A Secret Love
Chris Bolan’s documentary A Secret Love is a sweet tearjerker that explores the nearly 70-year relationship between ex-All American Girls Professional Baseball League player Terry Donahue and her loyal partner Pat Henschel.
Romance
Space & Time
There seems to be an unhealthy trend of shooting and wrapping film productions within a short time frame (A Fall from Grace, Appiness). But for Toronto indie Space & Time, writer/director Shawn Gerrard sees the appeal of a patient process. Space & Time has been shot over the period of 11 months; allowing the film to naturally capture the passage of, well, space and time. This lends a potentially special quality to the film’s story…
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.
Toronto After Dark 2019: ‘James vs. His Future Self’ and ‘Making Monsters’
James vs. His Future Self (DIR. Jeremy LaLonde) Jeremy LaLonde’s recent movies have truly owned their genre in a unique way. The Go-Getters was a gleefully foul play on the traditional buddy formula, and How to Plan an Orgy in a Small Town was a charming sex comedy. With James vs. His Future Self, LaLonde takes a swing at crossing science fiction with a romance – it’s a sweet success.
Wylie Writes @ Toronto Youth Shorts Film Festival ’19
The Toronto Youth Shorts festival is a great platform for aspiring filmmakers and for storytellers with a lot on their mind. I can usually count on the selections to cover themes from cultural reflections to personal discoveries, with an occasional fluffy piece to break up the weight of these programmes.
Non-Fiction
By: Jolie Featherstone The latest film from Olivier Assayas (Personal Shopper, Clouds of Sils Maria) is a classic comedy of manners imbued with dry wit and social commentary aplenty set amongst the bourgeois-bohemian Parisian publishing world.
Long Shot
By: Jessica Goddard Could a beautiful, successful, Type A presidential hopeful like Charlize Theron’s Charlotte fall in love with a slovenly, jobless, political cynic like Seth Rogen’s Fred? Long Shot is wholly predictable in both its conclusion to this question, and in how it gets us there. From the standard drug-fuelled escapade we’ve come to anticipate once per Seth Rogen film, to the “maybe if one day he shows up in nicer clothes she’ll start…
Acquainted
Acquainted is the type of indie that wants to say something profound about romance. Little does writer/director Natty Zavitz know, dozens of other movies have beat him to the punch.
52 Words for Love
The best choice made about 52 Words for Love concerns its release date. Whoever decided to release this movie on Valentine’s Day deserves a big box of chocolates.