Matthew Anderson
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Toronto 2015: ‘French Blood’ review
★★★★☆ As the name would suggest, Toronto’s Platform strand offers up-and-coming filmmakers a springboard from which to showcase their work on the world stage. The singularly named writer-director Diastème brings his devastating second feature French Blood (2015) to the festival from his native France, a country he considers overwhelmed by hatred and violence. A self-proclaimed…
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Toronto 2015: ‘Demolition’ review
★★★★☆ Actor Jake Gyllenhaal has recently proved himself more than capable of carrying a film on his alternately emaciated (Nightcrawler) or buffed-up (Southpaw) shoulders. In Jean-Marc Vallée’s Demolition (2015) they’re characteristically broad and Gyllenhaal’s performance is one of his finest to date; further proof of his ever-growing and impressively hirsute acting chops. Vallée’s return to…
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Toronto 2015: ‘The Kind Words’ review
★★☆☆☆ During the Q & A session which followed the international première of Shemi Zarhin’s The Kind Words (2015) on the opening night of this year’s Toronto Film Festival, the Israeli director was asked how he struck a balance between the tragic and comedic elements of a story that teeters precariously between each end of…