TIFF 2014

TIFF 2014: Alleluia Review

Alleluia Vanguard Writer/director Fabrice Du Welz established himself a purveyor of deeply disturbing relationship studies that mutate into horror films in the 2000s with Calvaire and Vinyan. After a painfully long seven-year gap, he’s finally returned with a project that very much delivers a new twist on his old themes. Alleluia is based on the […]

TIFF 2014: Short Cuts Canada Program 2 Reviews

The deeper meaning of human interaction and personal relationships seems to be the unifying concept behind the shorts in this year’s second, Quebec filmmaker heavy Short Cuts Canada package. In the best of the shorts, Elizabeth Lazebnik’s Russian language meditation Liompa, an old man on his death bed realizes that not only will be not […]

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. […]

TIFF 2014 Interview: Colin Geddes

It’s a sweltering late July afternoon, but I’m still sitting down over a cup of warm tea at Canteen in the lobby of the TIFF Bell Lightbox and talking to Colin Geddes the day after most of his choices for the heavily watched and buzzed about Midnight Madness and Vanguard sections had been announced. (Really […]

TIFF 2014: Coming Home Review

Coming Home Special Presentations Coming Home chronicles a difficult political time where one unfortunate accident changes the courses of events for one unsuspecting family. The cultural revolution was stressful time for countless in mainland China, but when long imprisoned Lu Yanshi (Chen Daoming), a teacher who clashes with the establishment, comes home after years away […]

TIFF 2014: [REC] 4: Apocalypse Review

[REC] 4: Apocalypse Midnight Madness Picking up where [REC] 2 left off, no one is safe as the authorities struggle to contain a viral zombie outbreak of now demonic proportions. It won’t set the world on fire in terms of originality or craft, but if this is the final entry in the franchise, it could […]

TIFF 2014: Infinitely Polar Bear Review

Infinitely Polar Bear Gala Although somewhat awkwardly mounted by first time director Maya Forbes, her retelling of her own childhood with a bipolar father in late 70s Boston holds a wealth of empathy and emotion that more than makes up for any technical shortcomings. Not long after suffering a severe manic episode, Cameron (one of […]

TIFF 2014: Wet Bum Review

Wet Bum Discovery Another great debut Canadian feature in a year full of great debuts, this almost painfully realistic coming of age tale deals with body issues, awkward burgeoning sexuality, and how the young and old interact with splendid results. Making the leap to features from shorts, filmmaker Lindsay MacKay gorgeously photographs this low key […]

TIFF 2014: Clouds of Sils Maria Review

Clouds of Sils Maria Special Presentations Clouds of Sils Maria is a thought-provoking meta-fiction that challenges its audience to examine themes of power, aging, and attraction through the eyes of characters that escape the bounds of the presented narrative. The film’s straightforward plot gives off the illusion of simplicity. Juliette Binoche plays Maria Enders, a 40-something […]

TIFF 2014: Red Army Review

Red Army TIFF Docs Gabe Polsky makes his solo feature debut with this informative, tightly constructed, good looking, and fast paced look at the famed Russian Red Army hockey club during their heyday in the 70s and 80s. Primarily using interviews only from a scant few select hockey journalists, former NHL coach Scotty Bowman, and […]