by Shelagh Rowan-Legg

Review: IF BEALE STREET COULD TALK, The Cost of Love

Perhaps it is true what is said, that the world looks different when you’re in love. Colours are fuller and brighter; even a dingy basement apartment can seem like a palace; and you have all the hope that, no matter...
by Shelagh Rowan-Legg

Short Film WE SUMMONED A DEMON: Be Careful What You Wish For

Filmmaker Chris McInroy is no stranger to these pages or to much of our readership: his short films such as Bad Guy Number 2 and Death Metal have screened at festivals around the world (Fantasia, FrightFest, Fantastic Fest, Boston Underground...
by Shelagh Rowan-Legg

Review: AT ETERNITY'S GATE, Glorious Sunlight, Overwhelming Shadow

Few visual artists have been examined and mythologized as much as Vincent Van Gogh. He's been portrayed by the likes of Kirk Douglas, Benedict Cumberbatch and Tim Roth; had several documentaries made about his life; at least one magnificent animated...
by Shelagh Rowan-Legg

Review: NUMBER 37, South African Thriller Holds Surprises Around Every Corner

Many films either overtly or covertly play homage to other films. And it certainly takes a lot of courage to make a film that is an overt homage to a film as iconic as Rear Window. But then, South African...
by Shelagh Rowan-Legg

First Teaser for TOY STORY 4: Toys in the Clouds

I'm not sure if it just an odd coincidence that two movies this year have made use of Judy Collins' recording of 'Clouds' (the first being Hereditary during its closing credits, an interesting choice for certain). But here it is...
by Shelagh Rowan-Legg

Morbido 2018 Review: QUIÉN TE CANTARÁ, Music, Mirrors, and Memory

Spanish writer/director Carlos Vermut has an unusual imagination. In his first feature film, Diamond Flash, a fantastical drama, five women circled each other with dangerous secrets and kidnappings; in his second, Magical Girl, neo-noir mixes with black comedy as a...
by Shelagh Rowan-Legg

Review: SILENCIO, Time-Bending Thriller That Misses Opportunities

Science fiction, arguably, has always been the more ponderous of the fantastic genres, in that in its various high-concept scenarios, it asks its audience to contemplate large questions regarding the nature of human existence, and how we function within that...
by Shelagh Rowan-Legg

First Poster & Video from FONOTUNE: AN ELECTRIC FAIRYTALE

A few years ago, ScreenAnarchy posted about Fonotune: An Electric Fairytale and their crowdfunding campaign. Well, the world premiere happened to great success as Sitges festival last week. In another time and place, an impending apocalypse is in the air....
by Shelagh Rowan-Legg

Sitges 2018 Review: 70 BIG ONES, Crime Thriller That Keeps You Guessing

While Spain is slowly emerging from the economic crisis of the early 2000s, it still hasn't recovered completely, and even the most skilled worker can face themselves with extreme circumstances for which they need money. A lot of it. Now....
by Shelagh Rowan-Legg

Sitges 2018 Review: KNIFE + HEART, Delightfully Queer, Sensuous and Cruel

An editor looks through reels of a gay porn film, making decisions about what to cut, with the image of a beautiful young man flashing before her. At the same time, this young man is at a club, surrounded by...
by Shelagh Rowan-Legg

Toronto 2018 Review: THE WIND, Loneliness Brings Out the Demons

"Does it ever stop? The wind?" Two women converse over the natural elements and, although it isn't mentioned, the effect it has on their state of mind. This being sometime in the late 1800s, there is no television or radio...
by Shelagh Rowan-Legg

Toronto 2018 Review: HIGH LIFE, Eroticism and Solitude in Deepest Space

Space is dark, a blackness that you cannot even imagine. And it is silent. Not middle-of-nowhere silent where there is still the occasional breeze that moves the sand or a sense of the air or sun which seems to have...
by Shelagh Rowan-Legg

Toronto 2018: IF BEALE STREET COULD TALK, A Glorious Anthem of Love

Perhaps it is true what is said, that the world looks different when you’re in love. Colours are fuller and brighter; even a dingy basement apartment can seem like a palace; and you have all the hope that, no matter...
by Shelagh Rowan-Legg

Toronto 2018 Review: MOUTHPIECE, The Internal Conflict of Grief

For those who have a relationship with their parents, there are likely points, no matter how good that relationship is, when that relationship is difficult. This can be especially true between the parent and child of the same gender identity:...
by Shelagh Rowan-Legg

Toronto 2018 Review: The World Moves On in EVER AFTER

What do you do when the future holds nothing but just attempting the most basic survival? When your world has shrunk to a handful of strangers, none of whom have much hope that life will be improving in anyone's lifetime?...
by Shelagh Rowan-Legg

Review: LET THE CORPSES TAN, High Style and a Complicated Story

Writing-directing team Hélèn Cattet and Bruno Forzani try something of an experiment with their third feature.
by Shelagh Rowan-Legg

SUSPIRIA To Open Sitges Festival, Tilda Swinton to Receive Award

The long-awaited remake of the classic horror film, Luca Guadagnino's Suspiria will open the Sitges Festival this coming October. In addition, star Tilda Swinton will receive the Grand Honorary Award. I think only a filmmaker such as Guadagnino could be...
by Kurt Halfyard

Fantasia 2018: It's a Wrap on Montreal's Wonderful Summer Camp for Genre Fans

The 22nd Fantasia International Film Festival has come to a close. Hats off to anyone with the stamina to make it from the early July beginning to curtain closes in August. We know a few folks who do the three...
by Shelagh Rowan-Legg

Fantasia 2018 Interview: AMIKO Director Yoko Yamanaka on Her New Rebellious Japanese Cinema

One of the most interesting films I saw at Fantasia this year was Amiko, the debut feature of Yoko Yamanaka. In addition to the film being a new twist on the recent wave of films about teenage girls, it stands...
by Shelagh Rowan-Legg

Fantasia 2018 Review: NUMBER 37, Neo-Noir Crime Thriller Raises the Stakes

Many films either overtly or covertly play homage to other films. And it certainly takes a lot of courage to make a film that is an overt homage to a film as iconic as Rear Window. But then, South African...