News of an upcoming feature from filmmaker Patrick Read Johnson (who had previously directed mid-90’s comedies Baby’s Day Out and Angus) lit up the Internet in the mid-2000s with a fantastic trailer set to music by ELO and Jon Brion. The trailer, centred around an awkward teenager in the 1970s anticipating a unique blockbuster called Star Wars, dropped when I was in high school and working at a video store. However, the film went silent…
Bas Devos’ feature film debut Violet is an unforgettable movie. There’s so much to admire about it: its cinematography, its patience, and Cesar De Sutter’s outstanding introverted performance. However, Devos’ daring ambition to visualize inner conflict through minimal dialogue may be the film’s strongest achievement.
I don’t know much about MyFrenchFilmFestival, but Rudi Rosenberg’s The New Kid has made me want to study up on the online global collective.
You pick up on a lot of hints when you watch enough movies. In a screening of The Blind Side, I grasped my armrest and held my breath when two characters were happily singing while driving. I know when that happens, an accident is right around the corner and, sure enough, there was.
There’s a scene in Chad Hartigan’s Morris from America where its title character Morris (Markees Christmas) asks his German tutor (Carla Juri) if she can teach him to be charming. That’s an ironic moment for the audience who fully understands just how damn charming the film is.
Standing Tall is unlikable, but I don’t think Emmanuelle Bercot made this film to be easily embraced. Unfortunately, it’s terribly unappealing.
Closet Monster is not only another case of a filmmaker who has taken the leap to long-form filmmaking after establishing themselves with short films, but it’s also a satisfying example of a storyteller succeeding under new guidelines.
At times, it feels like the filmmakers behind Coconut Hero had a genre grocery list handy and were checking off various requirements for their film. A lovable misfit from a small town? Check. Well-meaning parents who are frustrated with their incomprehensible social-outcast offspring? Check.
Religious views may vary, but everyone could agree on how boring The Young Messiah is. The film walks and talks, talks and walks, and occasionally stops for characters to exchange exposition or inspiration. The Young Messiah made me restless in ways few movies have.
Allow me to preface this by disclosing my biases: I have a strong love for Canadian cinema and coming-of-age stories, and I truly believe that Canada perfected the coming-of-age story. That being said, Philippe Lesage’s Les Démons is a fitting addition to this obscure canon.