TIFF

  • Review: TIFF 2019: ‘The Obituary of Tunde Johnson’ is a unique commentary (Includes first-hand account)

    While film is a prominent form of entertainment and a means to escape the troubles of everyday life, it’s also a powerful medium to comment on political and social issues. Many of the most successful message-driven movies are popular because they’ve found the right combination of compelling and meaningful. Underestimating an audience’s intelligence often causes filmmakers to hit them over the head with the picture’s significance, which usually has the opposite effect. Instead, weaving the commentary into the narrative and letting the viewer get there on their own is a far more effective approach to making a point. In The Obituary of Tunde Johnson, the message is clear, but the presentation is exceptional.

  • Review: TIFF 2018: ‘White Boy Rick’ makes a lot of poor decisions (Includes first-hand account)

    Regardless of where or how one grows up, they will be presented with many options throughout their lives that will inform the direction of their immediate and distant futures. Naturally, one’s environment and socio-economic class will influence the types of choices available, but the decision-maker is still responsible for the consequences of their actions — good or bad. The people one is surrounded by also impacts how they choose to live their lives, whether it’s to follow the herd or carve their own path. In White Boy Rick, an adolescent is faced with some difficult decisions with potentially extensive consequences.

  • Review: TIFF 2018: ‘Border’ is full of hope but shrouded in danger (Includes first-hand account)

    Being different in a society that strives on sameness and encourages everyone to live up to cookie-cutter ideals is exceedingly difficult. Even though diversity is the word of the day, it’s still only accepted under particular circumstances; and those who still don’t fit are relegated to the category of outsiders who may participate but will never truly be integrated as a full member. Looking dissimilar from the pack is the most grievous, since it’s the most difficult to conceal. In Border, a woman uses her distinction to support national security, but the job’s prestige never quite touches her.

  • Review: TIFF 2018: ‘Her Smell’ tells a reckless story with precise flair (Includes first-hand account)

    The image of the “tortured artist” is cliché only because it’s been shown to be true so often. The same goes for addicted musicians and celebrities entering rehab… or worse, dying from overdoses. Of course, all of these things happen to “regular” folk too, but their exploits don’t usually make headline news, nor do they have hundreds/thousands/millions of fans hanging on their every word. It’s almost a tale as old as time and one that’s been portrayed many times for the screen, but there’s still some people out there looking for different ways to tell this story — as shown in Her Smell.

  • Review: TIFF 2018: ‘Donnybrook’ is a dark journey through hell (Includes first-hand account)

    Family is everything, whether it’s a blood bond or one you’ve created with people you care for and vice versa. Either way they may not always be good for each other, but everyone does their best at least some of the time. Providing the basic necessities is key and afforded by any means necessary, if that’s what it takes. Unfortunately, no matter how infinite love and support are, they don’t pay the bills or put food on the table. In Donnybrook, a father puts it all on the line to give his family a better life.

  • Review: TIFF 2018: ‘Kursk’ is frustrating because you know how it ends (Includes first-hand account)

    It takes a talented filmmaker to create a movie based on historical events in which audiences can still become absorbed even though they already know how the story will end. The greatest success is causing the viewer to hope against hope that somehow a tragic ending can be transformed into a happy one. Titanic is probably the most obvious example of such an achievement, but there have been others before and since. War movies are similar in that the events portrayed are familiar, though the fates of the particular characters are not always known. In Kursk, it’s an implicit conflict that led to the deaths of more than two dozen men.

  • Review: TIFF 2018: ‘The Wind’ blows the house down (Includes first-hand account)

    Watching scary movies or reading frightening books when alone at night can lead to your senses and imagination playing tricks to which you may not otherwise pay attention. Suddenly, the slightest noise or shadow takes on a sinister quality that could threaten your safety… even though the rational part of your brain insists there’s nothing skulking in the dark corners of the room waiting for an opportunity to strike. And in the morning it all seems rather silly, but in the moment it couldn’t feel more real. In The Wind, a young woman starts to feel as if she’s surrounded by evil in the remote, uncultivated Midwest.

  • Review: TIFF 2018: ‘Jeremiah Terminator LeRoy’ is who they want him to be (Includes first-hand account)

    Freud talked a lot about how people develop their personalities, what they consist of, and how they’re presented to the outside world. Many believe we are a sum of our experiences, while others think we can choose what people see. Identity is an essential part of the human existence, though its truth can often be debated — particularly whether one person can claim to have more than one identity. In Jeremiah Terminator LeRoy, this is taken even further as two women begin to share a third identity.

  • Review: TIFF 2018: ‘Freaks’ never settles for the expected (Includes first-hand account)

    Throughout its history, the cinema has not only been a source of entertainment, but a place to creatively explore social and political issues. Genre films have been especially employed for this purpose, using fictional characters, creatures and worlds as metaphors for real-life problems. The violence in The Texas Chain Saw Massacre was indicative of the strife in Middle America, while Avatar dealt with issues of climate change and environmental conservation. People that don’t watch the news may be more open to seeing these subjects handled in a film rather than a news article. Science fiction is a pillar of commentary filmmaking and Freaks is certainly making a statement.

  • Review: TIFF 2018: Cheer on ‘The Extraordinary Journey of Celeste Garcia’ (Includes first-hand account)

    In addition to being hilarious, there was another reason fans gravitated towards Douglas Adams’ The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy series — it was about an ordinary bloke in uncommon circumstances in an alien world. If the truth is, in fact, out there, perhaps one day some aspect of these stories could prove to be true. Forget travelling the world… people could travel the universe. In The Extraordinary Journey of Celeste Garcia, a woman with a relatively banal existence is presented the opportunity of a lifetime and she can’t wait to accept.

  • Review: TIFF 2018: ‘Firecrackers’ delivers a feisty, genuine experience (Includes first-hand account)

    Being a teenage girl often feels like a trial, but it’s one that seems to be getting more difficult… or at least more people are now acknowledging the problems unique to being a young woman in a patriarchal society. Social media and technology have certainly been game changers as immediacy has grown paramount, judgements are delivered more freely and typical adolescent mistakes have gained a permanency that has long-term consequences. In Firecrackers, two young women are desperate to escape the oppression they feel in their small town, but even the best laid plans can be upended.

  • Review: TIFF 2017 — Top 10 films we saw this year (Includes first-hand account)

    Every year following Labour Day weekend in September, downtown Toronto is flooded with moviegoers seeking a transcendent viewing experience and stargazers hoping for a glimpse of any number of the celebrities passing through the city. The Toronto International Film Festival celebrated its 42nd anniversary this year and marked the occasion with some significant changes, including the elimination of the City to City and fan-favourite Vanguard programs as well as two venues, an overall 20 per cent reduction in the number of films selected, and the announcement of CEO Piers Handling’s retirement. Nonetheless, there was still plenty to see and most of the adjustments weren’t even a blip on the radar.