TIFF ’14

TIFF 2014: Winter Sleep Review

Winter Sleep Masters Acclaimed director Nuri Bilge Ceylan’s Palm D’Or winning film is a quiet chamber drama that ironically takes the viewer on an emotional rollercoaster. Set in the rocky landscape of Turkey’s Cappadocia region, Winter Sleep examines the seemingly simple life of Aydin (Haluk Bilginer), a retired actor who runs a mountaintop hotel with estranged wife […]

TIFF 2014: Roger Waters The Wall Review

Roger Waters The Wall Special Presentations A decidedly personal venture for the former Pink Floyd mastermind, this concert film takes Roger Waters’ most iconic composition for the band – a sprawling double album about literally walling oneself off from the outside world – and expands upon those themes to look at its wartime roots. The […]

TIFF 2014: The Look of Silence Review

The Look of Silence TIFF Docs A stunning and even more wrenching companion piece to his incendiary The Act of Killing, Joshua Oppenheimer’s The Look of Silence returns to the repressed feelings towards Indonesia’s bloody past and tackles them head on for one of the best films of the year. Instead of a macrocosm of […]

TIFF 2014: Before We Go Review

Before We Go Special Presentations It’s not that actor Chris Evans has made a particularly bad film with his debut effort as a director, but he’s certainly made something that aims low and still feels fairly uninspired. There’s plenty of “witty” banter, little substance that makes sense, and a pair of leads (including Evans) that […]

TIFF 2014: Adult Beginners Review

Adult Beginners Discovery On the eve of his career going to the next level, Jake (Nick Kroll) makes a single massive misstep and his life is in the dirt and he is ruined.  With nowhere left to turn, he heads home to stay with his sister Justine (Rose Byrne) and her husband Danny (Bobby Cannavale).  […]

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: Ned Rifle Review

Ned Rifle Special Presentations Ned Rifle is on a mission to kill his father in the third and final film of Hal Hartley’s Henry Fool trilogy. We’re not provided with much backstory, but suffice it to say that Ned’s parents aren’t very good people. His mother Fay (Parker Posey) is in prison for terrorism, and […]

TIFF 2014: The Voices Review

The Voices Vanguard In every horror movie, established or not, there has to be some assumption as to why a slasher is on their spree. Traumatic childhoods, supernatural influences, mental instability. Sometimes, there are films that try to turn the mirror on this, creating empathetic murders who seem like a machine unable to stop, like […]

TIFF 2014: A Little Chaos Review

A Little Chaos Gala/Closing Night Film Actor Alan Rickman’s stately period drama about the construction of the fountains and gardens at the Palace of Versailles couldn’t be more boring if it was actually about the intricacies of gardening. Instead, it’s an inert drama that doesn’t improve on the sight of the same actors digging for […]

TIFF 2014: Time Out of Mind Review

Time Out of Mind Special Presentations I’ll admit a bit of a bias here since I once went through a period where I was homeless, so on some level I think the experience of what it’s like living on city streets in the latest film from Oren Moverman (The Messenger, Rampart) is a bit too […]

TIFF 2014: Tokyo Tribe Review

Tokyo Tribe Midnight Madness There are some cinematic auteurs out there that push boundaries in ways that you can’t even imagine.  Tokyo Tribe is, that it almost works but it over stays its welcome and and just goes on too long with its self-centred lunacy. It’s Tokyo in an alternate future, a city that is […]

TIFF 2014: They Have Escaped Review

They Have Escaped Vanguard Teenage outcasts decide to flee their disappointing lives in this new offering from Finnish director J.P. Valkeapää (The Visitor). Joni, played by Teppo Manner, is a quiet young man who starts a job at a children’s home after going AWOL from his military service. He’s a social outcast, due primarily to […]

TIFF 2014: Pasolini Review

Pasolini Special Presentations Pier Paolo Pasolini was one of finest and most outrageous directors during the golden age of Italian cinema. Then his life ended in a sordid murder that wouldn’t have been out of place in one of his own movies. He’s been a figure of fascination amongst film geeks for that very reason […]

TIFF 2014: A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence Review

A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence Masters So your first question, about the title, is answered immediately. It opens on a pigeon, sitting on a branch, and though it is stuffed and mounted in a natural history museum, it’s not a stretch to imagine it reflects on its existence. The people that […]