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Toronto International Film Festival / Review : Outstanding Performances in Sarah Polley’s Dense “Woman Talking”

At night they are drugged and raped. For years women wake up with pain and sheets soaked in blood, but no memory of what happened. Ghosts and demons did it, say the men in the ultraconservative remote religious colony. But these women know better. And they talk. Now it’s time to decide. Stay and fight,…

Toronto International Film Festival Review – ‘Raymond and Ray’ is an Entertaining and Worthwhile Brotherhood Story

A sibling is a relative with whom a person can have any number of different relationships. If children are close in age, they may grow up together and remain friendly and close in adulthood. Living in a home of discord or divorce can also create a strong bond, though it may also bring with it…

Toronto International Film Festival Review – A24’s ‘Causeway’ is a Poignant Tale of Pain and Healing

The experience of coming back from war is not an easy one. Returning after the resolution of a long-running conflict along with many others who have served is difficult enough, but when someone is forced to cut their tour short and feels like there is still more they could be doing on active duty, that…

Toronto International Film Festival Review – Germany’s ‘All Quiet on the Western Front’ is a Harrowing Portrait of War

It’s staggering to think how futile war can be, with soldiers dying regularly in the pursuit of a conflict that will almost surely end in defeat for one side, meaning that all they have gained and accomplished in the process of their fighting may be undone. This isn’t specific to any one war, but in…

Toronto International Film Festival Review – ‘The Whale’ is an Excellent Character Study with Exceptional Performances

Society doesn’t tend to look kindly on those who are overweight, firstly by setting unrealistic standards for what being fit and attractive mean. People can be cruel and careless in how they treat others who, for whatever reason, are heavy, making comments under their breath or physically reacting to the sight or smell of somewhere…

Toronto International Film Festival : Moonage Daydream : Brett Morgen Takes Us through David Bowie’s Artist Vision

The late rock superstar David Bowie’s long career and discography established him as one of music’s great innovators and unique figures. In veteran director Brett Morgen’s unconventional documentary about the legendary creator, the film opens with Bowie discussing controversial German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche and ideas about the disappearance of God. Bowie was fascinated by the…

Toronto International Film Festival Review – ‘The Son’ is a Flawed Portrait of the Challenges of Parenting

It’s not easy to be a parent, and one of the most challenging parts of the job is not knowing what a child will be like ahead of time. Kids are to a degree shaped by how their parents raise them, but they are also influenced by other factors and develop personality traits of their…

Toronto International Film Festival Review – ‘Empire of Light’ is a Nostalgic Look Back at the Incomparable Feel of Being at the Cinema

Going to the movies has become a very normal activity for many people, and for those who have yet to venture back to theaters given the current unstable state of the world, there is more than enough content to be accessed instantly at home. But it didn’t used to be that way, back when seeing…

Toronto International Film Festival Review – ‘My Policeman’ Weaves Together Overlapping Love Stories

Not every love story gets a happy ending. The more passionate the romance, the more tragic its evolution and eventual dissolution may be. There are also people who get together and stay together yet never feel the passion they read about in books or see in movies but accept that not every marriage or partnership…

Toronto International Film Festival Review – ‘Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery’ is the Best Kind of Sequel

Making a good sequel is not easy. That’s especially true when the original is a big hit, and if a good chunk of the supporting cast isn’t returning for the new film. Part two needs to deliver something that resembles what was popular the first time, and, ideally speaking, could also be accessible to a…

Do Revenge, A Cerebral Teen Drama That Mocks The Brutality Of High School

If Les Liaisons Dangereuses were set in an American high school, during the Instagram era, they would look like Netflix’s new teen drama Do Revenge. Girl power crushes the patriarchy in this entertaining film, scripted by Celeste Ballard and Jennifer Kaytin Robinson, and directed by the latter.  It’s story about a friendship between two marginalised…