By: Trevor Chartrand In this feature directorial debut of Thyrone Tommy, Learn to Swim focuses on the failing relationship between a stubborn jazz saxophone player Dezi (Thomas Antony Olajide) and an up-and-coming singer, Selma (Emma Ferreira). The film plays with time and takes place both before and after the relationship has failed. I hesitate to compare the film to 2009’s 500 Days of Summer, simply because Learn to Swim takes a much more sophisticated, and…
In Jockey, director/co-writer Clint Bentley offers audiences a reflective perspective from the eyes of horse jockey Jackson Silva (Clifton Collins Jr.). Silva is respected around the track but, otherwise, he’s a reclusive athlete who is becoming a little long in the tooth to be continuing with his sport. He encounters increasing issues with his body, both from past injuries and aging, but his physical weaknesses haven’t broke his determination. Even when he’s faced with the…
Parallel Mothers is seemingly about a jaw-dropping, life-changing mishap between two pregnant single strangers, Janis (Penélope Cruz) and Ana (Milena Smit), who give birth on the same day. The new mothers exchange information and part ways, only to be reunited months later after Janis uncovers the secret. Ana, feeling confident and independent yet abandoned, is offered hospitality by Janis, who is struggling to break the news to Ana and also dealing with her own strife…
Few documentaries have moved me like Who We Are: A Chronicle of Racism in America has. It’s an unflinching breakdown of American history and an empathetic reach to those who have suffered through it. Lawyer Jeffery Robinson (who last appeared in 2020’s brilliant doc The Fight) guides us every step of the way.
Filmmaker Sean Baker follows up his American masterpiece The Florida Project, a drama about a helpless community living on the fringe of fantasy, with Red Rocket, another winner that dabbles in the same wheelhouse but broadening its scope to a rural population. And much like how The Florida Project found humour in innocence, Red Rocket finds humour in ignorance.
By: Jolie Featherstone By beautifully capturing the stories of American communities that are rarely seen on screen, Sean Baker has the makings of a modern auteur.
Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn (a title that sounds like misheard lyrics to Bob Dylan’s “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door”) is specific enough to be a filmmaker’s vision. The problem is writer/director Radu Jude hasn’t found a cohesive or accessible way to deliver that vision to audiences.
The Humans is the type of movie that makes you want to jump through the screen. Not because the film has transported you and swallowed you up, but rather because you want a better seat and you want to tell everyone to speak up.
By: Trevor Chartrand From the Oscar-nominated directors of RBG, Julia is an endearing documentary that showcases the life and times of the cooking show pioneer, Julia Child. The film takes a biographical look at her charmingly humble rise to fame, from cook-book writer to television star. The documentary has a lot of personality and examines snippets of her off-camera personal life as well as her positive impact on the cooking industry as a whole. This is…
