★★★★☆ Feng Xiaogang’s epic Youth is a sumptuous telling of a familiar tale. Our story begins in 1970 with He Xiaoping (Miao Miao) joining the elite Arts Troupe, who perform elaborate dances and idealised revolutionary displays to keep up Chinese morale. Coming from a poor family and bullied by her Continue Reading
★★★☆☆ Based on a novel by Christian Jungersen, Danish director Peter Schønau Fog’s second feature You Disappear is an intriguing, if not wholly satisfying, family melodrama, buoyed up by decent central performances and an unsentimental directness.Following an epileptic fit, Frederik (Nikolaj Lie Kaas) is diagnosed with a brain tumour. Though Continue Reading
★★★☆☆ On 15 April 2013, two terrorists detonated bombs at the Boston Marathon, killing three people and injuring hundreds. Jeff Bauman (Jake Gyllenhaal), waiting at the finish line for his girlfriend (Tatiana Maslany), lost both his legs yet also identified the culprits. David Gordon Green’s Stronger is one half of Continue Reading
★★★☆☆ Screening in the Wavelengths strand at this year’s Toronto Film Festival, Neïl Beloufa’s bonkers Occidental may not offer much in the way of coherence or thematic depth, but its surreal and charming qualities are more than enough to recommend this bizarre farce.Two very shifty looking guys posing as Italians Continue Reading
★★★★☆ As a sideline to his day job, motorbike mechanic Veijo (Matti Onnismaa) puts sick animals down on the cheap, chastising the owners for their indifference to their pain. Teemu Nikki’s Euthanizer reveals itself to be an affecting examination of cruelty.In the film’s opening scene, a young woman brings her Continue Reading
★★☆☆☆ There are things to like about 1%, Stephen McCallum’s debut feature about the head honchos of biker gang The Copperheads MC, scheming and duking it out in a power struggle. It’s just that sadly, there’s not a great deal to love, with the film never transcending its rote premise. Continue Reading
The world premiere of tennis drama Borg vs McEnroe will kick off the 2017 Toronto International Film Festival (7-17 September), beginning a ten-day celebration of the upcoming award season’s main contenders, as well as an array of innovative and experimental offerings.Premiering later today, Dominic Cook’s feature debut On Chesil Beach Continue Reading