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Articles by Shahbaz Khayambashi

One-on-Ones

Wylie Writes’ One-On-One with Robert Eggers

October 29, 2019Shahbaz Khayambashi0 Comments

“This makes me want to puke.  Sorry, this came into my head.  Sorry.”  These were the words spoken by Robert Eggers, before he made a point about the relationship between Andrej Tarkovsky and Fyodor Dostoevsky.  The singular voice behind the instant classic The Witch and The Lighthouse provided evidence of two important parts of his personality: the first being his self-effacing tendencies despite how well-read he is—after all, any great artist is first a great student—and…

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Festival Coverage

Toronto After Dark 2019: ‘8’, ‘The Assent’ and ‘The Mortuary Collection’

October 29, 2019Shahbaz Khayambashi1 Comment

8 (DIR. Harold Holscher) Horror can be found just about anywhere, however not all horror is equal.  This is why films that incorporate real-life horrors must be particularly aware of how they incorporate the various elements.  Former TAD presentation Under the Shadow is a great example of how to do this correctly.  But, this is why Harold Holscher’s 8 is so conflicting.  It doesn’t really have much to say about its source events, creating a final product…

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Festival Coverage

Toronto After Dark 2019: ‘Contracts’ and ‘Paradise Hills’

October 26, 2019Shahbaz Khayambashi0 Comments

Contracts (DIR. Alex Chung) Critics Jean-Luc Comolli and Paul Narboni once suggested that all films were inherently political because, even when a film lacks an overt political bent, its refusal to question the politics of its world is an acceptance of said politics.  This lesson in film theory may sound like it is coming out of nowhere, but it serves a purpose, namely in explaining that Alex Chung’s Contracts—which had its world premiere at Toronto After…

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Reviews

Jojo Rabbit

October 25, 2019Shahbaz Khayambashi1 Comment

World War II has been done!  This is hardly a controversial claim when it comes to cinema;  everyone and their mother has already made a film about World War II—whether about how bad the war was or how heroic—and seemingly every possible angle has already been covered.  Filmmaker Taika Waititi, however, finds a way to stand out with Jojo Rabbit, a movie that refuses to be about the war at all, instead using his unique brand…

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Reviews

The Lighthouse

October 23, 2019Shahbaz Khayambashi1 Comment

When Robert Eggers appeared on the cinematic scene with The Witch at 2015’s Sundance Film Festival, he exposed untold new ways to tell horror stories.  So, what can someone who has already reinvented a genre do to follow up such a work?  Eggers decided to use a similar formula—mainly the research of authentic historical documents that went into the screenplay’s creation of horror—to tell a brand-new story.  The results are great.

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Festival Coverage

Toronto After Dark 2019: ‘The Furies’ and ‘Mutant Blast’

October 21, 2019Shahbaz Khayambashi0 Comments

The Furies (DIR. Tony D’Aquino) So, there are these seven women and seven monsters.  The women are tasked with staying alive, while the monsters attempt to kill them.  This plot could either be attached to a self-aware bit of amazing cinematic trash, or it could take itself too seriously and fail.  Tony D’Aquino’s The Furies falls firmly into the latter category.

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Festival Coverage

Toronto After Dark 2019: ‘Extra Ordinary’

October 19, 2019Shahbaz Khayambashi1 Comment

Ghosts are just ordinary people who have died.  Surely, that means they are all around us, right?  Extra Ordinary starts with this quirky concept and adds satanism, post-domestic abuse, and driving school experience to turn the weirdness up to eleven.  The film’s weirdness isn’t its only trick, however, because Mike Ahern and Enda Loughman’s film is roaringly funny despite that.

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Festival Coverage

Toronto After Dark 2019: ‘The Odd Family: Zombie on Sale’ and ‘Witches in the Woods’

October 16, 2019Shahbaz Khayambashi0 Comments

The Odd Family: Zombie on Sale (DIR. Lee Min-jae) The zombie genre has always managed to survive because zombies, as a monster, are wholly dependent on the zeitgeist of the time.  Since they are brainless creatures, their existence can generally be justified by the anxieties of the time (military industrial complex, consumerism, conformity, racism, etc.).  While that is an advantage to sub-genre, most zombie films follow the same template.  The Odd Family: Zombie on Sale is no…

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One-on-Ones

Wylie Writes’ One-On-One with Corey Stanton

October 6, 2019Shahbaz Khayambashi0 Comments

Robbery is a solid drama that tells the compelling story of Frank (Art Hindle), a cerebral career criminal suffering from dementia.  When his son, Richie (Jeremy Ferdman), finds himself the target of a dangerous organization to whom he owes money, Frank must come out of retirement and use the remnants of his mind to save his son. I talked with writer/director Corey Stanton to see where this surprisingly unique story came from.

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