Reviews
ReBroken
By: Jeff Ching ReBroken is an ambitious and unique exploration of grief that qualifies as a thriller, drama, horror and a mystery. It’s an unpredictable puzzle that the audience slowly pieces together. But despite that selling point, I can’t wholeheartedly recommend Rebroken. I will always applaud a filmmaker for taking risks over playing it safe. However, I didn’t enjoy this experience, which could’ve been fixed had the film built an essential emotional connection to the material.
Spinning Gold
The biopic sub-genre has received frequent criticisms as of late regarding its formulaic structure and frequent round edges when chronicling and adapting someone’s life to the big screen. But, I don’t think I’ve seen a biopic as full of itself as Spinning Gold.
You Can Live Forever
You Can Live Forever is the latest romance in queer cinema to tell a story about “forbidden love” in unlikely places, as two young women start falling for each other within their Jehovah Witness community. It’s a good movie that not only shows an accurate portrayal of yearning hearts, but also teaches viewers about the upbringing in this specific devout life – the film is emotional and educational.
Brother
Leading the Canadian Screen Awards with 14 nominations, Brother is an enthralling family drama that’s well realized by Lie With Me director Clement Virgo. Though comparisons to 2016’s Oscar winner Moonlight and 2019’s The Last Black Man in San Francisco are inevitable given the coming-of-age material and how a family’s dynamic is examined during a sprawling time frame, Brother still stands out as a true Canadian original.
The Quiet Girl
The Quiet Girl appears to tell a simple story about a young girl, Cáit (newcomer Catherine Clinch, who shows incredible range in her brilliant and award-winning acting debut). She’s relocated to live with foster parents for a Summer to relieve the tension in her household. The house she moves to temporarily is owned by a sweet, older couple (Carrie Crowley, Andrew Bennett), and Cáit is almost immediately met with nurturing support. Following an expected trope in…
Cram
By: Jeff Ching I don’t know if I’ve ever seen a horror movie more relatable than Abie Sidell’s Cram. I also really don’t know if there will be a better horror movie this year. Cram was made for nerds with severe procrastination issues. Don’t get me wrong, if you’re one of those freaks that study for your exams a month in advance, watch this movie and understand the pain of being a procrastinator – this is in…
Adult Adoption
By: Trevor Chartrand Quirky and surreal, Adult Adoption is the bizarrely unique directorial feature film debut from Karen Knox (star of Letters to Satan Claus). The movie explores its characters with a delicate balance of intrusive empathy, and Knox’s filmmaking is executed in such an uncomfortable way that viewers may feel like they’re trespassing on the intimate details of a person’s private life.
I Like Movies
I Like Movies, a coming-of-age dramedy set in the early-2000s, alternates between the double life of 17-year-old Burlington native Lawrence Kweller (Isiah Lehtinen): an outspoken high school senior and an obsessive film buff at his local video store, Sequels Video, who is simply trying to fit in. Lawrence is an opinionated know-it-all under both roofs, but he feels more in his element at Sequels and is elated when they finally hire him on as an…