Smart reviews for the visually obsessed. On Screen features film reviews and festival coverage, spotlighting cinematic craft, storytelling and standout performances.
There are people that measure the quality of a neighbourhood based on the friendliness of its community. Morning hellos, block parties, barbecues and play dates paint a picture perfect scene. But considering most violent crimes are committed by someone you know, perhaps sociability isn’t always a good thing. In The Boy Next Door, a woman’s dinner offer invites much more than she intended.
It seems the lives of delusional, washed up actors is a popular subject in cinema these days. It’s unfortunate for Al Pacino that Michael Keaton’s Birdman was released first because the comparisons are inevitable and they’re not going to be in favour of his picture. Nevertheless, they are very different types of films. The Humbling is subtler in its character’s hallucinations, confusing reality and fantasy to the point that even the central character and audience don’t know what’s real at all times.
Not every filmmaker has attended film school. After all, instinct cannot be taught. While less frequent, there are those whose education consists of no formal instruction but watching movies and experimenting. Their passion for filmmaking is often unmatched even if the quality of their work is subpar. Why Don’t You Play in Hell? centres on a group of guerilla filmmakers who are finally given the opportunity to fulfill their high school vow to make “the greatest movie ever made.”
North America has reached a stage in which most of its population is or will be seniors in a few short years. Thus the concerns of aging are becoming more mainstream, including retirement, nursing homes, health care and diseases that target the elderly. For many, Alzheimer’s is an affliction reserved for the aged and something dreaded but almost expected to occur after a certain age. But in a few less common cases it doesn’t wait. Still Alice is about a woman in her 40s who begins to forget.
While new faces in cinema are a dime a dozen, a combination of freshness and competence is more difficult to find. But Desiree Akhavan’s feature debut is yet another hands-down success from a first-time female writer/director/actor. She follows in the footsteps of Lake Bell in 2013 (In a World…) and Gillian Robespierre in 2014 (Obvious Child) as a woman to watch behind the camera rather than just rising stars in front of it. Appropriate Behavior is an original narrative exploring the pitfalls of being an insecure, partly closeted, bisexual, Iranian woman in New York.
The Vietnam War presented a unique situation for the United States in that they had technically lost the battle. The Paris Peace Accords proclaimed a ceasefire between North and South Vietnam, ending direct U.S. military involvement and resulting in the majority of American troops going home save for a small military faction and contractors. However when the communists resumed their invasion of southern territories with brutal efficiency after President Richard Nixon’s resignation, the American government was faced with a number of decisions as were the men still assigned to the region. Last Days in Vietnam is a documentary about the days that followed the initial attack.
While visible and physically damaging terrorism continues to be an everyday threat, there is an invisible type of violence on the rise. As technology develops an increasing presence in every form of business and life, it becomes easier to inflict massive damage without ever coming into physical contact with the target. Many movies have endeavoured to portray the world of hackers on the big screen and each new effort demonstrates how difficult it is to effectively capture this domain for an audience. Blackhat is Michael Mann‘s attempt at depicting a global clash of hacker vs. hacker.
Many adults are seeing their childhood favourites reimagined on the big screen, though it’s not always everything for which they could have hoped. In some (many) cases, the spirit of the source material is lost and the end result is a hideous, mutant incarnation of the original — or at least that’s what it feels like. But there are other times when the new version is the perfect embodiment of everything that was wonderful about the original, seamlessly transferring it from the page or small screen to a new cinematic landscape. Admirers and those with fond memories of the well-meaning bear will be happy to know Paddington falls squarely in the latter category.
Job security is practically an oxymoron in today’s economy. Companies are still filing for bankruptcy with alarming frequency and downsizing or “reorganizing” is a common cost-cutting strategy. Taking extended leave for any reason can be frightening as it gives the employer the opportunity to realize they can operate at full capacity without you. Unfortunately that is the case in Two Days, One Night as one woman tries to overturn her dismissal.
Seven years ago, Bryan Mills’ daughter was Taken while vacationing in Europe. He, with the help of his retired special forces buddies, tracked down the human traffickers, murdering them and freeing her. Something similar happened in 2012 involving his wife, comprising an equally action-packed sequel. Now in Taken 3, Bryan is the target and his family are the weapons being used to inflict maximum pain.
