By: Addison Wylie Wrong Cops is from the mind of writer/director Quentin Dupieux, who found love from Midnight Madness audiences with his films Rubber and Wrong. That same crowd may find themselves straining through forced smiles when they set eyes on Wrong Cops. Wrong Cops is the type of film you shoot during breaks on the sets of music videos. I guess instead of taking advantage of his per diem and down time, Dupieux rounded…
By: Shannon Page Hunting Elephants certainly won’t be everyone’s cup of tea. There are a few laughs sprinkled throughout, but don’t go into this film expecting a passive movie going experience. The film boasts an impressive international cast that includes Iraqi-born actor Sasson Gabai (who audiences may recognize, or not, from his role in 1988’s Rambo III), Moni Moshonov of Israel, as well as the incomparable Patrick Stewart as a struggling English actor looking for…
By: Mark Barber Swedish auteur Roy Andersson completes his so-called “living trilogy” with the sombre, contemplative A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence, a masterful blend of dour themes and dark humour. Andersson’s Pigeon resists a coherent synopsis. The film is told through multiple intertwining stories. At the centre of these stories is a pair of travelling novelty salespeople–Jonathan (Holger Andersson) and Sam (Nils Westblom), both of whom share the same reflective deadpan…
By: Trevor Jeffery Over the past few decades, the biopic has been more or less perfected and recreated over and over, to the point of boring predictability. While ultimately Love & Mercy is no exception, the film deviates from the structure enough to make the journey feel like a new, albeit shaky, perspective on the formula. Following Beach Boy Brian Wilson, the film jumps between the 20-something-prodigy Wilson in the 1960s (played by Paul Dano)…
By: Mark Barber Swiss surrealist H. R. Giger was something of a phantom, often disappearing into one of the many nooks and crannies of his own home. Yet, what makes Giger so unique and compelling–both as an artist and as a person–is another elusive phantom in Belinda Sallin’s Dark Star: HR Giger’s World. Dark Star disappoints not in its reasonably zealous adoration of Giger’s cyborg nightmares, but in its simplistic analytical approach to both himself and…
By: Shannon Page One of the great things about film festivals is their potential to showcase and foster emerging talent. The Toronto Inside Out LGBT Film Festival’s Local Heroes short film screening is aimed at drawing attention and giving space to local filmmakers. It’s a space where audiences can see what is being created in their own back yards, and where beginning filmmakers have the opportunity to see their work screened alongside more established artists….
By: Addison Wylie Patch Town is royally ambitious. It’s also incredibly hard to synopsize making it harder to recommend despite it being a highly enjoyable live-action fairy tale. Craig Goodwill, a filmmaker who’s been comfortable making short films, expanded on his original short Patch Town and adapted it into a real nifty feature. He’s drawn on David Lynch’s Eraserhead to define the film’s industrial dystopia where obedient workers withdrawal babies from heads of cabbage. All…
By: Addison Wylie As someone who is a follower of Sesame Street’s history and a fan of Caroll Spinney, I feel I Am Big Bird: The Caroll Spinney Story was speaking directly to me and other admirers who may fall in the same categories as I do. Kids may connect with Spinney’s Big Bird, but Dave LaMattina and Chad Walker’s documentary is meant to click with those who grew up with the child-like muppet; as…
By: Shannon Page The 25th annual Inside Out Toronto LGBT Film Festival began May 21 with a screening of Paul Weitz’s film Grandma starring Lily Tomlin, Judy Greer, and Laverne Cox. The screening and opening gala kick off 11 days of film by and about members of the LGBT community. Grandma, which was featured at the closing gala of this year’s Sundance Film Festival, is the obvious choice to open Inside Out. Writer and director…
By: Addison Wylie Movies like Debug make me wish I had a notebook handy during screenings. I feel overwhelmed trying to remember all of the sci-fi mumbo-jumbo that fills David Hewlett’s futuristic space horror. Let’s just say Hewlett’s self-penned script has expiatory dialoguing of the laziest kind. Science fiction often hosts the worst scenarios since some filmmakers just want to hurl a bunch of technical nonsense towards the audience and expect movie goers will be…