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...
by Shelagh Rowan-Legg

Fantasia 2018 Review: CHAINED FOR LIFE, The Freaks Are Not Who You Think

In the modern age of endless selfies, we are hyper-aware of how we look; or perhaps more accurately, how we want to look, and how we want the world to see us. But what if it is impossible to hide...
by Shelagh Rowan-Legg

Toronto 2018: IF BEALE STREET COULD TALK, MOUTHPIECE, BURNING & More in Special Presentations

The Special Presentations section of TIFF is always a highlight, featuring a wide range of films from established directors, and this year looks to be no exception. The section will open with veteran Canadian director Patricia Rozema's Mouthpiece, adapted from...
by Shelagh Rowan-Legg

Trailer for WHAT KEEPS YOU ALIVE: The Killer Close to the Heart

Colin Minihan has already made his mark on the indie horror scene with It Stains the Sands Red and Grave Encounters. His latest film, What Keeps You Alive, is making the rounds at film festivals (SXSW, Fantasia, and upcoming at...
by Shelagh Rowan-Legg

Toronto 2018: HIGH LIFE, WIDOWS, LIFE ITSELF, FIRST MAN and More In Gala Screenings

The Toronto International Film Festival came crashing out of the gate with its first wave of title announcements. The festival is scheduled for September 6th - 16th, and already this magnificent corner of the best cinema is setting the bar...
by Shelagh Rowan-Legg

Fantasia 2018 Review: AMIKO, Teen Girl Angst, Japanese Style

In the recent renaissance of films exploring the lives of teenage girls (Lady Bird, The Edge of Seventeen), Yoko Yamanaka’s feature debut Amiko is a Japanese insight into the mind and turbulent emotions of a young girl, trying to figure out...
by Shelagh Rowan-Legg

Fantasia 2018 Review: UNDER THE SILVER LAKE, Underwhelming Story, Overwhelming Cliches

David Robert Mitchell had a critical and audience hit with his second feature film, It Follows, in 2014; so much so that his third feature was readily accepted into the Cannes feature competition this year. Obstensibly a neo-noir thriller about...
by Shelagh Rowan-Legg

Review: SIBERIA Stays Out in the Cold

Crime thrillers seem to have found new life in recent years, not least due to VOD and streaming channels needing content. Films such as I Don't Feel At Home in This World Anymore, Logan Lucky, Nightcrawler, and Small Crimes may...
by Ard Vijn

ScreenAnarchy's Top Movies Of The First Half Of 2018

Time flies like a sonofabitch, and this year it seems to do so faster than usual. We are at 2018's mid-point already. Whoa! That does beg the question though: what films have managed to impress and touch us most, so...