Drama
EO
By: Liam Parker Jerzy Skolimowski’s EO, a 90% dialogue-free, Polish film whose protagonist is a donkey, is one of the most interesting films of 2022. The movie, named after its donkey, centres itself on the melancholic ex-circus animal as he travels the continent of Europe; witnessing the worst and best sides of human nature and chronicling a microcosm of modern European life along the way.
The Fabelmans
By: Jolie Featherstone Winner of the 2022 TIFF People’s Choice Award and one of the most anticipated films of the year, The Fabelmans gives us a peek-behind-the-curtain…er, camera of one of the most beloved director’s of all time: Mr. Steven Spielberg.
Holy Spider
By: Liam Parker Gripping, uncomfortable, and raw, Holy Spider is a captivating film that explores the moral pitfalls and conspiracies of the seedy underground of Iran.
The Swearing Jar
By: Liam Parker Reminiscent of Jason Robert Brown’s hit musical The Last Five Years, The Swearing Jar takes the traditional tropes of a rocky relationship and turns them completely on its head. The Swearing Jar is a masterclass in storytelling. What begins as a beautifully sombre tale of love and heartache accented by musical interludes of haunting beauty, descends into a striking and refreshingly human tale of sorrow, loss, and grief.
The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry
As much as I liked The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry, I find it incredibly difficult to endorse because its strengths lie deep beneath its surface. Frequent filmmaking collaborators Hans Canosa and Gabrielle Zevin (Conversations with Other Women, Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac) have made an adaptation of Zevin’s novel of the same name that’s neither plot or character driven. Instead, just like a layered and schmaltzy book, The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry has…
TIFF 2022: ‘So Much Tenderness’
Environmental lawyer Aurora (Noëlle Schönwald) has sought out refuge in Canada after her husband is mysteriously killed. She flees across the border from Columbia and then, after some additional information is explained about Aurora’s backstory, the film fast-forwards to the refugee’s contemporary lifestyle in Toronto. Despite finding new roots and separating herself from the past, recent sightings of her late husband around the city have Aurora second-guessing her identity.