Horror and science fiction genres have long been used as metaphors for problems and issues of the real. Our fear of the dark, our concerns over long wars, issues of poverty and strife, and our possible demise can be explored in many ways more readily through genre film. With that in mind, science fiction films […]
Peep World is about a family full of hatred for one another getting together to celebrate the patriarch’s 70th birthday. Unfortunately, depicting 24 hours with 14 characters rehashing one family’s entire history is far beyond the scope of this 90 minute film. So many things are breezed over and simplified that the viewer is left […]
Brad Anderson is interested in the end of things. In The Machinist, he examined the end of one man’s ability to deal with reality and its resulting madness. In Transsiberian, he examined one woman’s reaction to the possible end of her marriage and by extension her emotional existence. In Vanishing on 7th Street he looks […]
Probably more than any other program at TIFF, the Midnight Madness section is set apart by films that are heavy on style. As many of them are genre films, the style weighs heavily in conveying the themes and subject matter to the audience. Unfortunately, often films that rely upon or engage too much of their […]
Easy Money (Snabba Cash) is easy viewing for anyone who likes a good crime story that examines the relationship between gangs, drugs and big business. Set in Stockholm where organized crime is still relatively young, the film follows three very different protagonists who all become vested in one big drug shipment. Jorge is a recently […]
Through its static nature, photography indulges in a nanosecond of time. An object or a person is timeless in the single moment of the camera’s shutter click. Is it possible to fall in love with a perfect yet still person, especially when they are dead? Not only dead in the continuing present, but in the […]
I really don’t like remakes. Like many film fans, I believe that they should be avoided at all costs, particularly when they are Hollywood remakes of excellent foreign films. However, Hollywood being what it is, remakes are inevitable. So when I heard that there were plans to remake the excellent Swedish film Let The Right […]
The films of Alejandro González Iñárritu (Amores Perros, Babel) have never quite sat right with me. Although he has the ability to weave together multiple storylines and characters in seamless and intimate ways, his need to create the absolute worst possible scenario at almost every turn leaves me incredibly frustrated. Perhaps this has been because […]
There have been a number of films made in recent years that are use the concept of average people becoming costumed vigilantes. From last year’s ambitious Watchmen adaptation, to the Canadian indie flick Defendor, and more recently the big screen version of Mark Millar’s ultraviolent Kick-Ass, normal people putting on tights and bashing criminals in […]
Windfall is filmmaker Laura Israel’s look at how a small Upstate New York town is nearly torn apart over a proposed wind farm development. The film is not an exposé on the wind power industry, but rather an examination of the effects wind farms can have on small, desperate communities The community of Meredith, NY […]
The causes of the current global economic crisis are incredibly confusing to anyone without advanced degrees in economics or intimate knowledge of business and finance (and even to those with expertise.) It is little surprise, then, that the crisis continues to persist as so few have the expertise to question those responsible for it — […]
In the immediate Post-Franco era, Spanish film set out to explore and perhaps heal the trauma of the near-half century of fascist rule. In the 1990s, though, a new crop of filmmakers began to move away from social realism and explore the contemporary Spanish character, in particular through the fantastic genres (horror, sci-fi and fantasy.) […]
Since the 30 films already picked by Will and Shelagh only represent about 10% of what’s shaping up to be another great program at the 2010 Toronto International Film Festival, it wasn’t hard for me to find 10 more that I think are worth checking out. The lineups have been crazy and of course advance […]
A lot of the films Will picked, I picked as well, so here’s a selection of the others that I am quite excited about. These lists should provide a good starting point, but be sure to read the full TIFF 2010 schedule. Strange Case of Angelica Manoel de Oliveira, Portugal/Spain/France/Brazil A photographer falls in the […]
With the 2010 Toronto International Film Festival just under a week away, I figured that now would be as good time as any to write up a list of films that I think are worth checking out this year. The 2010 edition of the fest has some truly wonderful offerings from around the world. You […]
