Tag: top-stories
The House with a Clock in Its Walls | Review
Clockwatchers: Roth Goes YA Route with Surprisingly Sweet Results
It goes without saying, horror director Eli Roth, once part of the perversely coined Splat Pack...
Off Set 2018 TIFF Portrait Series: Float Like a Butterfly
Receiving some major acknowledgment in the form of the FIPRESCI Prize at TIFF (a Discovery Programme prize), Carmel Winters’ sophomore project comes eight years...
Off Set 2018 TIFF Portrait Series: Vita & Virginia
My favorite sub-genre in cinema happens to be films about filmmaking and second place, before the biopic, are films about the lives of authors,...
Colette | Review
Elle Époch: Westmoreland Recuperates a Literary Giant in Appealingly Frank Biopic
After winning the Sundance Grand Jury Prize for the 2005 breakout film Quinceañera, co-directors...
Lizzie | Review
Walk Away Genet: Macneill Revisits the Lurid Case of Lizzie Borden in Fascinating, Empowering Psychological Portrait
For true crime aficionados, there is perhaps no figure...
Hal | Review
My Friend Hal: Scott Redefines the Showbiz Doc With Show-Stopping Debut Feature
Hal Ashby was one of the finest cinematic craftsmen who ever lived, with...
Five Fingers for Marseilles | Review
Finger Food: Matthews Attempts to Mount a Western in Modern Colonialist Trauma
Kudos to director Michael Matthews and screenwriter Sean Drummond for taking the time...
Off Set 2018 TIFF Portrait Series: The Chambermaid
This year's TIFF presented two portraits about Mexico's working class. We have Alfonso Cuaron's take and then we have theatre director turned filmmaker Lila...
Off Set 2018 TIFF Portrait Series: Before the Frost
Making it two for two, with the premiere of Before the Frost following 2017's Papillon as TIFF premieres, Michael Noer landed in Toronto with players...
Off Set 2018 TIFF Portrait Series: Phoenix (Føniks)
Up until the inception of the naughts, Camilla Strøm Henriksen was a face we'd find on television and she would parlay this experience in front of...
Off Set 2018 TIFF Portrait Series: Hidden Man
We first discovered Jiang Wen in Zhang Yimou’s Red Sorghum (1988), and so it was with a certain delight when TIFF announced that Yimou’s...
Off Set 2018 TIFF Portrait Series: Girl
The first in our Off Set 2018 TIFF Portrait Series is Belgium's Foreign Language Oscar nom in Lukas Dhont's Girl. The Un Certain Regard...
The Conversation: Vox Lux Leads Best of TIFF 2018
As the Toronto International Film Festival continues to downsize its programming and say adieu to CEO and Director Piers Handling for its 2018 edition,...
Retrospekt | 2018 Toronto Intl. Film Festival Review
Domestic Disturbance: Rots Presents a Puzzle with Portrait of Troubled Woman
Female agency and fractured fellowship form the basis of Dutch director Esther Rots’ sophomore...
Maya | 2018 Toronto Intl. Film Festival Review
Maya Love is Your Love: Hansen-Love Stumbles with Sluggish Romantic Drama
Following on the heels of her most widely acclaimed feature to date, 2016’s Things...
Saf | 2018 Toronto Intl. Film Festival Review
This Land is Our Land: Vatansever Presents Caustic Portrait of Urban Gentrification
Politically and economically motivated displacement is at the heart of Turkish director Ali...
Angel (Un Ange) | 2018 Toronto Intl. Film Festival Review
Wheels of Desire: Mortier Breaks Silence with Funereal Portrait of Dead Celebrity
It was a major punchline in Mike Nichols’ version of The Birdcage (1996)...
Where Hands Touch | 2018 Toronto Intl. Film Festival Review
I See a Dark Stranger: Asante Examines Obscured Holocaust Perspective in Anglo Period Piece
British director Amma Asante rounds out a thematic trilogy of sorts...
Angelo | 2018 Toronto Intl. Film Festival Review
The Moor the Merrier: Schleinzer Returns with Incendiary Portrait of Indentured Servitude
Austrian director Markus Schleinzer returns with his long-awaited sophomore film Angelo, a follow-up...
Sew the Winter to My Skin | 2018 Toronto Intl. Film Festival Review
Or Else It Gets the Hose Again: Qubeka Recuperates a Rebel from Apartheid South Africa
South Africa’s film industry remains somewhat on the fringe of...
One Last Deal | 2018 Toronto Intl. Film Festival Review
Art to Art: Haro Conjures Another Character Study in Crowd-pleasing Drama
Much like his contemporary Dome Karukoski, Finnish director Klaus Härö is one of his...
The Vice of Hope | 2018 Toronto Intl. Film Festival Review
Hope to It: De Angelis Tackles Child Trafficking in Latest Neapolitan Drama
Life may be bleak, but it’s also textured with fascinating possibilities in the...
The River | 2018 Toronto Intl. Film Festival Review
Bury the Sins & Wash Them Clean: Baigazin Presents the Dysfunction of Isolation in Simmering Drama
Over the last decade, several prominent voices out of...
Three Adventures of Brooke | 2018 Venice Film Festival Review
Of Time and the City: Yuan Qing Delights with Tender, Dainty Rohmerian Debut
An airy, relaxed tale of meandering bliss and the pursuit of meaning...
The Conversation: High Life Leads Top Ten Most Anticipated 2018 TIFF Titles
Sifting through the pu-pu platter of cinematic offerings in the Toronto International Film Festival’s program is no small feat, even after the venue has...
Let the Corpses Tan! | Review
All that Glitters: Cattet & Forzani Cut Stylish Swath Through Arid Neo-Western
For their third film, Let the Corpses Tan!, another heavily styled recalibration of...
Tumbbad | 2018 Venice Film Festival Review
Greedy Monster: Rahi Anil Barve’s Uneven Attempt at Horror-Fantasy Indian Epic
A debut feature for both Rahi Anil Barve and his co-director Adesh Prasad,...
2018 Venice Film Festival – Tommaso’s Top 5 Most Anticipated: Guadagnino, Loznitsa, Mieli, Nugroho & Corbet
It’s a particularly rich programme in Venice for the 2018 edition of the Mostra internazionale d’arte cinematografica. Director Alberto Barbera certainly got the attention...
Interview: Aneesh Chaganty, Sev Ohanian & Natalie Qasabian – Searching
Search—an absorbing thriller set entirely on computer screens—took home three awards at Sundance ‘18. I sat down for an interview with three of the...
Searching | Review
The Search is Over: Chaganty Transcends ‘found-footage’ and then some with Debut
Aneesh Chaganty’s absorbing feature debut Searching follows a desperate father’s hunt for his missing daughter—set...
Crime + Punishment | Review
Do The Crime Or Take Your Punishment: Maing Exposes Inherent Abusive Police Culture
The ever-present reality of police overreach in the United States has hit...
Support the Girls | 2018 SXSW Film Festival Review
Give a Hoot: Regina Hall shines in Bujalski’s latest Slice of Life
Andrew Bujalski is one of those quintessential American independent filmmakers whose mature work...
John McEnroe: In the Realm of Perfection | Review
It’s Your Serve: Faraut Extends the Cut With McEnroe Metacinematic Retrospective
John McEnroe has been considered (and possibly always will be) one of the greatest...
2018 TIFF: Corbet’s “Vox Lux” & Neil Jordan’s “Greta” Added + Discovery Section Unveiled
His double Venice film festival award winning The Childhood of a Leader was mysteriously a no-show for the 2015 edition, but TIFF programmers decided Vox...
The Conversation: Producer Michel Merkt
Swiss producer Michel Merkt, who runs his own company KNM alongside his wife and often produces noted international projects with Said Ben Said of...
2018 NEXT Section Sundance Trading Card Series: #11. Jeremiah Zagar (We the Animals)
Eric Lavallee: Name me three of your favorite “2017 discoveries”.
Jeremiah Zagar: Foxtrot, Big Mouth, Pattie Cake$
Lavallee: It's rare to see book to micro-indie adaptations,...
2018 NEXT Section Sundance Trading Card Series: #12. Sheila Vand (We the Animals)
Eric Lavallee: Name me three of your favorite “2017 discoveries”.
Sheila Vand: Cardi B, Ta-Nehisi Coates, New Mexican deserts.
Lavallee: As a filmmaker, Jeremiah comes from...
Minding the Gap | Review
Skating on Thin Ice: Bing Liu’s Powerful, Autobiographical Domestic Abuse Doc
Bing Liu’s documentary Minding The Gap contains more entertainment—and more authenticity—than most narrative features...
Criterion Collection: The Ballad of Gregorio Cortez | Blu-ray Review
Criterion revisits the neglected 1982 indie classic from Robert M. Young, The Ballad of Gregorio Cortez, a revisionist, recuperative Western which formulated the tragic...
2018 TIFF: Saulnier, Lelio, Keshavarz, Sam Taylor-Johnson Plus Debuts From Minghella & Jonah Hill Stack SP & Galas
Wrapping up the selections for glitzy Galas and Special Presentations programmes (the break down is: 44 World Premieres, 9 International Premieres, 12 North American...
The Meg | Review
Tonight, She Chums: Turteltaub Unleashes Somnambulistic Creature Feature
Fans of Deep Blue Sea or one of the various Jaws sequels may have their pleasure sensors...
BlacKkKlansman | Review
Klan Destiny: Lee Returns with Strongest Joint in Years
Although not as finely wrought as his subversive (and underrated) 2015 Chi-raq, Spike Lee returns with...
Interview: Josephine Decker – Madeline’s Madeline
Artistic ambition, hierarchy within matriarchy, heightened psychosis and hormonal pushback act as a sort of microfibre in a dramedy about the individual being a product...
Video: Josephine Decker’s Madeline’s Madeline | 2018 Sundance Film Festival
Madeline's Madeline is the reason why I love the programming for the Sundance's NEXT section. Madeline's Madeline is the reason why I love micro-indie....
2018 NEXT Section Sundance Trading Card Series: #13. Josephine Decker (Madeline’s Madeline)
Eric Lavallee: Name me three of your favorite “2017 discoveries”.
Josephine Decker: We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson (book), Giant, 1956...
2018 NEXT Section Sundance Trading Card Series: #15. Helena Howard (Madeline’s Madeline)
Eric Lavallee: Name me three of your favorite “2017 discoveries”.
Helena Howard: Zen Chai - 94 Rivington Ave, New York, NY 10002, New York City, Street...
2018 NEXT Section Sundance Trading Card Series: #16. Harrison Atkins (Madeline’s Madeline)
Eric Lavallee: Name me three of your favorite “2017 discoveries”.
Harrison Atkins: Twin Peaks: The Return is at the top of my list. Also been...
2018 NEXT Section Sundance Trading Card Series: #14. Ashley Connor (Madeline’s Madeline)
Eric Lavallee: Name me three of your favorite “2017 discoveries”.
Ashley Connor: 1. Twin Peaks - "The Return" 2. "Wild Horses" by Prefab Sprout 3....
2018 NEXT Section Sundance Trading Card Series: #22. Crystal Moselle (Skate Kitchen)
Eric Lavallee: Name me three of your favorite “2017 discoveries”.
Crystal Moselle: #1. I have been a fan of Nicolas Jaar for many years, but...
2018 NEXT Section Sundance Trading Card Series: #21. Rachelle Vinberg (Skate Kitchen)
Eric Lavallee: Name me three of your favorite “2017 discoveries”.
Rachelle Vinberg: - The Alchemist: Shuffling through the books on my friends bookshelf last January,...
