By: Trevor Jeffery In 1978, John (Elliot James Langridge) is a lonely English youth with a penchant for vandalism. He goes from creepily shy to dance machine after meeting cool guy Matt (Josh Whitehouse) and being introduced to the sounds of American soul music. And speed. Lots and lots of speed. The two bond quickly over records and dancing. John ditches his good boy life, rudely telling his parents and teacher to go elsewhere, and…
By: Trevor Jeffery College senior Thomas (TIFF rising star Aliocha Schneider) witnesses a young mother’s suicide after she hands him her baby and dives in front of a truck. Guy Édoin’s Ville-Marie takes two paths from this first scene tragedy: one, following Thomas as he reunites with his estranged actress mother shooting on location in Montreal, Sophie (Monica Bellucci), and the second following the hospital staff – a paramedic who shows up to the scene,…
Trapped in a hair salon while chaos ensues outside, the characters of Arab and Tarzan Nasser’s tensely-written Dégradé are confronted by the worsening socio-economic conditions of Palestine: frequent brownouts, lack of security, armed conflict, and ideological extremism. The Nasser twins use their diverse range of female characters – all differing in terms of devoutness, personality, and in some cases cultural background – to weave together a flowing, stimulating dialogue on the political and social climate…
By: Mark Barber Love is about reconciling romance with sex; something its director, French provocateur Gaspar Noé, and the film’s main protagonist, Murphy (Karl Glusman), agree on. Whether or not Noé is successful in marrying romance and sex (and whether they are even really that diametrically opposed outside of some conceptions of pornography) doesn’t matter. Love faults in so many other ways, it’s easy to ignore its ambition. Love tells the story of the turbulent…
By: Addison Wylie TIFF’s short film programmes have always featured creative work made by gifted people. This year, Peterborough born filmmaker Zack Russell is one of those people. She Stoops to Conquer marks Russell’s filmmaking debut, but he couldn’t be farther from being a beginner. His sweeping theatre experience has allowed Russell to gradually learn how to communicate with actors, how to block a scene, and how to understand the emotions behind a playwright’s work. After watching…
By: Shannon Page Louder than Bombs’s non-linear plot follows a widower named Gene Reed (Gabriel Byrne) and his sons, Jonah (Jesse Eisenberg) and Conrad (Devin Druid), as they navigate life two years after the death of Gene’s wife Isabelle (Isabelle Huppert) who was an acclaimed conflict photographer. Jonah, now a university professor, returns to his childhood home to sort through his mother’s things prior to an upcoming retrospective on her life’s work. Given the subject…
By: Addison Wylie For a while, Atlantic. was the most relaxed I had felt at this year’s festival. Incredibly shot sequences of Fettah windsurfing across the infinite drink eased me into a trance. Its angelic score cradling the audience is the final nuance Atlantic. has that completely sends us into adoration with these moments of Jan-Willem van Ewijk’s tranquil tale. Alas, Atlantic. follows a bothersome and oddly common theme at this year’s TIFF. Atlantic. eventually drifts…
By: Addison Wylie We return to the Short Cuts Canada programmes to take a look at a few films that aren’t afraid to get “real”. Well, “real” in surreal surroundings and under crazy circumstances. These three shorts may be tales out of a book (certainly in the case of The Underground), but the emotion conveyed is what makes these stories come alive. They hit and miss various points, but the risks these filmmakers take are nothing…
By: Addison Wylie Wet Bum features a superb performance by TIFF Rising Star Julia Sarah Stone. Her helpless presence draws us in, as if we feel the need to lend her a shoulder to cry on. But, it’s her earnest portrayal of fourteen-year-old outsider Sam that signifies the puzzling phases of fitting in among your peers, and trying to swallow the lump in your throat when you’re singled out for being different. The film that…
By: Addison Wylie At TIFF ’12, a cold film named Krivina made its mark on the circuit. Directed by Igor Drljaca and produced by Albert Shin, Krivina was a film with a strong, silent lead. It tested my patience with meandering stretches, but halfheartedly won me back with a shocking twist I didn’t see coming. Smashcut to present day and the roles have switched with In Her Place – Shin is now the writer/director and…