Matthias Schoenaerts

  • 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: ‘Red Sparrow’ won’t be soaring on its laurels (Includes first-hand account)

    The Cold War was widely thought to have ended in the early ‘90s, but as recent events have shown the rivalry between the United States and Russia is still very much alive. Thus, a story about Soviet spies, espionage training camps and double agents is not as irrelevant as it may seem. Moreover, audiences’ attraction to spy pictures has not waned as evidenced by the continued success of the James Bond franchise and the more recent arrival, Atomic Blonde. But how does a slow-burning, female-led mystery fit into this landscape? Red Sparrow is about to find out.