THE TRIAL Blu-ray Review: Criterion Takes on Orson Welles' Masterpiece
Long awaited by cinephiles and Orson Welles fans, it took longer than it should for The Trial to be restored. At last, Welles' favourite of his own films has been given the Criterion treatment. It's often neglected in discussions on...
Toronto 2023 Review: SLEEP, On the Merits of Insomnia
Soo-jin (Jung Yu-mi) and Hyun-su (Lee Sun-kyun) are the sweetest young couple, full of promise and hope. Soo-jin works in business, hoping to make her way to the executive branch. Hyun-su is an actor; while he's only had small roles,...
Toronto 2023 Review: CLOSE YOUR EYES, Time Enough To Remember
It's not a stretch to understand why films are often conflated with dreams (or nightmares); as with how our brains operate when we're asleep, films allow the creator to piece together images and sounds in a way that they hope...
WHAT DOESN'T FLOAT Review: Vignette Moments That Run Deep
It doesn't come up often in films set in New York, its proximity to, and importance of, the ocean and waterways. While many of us have a romantic idea of New York, films can convey the real, living city, showing...
Toronto 2023 Review: LAST SUMMER, Sex and Power in the Heat of the Season
While it's unusual for an auteur like Catherine Breillat to remake another, recent film, it's not a surprise, in this case, given the subject: sex and power. The filmmaker behind daring works (to say the least) such as Anatomy of...
Toronto 2023 Review: WOMAN OF THE HOUR, Going Head-to-Head with a Killer
Women are not believed. This has been true for decades (if not centuries) and it has allowed men to perpetrate terrible crimes, almost in plain sight, without remorse or consequences. I realise this is something of a blanket statement (yes,...
Toronto 2023 Review: THE END WE START FROM, Motherhood at the End of the World
As we begin to see, it feels almost weekly, 'natural' (i.e. created by human activity) disasters happening around the world - floods, fires, you name it - you would be hard-pressed not think about what you would do with you...
Toronto 2023 Review: IN FLAMES, the Supernatural Meets Patriarchal Conditioning
The term 'gaslighting' is now quite ubiquitous, and one which still remains scoffed at by many (usually those who hold power). But if you're a member of a marginalized group, that gaslighting could come not just from one person, but...
Toronto 2023 Review: POOLMAN, An Earnest if Misguided Comedy-Neo-Noir
A few years ago, I was taking an Uber back to my airbnb in Los Angeles; the driver, it turns out, was something of a conspiracy theorist. At first he was just telling me about the politics of the city,...
Toronto 2023 Review: HELL OF A SUMMER Lacks the Necessary Bite
Long a favoured location for slasher films, summer camp provides plenty of proverbial fodder for a serial killer's cannon: plenty of nubile, horny, often unaware bodies in an isolated place, waiting to be, well, slashed by whatever preferred method. It...
Toronto 2023: THE KING TIDE, Beware Gifts From the Sea
Living in a harsh landscape, somewhat apart and isolated, means you make certain choices about how much assistance you will receive, and how much protection you will offer your community. It also means that legends can grow up around people...
Toronto 2023 Review: NAGA, Drug-Infused Race Against the Clock
Sara is in the middle of the desert, a fair drive from her city of Riyadh. She's been taking drugs. The police raided the event she was at, scattering everyone. She can't find her boyfriend. She doesn't have the keys...
Toronto 2023 Review: LA CHIMERA, Some Precious Things Left to Bury
Arthur (Josh O'Connor) is not having a good day. He's just got out of prison with nothing but the clothes on his back. His former criminal gang is eager to recruit him; the person to whom he plied his trade...
Toronto 2023 Review: QUIZ LADY, Sister Bonding on the Road
The opposite-people-coming-together-in-a-crisis comedy has a good tradition in Hollywood cinema (and perhaps there is a more succinct term for it that I can't think of). Certainly with siblings especially, it provides relatable complex relationships for a broad audience to connect...
Toronto 2023 Review: HUMANIST VAMPIRE SEEKING CONSENTING SUICIDAL PERSON, Coming of Age When You Don't Age
Sasha is a bit of a disappointment to her parents. Not only is her body a little slow to catch up to lend the family the survival help they need, she also has no desire to participate in their most...
Toronto 2023 Review: SOLO, Love That Elevates, Love That Binds
How can we know what makes us happy? More importantly, how can we trust the people around us to make us happy, support us in our happiness, provide us with the love and care we deserve? And how can we...
Toronto 2023 Review: DICKS: THE MUSICAL, Beautifully Demented
There are a lot of words you could use to describe Dicks: The Musical, A24's first foray into the musical form. Freaky. Disgusting. Toe-tapping. Queer. Outrageous. Ingenius. Incomprehensible. Queer. Bizarre. Did I mention queer? Because yes, it is, and delightfully...
Toronto 2023 Review: HOW TO HAVE SEX, When The Party Brutally Stops
While partying hard and uninhibited lust is hardly only the arena of the young, there is something particular about how those about 25 years old and younger indulge themselves that is both weirdly admirable, since their bodies can bounce back...
PERPETRATOR Review: How to Be a Ferocious, Witchy Empath
Kiah McKirnan and Alicia Silverstone Star in Jennifer Reeder's new horror feature.
PIAFFE Review: Embracing Animal Behaviour
We too often forget than humans are animals. Too many of us have divorced ourselves from the natural world, the world of our, for lack of a better phrasing, animal instincts. We clothe ouselves, eat (usually) with utensils, as if...
