Ben Nicholson
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Toronto 2014: ‘Venice’ review
★★★☆☆ Despite its title, Kiki Álvarez’s Venice (2014) is very much about Cuba. Specifically, it’s a rarely seen independent film from the country, marking its director’s first appearance at the prestigious Toronto International Film Festival. Named after a city to which its characters will never travel, it is clearly imbued with an aspirational spirit, but…
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Toronto 2014: ‘Return to Ithaca’ review
★★★☆☆ One of two films at Toronto 2014 that take in a group of friends over the course of one balmy Cuban evening, Return to Ithaca (2014) is the new film from French director Laurent Cantet. After the Palme d’Or-winning The Class (2008) and 2012’s somewhat clunky Foxfire, this is another dialogue heavy character piece.…
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Toronto 2014: ‘Ned Rifle’ review
★★★★☆ With Henry Fool (1997), Hal Hartley introduced the world to his garrulous and hedonistic eponymous rogue who, amongst other things, impregnated an impressionable young woman. Years later, she was coerced into a labyrinthine plot regarding her former husband’s long lost notebooks that resulted in her own self-titled movie, Fay Grim (2006). Now, Hartley has…
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Toronto 2014: ‘The Face of an Angel’ review
★★★☆☆ Watching Michael Winterbottom’s The Face of an Angel (2014), it’s fascinating to try to decipher just how autobiographical it actually it is. An eclectic and deeply interesting homegrown director, Winterbottom’s films have often been imbued with a documentary rigour and that notion is explored here through a fictional handling of the infamous murder of British…
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Toronto 2014: ‘Nightcrawler’ review
★★★☆☆ “If you wanna win the lottery,” claims Lou Bloom, a gaunt and greasy Jake Gyllenhaal in Dan Gilroy crime drama Nightcrawler (2014), “you’ve gotta make the money to buy a ticket.” It’s a sly catchphrase that perfectly encapsulates the reptilian character that sits in the driver’s seat of Gilroy’s debut feature, which is screening…
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Toronto 2014: ‘Don’t Go Breaking My Heart 2’ review
★★★☆☆ Whilst he may primarily be associated with the stylish Hong Kong gangster picks that have made him his name, director Johnnie To is not averse to turning his hand to lighter matters. Don’t Go Breaking My Heart (2011) was one such offering – a likable romantic farce in a manic financial sector with stocks…
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Toronto 2014: ‘The Duke of Burgundy’ review
★★★★☆ With his first two features, Katalin Varga (2009) and Berberian Sound Studio (2012), British auteur Peter Strickland has made a name for himself by exploring exploitation genres – the revenge thriller and Italian giallo – with a meticulous and innovative eye. His attention turns to seventies European erotica in his latest, the rigorously stylish,…
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Toronto 2014: ‘Justice’ review
★★☆☆☆ Most of the contemporary cinema that European audiences get to consume from the Philippines come from visionary (and festival favoured) directors such as Lav Diaz or Raya Martin. The former’s From What Is Before (2014) is not the only film from the country to feature in the programme of this year’s Toronto International Film…
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Film Review: ‘The Tribe’
★★★★★ Discussion of sensational new Ukrainian film The Tribe (2014), which premièred at Cannes to rave reviews earlier this year, is best begun the way that director Miroslav Slaboshpitsky chooses to open it. Lettering appears on screen providing a warning that what follows will be film free from dialogue, subtitles, and voiceover – occurring entirely…
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Toronto 2014: ‘Partners in Crime’ review
★★★☆☆ “If you run into anything unpleasant you must learn to face it yourself,” states a kindly counsellor in Chang Jung-chi’s sophomore feature Partners in Crime (Gong Fan, 2014). Little could she have imagined just the extent to which the three boys stood before her would take the advice to heart. They become the sleuthing…