Why Don’t You Play in Hell? Midnight Madness Director: Sion Sono Sono goes for broke with a film so gleefully deranged and delightfully nonsensical, but with far too much plot and character to keep things fun. At 127 minutes it could lose about 40 minutes of dead weight in the middle entirely at random and […]
All Cheerleaders Die Midnight Madness Directors: Lucky McKee, Chris Siverston It’s hard to explain in great detail exactly what’s wrong with McKee (May, The Woods) and Siverston (I Know Who Killed Me) remaking their own 2001 team-up because there’s a gem of a good idea buried within their work following a movie changing supernatural twist […]
Abuse of Weakness Masters Director: Catherine Breillat Despite an almost terrifyingly realistic leading performance from French cinematic icon Isabelle Huppert and the technically adroit direction of master filmmaker Breillat, Abuse of Weakness is almost dishearteningly repetitive and illogical. Which is all the more upsetting since the film dramatizes an actually heartbreaking moment in Breillat’s life. […]
La última película Wavelengths Directors: Mark Peranson, Raya Martin In what might be one of the best, highbrow cinematic “X-amount of people walk into a bar” jokes ever crafted, Cinema Scope founder and writer Mark Peranson and Filipino filmmaker Raya Martin enlist the acting services of Mexican actor and frequent Nicolas Pereda collaborator Gabino Rodriguez […]
Concrete Night Masters Director: Pirjo Honkasalo A fourteen year old boy living in lower middle class Helsinki faces down the rest of his life in Honkasalo’s stunning to look at, dreamlike parable. Simo (Johannes Brotherus) spends his days hanging out in the crappy urban haunts in and around the projects where he lives with his […]
Empire of Dirt Contemporary World Cinema Director: Peter Stebbings Set in motion when First Nations Mother, Lena (Cara Gee), learns her thirteen year old daughter (Shay Eyre) has overdosed, this very Canadian indie film unfolds to reveal an authentic, albeit typical, drama. Fleeing the prying eyes of social services, Lena returns to her estranged mother’s home in rural Ontario. For added discomfort, the reformed addict Lena is faced with addressing her past and facing the mother […]
The Unknown Known TIFF Docs Director: Errol Morris When documentary guru Errol Morris sat down with Robert McNamara to discuss the Vietnam War, the result was the candidly confessional and Oscar-winning The Fog of War. That film offered cathartic closure on the black mark of American history with one of the key players admitting guilt […]
Never rising about the trite and tawdry nature of a Harlequin novel, the “erotic” drama Adore feels more sleazy and silly than emotionally charged. It’s a stunning miscalculation and an uneasy, unpleasant film to watch at the best of times. It’s extremely soft core mommy porn for women who would breast feed a child until they were 12.
Attila Marcel Special Presentation Director: Sylvain Chomet It’s always exciting to watch a director try something outside of their comfort-zone, so it’s extremely disappointing to see Sylvain Chomet, the wonderful director behind the animated films, The Triplets of Belleville and The Illusionist, fail to translate his style to live-action. Attila Marcel, the story of a […]
Kill Your Darlings Gala Director: John Krokidas Kill Your Darlings is the latest in a recent line of films about the poetic and enigmatic beat generation. Films like like Howl and On the Road portrayed their subjects (Kerouac, Burroughs, Ginsberg et all) like gods, Krokidas’ film focuses on one of the generation’s lowest moments, making […]
We talk to visual artists and directors of the offbeat animated TIFF selection Asphalt Watches Shayne Ehman and Seth Scriver about burgers, road tripping, crazy people who think they are Santa, the things they do for money, animation, staying true to the feeling of the trip, believing in the good in people, foul mouthed families, and not wanting to necessarily be the spokesmen for burgers.
iNumber Number Contemporary World Cinema Director: Donovan Marsh A satisfying and suspenseful DIY action drama from the dark, dingy, and dangerous slums of Soweto, this crooked cops and honourable thieves heist flick is clearly a labour of love for all involved, which normally spells doom, but it’s so well acted and written that the spirit […]
Although perhaps a little bit more commercially minded than his cheaply produced, almost verite, largely improvised mumblecore dramas, Joe Swanberg’s Drinking Buddies takes the same unforced and loose approach as the writer/director/editor/actor’s other creative endeavours and crafts a gentle, sweetly realized look at love and friendship.
The Husband Special Presentation Director: Bruce McDonald Canadian filmmaking icon McDonald continues the dark streak he’s been on lately, but this time taking a long hard look at analyzing what makes a real life monster and the affect personal demons can have on loved ones. It’s as poignant and emotional as it is funny and […]
We talk to Danis Goulet, director of the Cree inspired science-fiction short Wakening, filmed at the Winter Garden Theatre and screening prior of the TIFF opening night gala of The Fifth Estate on Thursday night to help honour the theatre's 100th anniversary. We talk about transforming the Winter Garden and the surrounding area into a post-apocalyptic wasteland, her film’s role in the resurgence of aboriginal cinema, and getting the cops accidentally called on the production for being too realistic.
