Sook-Yin Lee is currently mystifying Toronto movie goers with her long-awaited return to feature-length filmmaking. Octavio is Dead! gradually reels us in with a dream-like allure as we observe Tyler (Sarah Gadon) rediscover herself through the death of her absent father (Raoul Max Trujillo). From there, Lee strings her audience on a winding narrative that consistently maintains a personal intimacy throughout its run.
There seems to be a new trend where every Summer, audiences receive a musically-savvy indie. Two years ago, movie goers relished in Sing Street, followed by Patti Cake$ the year after. This season, move goers will be put under a spell by Hearts Beat Loud, an effortlessly charming and heartwarming dramedy from writer/director Brett Haley (The Hero).
Pardon me for sounding blasé, but I can’t help but clench when a Canadian film makes supernatural suggestions. Other than the odd exception (A Sunday Kind of Love), these are ideas that are usually squandered of their potential (Considering Love & Other Magic). Imagine my surprise in Octavio Is Dead!, the latest filmmaking effort from Shortbus actor Sook-Yin Lee, when the writer/director treaded familiar ground but drove her film in a darker direction; blending different…
Fleeting moments of marital bliss is the subject of Rebecca Addelman’s Paper Year, a film that explores the tumultuous first year of marriage between two millennials living precariously in Los Angeles. Although largely sympathetic to its central couple, Paper Year often feels like it would have more potential as a cautionary tale for young lovers trying to make it big in the entertainment industry. Though, perhaps it is the balance between sympathy and cautionary that…
A teenager’s public suicide sends shockwaves through their high school, as students and teachers alike reel and cope. On the fringe of the tragedy is Hashi, a shy creative writer who had a close friendship with the victim. Being generally shy and uncomfortable to begin with, Hashi – despite finding an emotional connection through poetry – doesn’t know how to exhale his pain. Unfortunately, he chooses ways to grieve that are detrimental to his life.
In January, I declared Monolith as one of the dumbest movies I’d have ever seen; despite it being an entertaining flick. I secretly felt that no other movie released in 2018 could top its foolishness. Little did I know Rob Cohen’s disaster movie The Hurricane Heist was waiting around the corner, ready to blow me away.
The Accountant of Auschwitz proposes a moral dilemma about whether to follow through convicting a 94-year-old man with crimes against humanity for contributing to the horrors of the Auschwitz death camp. The man in question, former SS guard Oskar Gröning, is physically frail, stoic, and would undoubtably live out his final years in prison, but are these current details relevant when discussing justice for 300,000 people who were murdered for their culture?
Alain Ducasse is a sensational chef with incredible senses, and Gilles de Maistre communicates that well in his labour of love The Quest of Alain Ducasse.
