The Impact Series Archives

Reviews

Morningside

March 7, 2025Addison Wylie0 Comments

Morningside kicks off with a brilliant Steadicam shot introducing an ensemble of characters. The camerawork and direction has flare without gloating, and the actors – nearly all fresh faces – have genuine chemistry with each other. This sets a high watermark for Ron Dias’ Scarborough-set drama about a community centre facing an inevitable closure; while its residents prepare for holiday festivities and vent about the city’s gentrification. Unfortunately, Dias’ Morningside peaks early and this terrific…

Reviews

Curl Power

January 26, 2025Addison Wylie0 Comments

By: Addison Wylie Last Summer, audiences were treated to the Canadian coming-of-age sports drama Backspot. Despite functioning at a glossy sitcom level, the indie was still a sufficient way to address serious topics for teens such as anxieties, competition, and family conflicts. Curl Power covers similar topics only, this time, their packaged as a documentary. Curl Power is a superior movie and an inspiration for teens (notably high schoolers) enduring the same issues expressed in Josephine Anderson doc, but…

Reviews

On the Adamant

March 14, 2024Shannon Page0 Comments

On the Adamant, the latest endeavor from French documentary filmmaker Nicholas Philibert (The Land of the Deaf, Each and Every Moment, Nénette), is an almost deceptively subtle film. Following staff and clients of a psychiatric day centre on a floating structure in the Siene River in central Paris, On the Adamant combines slow, languid shots of the river (and the city that surrounds it) with interviews and scenes of the centre’s daily activities where patients paint, play…

Reviews

Smoke Sauna Sisterhood

December 18, 2023Shannon Page0 Comments

The smoke sauna tradition of Vőromaa, in southern Estonia, is nearly a thousand years old. On UNESCO’s list of intangible cultural heritage of the world, smoke sauna practices include the building and maintenance of saunas, smoking meat, making bath whisks, and bathing and cleaning rituals.

Reviews