturday) is making it doubly hard to play favorites because it boasts such a range of choices this year.
Still, let's give it a shot.
Among those titles already stamped "must-see":
U"I [Heart] Huckabees." The latest from David O. Russell ("Three Kings") -- about cosmic coincidences and existential detectives -- sounds addled enough to be a winner. Dustin Hoffman, Jude Law, Mark Wahlberg, Naomi Watts and Lily Tomlin co-star.
U"Beyond the Sea." Kevin Spacey does Bobby Darin, voice and all. This biopic will either soar or go splish splash down the drain.
U"9 Songs." England's Margo Stilley and Kieran O'Brien are lovers who, over nine nights, attend nine rock concerts -- which set the tone for nine bedroom scenarios.
U"The Motorcycle Diaries." Gael Garcia Bernal as the young Ernesto "Che" Guevara on a life-altering road trip. Exhilarating and beautifully acted, particularly by Garcia Bernal and Rodrigo de la Serna as his partner in rebellion.
U"When Will I Be Loved." Neve Campbell is into power; Fred Weller prefers sex and money. Writer-director James Toback ("Fingers") pulls the strings.
U"Land of Plenty." Germany's Wim Wenders ("Wings of Desire") on America's post-Sept. 11, 2001, confusion. Sounds chancy, intriguing.
U"Eros." Wong Kar-wai, Steven Soderbergh and the ailing Italian master Michelangelo Antonioni collaborated on this triptych dedicated to love's uncertain path.
U"Sucker Free City." Spike Lee is in need of a comeback vehicle after "She Hate Me." Could this tale of a spoiled white kid who gets his comeuppance on the poor side of town be it?
U"A Hole in My Heart." Father and son collaborate on homemade smut in this rude assault on celebrity. "Not for the squeamish," tease the program notes in an attempt to hook the "Irreversible" crowd.
U"A Dirty Shame." Tracey Ullman plays an uptight Baltimore wife who's conked on the head and reawakens as an insatiable sex addict. The year's naughtiest, most subversive farce could only have come from one mind -- John Waters'.
U"Sideways." A new comedy by the wonderfully cockeyed Alexander Payne ("Election," "About Schmidt") is always a treat. This one co-stars Paul Giamatti and Thomas Haden Church as friends on a road trip through Napa's wine country.
U"Stray Dogs." Iran's Marziyeh Meshkini, who wowed festivalgoers in 2000 with "The Day I Became a Woman," returns with a wartime allegory about two kids and a scrawny mutt that forces them to rethink priorities.