I’m a little upset that I didn’t go to see this one when it screened at TIFF, but I was very happy that this was a film that my partner and I could watch together, and we greatly enjoyed it. But it’s Jeffrey Wright, the man can do anything, and play anything, and he brings…
Tag: tiff
Quiz Lady (2023) – Jessica Yu
Awkwafina and Sandra Oh play sisters in the very enjoyable, Quiz Lady, which I missed at TIFF but was delighted to check out when it hit streaming platforms. Anne (Awkwafina) is quiet, set in her routines, and has some mental health issues that keep her confined to her job, and her couch, where she and…
When Evil Lurks (2023) – Demian Rugna
The Spanish language film, When Evil Lurks, from Argentina, has found its way into my favourite horror films along with Late Night with the Devil. It’s creepy, has some legitimate scares, and a real sense of menace. Two brothers, Pedro (Ezequiel Rodriguez) and Jimi (Demian Salomon), find themselves confronting true evil when they encounter a…
I Like Movies (2022) – Chandler Levack
I regret that I missed this one at TIFF, but now that it’s on Netflix it’s going to be able to reach a wider audience. And any film fan who grew up during the 80s and 90s will no doubt recognize parts of themselves in the film’s lead, cinephile Lawrence Kweller (Isiah Lehtinen). Lawrence is…
TIFF ’23: Smugglers
With Smugglers, which is having its North American premiere at TIFF, Director Ryoo Seung-wan gives his audience a smart, playful, 70s-drenched crime thriller set in a quiet seaside South Korean fishing town. Jin-sook (Yum Jung-ah) and Choon-ja (Kim Hye-soo) work as haenyeo, free divers who collect shellfish and other seafood, alongside a crew of other…
TIFF ’23: 100 Yards
Xu Haofeng, an accomplished fight choreographer, writer and director and first-time director Xu Junfeng delivers a period piece set in 1920s China, specifically, Tianjin, where the master of a wushu academy has just died and has passed on its leadership to his apprentice, Quan Qi (Andy On) instead of his son, Shen An (Jacky Heung)…
TIFF ’23: Sleep
Midnight Madness at TIFF is always a lot of fun, and some great genre films get scheduled that are designed to deliver to the late-night audience. Sleep hopes to do that this week. A Korean entry to the film festival from writer/director Jason Yu. It’s his first feature film, and Yu creates a tense, moody…
TIFF ’23: NYAD
Annette Bening gives a career-topping performance as marathon swimmer, Diane Nyad in the true story of her swim from Cuba to Florida. In the late 70s and 80s, Nyad made a name for herself for swimming the English Channel, around Manhattan Island and more, but she was foiled by her attempt to make it from…
TIFF ’23: Hell of a Summer
Long-time friends Finn Wolfhard and Billy Bryk share directing, producing, writing and starring credits in their enjoyable and goofy riff on camp slasher films. It’s summer, and Camp Pineaway is gearing up for another round of campers and counsellors. In fact, the counsellors gather the weekend before camp opens to prepare, get reacquainted, drunk, high,…
TIFF ’23: The Burial
I think every actor wants to do a courtroom drama, to voice their objections, to thunder at a witness during cross-examination, to let that look play across their face that suggests they may have just found a way to win the case. Then, when you throw in the fact that the case you’re bringing to…
