Festivals
-
Toronto 2017: Breathe review
★★★☆☆ At the age of 28, Robert Cavendish was paralysed from the neck down by polio. Given only months to live on a respirator, he beat the odds and became one of the longest living ‘responauts’. Andy Serkis takes on Cavendish’s story with biopic Breathe.Opening with Cavendish (Andrew Garfield) meeting his future wife Diana (Claire…
-
Toronto 2017: I Love You, Daddy review
★★★★☆ Louis C.K. returns to the director’s chair for the first time since 2001’s Pootie Tang. Though not quite up there with his best TV work, I Love You, Daddy is a hilarious, awkward and boundary-pushing comedy about fatherhood, anxiety and the ethics of relationships.Fans of C.K.’s comedy drama series Louie should know largely what…
-
Toronto 2017: Gutland review
★★★☆☆ His first film since 2011’s We Might as Well Fail, Govinda Van Maele’s Gutland is an atmospheric, gripping mystery set in the Luxembourg countryside. Arriving in a small village, German Jens (Frederick Lau) is looking for work as a farmhand – and to hide.Though he’s readily accepted by the locals – especially by flirtatious…
-
Toronto 2017: Molly’s Game review
★★★★☆ Molly Bloom once ran the world’s most exclusive underground poker games, attracting A-list celebrities, hedge fund magnates and, eventually, the Russian mob. After she began raking her own operation she was indicted by the FBI along with the Russian mafia.The majority of Molly’s Game is told from inside the office of Molly’s reluctant lawyer,…
-
Toronto 2017: Custody review
★★★★☆ Making its way to this year’s TIFF following an award-winning debut at the Venice Film Festival, French director Xavier Legrand’s Custody is a powerful domestic drama of a toxic father who continues to terrorise his family following an unsavoury marital separation. The minute we meet Antoine (Denis Ménochet), there’s a sense of menace. He…
-
Toronto 2017: You Disappear review
★★★☆☆ 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 the prognosis is not terminal,…
-
Toronto 2017: Occidental review
★★★☆☆ 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 rent a room at the…
-
Toronto 2017: Euthanizer review
★★★★☆ 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 old, anaemic cat to be…
-
Toronto 2017: 1% review
★★☆☆☆ 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. The Copperheads’ President, Knuck (Matt…
-
Toronto 2017: Our Festival Highlights
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 stars Saoirse Ronan and Billy…