This year’s meta-festival drama came in the form of the simultaneous WGA and SAG strikes and American labor union actions that are having a massive effect on almost every facet of the Canadian industry, even though we have our own guilds operating under different structures. Such is the weight of these writers and stars that … Read more
The Toronto International Film Festival 2023 had a very strong lineup. We are all mindful and supportive of the ongoing actor and writer strikes. Still, there was plenty to see and talk about. However, as you can see, I’m still in my Barbenheimer mode. Congratulations to Greta Gerwig for being the first woman director to bring … Read more
The family wants to bury Karim’s body as soon as possible, but they have to wait for the investigation to be done. This gives the movie a personal pain that works on a larger scale as the family navigates this unfathomable stress. Brother Driss (Sofiane Zermani) becomes more aggressive to the police, making him a target, while … Read more
Throughout, the movie is a great showcase for the promising visual talents of directors Stevie Salas and James Burns. Whether it’s in documentary passages, dreamy sequences with spare VFX, or instances of on-the-ground, cop-tussling journalism, “Boil Alert” shows that Salas and Burns have an exciting intuition as filmmakers. Sometimes, the touches can border on being too … Read more
Harmony Korine’s Aggro Dr1ft is a tough to watch experimental feature that plays more like an elaborate prank than a movie. PLOT: An assassin (Jordi Molla) is hired to kill a deadly adversary. REVIEW: There’s at least one thing about Harmony Korine’s Aggro Dr1ft that’s amazing: the fact that being shot in infrared isn’t the … Read more
American Fiction has edged out films by Hayao Miyazaki, Alexander Payne, Richard Linklater and more to win TIFF’s People’s Choice Award. American Fiction, Cord Jefferson’s drama starring Jeffrey Wright, Sterling K. Brown and Tracee Ellis Ross has officially moved ahead in the Best Picture race, winning the People’s Choice Award at this year’s Toronto International … Read more
Lea Seydoux is typically excellent as Gabrielle, partnered here with George MacKay as Louis. They play what TIFF describes as “star-crossed lovers,” seen at various points in history as a Gabrielle in the future undergoes a process that is designed to eliminate hampering emotions still lingering from past lives. So Gabrielle revisits past versions of … Read more
Memory, starring Jessica Chastain and Peter Sarsgaard is one of the most empathetic and moving love stories to come along in many years. PLOT: After attending a high school reunion, a woman (Jessica Chastain) is followed home by a man (Peter Sarsgaard) with whom she has a history. Initially upset and thinking he’s a stalker, … Read more
Three projects I watched at the festival this year asked audiences to think about subjects that they think they know well and look at them from a different angle. In the first two episodes of the new romantic series “Alice & Jack,” from writer Victor Levin and director Juho Kuosmanen, a complex relationship unfolds over … Read more
We review the Sundance 2023 selection Fair Play, starring Bridgerton’s Phoebe Dynevor and Solo actor Alden Ehrenreich. PLOT: Emily (Phoebe Dynevor) and Luke (Alden Ehrenreich) are a New York power couple in the making. They both work as analysts for one of the top investment firms on Wall Street, and both seem to be within … Read more