Christopher Machell
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Film Review: First Man
★★★★☆ Hot from the success of 2016’s La La Land, Damien Chazelle returns with First Man, his personal take on the long and arduous road to getting a man on the moon. We all know how this story ends, but in this fable of astronomic ambition it’s about the journey, not the destination. Despite previously…
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Criterion Review: My Man Godfrey
★★★★☆ One may not consider the Great Depression as particularly fertile ground for comedy, but contemporary Hollywood would beg to differ. Chaplin built his reputation of finding the poignant humour in poverty, and many screwball comedies of the sound era invariably touched on the Depression, none more so than Gregory La Cava’s 1936 My Man Godfrey.…
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Criterion Review: Cold Water
★★★★☆ Olivier Assayas’ 1994 film Cold Water is just that – a sharp splash of punk cinema, adolescent romance and surrealist imagery, all set to period rock music of the 1970s. Equal parts arthouse cinema and coming-of-age drama, the influence of his tribute to teen rebellion remains deeply felt. In 1970s France, Christine (Virginie Ledoyen) and Gilles…
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Film Review: Female Human Animal
★★★☆☆ Shot on analogue video, Josh Appignanesi’s Female Human Animal is a visually arresting, surrealist piece whose reach occasionally exceeds its grasp, but which is never less than intriguing. Chloe (Chloe Aridjis) is a writer and fine art curator, currently supervising an exhibition of the surrealist painter Leona Carrington. At home, she lives a solitary life with…
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Toronto 2018: Green Book wins People’s Choice Award
After garnering rave reviews at Venice, Alfonso Cuarón’s luminously beautiful Roma arrived at the Toronto Film Festival to equal acclaim, but it was Barry Jenkins’ world premiere of If Beale Street Could Talk that garnered the most buzz on the ground. Widely considered the front-runner for the festival’s People’s Choice Award, If Beale Street Could…
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Toronto 2018: Wavelengths and shorts roundup
The focus of the Toronto Film Festival might be on the hundreds of features that grace the screens of the 10-day cinematic celebration, but the many shorts that are showcased at TIFF are also always worth checking out. Take a look at our round-up of the some of the best in show. The festival’s Wavelengths…
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Toronto 2018: Mid90s review
★★★★☆ Who would have thought that the foul-mouthed kid from Superbad would go on to direct one of the year’s best comedy-dramas? Yet here we are with Mid90s, Jonah Hill’s paean to youth, friendship and nostalgia. Shot in 1.33 : 1 aspect ratio and on super 16mm film, Hill faithfully replicates the look of the…
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Film Review: In Fabric
★★★★★ Following up Berberian Sound Studio and The Duke of Burgundy, director Peter Strickland completes his hat trick with In Fabric, a sensuous, surreal and hysterical tour de force. Taking its cues from the cinema of Dario Argento and Italian horror, In Fabric, gives audiences the best British horror film since Don’t Look Now. Even among…
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Toronto 2018: Her Smell review
★★★★☆ Becky Something (Elisabeth Moss), the front woman of punk band Something She, is in trouble. The band once hit the big time, but Becky’s intolerably erratic behaviour has virtually crippled the group and threatens to destroy Becky. Told in five distinct acts, Alex Ross Perry’s Her Smell is an intense study of self-destruction. Each…
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Toronto 2018: The Death and Life of John F. Donovan review
★☆☆☆☆ In 2006, 11-year-old Rupert Turner (Jacob Tremblay) strikes up a secret epistolary friendship with his TV star hero, John Donovan (Game of Thrones star Kit Harington), before he dies of an overdose, devastating the young boy. Eleven years later, he’s written a book of his experience, about which he is interviewed by a reluctant…
