Festivals
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#LFF 2019: Leap of Faith review
★★★★☆ Alexandre O. Philippe continues his run of feature-length documentaries concentrated on classic genre movies, with a look at William Friedkin’s The Exorcist. Often described as “the Citizen Kane of horror”, this deep dive benefits from Friedkin serving as our personal guide. As a production, The Exorcist was virtually sui generis. In the history of…
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Nordisk Panorama 2019: Our festival highlights
The Nordisk Panorama Film Festival returned to Sweden for its 30th year, showcasing new and established talent in the fields of documentaries and shorts from the Nordisk countries. With over 80 films screened, Nordisk Panorama is the largest festival for Nordic documentary and short films. Once called the Festival of Five Cities – traditionally rotating its…
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Toronto 2019: Jojo Rabbit takes People’s Choice Award
Despite dividing critics following its world premiere, Jojo Rabbit won over audiences in the public vote: Joker may well have had the last laugh at Venice, but it was Taika Waititi’s Second World War satire that won over audiences in Toronto, hopping ahead as a favourite in the coming awards season race. Waititi’s film beat Noah Baumbach’s Marriage Story and Bong…
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Toronto 2019: Sea Fever review
★★☆☆☆ A creature feature for the environmentalist age, Irish TV and film director Neasa Hardiman’s latest project is a fun and inventive body horror that falls just short of a recommendation. Combining elements from Sphere, Alien and The Thing, Sea Fever uses the unchartered depths of the ocean to conjure its beastie. The best cinematic monsters have always had an…
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Toronto 2019: Jallikattu review
★★★★★ Can violence be contained through ritual? Does sanctioning violence in specific contexts purge the need for its spontaneous outburst? In his seventh feature, Indian director Lijo Jose Pellissery explores the nature of savagery in this singular, heaving howl of a film. Not dissimilar from the Spanish running of the bulls, Jallikattu is the Indian…
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Toronto 2019: To the Ends of the Earth review
★★★★☆ Marking the 25th anniversary of diplomacy between Japan and Uzbekistan, Japanese auteur Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s latest is a freewheeling comedy of cultural errors. With J-popstar Atsuko Maeda in the lead as bored TV reporter Yoko, To the Ends of the Earth is a light, airy and fun journey with flashes of poetry. Shooting on location in…
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Venice 2019: Joker has last laugh with Golden Lion win
In what has to be one of the crazier award ceremonies to grace the Venice Lido on its 76th edition, Todd Phillips’ Joker took home this year’s Golden Lion in a move guaranteed to provoke a flood of hot takes, an avalanche of think pieces and further lubrication for Oscars season.
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Venice 2019: Saturday Fiction review
★★★★☆ Suzhou River director Lou Ye’s wartime espionage thriller Saturday Fiction starts as a mysterious murky mess and resolves itself into a bullet-riddled noir. We first meet Jean Yu (Gong Li) in Shanghai circa 1937 as she is rehearsing a play with director/lead actor Tan Na (Mark Chao).
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Toronto 2019: Blow the Man Down review
★★★★★ Bridget Savage Cole and Danielle Krudy’s debut feature is a haunting tale of buried secrets, sea shanties and fracturing communities. Set among the bleak shacks and sketchy bed and breakfasts of a Maine fishing village, Blow the Man Down signals the arrival of Cole and Krudy as two of the most exciting new voices…
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Toronto 2019: 143 Sahara Street review
★★★★☆ With 143 Sahara Street, documentarian Hassen Ferhani takes us to one of the most unlikely places one might expect to find a cafe: the middle of the Algerian desert. On the edge of the dusty road that cuts through the endless yellow sand, Malika waits for weary travellers in search of omelettes and cold tea…