In relations to awards buzz, this year's TIFF has been noticeably silent. While some movies like Foxcatcher and Birdman have earned Oscar consideration at Cannes and New York Film Festival, respectively, TIFF hasn't had quite the impact it once had. Thanks to a change in the rule book from the upper heads. Looking back at last year, both 12 Years a Slave and Gravity would have gone on to premiere to great praise by this point in the race.

That said, however, there has been one movie, or, more specifically one performance, that has been the talk of the Canadian town, and that seems to be Jake Gyllenhaal, who dropped a good chunk of weight and went fully crazy for his newest performance in Nightcrawler.

For the most part, besides his natural charisma and his good looks, Gyllenhaal's performances have mostly gone unregarded. Save for his turn in Brokeback Mountain, which earned the actor his one and only Oscar nomination thus far. Although there was talk last year of him maybe gaining some awards love from his chilling turn in Prisoners, his performance, and most of the film's good graces, seemed to go away unnoticed as the awards premised.

But, it is looking as though his turn in Nightcrawler may be a different animal altogether. In addition to his drastic weight loss, blogs and publications like Indie Wire, The New York Times and The Hollywood Reporter, just to name a few, have largely predicated that Gyllenhaal may be on his way to another statue-running performance during awards season.

Had this movie been handled by a studio like, say, Fox Searchlight Pictures or Sony Pictures Classics, his nomination would almost seem to be a guarantee. But because it is in the hands of the rather unproven award-wise company Open Road Pictures, it is unclear if they can, or will, push for the actor's name to the said Oscar night. They never really had a big awards picture like this before. So even if they tried, they may still be at risk of getting blown away by the other bulls racing down the street.

But, of course, there is always the possibility that Gyllenhaal's performance will be so good that it will speak for itself. That word of mouth may just drag this movie through the troublesome ropes. It's hard to say so far, but at least its early enough that the movie could grow legs. Also, there is word that actress Reno Russo, married to director Dan Gilroy, may also be cooking up a nomination of her own for Best Supporting Actress. But it is mostly Gyllenhaal who seems to be praised so far.

Nightcrawler is set to hit theaters on October 31. Perhaps then will be truly be able to speak for how good or great he truly is here. Of course, having not seen the movie, it's hard to really say whether or not he is actually good. But it is hard not to see this teaser and get at least a little excited as to what will come from this actor working his magic.

Image courtesy of INFphoto.com