Biopic
Portrait of a Lady on Fire
Céline Sciamma’s highly acclaimed drama Portrait of a Lady on Fire is visceral filmmaking at its most eloquent. So much of this period piece hinges on textures, sights, and sounds to make the audience believe that we’re living through someone’s romantic memories.
The Traitor
By: Trevor Chartrand While epic in scale with an ambitious, decade-spanning story, The Traitor is ultimately a disappointing, bloated film. This movie sets out to tell the gritty true story of the Italian mafia’s first police informant, Tommaso Buscetta (Pierfrancesco Favino), however, this lengthy picture gets bogged down with an overstuffed plot. Even with such rich and captivating source material, the film is ultimately uninteresting due to its failure to satisfy in the ‘audience accessibility’ category.
TIFF 2019: ‘The Twentieth Century’
Depending on who you ask, Canadian cinema may well be celebrating its 100th year this year and, despite the general dismay that it continues to attract from some, it is still very much able to be as innovative as any other national cinema. Why the history lesson? Because that may be the best way to introduce Matthew Rankin’s The Twentieth Century, at once a great addition to the Canadian cinematic canon and a bitter poisonous…
Marianne & Leonard: Words of Love
Filmmaker Nick Broomfield recounts his memories of Marianne Ihlen and singer/songwriter Leonard Cohen in his documentary Marianne & Leonard: Words of Love.
Wild Nights with Emily
Wild Nights with Emily didn’t “click” with me but, then again, I feel like I’m “missing” something.
Tolkien
By: Jolie Featherstone Dome Karukoski’s Tolkien is a polished, but reserved, Edwardian period piece that explores the early life of J. R. R. Tolkien, famed author of The Lord of the Rings. From a childhood fraught with loss to serving in in the First World War as a young adult, the film draws connections between Tolkien’s real-life experiences and the lore and legends he created in his works.
The White Crow
The White Crow, written by Oscar nominee David Hare (The Reader) and directed by Harry Potter actor Ralph Fiennes, goes against the usual conventions of a biopic.
Stan & Ollie
By: Jessica Goddard Touching, sincere, and surprisingly universal, Jon S. Baird’s Stan & Ollie is a sensitive look into the last tour of legendary comedy act Laurel and Hardy. Built on wonderful performances from Steve Coogan and John C. Reilly as Laurel and Hardy respectively, the biopic has wonderful range – from the tender or vicious exchanges to the subtle but magnetic moments when the pair perform on stage as a duo.
Blaze
By: Trevor Chartrand Director Ethan Hawke’s country music biopic Blaze leaves a lot to be desired – with a lot of atmosphere and not much narrative, this film is meandering and weak. To some, the film could perhaps be considered an abstract poem, akin to the music stylings of the late Blaze Foley, which I suppose should be commendable. However, given the more obscure nature of this film’s subject, the storytelling gaps will leave audiences…