Contemporary World Cinema

TIFF 2014: Kill Me Three Times Review

Kill Me Three Times Contemporary World Cinema Kill Me Three Times looks great, but it’s a tired, done to death kind small town noir gangster/revenge flick that only sparks to life thanks to some sharp comic moments. A dental surgeon (Sullivan Stapleton) with a sexy and cunning spouse (Teresa Palmer) run afoul of a corrupt […]

TIFF 2014: Charlie’s Country Review

Charlie’s Country Contemporary World Cinema Charlie’s Country is an authentic tale of the subtle pain of racism that still exists in our world today. Charlie (David Gulpilil) lives his life in a remote Aboriginal community in northern Australia. Government intervention in the culture’s traditional way of life has left many of the residents, including Charlie, […]

TIFF 2014: Tu Dors Nicole Review

Tu Dors Nicole Contemporary World Cinema Believe it or not, sometimes something as simple as the ennui of a hot lazy summer in the suburban rural landscape can be a touch too understated to genuinely work.  Tu Dors Nicole is a stylishly interesting, but unarratively dull affair that leaves too much unsaid with too characters […]

TIFF 2014: Men Who Save the World Review

Men Who Save the World  Contemporary World Cinema Vibrant and funny, Men Who Save the World could just be a story about a village trying to move a house, but its layers of dry wit, superstition and mistaken identity make for a great ride. Pak Awang (Wan Hanafi Su) wants to move an abandoned house […]

TIFF 2014: Teen Lust Review

Teen Lust Contemporary World Cinema Blaine Thurier’s teen sex comedy Teen Lust is the last thing Canadian film needs right now. The premise has potential, though. Neil (Jesse Carere) just turned 18, is about to finish high school, and is a virgin. That’s fine by his parents (Jon Dore and Emmanuelle Vaugier) who need an 18 year old […]

TIFF 2014: Cut Bank Review

Cut Bank Contemporary World Cinema Coming down somewhere between a late 90s Tarantino knock-off that has been pulled out of mothballs and a Coen Brothers homage that never should have been made in the first place, the bizarrely atonal and baffling small town crime thriller Cut Bank from first television director Matt Shakman fails at […]

TIFF 2014: Breathe Review

Breathe Contemporary World Cinema Seemingly all actors want to be able to direct, so it’s often a pleasant when they turn out to be pretty decent at it. Breathe is a slow burn of a movie that sneaks up on you with some pretty dark stuff. Charlie and Sarah (Joséphine Japy & Lou de Laâge) […]

TIFF 2014: Two Shots Fired Review

Two Shots Fired Contemporary World Cinema After a day of clubbing, swimming and garden work, Mariano (Rafael Federman) found a gun in his shed and shot himself twice. If this was a suicide, or an act of boredom, is unclear, as after surviving the incident he doesn’t seem anymore despairing than his generally blasé community. […]