Le Demantelement Contemporary World Cinema Director: Sebastien Pilote A subdued Quebacois drama divided into two parts, the second film from Pilote (The Salesman) follows a 53 year old, long since divorced farmer (an excellent Gabriel Arcand) coming to terms with having to leave his family’s profession behind to help his eldest daughter (Lucie Laurier) get […]
Metallica: Through The Never SPECIAL EVENT Director: Nimrod Antal Trip (Dane DeHaan) is a young roadie living the dream: working on the road with Metallica. During a show he gets summoned to head out on an urgent mission for the band. What at first seems like a simple errand ends up being a trippy and […]
The Art of the Steal Gala Director: Jonathan Sobol A huge disappointment given the talent involved, this wannabe tough guy caper comedy is every bit as polite and unpleasant as a Canadian Guy Ritchie rip off would sound on paper. Former getaway driver Crunch Calhoun (Kurt Russell) has just been released from prison after his […]
The Past Special Presentation Director: Asghar Farhadi While not up to the same dramatic highs as his previous award winning effort A Separation, Asghar Farhadi returns with an even more melodramatic look at a crumbling family going through a scarring, drawn out divorce. Ahmed (Ali Mosaffa) returns to Paris from Tehran to finalize his divorce […]
A Story of Children and Film TIFF Docs Director: Mark Cousins Following up his epically lengthy Story of Film, film writer and scholar Mark Cousins takes a look at cinematic tropes, theories, and histories in a much smaller space. Using his niece and nephew as a microcosm, Cousins uses their childish playfulness to talk about […]
Gloria Special Presentation Director:Sebastian Lelio Gloria, a character driven story about a middle aged divorced woman (Paulina Garcia) looking for her second chance at love, offers TIFF enthusiasts a lighter option that’s easier to digest amongst the more serious titles. The fifty-something dynamic lead can usually be found at her favourite disco for older singles. […]
Young & Beautiful Special Presentation Director: François Ozon François Ozon explores the initial sexual experiences of a seventeen year old French girl over four seasons. At the end of summer, Isabelle, beautifully played by newcomer Marine Vacth, loses her virginity in a less than stellar first roll in the sand. As the season changes into […]
A Touch of Sin Masters Director: Jia Zhangke A Touch of Sin brings to light the plight of the common working class in modern day China. Winning Best Screenplay at Cannes this year, writer and director Jia Zhangke (Still Life) intertwines four disturbing and violent stories, from four provinces into a startling snapshot of four […]
Tracks Special Presentation Director: John Curran Headstrong and antisocial Robyn Davidson (Mia Wasikowska) feels a need to escape from everything civilized and trek across the harsh, Australian Outback in 1977. With four camels (Dookie, Bub, Zeleika and baby Goliath) and her dog Diggity, the 27 year old leaves Alice Springs, commencing a 2700 kilometre walkabout […]
Tim’s Vermeer TIFF Docs Director: Teller Dutch master Johannes Vermeer’s paintings have confounded art historians for generations. The level of detail he achieved seems unfathomable with a few controversial theorists suggesting that he used a camera obscura to paint virtual photographs. That’s the kind of clever conspiracy ripe for debunking that tends to appeal to […]
For No Good Reason Mavericks Director: Charlie Paul Best known for his hallucinatory drawings that somehow managed to visualize the unique madness inside the mind of Hunter S. Thompson, Ralph Steadman has for years remained somewhat of a mystery. His artwork is iconic, yet the man behind the inkblots tends to stay out of limelight […]
Jodorowsky’s Dune TIFF Docs Director: Frank Pavich Alejandro Jodorowsky’s Dune is one of those legendary unmade projects. An epic sci-fi adventure developed before Star Wars and directed by one of cinema’s greatest eccentrics that would have promised such bizarre sights as Salvador Dali playing the emperor of the universe and bio-gothic designs from HR Giger […]
Closed Curtain Masters Director: Jafar Panahi If This Is Not a Film lived up to its title by logically examining how the language of filmmaking changes when one, by law, cannot make films anymore, Closed Curtain responds to the director’s harsh sentencing to house arrest emotionally. The camera’s first shot looks out over a series […]
Manakamana Wavelengths Directors: Stephanie Spray and Pacho Velez The latest from the Sensory Ethnography Laboratory at Harvard is less sensory and less ethnographic than its recent Leviathan. Rather, this collection of static long takes that ride cable to and from the Nepalese, mountaintop Hindu temple that gives the film its name plays out as a […]
A Field in England Wavelengths Director: Ben Wheatley The field in question of Ben Wheatley’s new film is quintessentially English: all chilled vegetation and smoky mist. In other words, it’s plenty bleak and disquieting without the aid of digital monochrome and arrhythmic editing. But it certainly helps, and A Field in England plays its spare […]
