Toronto International Film Festival 2013

TIFF 2013: Blue is the Warmest Color Review

Blue is the Warmest Color Special Presentation Director: Abdellatif Kechiche This year’s Palme d’Or winning film at Cannes (which was awarded the prize thanks to a Steven Spielberg headed jury), unfolds as a love story between two French girls: high schooler Adèle (Adèle Exarchopoulos) in and fine arts student Emma (Léa Seydoux). As their relationship […]

TIFF 2013: The Animal Project Review

The Animal Project Contemporary World Cinema Director: Ingrid Veninger It’s unfortunate that Ingrid Veninger’s new film, The Animal Project, is ultimately unsuccessful as a larger piece, because the scattered moments of human observation that make up the film are almost always careful and poignant. Sadly, the situation created to spark all these moments feels out […]

TIFF 2013: Stay Review

Stay Contemporary World Cinema Director: Wiebke von Carolsfeld Stay, based on the novel by Aislinn Hunter, tells the story of a historian, Dermot (Aidan Quinn), living in a small coastal village in Ireland with his much younger lover, Abbey (Taylor Schilling). Early in the film, the two learn that Abbey is pregnant, causing a rift […]

TIFF 2013: The Lunchbox Review

The Lunchbox Gala Director: Ritesh Batra There’s nothing wrong with a charming little drama, especially when it stars the brilliant Irrfan Khan in the lead role. The Lunchbox is about Saajan (Khan), a widower on the verge of retirement who begins receiving a lunchbox delivery from the wrong place. The woman sending the lunches everyday, […]

TIFF 2013: Philomena Review

Philomena Special Presentation Director: Stephen Frears Based on the true story of Philomena Lee, an elderly Irish woman who became pregnant as a teenager and had her child taken away from her by the Catholic Church and sold for adaption, Philomena, manages a curious balance of tones, both comedic and dramatic. Co-written by Steve Coogan […]

TIFF 2013: At Berkeley Review

At Berkeley TIFF Docs Director: Frederick Wiseman At over 80 years old and delivering a film over four hours in length, renowned observant documentarian Wiseman shows no signs of slowing down, delivering an immersive look at the inner workings of one of the world’s top universities. While the focus at times gets placed squarely on […]

TIFF 2013: The Dick Knost Show Review

The Dick Knost Show Contemporary World Cinema Director: Bruce Sweeney TIFF favourite Sweeney comes back with one of his better films in quite some time in this behind the scenes look at a sports radio talk show and its host going through simultaneous amounts of humorous turmoil. Tom Scholte stars as the titular blowhard who […]

TIFF 2013: Man of Tai Chi Review

Man of Tai Chi Special Presentation Director: Keanu Reeves Although heavily westernized, Reeves’ directorial debut will hold some thrills and excitement for those who aren’t too picky about their martial arts epics. Humble courier Tiger Chen has been on the road to become a master of Tai Chi, a martial art known more for defensive […]

TIFF 2013: Finding Vivian Maier Review

Finding Vivian Maier TIFF Docs Directors: John Maloof, Charlie Siskel Heralded as a masterful street photographer of the 20th Century after her death, Vivian Maier’s exquisite snapshots of human life brimmed with beauty, compassion, and sometimes the subtle ugliness of human nature. Her work would have never been discovered had it not been for Maloof’s […]

TIFF 2013: Afflicted Review

Afflicted Midnight Madness Directors: Clif Prowse, Derek Lee Afflicted can be easily dismissed as simply being a more supernatural-than-superhero take on the found footage origin story that Chronicle attempted last year, but it’s still a fun and innovative low budget bit of meta-horror. The directors more or less play themselves as Clif follows his buddy […]

TIFF 2013: Under the Starry Sky Review

Under the Starry Sky Contemporary World Cinema Director: Dyana Gaye The lives of several Senegalese ex-pats and travellers around the world are brought together in this compact, but very enriching drama in Gaye’s feature debut. It accomplishes more in 88 minutes that many more celebrated filmmakers have trouble accomplishing in more than two hours. Sophie […]

TIFF 2013: Blue Ruin Review

Blue Ruin Vanguard Director: Jeremy Saulnier Somewhere between a coal black American pastoral and the restrained brutality of a Nicolas Winding Refn film, Saulnier’s sophomore effort is a chilling, minimalist, and bloody revenge thriller and cat and mouse game taking place in bucolic rural and suburban settings. Dwayne (Macon Blair) has been driven mad after […]

TIFF 2013: Asphalt Watches Review

Asphalt Watches Vanguard Directors: Shayne Ehman, Seth Scriver An animated head trip full of laugh out loud offbeat and surrealist comedy, this one defies any sort of expectations or categorizations. It’s assuredly not to everyone’s taste, but those clued into the Adult Swim kind of mentality will get behind it immediately. Loosely based on a […]

TIFF 2013: Ilo Ilo Review

Ilo Ilo Discovery Director: Anthony Chen Terry, a young Filipino mother (Angeli Bayani), leaves her child behind to take a job as a live in maid for an upper middle class family in Singapore whose livelihood is on the rocks in this well written and directed debut feature from Chen. The kid Terry is tasked […]

TIFF 2013: The Devil’s Knot Review

The Devil’s Knot Special Presentation Director: Atom Egoyan Egoyan takes on the mishandling and traumatic feelings behind the infamous West Memphis Three trial in this fictionalized courtroom dramatization of the events that comes in the wake of four separate theatrically released documentaries on the issue and countless TV takes. While there’s absolutely nothing new to […]